e-Blasts (Newsletter) Part II: Send New e-Blast
- This tutorial will cover how to send an e-Blast (newsletter) from within the system.
- Generally, before sending an e-Blast you will have already created a general e-Blast/newsletter template. That is, you will have set up at least one e-Blast master template that contains your formatting, logo, layout, etc. This one master template can then be used over and over to send e-Blasts; you will select that template and then fill it with your custom content that should be sent in this instance (in essence, you will only be filling out/creating the newsletter "articles"/content at the time you send the newsletter and not also creating the layout/format, which you will have ideally set up ahead of time).
- To set up your master e-Blast template(s), see this tutorial about creating templates.
- To send a newsletter, click Communications on the Main Menu and select Create New Communication OR from Main Menu: Communications: Pending or History screens, select create new communication from the lower right hand corner OR from the search results screen select use the appropriate Take Action menu at the bottom right of the screen (see this tutorial for how to use the Take Action menus).
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- Please Note: If you want to send a previously sent e-Blast to people who were not on the first list/didn't get it the first time, you will only have this option from the Take Action Menu. You cannot use a previously sent e-Blast/content file as the basis of a new e-Blast from Main Menu: Communications: Create New Communication. You can only do this from the Take Action Menu.
- If sending the newsletter from Main Menu: Communications: Create New Communication, you will be taken to the Templates index page. You will start by selecting the master template you, ideally, had created earlier/previously. If you have no already set up a master template, you can use one of our system/out-of-the-box templates.
- Start by selecting the My Templates (to access user-created templates) or System Templates (to access default “out of the box” templates) tab at the top of the screen.
- Then scroll down to the e-blast category or select the e-Blast filter on the left.
- Hover over the base/master template you wish to use for your newsletter and click Use to use the template for your newsletter content. Please Note: If you wish to edit the master template (layout, colors, font, etc.) before using, click Edit (available for My Templates only); do NOT use "edit" to add your e-Blast specific content. You will add your content specific to this e-Blast after you select Use and move to the next step. Edit is only if you want to make any changes to your master template/master layout.
- If you wish to create a new master template by copying an existing template, chose Use and then on the next step, make your edits and click the Save as Template button. Otherwise, you will not use the Save as Template button while creating an e-Blast.
- Please Note: If you started a newsletter draft previously and left BEFORE HITTING THE GREEN GO TO NEXT STEP BUTTON, your draft newsletter will be in the Drafts folder of the Templates Index area. If you started a newsletter draft previously and left AFTER HITTING THE GREEN GO TO NEXT STEP BUTTON, your draft will be on the Main Menu: Communications: Pending screen.
- After selecting Use, you will enter the draft e-Blast flow/process. Specifically, you will be taken to the template/content editor to configure the content specific to this newsletter/that you will specifically be sending this time. Add your content. See this tutorial for more information on working with the template editor screen.
- You can change the name of your draft e-Blast content file by clicking the Edit button (pencil icon) to the right of the content file's name in the upper left. Provide a new name in the resulting pop-up box and click Save to continue working. Please Note: it's not required to change the content file name - this name is only used for internal reference to save your content file in the Drafts folder (in the template manager area).
- The system does auto-save any changes made to your e-Blast content every five seconds, but we do also recommend manually saving changes frequently as well, using the Save button in the lower right.
- If you wish to save your in-progress draft and return later, hit the Back Arrow button in the upper left hand corner. A pop-up box will appear, asking if you wish to save your draft. Click Yes to save and exit.
- If you exit out at this point and return later, you can access your draft newsletter from the Drafts category on the My Templates tab of the Create New Communication screen.
- You can preview how your e-Blast content will look in email by clicking the Preview button in the upper right. This will open up a pop-up window where you can preview how your e-Blast may look in both desktop and mobile email programs. Keep in mind that each email program renders content differently based on the recipient's settings and this may not be the way it will look for all recipient's.
- When you have finished adding/creating your e-Blast content, save your changes and then click the green Go to Next Step button in the upper right. Here, as compared to the screen shot in the previous steps, you can see we have replaced the dummy text in our main article with the content we want to send this time/with this e-Blast. The rest of our master template remains the same (header banner, footer, etc.). In this way, once you set up the master template, sending the newsletter becomes quick and easy.
- Start by selecting the My Templates (to access user-created templates) or System Templates (to access default “out of the box” templates) tab at the top of the screen.
- If you are creating/sending the e-Blast from the Take Action Menu, after selecting Send e-Blast, a pop up window will open asking you to select your master template or a previously sent e-Blast.
- If you choose to use an existing/previously sent e-Blast, you'll be presented with a search/select box. Click in the box to bring up a drop down list of previously sent e-Blasts to choose from. Only the most recent ten e-Blasts will show. Start typing the name to search for other e-Blasts/e-Blasts not on the list.
