Overview
The following Starter Guide is designed to provide Customers with technical documentation that your information technology team will leverage to ensure a successful Distributed Marketing Platform implementation.
Table of Contents
(1) Sender Policy Framework (SPF) Record
(2) Single Sign-On
a. Distribion proprietary SSO
b. SAML
(3) Email Marketing
a. Return Path
b. Share This
(4) Analytics
a. Google Analytics
b. Omniture
(5) CRM Integration
(6) Other APIs
(7) Credit Card Processing
Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
Overview
SPF Records authorize one company to send on behalf of another company. Without an SPF Record set up authorizing Distribion to send e-mail on behalf of your domains, your campaigns may be considered SPAM when we send them on your behalf. Thus, your e-mail campaign may not enjoy the greatest level of delivery.
How Does SPF Work
The easiest way to explain what SPF records are is with an example.
Let's say you want to use our system to send out an e-mail from bob.smith@microsoft.com to joejones@apple.com. When the e-mail it sent, the server is going to look at the "From" address on the e-mail (which is bob.smith@microsoft.com). The apple.com server is then going to look at the SPF Record stored on microsoft.com and ask the question: "Does Distribion have authorization to send on your behalf?" If Microsoft's SPF record does not have our IP address listed as an authorized sender, then apple.com will probably treat the e-mail as SPAM. (As well it should!)
So in a nutshell, an SPF Record is a list of people who are authorized to send on your behalf. If our servers are not listed in your SPF record, people may think we are trying to impersonate you and send SPAM.
Quick Note To Non-Technical Visitors
Most of the information in this article is meant for IT Managers. If the e-mail address you are trying to use has been identified as lacking an SPF record, we would recommend forwarding this article to whatever IT specialists maintains the DNS for your e-mail address domain. (i.e. if your e-mail address is bob@somecompany.com, this information should go to whoever administrates somecompany.com. They will be the ones who need to create the record authorizing Distribion to send on behalf of somecompany.com).
Default SPF Record
This SPF record covers the range of network addresses for the DMP and the native mail sever (MX record) for the domain authorizing the DMP to send on its behalf:
"v=spf1 mx include:_spf.dmplocal.com -all"
This needs to be entered all on one line and must include the quotes. Depending on the interface used to manage your DNS, the quotes may automatically be added for you on the backend after making the change. If you have an existing SPF record configured for your domain, make sure you simple ADD the necessary elements to that SPF record. If you create an additional, separate SPF record, it may cause problems. More details about the SPF specification can be found here:
http://www.openspf.org/SPF_Record_Syntax
Whitelisted SMTP Servers
Please whitelist the following range of IP addresses:
216.205.154.64/26
208.82.208.0/22
216.205.154.64/26 (slash notation of / 26)
208.82.208.0/22 (slash notation of / 22)
216.205.154.64/26 has a range of below
(216.205.154.64 through 216.205.154.127)
208.82.208.0/22 has a range of below
(208.82.208.0 through 208.82.211.255)
These IP address blocks are solely utilized by Distribion and are not shared with any other parties. Transactional receipts and other system notices are sent from @dmpnotices.com - please also make sure to whitelist all e-mails sent from the @dmpnotices.com domain.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact your Account Manager who will direct you further.
Single Sign-On
Overview
The DMP provides several options for Single Sign-On:
(1) Distribion’s URL-based single sign on protocol
(2) SAML
Distribion’s URL-based Single Sign-On
Generating a Single Sign-On URL
In order to communicate with our server, your remote system will need to send the user to:
The following parameters must be/can be passed on the URL:
Key: p
Value: "user.login"
Required: Yes
Details: This parameter lets our system know which module should handle the request.
Key: pageaction
Value: "autologin"
Required: Yes
Details: This parameter lets the module know which action is being requested.
Key: login_field
Value: "email"
Required: Yes
Details: This key lets the module know which profile field to use to validate the user. Currently
there is only support for "email". Support for other parameters will be added over time.
Key: registerinvalid
Value: "true" or "false"
Required: No
Details: If .true. is passed and the user does not exist or is not valid, the user will be taken to the
"Request an Account" page. Otherwise, the user will be auto-created and will be placed
into the ‘Standard Users’ group, or whatever group is noted within the
profiles[user_group] parameter.
Key: login
Value: The e-mail address for the user
Required: Yes
Details: This will be the primary ID for the user. The system currently requires e-mail address to
be the primary ID.
Key: profile[<field>]
Value: The value to store in the user’s profile field.
Required: No
Details: This parameter can be used to pre-populate elements of the operator's profile field. The
field name must match a field system name listed under Administration > User
Management > Manage User Profile Fields.
Key: profile[user_group]
Value: The name of the user group to place the user into.
Required: No
Details: This is a special profile field not listed in Administration > User Management > Manage User Profile. If the name of the group provided already exists (case sensitive), the user
will be placed into that group. Otherwise, the group will be created with permissions
matching Standard Users.
Key: send_confirmation
Value: "true" or "false"
Required: No
Details: This value is "false" by default. If set the true, the system will send an invitation to the
user containing their username and password.
