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Purpose of the application
MarketSpace is a RE tool for sharing the listings & availabilities with potential clients as well as organizing easier communication with leads.
Application UI
The content on the page consists of the left sidebar, the navigation bar, and the main content area.
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Left sidebar
The left sidebar contains the logo and the menu with the following tabs: Dashboards, Contacts, Listings, Collaboration rooms, Deal rooms, Documents, Marketing Lists, Email campaigns, Static Lists, Images, and Color Themes. The Admin user can see also Internal Users, Guests, Admin Dashboard, Config Templates, Mapping, and Picklist Values.
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By clicking on the burger menu icon, the menu can be collapsed and unrolled back.
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Navigation bar
In the navigation bar, there are the following icons available:
Notifications
In the notification center, any notifications about events, reminders, and system activities are stored. [more detailed info is here]
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Chat messages
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In chat messages, there are Deal rooms and Collaboration rooms listed with the last updates in them. They can be entered as well via this icon.
Org Settings
There are 2 tabs in Org Settings: Email Setup and SEO.
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In the SEO tab, the user can adjust the visibility of the listing in the portal for the Google search engine.
Help Center
Via this icon, the Help center on the Ascencix website can be opened.
Profile
In the Profile tab, the following settings are based:
user profile;
contact info;
services (integrations);
licenses;
notifications management;
Open in Guest view
The user can see the view the same as the Guest user would see this portal.
User Roles in the application
There are 2 options to use the Marketspace listing portal: as a registered or a non-registered user.
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Admin users can turn Guest user into Internal User - full-fledged user with the fullest set of opportunities on the portal.
MarketSpace working principles
MarketSpace can be used via 2 options:
as an add-on to SalesForce by using its database;
as a standalone application with its own database.
Synchronization with xRE
In this option, MarketSpace takes the data from SalesForce and processes it. To create a listing, property or availability in MarketSpace, the user must create them on the SalesForce side and sync data between SalesForce and MarketSpace. There are 2 options how to do it:
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Images cannot be synced and should be added manually.
Listing portal
In MarketSpace, there are 3 entities that can be edited:
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Properties do not exist as a separate entity and are synced (for xRE version) or can be created (for a standalone version) as a part of a listing.
Actions for listings for xRE-synchronized version
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review in MarketSpace or Open in SF: the user can review the information taken from xRE in MarketSpace, and open the record in xRE. After selecting this option, the user will be redirected to the corresponding record in SF in the separate tab;
add images, documents, and video tour URL: the added materials will not be synchronized with xRE;
create collaboration and deal rooms;
generate a report: the same functionality as xRE has when the user selects a template and records and gets a generated report that will be automatically downloaded once will be ready;
send the listing via email: the user initiates the opening of the email client on the PC and the link to the selected listing(-s) will be auto-substituted there.
add a listing to Static list: it helps to fix particular listings in a specific list that will be saved with such content even if the number or the content of the listings will be changed in the future. In other words, it helps to save listings in their view at this particular moment;
Publish/Unpublish to the listing portal: the broker operates on the portal and can open access to the listings or close it. If the portal is not opened to search engines, people cannot find it but can review listings that were published (if they were shared). If a listing was not published, no one except the broker can see its content.
initiate email campaign: to attract more leads, the broker can create and send advertising email campaigns. The selected listings will be automatically substituted into the campaign as a point of offering.
Actions for listings for a standalone version
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In addition to what was mentioned about the xRE-related version (except, the “Open in SF” option), the user can do the following:
Edit;
Copy;
Add Availability;
Deactivate.
Filters
Attention! By default, only active records are displayed in the search result. To see the inactive records, this parameter should be selected in the “Record status“ filter.
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and reset via these buttons (the difference is in the area of reset (local and for all parameters):
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Other functionality of the listing portal
In the listing portal, the user can:
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In the Map view, the broker can use a map to search for listings via location. There are 3 shape options are available: circle, rectangle, and manual. The user can draw them on the map, and the search result will contain only options within the selected area.
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Collaboration & Deal rooms
Collaboration room
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Purpose
A collaboration room is a special space where the broker and the client of the deal can discuss cooperation nuances. It was created with the following goals:
simplify communication between the broker and potential client(-s);
store everything related to the potential deal in one place (all messages, documents, preferences, selections, etc.)
simplify the process of offering and discussing the listings & availabilities;
How to create a Collaboration room
To create the Collaboration room, the broker can follow one of the ways:
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The link to the room can be copied and shared manually, or sent via email. the participants are selected among the existing contacts.
