Case Study: Send Email to All Clients within 50 miles of the Customer Care Caravan

This Case Study shows how to send email from within Manifold using the Send Email solver package. This solver package is a free package that may be downloaded from the following link: Download Send Email for Manifold Release 4.50 - Please don't download this if you don't have Manifold 4.50... it won't work without Manifold 4.50.

This case study is intended for users already comfortable using Manifold, so we will skip a few elementary points. Our company is running a North-South "Customer Care Caravan" this October, where factory specialists hit the road in a specially-equipped van to visit our customers. They visit factories, run diagnostics, pass on the latest tips, and otherwise thank our customers for using our equipment. No doubt the tour will result in a few orders as well. We'd like to encourage customer participation by sending an email to customers who are located within 50 miles of the planned route of the Customer Care Caravan.

Step 1: Display our Customer Database on the map - Since this is an email example and not an introduction to GIS example, we'll skip over the basic map stuff. The illustration above shows our geocoded customer database displayed on a map of the US. We've projected the map into Lambert Conformal Conic projection because we intend to make accurate distance measurements. The little green dots are our customers. Since we are a modern company, for each customer we have an email address as well as other data attributes such as postal address, account number, notes about the equipment installed and so on.

	Step 2: Draw the path of the Customer Care Caravan - The next illustration shows the path the Customer Care Caravan plans to take. Manifold has lots of facilities for planning routes but again, since this is an email example and not a routing example, we'll just take the route as a given. The route is illustrated in blue.
	Step 3: Create a Buffer Zone - Using the Solvers - Spatial Analysis - Buffer Zone solver, we will create a buffer zone that extends out 50 miles from the route. The buffer zone is shown as a light blue transparent area.
	Step 4: Select All Customers within Buffer Zone - Using SQL Toolbar, we select all customers within the buffer zone. This is a one click operation because Manifold's SQL Toolbar includes commands like within in a pull-down menu box. Selected customers are shown in red.

Step 5: Launch the Send Email Solver - Click on the Solvers - Business - Send Email menu choice to launch the solver. We use this solver so much that we've added it to our Launch toolbar so we can fire it up with a single click.

The solver starts by asking what object set you want to use. In this case, we'll use the selection. If desired, we could use a particular layer, all layers, etc, in the usual Manifold way.

Load up the main Send Email dialog as desired. We will be using the contents of the Email field for the To: email address. Note that the Cc: and Bcc: fields are rarely used when conducting mass mailings, since these send a copy of each email to the Cc: or Bcc: addresses. Use these if you must have an archival duplicate of all mail sent out, perhaps to later verify that mail was sent to a particular recipient.

This is a really simple, but very practical example of using send mail. We've used only two Manifold facilities, the Buffer Zone solver and the SQL Toolbar, in a very simple way. The possibilities of exploiting targeted, well organized email communications are endless. We've used a very simple selection methodology, but any Manifold selection capability can be used. Imagine, all those solvers, any database combination, any SQL query, or even any solver you might care to write: all of these capabilities can be used to organize and refine your email communications.

In addition to the obvious use with maps, Manifold is such a strong database manipulator that many people are using Manifold to organize their email campaigns using abstract maps. See the Send Email using an Abstract Map Case Study to see how.

Seriously, isn't this a bargain? - Now's the time to put to work the spectacular, synergistic benefits of a whole lot of desktop technologies maturing at once. Desktops now outperform the supercomputers of earlier days, Windows software provides the highest leverage development tools, and Internet makes it possible for us to sell to you by providing more data and faster product delivery than ever before. Tired of waiting for your GIS vendor to wake up from a Rip Van Winkle sleep? Buy a copy of Manifold System and see how much power, performance, reliability and value modern technology delivers today. Visit the Manifold.net Online Store for a quick, easy, and secure purchase of Manifold products, or (in the US) call 800-556-5919 to order by telephone (9-5 PST).