60 Second User Retention with Node.js and MongoDB

June 2013

This is a quick example of exporting a collection with MongoDB and then sending user emails with Node.js.

Export a JSON collection of all users:

You can filter out specific fields with the -f option if needed (which is useful for variable-based email).

Be sure to values for --port, --host, --db, -c (collection), -u, and -p.
```
 mongoexport --port 1337 --host something.mongohq.com --db your-db-name -c users -u 'YOUR-USERNAME' -p 'YOUR-PASSWORD' -f email --jsonArray > users.json
```

Parse the JSON:

The following JS snippet requires you install the NPM module for Postmark, but you can use an alternative such as email-templates.

 npm install postmark

 vim parse.js

 var postmark = require('postmark')('YOUR-API-KEY')
 var fs = require('fs')
 var path = require('path')
 var file = path.join(__dirname, 'users.json')

 ///*
 var records = fs.readFileSync(file)
 records = JSON.parse(records)
 //*/

 // you can comment the above and uncomment below to send a test email
 //var records = [{ email: 'niftylettuce@gmail.com' }]

 var text = "We noticed you signed up, but haven't yet integrated with our API at https://getprove.com/docs."
 text += "\n\n"
 text += "Did you need help or run into API issues?"
 text += "\n\n"
 text += "P.S. We'll give you 100 free additional credits if you get in touch."

 for(var i=0; i<records.length; i++) {
   var record = records[i]
   postmark.send({
     From: 'support@getprove.com',
     To: record.email,
     Tag: 'user-retention',
     Subject: 'Prove - Integrate today and earn 100 free additional credits',
     TextBody: text
   }, callback)
 }

 function callback(err, success) {
   console.log('err', err, 'success', success)
 }

Send the emails:
```
 node parse
```

This snippet was used with a small project of mine called Prove.

Proves lets developers integrate phone verification and two-factor auth in minutes.

https://getprove.com

niftylettuce@gmail.com | Github | Twitter | Updates | RSS/XML Feed