Kavi Help CenterKavi Mailing List Manager Help
| Chapter 14. All About Dynamic Members Mailing Lists | ||
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Part I. Concepts | 
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Table of Contents
A Dynamic Members Mailing List is like any other Kavi Mailing List Manager list, except that subscribers (i.e., subscribers on the 'Regular' and 'Digest' Subscriber Lists) are selected by a configurable query.
The query is configured when the list is added, and can be edited at any time. The tool pages are similar to the Report Builder, so the configuration is extremely flexible, and almost any combination of criteria can be used to select subscribers. Once the list has been created, subscriber information is maintained automatically with up-to-the-minute information from the Kavi Members database.
This kind of list is referred to as "dynamic" because subscriber selection happens on the fly whenever a message is posted to a mailing list, so the subscriber list can vary from one day to the next. For example, if the query was designed to send messages to all the Primary Contacts who belong to companies with a specific Company Type, a message posted today would include everyone who currently acts as a Primary Contact for one of these companies. If a new company's membership goes current tomorrow, the new Primary Contact is automatically subscribed when a message is posted. Similarly, if a user edits her or his email address, the new email address is retrieved the next time the main subscriber lists are populated.
The dynamic population of the main subscriber lists has many implications for list management, as described later in this document.
The quintessential example of a dynamic list is the 'members' mailing list, which is why the build-your-own query-driven lists are called Dynamic Members Mailing Lists. Every website with Kavi Workspace has a 'members' mailing list. By default, every active user who has an account on your website is subscribed to this list, so this list is the primary vehicle for broadcasting email announcements to your members. Your organization may have any number of other Dynamic Mailing Lists.
With the exception of the subscriber-selection query, which is unique to each, the configuration of these lists usually follow the pattern established in the 'members' mailing list rather closely. The 'members' list is based on the 'Query-Driven Announcements' List Type, so only moderators can post (and all posts are moderated). Since the main Subscriber Lists (i.e. Regular and Digest) are populated by the query, users can't be added through email commands or webtools, so email subscription commands from the public are disabled and Web availability is set to 'Administrators Only'.
Unlike other dynamic mailing lists, the 'members' mailing list is managed in Kavi Members and isn't available through Dynamic Members Mailing List tools. This list is sometimes customized, so the 'members' mailing list on your organization' may behave somewhat differently than the default behavior documented here.
Your organization may have any number of additional Dynamic Members Mailing Lists, created for different subsets of the organization's members. These lists make it possible to distribute highly targeted announcements or newsletters. They can even be used to create private discussion groups (but this is rare).
Some Common Uses
Queries can retrieve users based on what Contact Types or User Types they are assigned. It can also retrieve users based on what Company Types are assigned to their company. Most company-based organizations use dynamic lists to send announcements specifically to Primary Contacts or Marketing Contacts. List subscribers may also be restricted to those who belong to certain Company Types.
A dynamic mailing list can select users based on user or company attributes such as User Purpose and/or Company Purpose. For example, list subscribers might be selected based on whether they have the 'Staff Person' User Purpose or belong to a company with the 'Staff Company' Company Purpose.
Query criteria is extremely flexible, so the uses are almost endless. Criteria can include time-dependent data fields, such as Last Login Date or membership date ranges, so dynamic lists can be used to send timely reminders independently of regular Scheduled Email notifications. As an example, a tickler extolling the benefits of membership could be sent to everyone whose membership is scheduled to expire in the upcoming quarter.
All dynamic lists (except the 'members' list) can be viewed by clicking Dynamic Members Mailing Lists in the Kavi Mailing List Manager Admin menu. Dynamic Members Mailing Lists provides links to the tools you need to add a new dynamic list or edit the subscriber-selection query.
Administrators can click here to visit the Dynamic Members Mailing Lists tool.
They are also available through Manage Mailing Lists. You can recognize the dynamic lists by looking in the Controlling Application column. Dynamic lists are controlled by the Kavi Members application ('MembersApp'), rather than Kavi Mailing List Manager (KMLMApp). Manage Mailing Lists provides links to Mailing List Home, Edit a Mailing List, Edit Mailing List Subscribers and Activity History.
Administrators can click here to visit the Manage Mailing Lists tool.
The query interface is familiar to anyone who has used the Report Builder. The difference here is that all the fields are fixed, so when you set the criteria, you specify a value for each field you select, and the query retrieves users who meet all your criteria.
Since email is sent to people rather than companies, criteria based on company attributes (e.g., Company Type, Company Purpose, etc.) retrieves users who belong to the selected companies.
