Creating a Marketing List and Exporting to a File

RezOvation Desktop has the ability to create marketing lists by filtering your customers and reservations. Once you have created a marketing list, you can export this list to a file, which can be used with marketing services (e.g. Constant Contact) or in other programs like Excel or Word.

Steps for Creating a Custom Search

To get started, open the Select Names screen by clicking the Select Names button..

Click on the Begin New Selection button on the very bottom of the Select Names screen.

The Make Selection dialogue will appear.

Steps to using the Make Selection dialogue:

1. Use the Type drop down to begin your selection. Examples of a Type you might select are "Referral", "Has E-mail", and "Occasion".
   
2. The Criteria choices allow you to customize your searches. Not all of the choices will be available for all searches. Keep in mind that you can do searches based on basic data, preferences that you set for checkboxes, referral sources, customer interests, length of stay, invoice total, etc. The quality of the search is directly related to how well you track this information in your every day transactions. The Criteria options are:
   
   
   • = Criteria means that you wish to search for a type equal to the criteria entered. This is the most common type of selection. For example, you might want to search for all guests with a "Referral Source" of "Magazine Advertisement".
   • < Criteria means that you wish to select a type less than the criteria entered. For example, this would work well if you wanted to search for zip codes smaller than a certain beginning number. This would allow you to send geographic marketing letters, or to exclude certain geographic regions.
   • > Criteria means you wish to select a type greater than the criteria entered. For example, you can select "City" and then type "J" in the Criteria field. You would then select all cities after the letter "J" in the alphabet.
   • <> Criteria means you wish to select a type not equal to the criteria entered. For example, you may have a Contact Check Box Flag called "VIP". If you wish to perform a search that will exclude all of your VIP guests, you might use this type and select VIP. Note: You could also pick "VIP" under Type, choose the = sign, and then click on "Remove from Selection" to accomplish the same thing.
     
3. The Criteria drop down menu will change based on what you choose in step 1.
   
4. Click Add to Selection to add all records that match the criteria to the list.
   
   Note: if you have already used the Add to Selection option, you can fine tune the list by using the Remove from Selection option to remove any records that you do not want. For example, you could create a list first using criteria "Referral = Word of Mouth", and then remove any records that have criteria "Repeat" in order to target guests with only one reservation.
5. Repeat Steps 1-4 to add or subtract from your original query.
   
6. Click on the Close button.
   

The selected list will then appear on the Select Names Screen. At that point, if you wish to modify the list further click on the "Change existing Selection" button on the bottom of the screen. If you are satisfied with your selection you can then use the icons at the top of the Select Names Screen to create mailing labels, export the list to another program, or send as an e-mail marketing letter.

Tip: The "Display Previous Selection" button will display the last selection you made. You may also change an existing selection by clicking on "Change Existing Selection."

When you are finished creating your custom list choose any of the features at the top of the Select Names Screen to print custom letters, labels, export files to other programs, or e-mail customers! RezOvation even has special e-mail permission tools so you do not send marketing e-mails to people who do not want them.

Exporting to a CSV file

CSV files are typically used when you want to import your list into another software application (e.g. Excel or Word), or use an email marketing program like Constant Contact or iContact.

When you are finished creating your custom list choose click on the "Export selection to file" icon on the top of the Select Names Screen.

Once you click on the export icon RezOvation will tell you the name of the export file and where you can locate it, e.g. C:\Program Files\RezOvation\contacts.csv. This file can then be e-mailed or opened in Microsoft Word, Access, or Excel, or used with a marketing application.

You will also be prompted with the question "Include contacts that have been flagged to not receive mailings?" If you choose YES then contacts with the MAIL OK flag NOT selected will be exported. If you choose "NO", then contacts with the "MAIL OK" flag checked will NOT be exported.