Key: autopass
Value: An sha1() encrypted string of login + security code
Required: Yes
Details: This is an encrypted string that tells our system that the request is really coming from
the source system and the request has not been tampered with. This string should be
the concatenation of the login ID, plus the security code "highs3curity". Once the string
is built, run it through sha1 to turn it into a hash string. When we receive the request,
we will concatenate the login value plus the same security code, and compare the hash.
If they are identical, we will allow the user in to the system. If they are not identical or
the user cannot be found, we will redirect the user to the registration page.
Example Single Sign-On URL
The URL below will automatically sign in as xxx@xxx.com. Note that you should be logged out of the system to test whether it works.
Obtaining an AutoPass Key
To obtain a proper value for the "autopass" parameter, you will need to use SHA1 encryption against the user's e-mail address and your system's security code, which is "highs3curity"
To obtain an autopass for testing purpose, provide an e-mail address in the field below and hit "Create AutoPass Key". Reminder: The AutoPass is the email address concatenated to your system's security code, and then run through SHA1 encryption.
Testing the Single Sign-On URL:
SAML Single Sign On
Setup Attributes
Setup Error Codes
Deploy
Email Marketing Suite – Integrated Third Party Tools
Overview
Distribion partners with several third party toolsets to enhance our Customers’ email reputation, e-mail content sharing and in-box deliverability including, but not limited to Return Path, ShareThis and EmailReach.
Return Path
Senders, receivers and consumers all want permission-based email to reach the inbox. ISPs and filtering companies must protect consumer inboxes from spam so they sometimes inadvertently block good email. Many ISPs rely on whitelists to help separate responsible senders from spammers. If you appear on an email whitelist that is used by your most important ISPs, your chances of making it to the inbox dramatically increase. And with good email deliverability comes higher response rates.
Distribion has partnered with Return Path and Distribion will enroll Customers into Return Path’s exclusive whitelist program.
Please contact support@distribion.com for assistance.
ShareThis
ShareThis allows your audience to easily share your content on their favorite social networking sites. Once you have registered with ShareThis.com, you will be able to provide us your publisher ID, username and password. From there you may use the [widget:sharethis] variable tag any place where variable tags are supported. This variable tag will be replaced with the ShareThis link for content sharing. The admin who entered the publisher ID information will be notified via email when a ShareThis admin completes the activation.
Please provide your publisher ID, or copy/paste the ShareThis.com button code generated from http://sharethis.com/publishers/getbutton/
Analytics
Overview
Distribion’s E-Mail Marketing Suite within the Distributed Marketing Platform has built-in support for 3rd party analytics solutions like Google Analytics and Omniture. If your website uses Google Analytics or another cookie-based system to track visitor activity, you may use this feature to record that visitors originating from the DMP.
Google Analytics
Create an account at http://www.google.com/analytics/
On the DMP, enter the Google account user name and password for the account you just created and click on the "Save Changes" button. (as shown below)
Create a Website Profile for each domain that you wish to track. The domain you enter here will show up on the "Select Report" drop down after you refresh this page.
Copy the tracking code from Google to the pages on the domain that you wish to track.
After the page reloads the "Select Report" drop down should be populated with the Website Profiles you created above. Select a report to enable or leave it set to "All" for all reports.
Omniture Campaign Tagging
The DMP allows Customers to tag outbound campaigns with Omniture tracking information if enabled.
Settings
Report
The DMP allows Customers to tag outbound campaigns with Omniture tracking information if enabled.
CRM Integration
Remotely Posting Contacts into Contact Group
This section explains how to remotely post contacts over to the DMP and allow the operator to import them into a contact group. After importing, the operator will be able to continue into the system.
Sample Usage
A CRM could allow a user to perform a search and press a button that reads "Send Contacts to DMP". The CRM would then launch a new window and tell the DMP what URL we should call to retrieve the contacts. The DMP would collect information from the operator about where to store the contacts, and once the operator provides this information, the DMP will call the URL provided, retrieve the contacts, import them, and then allow the user to proceed to the main menu of the system.
How to Integrate Your Remote System with the Contact Import Landing Page
To begin the process, have your remote system do an HTTP GET (or POST) call to the URL below with the parameters in the table below:
http://xxx.dmplocal.com/api/RemoteContactAccess/ContactImporter
Details
Other APIs
Overview
The purpose of Distribion’s CRM APIs is for external systems to remotely:
send email campaign to a single contact
send email campaign to contacts specified by the data_url variable
send email campaign to contacts specified by contact_group variable
send email campaign to a multiple contacts
construct a list of available E-mail templates and related information
retrieve a list of Campaigns sent from the system
remotely access a list of mailing types available in the system
retrieve a list of unsubscribes
Documentation
Settings
Test Bed
Credit Card Processing
Overview
Distribion leverages Authorize.net credit card processing serves, respectively. The following link provides and overview of the steps involved:
Authorize.net
The Authorize.Net Payment Gateway can help you accept credit card and electronic check payments quickly and affordably.
More than 305,000 merchants trust Authorize.net for payment processing and online fraud prevention solutions.
http://www.authorize.net/resources/howitworksdiagram/
Please contact support@distribion.com for assistance.