Thursday, January 12, 2012

Making the Most of Customer Data

Data management and sharing is a much talked about trend for 2012. As online tools get more sophisticated and with the rise of cloud computing, data sharing is easier than ever – and it’s important too. Think how efficiently your store would run if online tools (order management, email management, shipping) shared customer data. It would certainly make customer support much easier.

So how can we help?

Our external link feature allows users to append a customer email and/or eBay ID to an external website such as your ordering system or customer database. Once an administrator has configured the URL link in Folder Administration, system users can simply click on the customer’s email or eBay ID (it appears as a link when in an open email) to start a search in the external database that you have configured.

From Email URL Link: Used to link the "From" email address (when viewing an email) to an external website. The email address will be appended to the end of the URL you provide.

eBay ID URL Link: Used to link the eBay messages "eBay User ID" to an external website. The ID  will be appended to the end of the URL you provide.

How To Implement
Administrators can access both features by going to Maintenance >> Folders. Click on the folder you wish to implement and enter the URL link(s). The external website system must have a "Search option" for emails or eBay ID's and be web-based. Please contact your representative at the 3rd party website to get the search URL.

You can also try to identify the URL link on your own by trial and error. To do this, conduct an email or eBay ID search while logged into the external website. Look at the web address bar. Copy the entire link excluding the email address or eBay ID you searched. Paste the link into the appropriate field and test. All systems are different and sometimes change, so if you find a previously valid link suddenly not working, you'll need to update your link.

We are working on putting together a list of these search strings for different systems. If you are using one successfully, feel free to post your results on this blog.

by Suzan Tucker
Customer Care Manager