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Overview

The API and Zaius Channels allow you to deliver content or update attributes through any third-party provider with API access. You can add these channels to One-time, Behavioral, and Transactional campaigns as touchpoints, the same way you would add an email or SMS to your campaign. 

The API and Zaius Channels have a wide range of use cases. You should consider taking advantage of them anytime you want to send data from one platform to another. Zaius will act as the connection between the two, so you could easily activate data in one platform, using the data you pulled from another. 

For instance, imagine that you use Zendesk to manage customer support and you sync segments of customers with open tickets to Zaius. With our API Channel, you can pass these segments to your LoyaltyLion account and suppress them from campaigns that ask customers to provide product reviews.  

Passing the data from LoyaltyLion to Zendesk is possible, even if the two don’t have an integration. Zaius serves as the bridge between the two, as long as you have an integration between Zaius-and-LoyaltyLion and Zaius-and-Zendesk.  

What’s the difference between the API Channel and the Zaius Channel?

The Zaius Channel is a pre-configured version of the API Channel, which makes its setup more user-friendly for Marketers. 

The API channel is a flexible way to call any API within the execution of a campaign. Even if Zaius doesn't have a formal integration with a given third-party tool, the API channel allows marketers to send data from Zaius to the tool.

The Zaius channel is built on top of the API channel as a preconfigured way to send data back into Zaius. Since Zaius knows where the data is headed, you don’t need to deal with the overhead of setting up APIs, like adding headers to include the content type and API keys. Additionally, the Zaius Channel also obfuscates the API calls themselves into more user-friendly inputs (e.g., simply clicking which fields you want to update on the customer records, instead of specifically needing to know how to call the profiles API endpoint with new field/value pairs).

Run a Campaign with API Channel

Step 1: Enable API Channel in the App Directory

• Navigate to the App Directory and click on the API Channel tile
  
  
  
  
• Click the Install App button to enable the channel
  
  
  

Step 2: Add API Channel to a campaign

• Create a new campaign and add API Channel as a touchpoint from the list of available channels
  
  
  
  
• Under the Targeting section, select your Target Identifier. If your API identifies users by email, for example, choose Last Seen Email.
  
  
  
  
• Add any necessary headers, such as content-type or x-api-key, under Headers
• Configure the rest of your API call as the message 
• For instance, if your goal is to send customer attributes to another system, you would POST to a specified API endpoint (e.g., https://example.api/customers), and send the desired data in the endpoint's expected format (e.g., as a block of JSON which contains specific attributes). See the below screenshot for the complete example.
  
  
  
• Click Preview to see your setup and verify
• If you’re satisfied with your setup, click Go Live

Run a Campaign with Zaius Channel

Step 1: Enable Zaius Channel in the App Directory

• Navigate to the App Directory and click on the Zaius Channel tile
  
  
  
  
• Click the Install App button to enable the channel
  
  
  

Step 2: Add Zaius Channel to a campaign

• Create a new campaign/touchpoint and choose Zaius Channel from the list of available channels
• Under the Targeting section, select your Target Identifier. Choose the one you know your customers will have, such as Phone for SMS opt-in updates.
• Under Configure, choose to enable either customer updates or subscription updates
• If you selected Customer Updates, you will need to select the number of fields
• If you selected Subscription Updates, you’ll have to specify to which list(s) you want to subscribe or unsubscribe customers. Additionally, you can choose to update the customers’ global consent to the identifier. 
• For example, if you are using the Zaius Channel to update the SMS opt-in status of customers, you would select Subscribe under Changes to the Identifier’s Global Consent (and under Target Identifier, you would select Phone)
• Click Preview to see your setup and verify
• If you’re satisfied with your setup, click Go Live