Actions available in a Collaboration room
In a Collaboration room, the broker can do the following:
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In the opened popup, there are 2 options for how to share the link:
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Deal room
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Purpose
The deal room is a logical continuation of the Collaboration room when the object of selling is 100% determined and the broker and the client discuss the precise nuances for the cooperation and agreement. This room has the following goals:
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Collaboration and Deal room do not have any connection and should be created independently. There is no duty to create both rooms - if the broker wants, they can discuss everything within only 1 type of room, however, some limitations of these rooms can occur.
How to create a Deal room
Open the Deal room tab and create it from scratch;
Select the required listings and create a room with them;
Open Salesforce and click “Open” room in the corresponding Deal (if any);
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The principles of creating the deal room are similar to the collaboration room, however, deal rooms are more secure and the broker can add an NDA to it, so every new participant will need to sign it before joining.
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Actions available in a Collaboration room
In a Collaboration room, the broker can do the following:
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For Deal rooms, there is no option to allow Anonymous access.
Inquiries
This tab is visible in a standalone version of MarketSpace. It collects all requests that were sent by the listing portal’s visitors.
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Contact;
Preference;
Collaboration Room.
Documents
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In MarketSpace, the broker can upload and save files by using it as storage. If uploaded once, the files can be reused multiple times. Bulk uploading is available: up to 100 files at a time, up to 50 MB for a file.
Images
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The images are stored separately from other documents. If uploaded once, the images can be reused multiple times. Bulk uploading is available: up to 100 files at a time, up to 50 MB for a file.
Static Lists
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Static Lists are the fixed-in-time files that save the data about listings in that moment of time and will not be updated if the listing will be updated. There are 2 options to create such a list:
open the Static List tab and click “+“;
select the required listings and add them to the list.
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Color Themes
Color Themes are the custom themes that can identify the listing portal with the client’s brand.
The information about this functionality is available via the link.
Dashboards
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In this tab, the user can see the overview of the most important metrics:
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this week;
this month;
this year.
Admin Dashboards
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Admin Dashboards are available for Admin users only (are not visible in the menu for usual users) and show the statistics of all the users in the organization.
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this week;
this month;
this year.
Contacts
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For the xRE-related version, contacts & preferences are synced from there and all the actions (like editing, deleting, etc.) should be applied to them in xRE to be displayed in MarketSpace; for a standalone version, contacts & preferences can be created, and modified in MarketSpace.
Contacts can be organized into Marketing Lists.
Marketing Lists
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A Marketing list is an organized group of contacts who were gathered by criteria.
The main purpose of Marketing lists is to create email campaigns. Mailchimp API is used to arrange email campaigns, so the logic of composing campaigns is replicated in MarketSpace - the campaign can be sent to groups of people, not to particular people directly.
Email campaigns
Email campaigns mean arranging a series of marketing efforts that are sent via email to multiple people at once to advertise their services, and cover the broker’s need to sell and lease properties online in an active way. The current listing portal allows us to place the information and be waiting for clients who can find this or that listing via Google search, but this is too dependent on the occasion.
How to start an email campaign
The 1st step is connecting a Mailchimp account. Currently, only this service is available in MarketSpace, so connecting a Mailchimp account is a must to initiate the campaign.
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The 2nd step is organizing contacts into Marketing Lists.
Entry points to start the email campaign
There are 3 options to initiate the email campaign.
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via Listings tab: in this case, the selected listings will be auto-substituted to the campaign.
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via Marketing Lists: in this case, the selected marketing lists will be auto-substituted to the campaign.
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Email campaign wizard
Email campaign wizard is a flow organized into 5 steps that allow creating and launching an email campaign. It has a step counter that allows moving between steps easier and identifies whether the step is passed (with green checkmarks).
Step 1. Setup
In this step, the user can fill the main information about the campaign like its name, subject, preview text, and the name and email of the sender.
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The step is not required to move forward, so this data can be filled in later.
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Step 2. Template
In this step, the user can select the template from Composer Online. Only Email templates built on Listing and Availability collections are displayed. Only 1 template can be used per campaign. This step is required, so the future steps keep locked until the user selects the template.
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Since the template built on the Listing collection was selected, the 3rd step name was updated to “Listings“. For the case with Availability collection, it would have the “Availabilities“ name.
Step 3. Collection
This step looks like the Listings tab in MarketSpace. Here the user should select the listings to use in an email campaign. The number of availabilities cannot be adjusted. If the selected template contains the fields bounded to Availabilities, the data about all availabilities within the selected listings will be grabbed by the report. If the selected template does not contain anything related to the collection “Availability“, their number does not matter.
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If the user has a selection of items (listings or availabilities) and changes the type of the template, but then changes their mind and returns to the previous type of the template, the selection will be saved.
Trigger the report generation
Once the user selects a template and items in the collection (listings or availabilities) and moves to the next step, the report generation is triggered. During this process, the user cannot make any edits related to templates and listings/availabilities as well as save a campaign.
