This allows you to specify the exact name of the file when running the automation. The File Drop Starting Source is an automation activity that allows you to specify the source of the File Drop as either a Scheduled or Manual event. This allows you to control when the data is imported from the Enhanced FTP file.
To set up their automation to import the data from the file on a nightly basis, Northern Trail Outfitters should use two ways to start their automation:
* File Drop Starting Source. This is a trigger that starts an automation when a file is dropped in an Enhanced FTP folder or an external SFTP location.
* Scheduled Starting Source. This is a trigger that starts an automation at a specified date and time or at recurring intervals.
%%BASEFILENAME_FROM_TRIGGER%% and %%BASEFILENAME_FROM_FILEDROP%% are not starting sources, but variables that can be used in file transfer or import activities to reference file names.
References: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_as_automation_studio_triggers.htm&type=5

To send emails to loyalty members based on recent activity, a contact data entry source can be used to segment the data based on attributes and filters configured in Contact Builder. This allows for more flexibility and scalability than using a data extension entry source with an applied filter. References: https://help.
salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_jb_entry_sources.htm&type=5 https://help.salesforce.com/s
/articleView?id=sf.mc_co_attribute_groups.htm&type=5

Explanation
To send an email with personalized fields from multiple data extensions without coding experience, Northern Trail Outfitters should combine the data outside of Marketing Cloud and upload it into a sendable data extension. This will allow them to have all the required fields for personalization in one data source and avoid using complex scripting or queries to join and filter data from multiple data extensions.
Establishing data relationships and creating data filters would not help with personalization, as they are used for segmentationpurposes. Creating SQL query activities would require coding skills andexperience with SQL syntax. References:
https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_es_send_email_using_a_data_extension.htm&type=5