Table 14.1. Query Components
| Query Component | Description |
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| Fixed Field | A fixed field provides static criteria that is used in the database query. The query looks at this field in the database to see whether the field value in each record meets the criteria, then selects or filters out users accordingly. |
| Operator | The operators that are available for a field depend on the type of data the field contains. For most data types, you'll see paired operators such as 'is' and 'is not', or 'contains' and 'does not contain'. When you use date fields, you commonly see the paired operators 'is before' and 'is after'. |
| Default Value | You'll set a value for each data field you've selected. For example, if you've selected 'Contact Type' as a fixed data field, you could set the default value to 'Primary Contact, so every time the query is run, the main subscriber lists are populated with every Primary Contact in the Kavi Members database. |
Like most searches, this query only retrieves users who meet all your criteria. Imagine you are adding a Dynamic Members Mailing List with two Fixed Fields. For the first fixed field you select 'Company Type', use the 'Is' Operator and set the Value to 'Sponsor'. For the second Fixed Field you select 'Contact Type', use the 'Is' Operator and set the Value to 'Primary Contact'. Your query would populate the main subscriber lists with the email addresses of Primary Contacts for all Sponsor companies.
Figure 14.1. Query Criteria and Subscriber Selection
User accounts in the Kavi Members database are represented as colored shapes. There is a red square, a blue circle and a blue square. As each query criteria is applied, different shapes are filtered out of the selected set. In the first row the Fixed Field is 'Color', the Operator is 'Is Not' and the Value is 'Red', so any Red shapes are filtered out. In the second row the Fixed Field is 'Shape', the Operator is 'Is' and the Value is 'Square'. So only squares are selected. The blue square is the only colored shape that meets all the query criteria, so it is selected.
Subscriber Lists are handled much differently in dynamic lists than regular lists since some are populated automatically, and others are rarely used. If you are adding or managing a Dynamic Members Mailing List, you need to understand how the software works so you can interact with it effectively. Here is a quick look at each of the Subscriber Lists, plus cross-posters (which isn't a Subscriber List, but is similar).
Table 14.2. Subscriber Types
| Subscriber Type | Description |
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| 'Regular' Subscriber List |
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| 'Digest' Subscriber List |
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| 'Moderator' Subscriber List |
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| 'Poster' Subscriber List |
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| 'Allow' Subscriber List |
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| 'Deny' Subscriber List |
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| Cross-Posters | If the underlying List Type supports this, you will see the Edit Mailing List Cross-Posters button when you visit Mailing List Home. |
Add a Dynamic Members Mailing List by setting the list name, description, moderators and configuring your query. Regular KMLM mailing lists present a lot of options that you don't see when you add a dynamic list, because dynamic lists are a special case. Since they behave so differently from other mailing lists, the range of compatible configuration options is much more limited, so the List Type and other options are preconfigured, although you may edit these settings after the list is created.
Tips for Configuring Queries
- Users must meet all selection criteria
You can select from an extensive set of user and company fields. Company fields are actually used to retrieve users from companies that meet the selection criteria. The query assumes that the criteria is in an 'Add' relationship, so it only retrieves users who meet all of the criteria.
- Respect email opt-out settings
If your organization offers users the ability to opt out of receiving members email and you want your list to respect user email opt-out settings, you must select the 'Receive Email' User Field and set the value to 'No'. When this combination of settings is used, users who have opted out of receiving email will not be selected as subscribers. You may want to make a habit of using these settings for every list that is used to distribute optional announcements.
- Mandatory announcements lists
For a mandatory mailing list, configure the query so it ignores the user's email preferences. To do this, leave the 'Receive Email' User Field unselected.
- Finely targeted announcements
You can create Dynamic Members Mailing Lists to select subscribers based on complex criteria when you want to distribute announcements targeted at a specific subset of users, such as all active Basic membership holders who signed up before the year 2005.
- Time-based criteria
When you use time-based fields (e.g., Signup Date, Last Modified, Deactivation Date, etc.), the Operator can be used to set an exact date, or to set a range using 'Is Before' or 'Is After'. The Value is always set to a specific month, day and year. Time-based queries commonly need the Value to be updated periodically, such as quarterly or annually, or whenever you are ready to post another message to the list. If you create a list like this, you can place some instructions in the list description to explain how often the date fields should be updated.
Administrators can click here to visit the Add a Dynamic Members Mailing List tool.
When you finish adding the list you are taken to Edit a Mailing List so you can review the list settings. Unless your organization uses a different List Type for its dynamic lists, you should leave all these settings as is. For more information on list settings, see the next section.
