Email notification when a new subscriber enters a Data Extension

Question

Is there a way to send out an automated email notification (to a pre-defined email address) every time a new subscriber enters a Data Extension in SFMC?

Thanks

Answer 1

Approach 1: Use AMPscripting to calculate new records

Step 1: Create a simple email that will have following ampscripting (my example uses new records today but you can tweak this to new records in the past hour).

%%[
VAR @currentSystemTime, @Today
SET @currentSystemTime = NOW()
SET @Today= FormatDate(SystemDateToLocalDate(@currentSystemTime), "YYYY-MM-DD")
]%%
%%[
var @rows, @row, @rowCount, @numRowsToReturn, @i
set @rows = LookupRows("TestDE","SubmissionDate",@Today)
set @rowCount = rowcount(@rows)
if @rowCount > 0 then
for @i = 1 to @rowCount do
var @EmailAddress
set @row = row(@rows,@i) /*get row based on loop counter */
set @EmailAddress = field(@row,"EmailAddress")
]%%

Step 2: Set up an automation that runs on your cadence, with the email in Step 1.

Pros: Not too many steps Cons: An email will be send based on the cadence you chose, even if 0 records were added.

Approach 2: Use SQL to calculate new records

Step 1: Create a field named Entry_Dt (data type: date; nullable field; set default value to current date). Whenever a record is inserted into the DE, the current date will be added to the record.

Step 2: Build a new DE that will capture results of SQL that will run in Step 3.

Step 3: Build a SQL query that returns all records that were inserted into the DE in the past hour (or your preferred cadence), based on the Entry_Dt field in Step 1.

Step 4: Create a list of email addresses who should receive this new records emails by building a list under Subscribers > My Subscribers > My Lists.

Step 5: Build a simple email that captures the results from the DE that you created in Step 2.

Step 6: Build an automation that runs the SQL, add a validation rule that check how many new records exist. If > 0, then Send email, else end automation.

Pros: Only sends an email when new records are added. Cons: More steps involved

Hope this helps!