sFTP setup guide

1. How does it work?

Storyteq supports the use of Secure File Transfer Protocol (sFTP) to import and export your data from CSV (UTF-8) spreadsheets to generate batches of media. Storyteq can schedule the transfer of data in and out on an agreed time on a daily or hourly basis. In order for the Storyteq platform to connect to your sFTP server, we need:

• A host name for your sFTP server.

• A username and password for your sFTP server.

• The port of your sFTP server.

• An import directory, this is where you can periodically place your CSV file. Each CSV file needs to have a unique name in order to be imported so we advice to timestamp them automatically.

• An export directory, this is where Storyteq will store your enriched CSV file. Three columns are added to your original CSV:

  • storyteq_video_url

  • storyteq_gif_url or storyteq_image_url

  • storyteq_hash

Once we are provided with access, please store an example CSV with all data required for generating media on the sFTP server in the import directory. Storyteq will set up the mapping between your CSV columns and the template and take care of the rest!

Once the connection is successful, a daily or hourly process will scan your import directory for new CSV files, and translate each row in your spreadsheet into a request to generate media. After an hour, all generated media is collected and your original CSV will be enriched with the columns described above. The enriched CSV will be stored under its original name in the export folder. The CSV in the import directory will be deleted.

2. After the export

From this point forward, you can use the (usually out of the box) features of your CRM system to import the enriched spreadsheet from the export folder and kick off you e-mailing flow (or any other flow for that matter).

The storyteq_hash can be passed on from the email as a URL query string parameter to dynamically construct a link to your landing page and load the video trough our video player. Another option is to use storyteq_video_url in case you prefer your own player. A possible upside of using our player is automatic collection of video analytics that will be visible in the Storyteq platform.

Using your email templating solution, you can use the storyteq_gif_url or storyteq_image_url to populate the source of the image in the emails that you’re going to send out. We also advise to make the gif or image clickable with the dynamically constructed link to your landing page. 

You can implement all the above using merge tags in your mailing software. Depending on which software you use, merge tags may also be known as personalization fields, substitution strings, or personalization tags. These tags allow you to insert data from your mailing list or contacts directly into your email templates.