Basic Customer Management

Every SmartSpace website comes with the customer database package as standard.  This allows businesses to keep an up to date record of their customers as well as being able to communicate with them in a number of ways.

If used properly, your customer database is a most powerful business tool.

Depending on the modules you are running on your SmartSpace website, the customer database has the following features and capabilities:

Basic Registration

• Register a virtually unlimited number of customers (note that SmartSpace terms of use includes rules on spamming and unwanted communications).
• Either you (the website owner) or a customer can record their registration.
• The customer's personal record covers all SmartSpace websites, although they must take an extra step to register with any one website.
• You can easily find out (by email matching) whether a customer already has a SmartSpace record, and to invite them to register with you (to prevent duplicate registration).
• The registrant has the ability to edit their own record.
• Extra information can be stored on a customer, unique to that website - the customer has access to this information.
• You can send login details to a customer without yourself seeing the details, if you want the customer to access their details.
• You can deactivate a registration to take them out of your working list, but they can be reactivated at any time.

More Features

• You can create your own survey to gain additional information from customers.
• There are a number of ways of searching for registrants including by initials(e.g. JS) and by any part of their name (e.g. Smit).
• You can get a number of reports in different formats including exported *.csv files (spreadsheet format) or screen based formats.
• Reports can also contain varying types of information from contact details to statistical formats.
• You can filter reports in many ways including by age, DOB, gender and more.
• You can save frequently use report parameters.
• You can send personalised bulk emails from every report.
•  Many more membership related features are added if the Membership Module is in use.
• The Groups Module enables more targetted email lists and greater interactive features if enabled

Accessing and Using The Database Manager

• Get to the Database Manager by logging in to your website then clicking Manage (very top of your website) > Database Manager.
• You land on the Search page. 
• From there you can
  • Search (if there have been previously registered customers),  - select from the List or Select One Option for Search
  • Register a New Customer,  (Click the link)
  • Get Reports - Use the Global Reports menu
  • Change the setup. - Use the System Selections menu
• If you have the Groups module, you can go directly to the main Groups page via Control Panel > Groups
• You can access administration pages directly by saving them as a Bookmark
  • When you land on one of these pages, you simply enter your login details and proceed
• You can access a previously created record by clicking on the Individual Selections item on the left

Setup

The main setup options which will affect your day to day management of customer registration are;

• How the Customer Management window opens,
• Make a selection depending on your requirements,
• Whether to force gender and birth date information,
• Note that for many businesses, forcing this information from potential registrants will scare them off although it may be necessary for some sporting clubs,
• If other options are available, they may only apply if you have a Membership Management module.

Registering a New Customer

• Click one of the "New Customer" links in the Database manager.
• You may want to check if the email address which is part of the registration is already in the system,
  • Do so by clicking the link near the top,
  • If it is, send them an invitation to register,
  • All they need to do in reply is to click the link in the resultant email and their name will appear in your system.
• If not, continue with the following;
  • Enter details as required.
  • Ensure that the email address (indeed all details) are entered accurately.
  • If you want the customer to be able to review their record or access other parts of your system (e.g. bookings or reservations), tick the "Send Login Details" box,
    • This will result in an email being sent to them containing their login details and providing further instructions on what it is all about.
  • Save or Update the record.
• You can also add more information in the notes section of the Customer Information page.
• If you have setup a survey/questionnaire you may also be prompted to fill in these answers as well.
• If you are forcing gender and DOB information but the DOB is not available, simply place a space or dash in the DOB field.  This will allow the saving of the record.
• Click here to read more on the Duplicate Handling system active in Smartspace

Reports

• Go to Global Reports > Standard Reports to access basic customer/membership reports
• If you have the Groups Module you can also select Groups Report for group filters and formats
• For a simple non filtered report, select the report format you require, then click "Get Database Report",
  • This will provide the required report,
  • If you want to filter the report, click the "Show Advanced Filters" action bar
  • Select as required.
• To Get a Statistical report, click "Statistical Report" in the left hand menu,
  • Select as required.
• To save a report, check the "Save Report" box, then enter the name of the report,
  • Please note that this will produce a report based on the state of data at the time of the report,
  • This data may vary from day to day, depending on a wide range of variables and the filters you select.

Global and Individual Views

Once you have selected an individual and brought up their record, you can make a number of selections all relating to that individual,

• Depending on the modules you have available on your system, this can give you a range of information - often accessed through the left hand Individual Selections.
• When you select "Global Selections", most of the individual menu will vanish and other selections will appear.
• The name of the previous person accessed, will be available as a link (in Individual Selections), whilst in Global view.