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User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to IBM WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.9 and Feautre Pack 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions.
Operating
IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce
The IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce, or Management Center, is a suite of tools to support store management, merchandising, and marketing tasks for business users (Sellers, Marketing Managers, Product Managers, Catalog Managers, and others).
Marketing tool
Use the Marketing tool in Management Center to create and manage marketing campaigns and other store content (excluding catalog content). You can use the extensive precision marketing features in the tool to deliver targeted marketing messages to customers.
Working with web and dialog activities
Web and dialog activities are managed by Marketing Managers. They are used to deliver brand or promotional messages to customers through a variety of methods.
Activity building blocks: triggers, targets, and actions
When you build a marketing activity using the Activity Builder, your building blocks are triggers, targets, and actions. These building blocks are represented as icons, or elements, in the palette. You select elements from the palette and place them in a precise order along a flow that represents the marketing activity. It is important that you understand how to use triggers, targets, and actions effectively so that you get the result you want.
Triggers in Dialog activities
Triggers define the event that causes your Dialog activity to start or continue. Use triggers to wait for a customer to do something, for an event to occur, or for a period of time to elapse. To include a trigger in a Dialog activity, drag the trigger from the palette into the activity flow in the Activity Builder.
Trigger: Wait
Use this trigger in dialog activities to specify a waiting period in the activity. When the waiting period ends, the activity continues and the customer proceeds to the next element in the activity flow. This is an effective way to automate follow-up marketing actions. For example, sending promotional emails to customers who do not place an order within a certain period since they registered on the site.

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Trigger: Wait

Use this trigger in dialog activities to specify a waiting period in the activity. When the waiting period ends, the activity continues and the customer proceeds to the next element in the activity flow. This is an effective way to automate follow-up marketing actions. For example, sending promotional emails to customers who do not place an order within a certain period since they registered on the site.

Example

Here is an example of a dialog activity that uses the Wait trigger effectively:

When a customer registers with the store, wait for 7 days. Then, check the customer's purchase history to determine whether the customer placed an order since registration. If not, send the customer an email message that offers a coupon for 10% off an order that is placed in the next week. Issue the coupon to the customer.

Example of Trigger: Wait

Prerequisites for using this trigger

Make sure that your site is configured to support the Management Center marketing features.

Guidelines for using this trigger

In the Activity Builder, place the Wait trigger to the right of another trigger or an action, as shown in the previous example. It is not recommended that you place a Wait trigger as the first element in an activity flow.
If you set the Start date and End date for a dialog activity that contains the Wait trigger, the duration of the activity must be longer than the sum of all Wait triggers. In the previous example, the Wait trigger is set to seven days. Therefore, the duration of this dialog activity must be longer than seven days; otherwise no customers receive the email or the coupon because the activity ends before the wait period elapses.