Frequently Asked Questions

What are Contacts?

• Contacts are people that interact with your marketing automation workflows.

If I exceed the stated number of Contacts, am I forced to move to the next Edition?

• No, we'd never force you into anything. You can stay at your current Edition, and simply pay for any overages. At some point, it is to your advantage to move to the next Edition, as each item because less expensive on a per item basis, but you are free to do this when the time is right.

How long of a commitment do I need to make to MindFire?

• If you make an annual commitment, you save on your monthly subscription costs. However, all of our plans have a month-to-month, no contract option. As a company, we believe in aligning our interests with yours as much as possible. Nothing keeps us on our toes that having to win your business each month.

Can I do a pilot with the Studio, without entering a long-term agreement?

• Yes. See our month-to-month options.

Can I restrict what certain Users do within my campaigns?

• Yes.

Are the number of Contacts and Sub-accounts on a monthly or annual basis?

• Each Edition provides a certain number of Contacts and Sub-Accounts. At any time, you can import more Contacts (or create more Sub-Accounts), and simply pay the applicable overage fees. These fees are invoiced monthly when applicable.

What are Sub-Accounts?

• Sub-Accounts are "containers" for all the marketing automation data, Contacts, Programs, and Campaigns that belong to one of your Clients. In other words, each of your Clients is one Sub-Account. Having a Sub-Account allows you to segregate the Client's data, keeping it separate from your other Clients. Beneath your primary Account, you can have any number of Sub-Accounts (check your Edition details for costs).

Does the # of Sub-Accounts mean I can only have one client using the Studio?

• If your Edition shows one Sub-Account, this means that Edition comes with the Sub-Account at no additional charge. You are free to add more Sub-Accounts as required, and simply pay the applicable overage fees.

Can I let my customers edit and build campaigns too?

• Yes.

How often is the software updated?

• Weekly. See our change log here.

Do I have to download something in order to access the Studio?

• Yes, you need to download the Studio. It's a thin, Microsoft Silverlight application that runs on Mac and PC.

Can I version my microsite content by browser type?

• Yes.

What is the Studio written in?

• Microsoft Silverlight, the same technology used by Hulu and others.

Can I use the Studio to author emails, but send through my own SMTP servers?

• Not yet, but we have plans to eventually allow you to do this. Let us know if this is important to you here: studio.ideascale.com.

Is there a limit to the number of machines that access the Studio?

• Currently, there is no limit to the # of machine you can install the Studio on.

Can I control who gains access to the Studio?

• Yes. Your Studio's "Power User" can add as many Users as they like, and specify what "Role" (set of permissions) they'd like each User to have. In the future, we may impose User limits, but for now, you're free to add as many as required.

Is this part of LookWho'sClicking?

• No. This is a different product. Take a look at MindFireInc.com for more information.

When was the Platform & Studio released?

• The Platform went to Alpha in July in of 2011. We entered Beta in January of 2012. 67 accounts participated in Beta. In June of 2012, we started bringing aboard paying Clients.

Does the Power User of an account have the ability to view all the campaigns from a high level view?

• They can certainly see all the Campaigns in their Account. They can easily log in to their sub-accounts and view the campaigns there. But an aggregate view of all campaigns in all sub-accounts - not yet.

If I have multiple sub accounts, with multiple campaigns, how do I see all that I have in the system?

• Right now, you can log in to each sub-account and view the campaigns. There is no master view yet.

If you have more than one designer working on a published campaign, what prevents them from overwriting each other's work?

• If you Collaborate with other Users, you must first check out the item you want to edit. When it is checked out, another person can view it but can't make changes. When you're done, you check it back in.
  We're using the words "Enable Editing" and "Publish Edits" for these two actions, since early alpha users were confused by "check out" and "check in" -- although we feel they're probably the best terms since they are pretty standard in the industry. We may revert back to them.

Can we host the database elsewhere?

• Yes and no. It is not possible to host the Contact Database while still using our version of MindFire Studio. However, it is possible to host the entire Studio program on your own server. If you are interested, please let us know.

How do I regain control of a Program if someone checks out elements from a program (by using "Enable Editing") but leaves the company?

• Currently, the admin user will have to reset that users password and log in as that user to check the elements back in. There is a feature request on the roadmap that will give the admin the ability to check in/out elements for each user without using their login (no date estimate yet).

How do I format a Personalized URL?

• You can either upload a custom PURL field with your data, or you can configure the PURL in the same part of the User Interface as setting rules for Duplicates. When you need to set this up, either we will have a video available, or MindFire Support will be able to walk you through the procedure.

How does the Studio deal with duplication in Personalized URLs?

• If the PURL configuration causes a duplicate PURL (for example, if there are more than on John Smiths in the database), the system will append a three-digit number to the PURL. If you want to handle duplicate PURLs differently, you will need to upload a custom PURL field to the database with duplicate handling already included in your data.

If a field name is misspelled in the survey, can they be mapped correctly after the fact?

• Yes and no. The field name can be corrected, but only subsequent visits will write the information correctly. Anything that has already been recorded will not be moved to the modified location.

Can I test for validation to make sure that the fields are mapped correctly (also for variables on pages)?

• This is not available in the User Interface, but this could be possible through the API with custom programming.

Can we export records in XML format?

• XML export is not possible in the current User Interface. However, we have a new "Outbound App" module that is currently in beta testing that will give technical users the ability to produce an XML file export.

When will Facebook be added to the Outbounds?

• This is on the roadmap for Professional Services to add to the new Outbound App module. However, no release date has been set yet.

How do I move a domain from LookWho'sClicking to MindFire Studio?

• If, for example, the domain was registered through GoDaddy, the nameservers will need to be changed from the LWC nameservers back to the default GoDaddy nameservers. You will then modify and/or add the A records with the MindFire Studio IP address (see "Adding a Domain" video here).

Can you use one domain on both LookWho'sClicking and Studio?

• No and yes. You cannot use the root domain for both, but it is possible to configure it so that the domain is used on one platform and a sub-domain is used on the other.

How do I improve the deliverability of my emails?

• We enable you to send transactional and opt-in marketing email. We do not permit our customers to send unsolicited email of any kind. We take abuse of our services very seriously. If you have questions, concerns or information regarding abuse of our services, please contact us immediately. It is important to note that your deliverability is largely based on factors relating to your email lists, content and practices.
• We do everything that can be done from a technology perspective to improve your deliverability, however deliverability is also based heavily on the quality of your lists, content and practices. These items include:
  - How many invalid vs good email addresses you have tried to deliver to
  - How often your email is marked as spam
  - How often people complain about your email

What happens when my emails are sent to invalid address, or the recipients complain?

• Delivering email to invalid email addresses, or to recipients that complain, hurts your reputation as a sender which reduces your ability to deliver email to the people that matter. Our suppression list system automatically blocks email to any known invalid email address or any email address from which you have received a complaint.

How do we connect to you via API?

• All our APIs are RESTful. We also have a .net SDK.

Do you integrate w/my CRM?

• We are currently working to integrate with a variety of CRMs, including SalesForce.com and Microsoft. As soon as we're done, you'll know.

I like your Reports, but can I build my own version?

• Yes. See our RESTFul APIs here: studio.mdl.io/REST