- If you choose to use a master template instead (create new e-blast), click the Choose Template button. Browse the e-Blast template library to find your master template. Hover over it and choose Select (alternatively, you can create a new master template from inside here by clicking the Create New button). A green "Selected" banner will appear over the top of the template. Click the black Done button in the lower right to close the pop-up and use the selected template. The name will populate to the template field. Please Note: in this flow, you will edit the template and configure your e-Blast content in Step #16 below, rather than configuring it prior to entering the Set-Up e-Blast area as you would if proceeding from Main Menu: Communications: Create New Communications.
- After selecting your template or previously sent e-Blast, additional fields will appear in the lower half of the screen for the e-Blast Name (and internal reference field [see Step #8 below for more details], Send Name, Sender e-Mail Address, and the Subject Line. If you are using a previously sent e-Blast, these fields will pre-populate with the information used in the previously sent e-Blast (but you can change/update the information). Fill out all four fields and click the Process button to proceed.
- If you choose to use an existing/previously sent e-Blast, you'll be presented with a search/select box. Click in the box to bring up a drop down list of previously sent e-Blasts to choose from. Only the most recent ten e-Blasts will show. Start typing the name to search for other e-Blasts/e-Blasts not on the list.
- After clicking the Go to Next Step button from configuring a template content file/when proceeding from Main Menu: Communications: Create New Communications or clicking Process after proceeding from the Take Action Menu, you will enter the Setup e-Blast area.
- From this point forward, you can return to your draft newsletter in progress by going to Main Menu: Communications: Pending. Your content file will no longer be in the draft folder on the Create New Communication page (if you proceeded from Main Menu: Communications: Create New Communication). Instead, you will ONLY be able to edit by going to the pending communications screen, editing the newsletter, and then hovering over the thumbnail of the template (see step #16 below).
- Start by giving your e-Blast a Name (required) that will help you distinguish it from other newsletters you have sent or will send. This field is for internal reference only and will not be seen by your recipients.
- Next, specify the Sender Name (required) and Sender Email (required) address that the recipient will see in their email server within the relevant fields.
- Then, specify the Subject line (required) of the email recipients will receive. Recipients will see this information.
- If you wish to associate this newsletter with a fundraising campaign, do so with the Campaign drop-down menu (optional) (the campaign must already be configured in your system/you can only select from pre-configured campaigns).
- In the Other Recipients field, you can manually add the email address(es) of INTERNAL CCs. This field is not intended to be used to add recipients - you will do that on Tab 2: Select Recipients. Any contacts added to the Other Recipients field will NOT have placeholders (such as contact name or salutation) populated in the email they receive.
- Lastly, if you wish to attach any small files to the newsletter, use the Attachment section to select them.
- You will see a thumbnail preview of your newsletter content on the upper right right. Hover over the thumbnail and select Preview to see a preview of the newsletter. Select Edit to return to the previous step/the template editor and make changes to your newsletter content.
- When you have finished configuring the newsletter's basic information, click on the Save & Proceed button in the lower right to move to the next tab or Save to save your draft and return later.
- On Tab 2: Select Recipients, you can select your intended recipients.
- In the middle of the screen, you will see two tabs. The one on the left ("Matched With Criteria + Manually Added") is the INCLUSION list. These are the contacts who will get your e-Blast. The one on the right ("Matched with Criteria but Excluded") is the EXCLUSION list. These are contacts who match the criteria used to generate the recipient list, but who are ineligible to receive the newsletter due to their communication preference for email being set to no, their email address being bad, or being manually moved from the inclusion to the exclusion list. Please Note: if you arrived here/proceeded from Take Action: Apply to Selected Contacts, the exclusion list will NOT populate. Contacts selected from the search results who have a bad email address will NOT be brought into the exclusion list/cannot be selected and those contacts you selected who have their communication preference for e-mail set to "no" will be brought into the inclusion list.
- The Inclusion/Exclusion Reason column on each tab lists the reason why the contact is on that list. On the inclusion tab, the reasons are either that the contact met your recipient list criteria or was manually added by someone on your staff (using the Add Recipient function or by moving them from the exclusion list). On the exclusion tab, the reasons are either that the contact meets your recipient criteria but has a bad email address (bounced/dropped) (these contacts cannot be manually moved to the inclusion list), meets your recipient criteria but has their communication preference set to "no" ("unsubscribed from all communications;" these contacts CAN be manually moved to the inclusion list), or they were manually excluded (moved from the inclusion list).
- You can exclude contacts who are on the inclusion list by clicking the Exclude button to the right of the contact's name. A pop-up box will ask you to verify you wish to move the contact to the exclusion list. Click Yes to confirm. The contact will be moved to the exclusion list (where a note will be added as to why the contact is on the exclusion list/who moved the contact to the inclusion list).
- Similarly, you can move contacts from the exclusion list to the inclusion list by clicking the Include button to the right of the contact's name and confirming. The contact will then appear on the inclusion list with a note as to who manually added them to the inclusion list.
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- By default, all contacts who are a) not deceased/inactive and b) have an email address, are pulled into your newsletter recipient list. Those who have a VALID email address and have their communication preference for email set to "yes" or not set are pulled into your e-Blast recipient (inclusion) list. Those whose email address is bad and those whose communication preference for email is set to No are pulled into the exclusion list.
