Book Depot Custom List Tool - Templating & Auto-Scheduling

Custom List Tool: Templating and Auto-Scheduling

March 2, 2019

Life is busy—there are more things we need to do in a day than there are hours available! We understand that for some people, looking at product is a necessity, and for others, it is an ever-eluding desire. You wish you could carve out an hour of your day (or week) to check out what’s new at Book Depot, but it becomes an afterthought in all of the hustle and bustle of your day-to-day schedule.

With Book Depot’s new Custom List tool, we have created a very easy way for you to make a custom shoppable list on our website that will save you time! This tutorial focuses on the final steps before you complete your list, where you have the ability to template and auto-schedule it so that reviewing Book Depot product is quicker and easier than ever. The goal of this tool is to give you more control over the flow of information and create helpful ways to fit our product lists into your schedule!

What exactly do we mean by template? If you think of it in terms of a word processing or design template, it is a structure that allows you to repeat a pattern using a predetermined set of guidelines. In terms of creating a Book Depot catalog template, you have the ability to save the filters you are interested in seeing (categories, publishers, bindings, etc.) and repeat that query as often you would like against our ever-changing inventory.

Video Tutorial

Here is a brief video tutorial to show you how to use this tool:

Step-by-Step Instructions

Let’s walk through a simple scenario to demonstrate how to use the tool. Say you only want to create a board book list. We will create a simple catalog by selecting format from our list of editable attributes, and then selecting board books from the full list of formats.

FINALIZE

Moving ahead to the Finalize page, you now have the ability to take your list and template it, and then schedule an email so you are automatically notified at the frequency of your choosing. The first thing you will want to do on the Finalize page is name your list (in this instance we will just call it “Board Book List”). Next, click the checkbox beside Create as template. Once you check that box, a new menu of options will pop up. This is the convenient Auto-Scheduling tool, which gives you the ability to have your list sent to you by email as often as you would like. Let’s break down each option.

Recurrence Pattern

The first element you will want to set is your Recurrence pattern. This is where you will select the regular frequency of the email—weekly, monthly, or yearly.

Start and End Date

After you select your frequency, you can select your start date and end date. The start date is the first day you would like your list emailed to you. The end date is preset to run indefinitely, but you can select a final date if you wish.

Weekly/Monthly/Yearly

The section below the start and end dates will change depending on your recurrence pattern.

Weekly

If your pattern is to send weekly, you will have the ability to modify the time gap between sends. For instance, if you only want to receive the list every other week, you can select weekly for your recurrence but increase the numeric field to 2 so that it says “Send every 2 weeks.” If you leave this field set at 1, you will receive the list every week. From here, you can choose which weekdays you would like to receive your list email. You have the ability to select as many days as you would like.

Monthly

If you select monthly, you will see that this section changes slightly. You now have the ability to send your list every set number of months on the day of your choosing. For example, “Send every 2 months on day 15” means that your list will be emailed to you every other month on the 15th of that month.

Yearly

When you change the recurrence pattern to yearly, the section slightly changes again. Now you have the ability to select the yearly frequency as well as the day of your choosing. When the date field is selected, a small calendar will appear to help you select the month and day. The yearly option would be helpful in an instance where you have an event you need to buy for only once a year. You now have the ability to build a template and schedule it to be sent to your email annually.

Email Notification

The last section allows you to include the email address(es) your list will be sent to as well as customize the email message itself. The default email address is the one that is associated with your account. However, if you would like to replace your default email with a different one, you can do so by clicking the small “x” on the right-hand side of the blue button. Here, you also have the ability to add additional emails if you would like others on your team to receive these regular lists as well. As for the messaging, we have a default subject line as well as a blank body paragraph that will populate once the email is sent, but you can change and/or add any other information you would like.

Create

Now that you have entered all of your preferences, you are ready to click the green Create button. By clicking Create, you have officially saved your template and scheduled your recurring email. You are now done and can put your feet up as you wait for your next list email to arrive!

Template and Auto-Schedule Screenshot