I went on to Tommy Hilfiger’s site and I instantly got this splash screen:

I love their products and getting 20% off for simply registering is a great idea to me! I went ahead and registered and sure enough a little bit later in the Balfe household I get an email to verify my email address and account with a coupon code!

So how did they do this? Well, I don’t know exactly how they did it but I can pretty much guess.

First, they set up a flash advertisement on the site for unauthenticated customers to show the “Register Now” page. This is a pretty basic rule and easy to accomplish using the tooling. Once the customer registers, there is an event (a trigger) that is sent to the commerce system that a dialog activity can catch. Here is a basic flow of a dialog activity that sends an email when a customer registers (link to InfoCenter):

Email Templates can be used to have generic emails with key fields and advertisements put into a template. Below is a sample email template from the Madisons Starter store. Notice the “Insert Content” button where you can select from a range of fields and content like First Name, Last Name, Link, Content Spot, E-Marketing Spot, and Promotion.

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The coupon model they most likely used was a coupon set up for 20% and a redemption count of “one”. Here is a sample promotion image cut out from the Management Center showing some of the options for redemption:

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Dialog activities are a powerful feature and you have the flexibility to use the many built in triggers or create your own triggers.  From the Info Center, here is a list of the current out of the box triggers for dialog activities:

Trigger	What triggers the activity to start or continue
Wait	A specific period of time has elapsed. Example: Wait for two weeks and then continue the activity.
Customer Registers	A customer successfully registers with your store.
Customer Places Order	A customer places an order with your store.
Customer Participates in Social Commerce  This trigger is enhanced to provide more options.	A customer has participated in any social commerce activity on your site. Example: A customer has done any of the following things at least three times: Posted a product review or comment, or rated a product Posted a blog entry or comment, or rated a blog entry Uploaded a photo  A customer has participated in any social commerce activity, or a specific activity, on your site.  Example: A customer has created a product review with at least a three-star rating in the Televisions category.
Customer Abandons Shopping Cart	A customer has placed something in the shopping cart and has not checked out within the number of days you specify. Example: A customer has abandoned a shopping cart for three days.
Customer Is In Segment	A customer belongs to a customer segment you specify on the day the activity runs. Example: The customer belongs to the Preferred Customer customer segment.
Customer Celebrates Birthday	A customer is celebrating his or her birthday in the number of days you specify, or today. Example: The customer is celebrating a birthday in 7 days.
Wait for Event	A custom event that the triggers listed in this table do not support. Examples: A customer adds an item to a wish list A customer clicks a custom link on a store page
Customer Searches	A customer searches in the store. Example: The customer searches multiple times for the same product.
Recurring Order Event	A customer has triggered a recurring order event. Examples: A customer orders a recurring order A customer cancels a recurring order A customer’s recurring order is about to expire or has already expired
Subscription Event	A customer has triggered a subscription event. Examples: A customer orders a subscription A customer cancels a subscription A customer’s subscription is about to expire A customer’s subscription has already expired
Customer Checks Out With Promotion	A customer checks out with a specific promotion applied to the order. Example: A customer checks out with the Furniture Blowout promotion applied to the order.
Customer Checks In	A customer checks in to a specific point of interest or region using a mobile device. Example: A customer enters a brick-and-mortar store, and then uses a mobile phone to “check in” and see what the current store promotions are.