Once your list has been added, you can view it through Mailing List Home or through Dynamic Members Mailing Lists, depending on what sort of information you want to view or manage.
Back to topWhen you want to redefine the query for a Dynamic Members Mailing List, return to Dynamic Members Mailing Lists and click the Manage link for the list you want to edit. You'll be taken to Manage a Dynamic Members Mailing List where you can click the 'Edit' link. Edit the query as desired and the next time a message is posted to the mailing list your revised query will be used to select subscribers.
For more information on queries, see the preceeding section on Tips for Configuring Queries.
When you want to redefine the query for a Dynamic Members Mailing List, return to Dynamic Members Mailing Lists and click the Manage link for the list you want to edit. You'll be taken to Manage a Dynamic Members Mailing List where you can click the 'Edit' link. Edit the description as desired.
One of the most common edits is to switch your dynamic list to a List Type that has been created especially for dynamic lists. This List Type is usually configured like the default 'Query-driven Announcements' List Type (aBdFghijkLmNoPQRsTUWXYZ), but with some minor configuration changes. For example, subject line prefixing (f), or trailer text (T) could be enabled.
You must avoid List Types that are incompatible with dynamic mailing lists. Since Dynamic Members Mailing Lists do not allow subscribers to manage their own subscriptions, they are incompatible with List Types that have the -pS options set in the ezmlm-make argument string. This includes all the public default List Types (i.e., 'Newsletter', 'Public Discussion', 'Moderated Public Discussion').
List Types that support discussions are problematic for dynamic lists, but they can work for small private lists where subscribers should not be allowed to manage their own subscriptions, such as staff-only lists.
Since subscribers can't subscribe or unsubscribe, you don't want subscribers to be able to view Mailing List Home, so Web Availability is pre-set to 'Administrators Only'. This means that subscribers do not know that they are subscribed to these lists and cannot visit Mailing List Home.
Because subscribers can't manage their subscriptions, Web Availability is almost never changed. If it is, then it is changed to 'Subscribers Only'. In this case, subscribers can change their subscription type from 'Regular' to 'Digest', but cannot unsubscribe. A sample use would be an ad-hoc discussion group working on an informal project, such as party planning. The list is added at the outset of the project, and deleted as soon as the need passes.
Web Archive Visibility is set to 'NO Web Archives' by default, so Web archives are disabled. The raw ezmlm-idx archives may be available if enabled in the List Type.
As with Web Availability, you don't want to
Most dynamic lists are based on moderated List Types, such as 'Query-based Announcements'. Moderators are edited through the Edit Mailing List Subscribers tool, which can be accessed by clicking the Subscribers link on Manage Mailing Lists.
Since most dynamic lists are 'Administrators Only' and hidden from subscribers, there is generally no need for a Policy and Usage Statement.
If you are a Super Admin and trailer text is enabled in the List Type, you may want to edit the trailer text or other ezmlm text templates through Edit Mailing List Text.
Super Admins can click here to visit the Edit Mailing List Text Tool.
This only applies to lists based on a List Types that support subscriber-level posting (i.e., -u is set in the ezmlm-make argument string), which is rare. If this is the case, you will see the 'Cross-Posters' button when you visit Mailing List Home. Click this link to go to the Edit Cross-Posters tool where you can select other lists to which you want to grant subscriber-level posting privileges.
This only applies to lists based on a List Types that support subscriber-level posting. In this case, you can add subscribers to the 'Allow' Subscriber List and 'Deny' Subscriber List through the Edit a Mailing List tool. Go to Manage Mailing Lists and click the Subscribers link.
You can construct queries the exclude users or companies based on Purpose.
If your organization is strictly company-based, you only have to select Company Purpose as a fixed field, then select the 'Is' operator and set 'Member Company' as the field value.
If your organization is strictly individual-based, select User Purpose as a fixed field, then select the 'Is' operator and set 'Individual Member' as the field value.
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If your organization is mixed (and most are), you have to select both Company Purpose and Individual Purpose to screen out nonmembers and staff.
Set the User Purpose field operator to 'Is' and select the values 'Company Representative' and 'Individual Member'. The Company Purpose field operator is also set to 'Is' and the values 'Member Company' and 'Company for Individuals' are selected.
Conversely, this could be accomplished by setting the User Purpose field operator to 'Is not' and selecting the values 'Individual Nonmember' and 'Staff Person'. The Company Purpose field operator is set to 'Is not' and the values 'Nonmember Company' and 'Staff Company' are selected.
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| Chapter 13. Subscription Types and Subscriber Lists |  |
Chapter 15. Mailing List Archives |