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Every new report (triggered by changing either template or collection items) replaces the previous one in the email campaign wizard, but all of them are stored in Composer Online. There is no option to call the previously generated report if a new one was generated after - only generate the required report by reproducing the same conditions (template + listings or availabilities). Once the user saved the campaign as a draft or sends it, the lastly generated report is assigned to the current campaign, and all other reports that were generated within it are removed from Composer Online.
Step 4. Recipients
In this step, the future recipients can be selected. This page imitates the Marketing Lists tab with the list of available MLs.
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The total number of recipients is displayed above the list of them.
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Step 5. Summary
In the 5th step, the user can ensure that the selected data for the campaign is valid. On the left sidebar, there is the info collected from the 1st-4th steps, and in the Preview area, the generated report is displayed. By clicking on the “edit“ icons, the user will be redirected to the corresponding step.
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The generated report can be edited. The user can click on the “edit“ button and the report will be opened in Composer Online in a separate tab. Once the edits are done and saved, the user can click on the “update” button, so the changes can be grabbed to the email campaign wizard.
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Save as draft
The campaign is not automatically saved in MarketSpace, and the user can do it manually by clicking on the Save as Draft button. After this, the campaign will be closed and opened again from the step where this button was pressed. Saving as draft triggers removes the previously generated reports within a campaign and saves the last one. Such a campaign has a status “Draft“. The drafts are saved on the MarketSpace side and are not shared with Mailchimp (cannot be found in the Mailchimp account outside MarketSpace).
Send the campaign
Once the user presses Send, the campaign is sent to Mailchimp and gains the status “Sent“. It can be found in the Mailchimp account now:
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The user can open the Statistics of the campaign by clicking on the action menu → Open Statistics. They will be redirected to Mailchimp:
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Error handling in the email campaign wizard
Removed artifact
If the generated artifact was removed in the background (by the user or the Admin who has rights for this), it is not a big issue since it can be regenerated.
For drafts: after opening the draft, the user will see the notification:
If the user selects “Regenerate now“, the report’s generation starts immediately. If the user presses “Regenerate later“, they can review the campaign and regenerate the report later by clicking on the button on the 5th step, or by selecting new conditions for the report (template and/or listings/availabilities).
For usual flow: the same flow but the lack of the report will be recognized once the user presses Send.
Removed template
This case does not block sending of the campaign since the report was already generated and can be used. The 2nd step keeps marked as “passed“, however, the notification about the template deletion is displayed there:
If the user selects a new template, it will trigger new report generation without the opportunity to return to the previous one in the email campaign wizard.
Deactivated listings/availabilities or marketing lists
If the user removes the listing/availability in SalesForce or deactivates the Marketing list in MarketSpace and sends the campaign, the popup will be displayed:
The user has 3 options:
- cancel sending and manually handle the issue;
- send the campaign without inactive items. In this case, the campaign will be sent but all inactive items will bi filtered;
- send anyway. In this case, the campaign will be sent with inactive items too.Updating of the campaign by Admin (or another user with the relevant right)
If any user who has access to the owner’s campaign, edits it, and the owner of the campaign opens this campaign, they will see the notification about some edits made:
Campaign deletion
Drafts. Since drafts are saved on MarketSpace’s side, they can be easily deleted by the user with the relevant rights and no 3rd party applications are involved.
Sent campaigns.
- if the user, who deleted the campaign, was logged in to the Mailchimp account from where this campaign was sent, the campaign will be deleted in both Mailchimp and MarketSpace;
- if the user, who deleted the campaign, was not logged in to the Mailchimp account from there this campaign was sent, the campaign will be deleted in MarketSpace only, and will keep available in Mailchimp. It can be removed only from Mailchimp’s side now;
- if the user manually removed the campaign from Mailchimp, it will keep available in MarketSpace (no backward compatibility is set between the applications). It can be removed from MarketSpace’s side manually.
Configuration Tool
Overview
Users with the role “Config Editor" can have access to the customization of some templates. These templates are different and configurable for both (MarketSpace and MSGuest) configs:
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Please refer to “Config Templates” in the left menu (R7) or the "Gear” icon in the header (R7.1)
Filters
You can use filters in the filter panel to shorter the list of available templates for the organization
You can filter by configuration, entity, and template type.
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How to use the configuration tool
copy an existing template by clicking on the "Copy” button in the action menu
Change the default name in the “Name" textbox to be able to find your new template and click save
Find your template in the search results and click on the “Open configuration tool" in the action menu
Now you can add, remove or change existing fields
Mapping tool
Users with the role “Config Editor" and organizations with SalesForce can have access to the mappings customization. You will be able to change default field mapping or add a new field for data sync from SalesForce to MarketSpace.
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