- You will see the total number of selected/active recipients as well as the total number of contacts who matched your selection criteria (the denominator/gray number will equal the total # of contacts on the inclusion list + the total number of contacts on the exclusion list). You can click on this number to see a list of names. This list is view only; you cannot interact with it in any way.
- To narrow this list to just a specific set of contacts that meet certain criteria (such as those that have a particular contact type or tag, those that are subscribed to a particular e-Blast/newsletter list, etc.), click on the blue View/Modify criteria button to add filters to your recipient list. This will open the filters area where you can add your recipient list criteria. Please Note: If you arrived here/proceeded from Take Action: Apply to Selected Contacts the View/Modify Criteria button will NOT be present. You cannot use filters to add additional contacts to the recipient list. You can, however, add additional contacts one at a time using the Add Recipient field (see Step #29 below).
- Please see the tutorial on Searching for Contacts for more on working with the advanced search interface.
- Enter your criteria and click Search.
- The number of prospective recipients as well as the names (and number of contacts) on the Inclusion and Exclusion lists will be revised/updated based on those contacts who meet the search criteria entered.
- You can also manually add contacts (one at a time) to the inclusion list using the Add Recipient field. Click in the field and start typing a name. A list of matching names will appear. Select a name and then click the (+) button. The contact will be added to the inclusion list with a note that they were manually added along with the name of the staff person who manually added them. Please Note: the selected contact must have a VALID email address to be added to the inclusion list. Otherwise, an error message will appear alerting you that you cannot add the contact to your recipient list.
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- You can search the inclusion and exclusion lists for a particular contact by name or email address using the Search Recipient field on each tab.
- When you have finished specifying recipients for the newsletter, click the blue Save & Proceed button in the lower right.
- This will take you to Tab #3: Confirm. On the Confirm tab, verify the number of recipients and the subject line of the outgoing email. You can hover your mouse on the magnifying glass next to the first line to see what match/filter criteria was used to generate the recipient list.
- In the Send Preference area, indicate if you want to Send Now or Send On (schedule a date and time).
- You can add an email address of an internal staff member who will be emailed once the email finishes sending (so you don’t have to keep checking the history page to verify the status moves from processing to sent).
- Use the Send Test Email button to send yourself and other staff members a copy of the newsletter for review.
- Use the Preview section to preview the newsletter content one last time. Click the Switch to Mobile View button to generate a mobile preview of the newsletter content. You can switch back to Desktop view by clicking the button in the right again.
- When you are ready to send the e-Blast out or have set it to be sent at the scheduled time, click the Send/Schedule button in the lower right-hand corner (Send will show if you have the e-Blast set to Send Now; Schedule will show if you have the e-Blast set to Send On/Scheduled to send in the future).
- If you selected Send Now, a pop up box will ask you to confirm if you want to send your e-Blast now. Click the blue Send Now button to confirm.
- Once you confirm Send Now or click Schedule, you will receive a confirmation screen. After a few seconds, you will be redirected to the Pending Communications tab.
- If you schedule an e-Blast to send and then need to change/edit or delete it, from the Main Menu, select Communications and then Pending, find the newsletter in the list, and select Edit or Delete from the drop down on the right.
- A scheduled newsletter can only be edited while it is in pending status. Once the status changes to Sent for Processing, the newsletter can no longer be deleted/stopped (you'll notice in the screenshot below the Edit/Delete button is no longer present). Please Note: Fundly CRM support staff also cannot stop the newsletter from sending once it begins processing. By the time you contact us, we contact the technical team, and they hunt down the newsletter in the outgoing mail queue, it will have already been processed/sent.
- While the e-Blast is processing/sending, it will go through a series of status changes:
- Scheduled means the e-Blast set-up is completed and scheduled to be sent (e-Blasts set to Send Now will also initially show as Scheduled); this means the e-Blast has entered the bulk email server job queue and is queued up/has a place in that queue.
- Scheduled for Generating means the bulk email jobs server is generating the emails to be sent/has begun processing the e-Blast (by "mail merging"/populating the placeholders in the individual emails).
- Sent for Processing means the emails are actually sending/leaving the bulk email server. This status may take some time, even if it's a small number of emails you are sending, as the emails will be sent in batches (with a required time delay between batches). The bulk email jobs server may also be processing other bulk emails/emails for other clients at the same time, which will slow down sending as well.
- After the e-Blast has finished sending, the internal staff member specified on Tab #3 will receive an email alerting them that the e-Blast has been sent. The e-Blast will move from the Main Menu: Communications: Pending index screen to the Main Menu: Communications: History index screen and the status will show as Processed.
- After the e-Blast is sent, you can access metrics, the recipient list, resend the e-Blast to the original recipients, and more. See our Part IV: Review Sent e-Blast tutorial for more information.
- Please note also, after the e-Blast is sent, you will also see an entry added to each recipient's Engagement History. Clicking the magnifying glass next to the entry will bring up the content/email that was sent to the contact. You can see this content by going to Main Menu: Communications: History and selecting View Summary from the drop down to the right, and then click the Preview button. See our Part IV tutorial for more details about seeing the sent content from the Communications History area.
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