Help and support

TIP:If you have an active Subscribe-O-Matic account, make sure you bookmark the Synthetikstatus.com website, or subscribe to its RSS feed - important status updates and notices about our services are posted there. It's hosted on a separate webserver, so you will also be able to receive important status updates even if this website is unreachable. We are currently in the process of expanding the help and support section - please don't hesitate to contact us if you can't find your answer here.

1.) What is Subscribe-O-Matic and what it can do for you

In short, it's a system similar to Group Notices and allows you to send instant messages to any number of users that subscribe to your Subscribe-O-Matic database. Of course, you can also send an object (picture of your latest design, a gift, a flyer, notecard) along with the message.

Your subscribers are safely stored in a database outside SL, so you can have virtually unlimited number of subscribers, and your customer database is safe from SL disasters like script resets, object deletion, etc. The system allows you to easily drop any number of ATMs at different locations around SL and they will all be connected to your central database of subscribers.

Joining or unsubscribing for your (potential) customers or users is simple - they just click any of your Subscribe-O-Matic devices at any location around SL.

So instead of asking your customers to join a group, they can simply touch your Subscribe-O-Matic and you can stay in touch with them.

2.) Setup instructions

In your Subscribe-O-Matic package, you received a number of different ATM designs, that you can use. They are all copiable, so you can have any number of ATMs out at any time. Every ATM is connected to the central server so all the settings and changes affect all your ATMs.

You manage your settings and send messages to your subscribers with a separate device, Subscribe-O-Matic Controller.

To personalize your ATMs, all you need to do, is drop your own texture or logo inside the Subscribe-O-Matic Controller and rename it to "displaytexture" and it will be set on all of your ATM's

Sending a message and/or an item to your subscribers is easy - simply drop the object/texture/notecard into the controller, open the disalog, click the Send button and simply chose which item you want to send (or you can always just send a message, without an item attached). You then just type a message for your subscribers on channel 95 and send away.

We recommend that you rename your controller to something that your subscribers will recognize, for example "Xyz Product Updates", since that is the object the messages will originate from.

Subscribe-O-Matic Controller also allows you to check your current number of subscribers and - features may not be quite ready in the beta yet - change the names of your ATM machines, add administrators that can send messages on your behalf, remove unwanted subscribers and check your account status.

All the administration features are also accessible through your personalized web control panel (might be offline during the beta).

3.) Subscription based service

Subscribe-O-Matic is a subscription based service. During your subscription period, you can send unlimited number of messages to your subscribers. When your subscription term ends, you will have to renew your subscription, in order to be able to send messages again.

After the 14 day trial, there are different subscription plans to choose from, depending on the number of subscribers you wish to support - and you can always add support for additional subscribers at any time.

Whenever your subscription expires your Subscribe-O-Matic system will temporarily shut down - you won't be able to send any messages and new users won't be able to subscribe on your kiosks. Your subscriber database will still be stored on the server for 14 days after your account expires. If after that period you choose not to renew your subscription, there is nothing you need to do - your subscriber database will automatically be removed and your account deleted.

Currently, the subscription can only be renewed or upgraded manually - so please contact us if you need to upgrade or renew your subscription.

4.) Custom kiosk designs

Our kiosks that we provide are currently modifiable, so you can easily resize them, or alter their appearance. We can also add the Subscribe-O-Matic functionality to your custom designed kiosks, so please contact us if you would like to use your custom made kiosks or devices with the Subscribe-O-Matic.

5.) Optional greeter

In your Subscribe-O-Matic package we also included an optional free copiable greeter, that you can use to greet people and invite them to touch one of your kiosks to subscribe to your Subscribe-O-Matic database. Setting up the greeter is very easy and straightforward - you just rez it, and modify the "settings" notecard inside it, to set various options to your preference. You can set a custom greeting message, range and rate of sensor (we recommend setting the range as low as possible and rate to somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds), and you can also choose between an IM greeting and a dialog based greeting. Of course the greeter is optional and not required by Subscribe-O-Matic in any way.

6.) Privacy information

Your customer list is stored inside a database on a server outside SL. The data is regularly backed up and is only used to allow you to send messages to your subscribers. Under no circumstances will anyone else be allowed to send messages to, or contact your subscribers in any way, through our service. We will do our best to protect your data and your customers from unauthorized access at all times.

Additionally, we don't and will never provide direct access to your customers' avatar keys.

7.) Tips and tricks:

• Set up a greeter in your shop/club that lets people know about the Subscribe-o-Matic, explaining to them how and where to join. Once they realize all they have to do is touch it, your subscribers will be rising quickly.
• When setting up your Subscribe-o-Matic for the first time, it asks that you put in your own texture that will appear on all your ATM's. Make this texture bright and noticeable. You will probably want to include how to subscribe and what they can expect: product updates, gifts, promotions, etc.
• You can place an unlimited amount of ATM's but it's probably not wise to overdo it. Placing a few in your main location at the main entry points or highly populated areas, and one in each of your smaller locations would be perfect.
• When sending notices to people, make sure to always include a detailed description, a picture if you have one and a SLurl so they can easily get to your new advertised product.