An introduction to profile updates

You can use the Profile Updates feature to create forms that will allow recipients to add or update personal information (e.g. gender, location, etc.) or answer additional questions that allow you to better segment them (e.g. by assigning them to groups).

The goal is to have more information on your recipients so that you can send them more relevant messages.

When to use profile updates

Profile update forms can be used in a variety of circumstance. For example:

Ask recipients to add information to their profile to take advantage of an offer or promotion (e.g. add your birthday and month and receive an automatic discount on your birthday)
Ask recipients to review and update the information that's already on file
Ask recipients to specify additional interests they may have (e.g. by offering them to check topics that interest them, where the topics are Groups in the selected List)
... and many more scenarios

Profile update forms are a fundamental tool in your effort to build a richer recipients database, which will allow you to better segment your customers and send them messages that they are more likely to be interested in.

Where is data stored

When you use the Profile Updates feature, data is saved into the recipients' database in the Recipients fields that you chose to include in the form. When a recipient updates the information in the form, he/she is updating their profile in the recipients' database.

If one of the fields in the form is used to define the user's association with one or more groups (the field name is "group" and the field values are the group numbers), then that piece of information is stored in terms of the user's belonging to the selected groups. For example, a question on the form could be: "Which sports do you like?" and the answer could be a series of checkboxes that correspond to groups you have created in your administration console. When users update the form, their association with the checked groups will be updated in the contacts database.

Related pages

Add a new profile update form
View existing profile update forms
Edit an existing profile update form
Personalize the hosted page that displays messages (e.g. "Thanks for updating your profile!")
Personalize the email that is sent to access a "private" form