Creating & Sending Newsletters, E-cards and E-mail blasts (Version 1.0)

This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating and sending electronic communications through Fundly CRM, including newsletters, E-Cards, and other e-Blasts.

1. Click on Communications in the Navigation Bar.
2. Click on the Newsletter / E-cards tab.
3. Click +Add.
   
4. Choose a layout from one of the standard templates shown in the upper right panel. You may also create a layout from scratch by simply moving on to the next step.
5. Enter your organization’s email address or another email address from whom this Newsletter or E-card will be sent in the FROM EMAIL field.
6. Enter the subject of the email in the SUBJECT field.
7. If this communication is associated with a campaign, you can select the campaign from the CAMPAIGN NAME drop-down menu.
8. Add a default salutation in the Default Salutations field.
9. The CONTENT field is where you can insert your organization’s logo, add any other graphics, and enter the text you’d like to include in this template.
   
   If you are customizing a standard template, simply select the portions of text within the CONTENT field that you’d like to change, and either press the Delete button on your keyboard, or simply begin typing the new text right over the selected text.
10. To Insert or change a logo or other graphic element:
    
    Position your cursor in the CONTENT field where you’d like to place the logo or graphic.
    
    Click on the mountain and sun Insert/Edit Image icon (Top row of the CONTENT tool bar, 11^th from the right).  The Image Manager pop-up screen will appear. 
11. If the logo or graphic file has already been uploaded into Fundly CRM, it will appear under the image file on the left. If your image hasn't been uploaded yet, click on +Upload at the top of the Image Manager pop up screen.
    
    
12. If the file you seek is listed, select it and then click Insert on the bottom right of the screen.  

To insert Anchors:

1. Anchors are internal links that will take the reader directly to a designated location within the document.
   
   Place your cursor anywhere within the template where you’d like to place an Anchor (the Anchor is the place that readers will arrive, when clicking on links that you’ll create next).  If you wish to direct readers to the header of a section, for instance, position your cursor anywhere within the header.
   
   Click on the Hyperlink Manager icon (1st row of the tool bar, 10^th from the right).
   
   A Hyperlink Manger pop up screen will appear, click on the second tab labeled Anchor.
   
   Type in a name for the anchor (so you can refer to it later) in the Anchor name field.
2. Click OK.
   
   Now go back to the Hyperlink tab and type in the URL you want to link to the anchor.
   
   Now from the Existing Anchor drop down select the anchor name you just created.
   
   Click OK.  You’ll notice that the linked text will now be underlined and will be active as a link.
3. To insert Placeholders:
   Placeholders are locations within the body of the template that will be automatically filled in (similar to a mail merge function) by Fundly CRM, based upon your selection of Placeholder content.  You determine the contents of each Placeholder using the add placeholder drop-down menu, just above and to the right of the CONTENT field.  For instance, to have Fundly CRM automatically insert each recipient’s first name, you’d select First Name from the add placeholder menu.  When the template is actually sent out to recipients, each recipient’s first name will automatically be inserted into the placeholder.
   
   To insert a placeholder anywhere within the CONTENTS field, position your cursor within the CONTENT field where you want the placeholder to appear.  
   
   Select a placeholder from the add placeholder drop-down menu.
   
   Click + to the right of the add placeholder drop-down menu.  The placeholder name will now appear in the specified location in the CONTENT field, surrounded by @@ symbols (these indicate it is a placeholder field).
4. Determine to whom this communication will be sent by clicking on the checkboxes of each of the Contact Types to receive it, in the SELECT CONTACT TYPE section, just below the CONTENTS field.  For example, If you are sending this communication to all your volunteers, members and donors, you would check the Volunteer, Donor, and Member checkboxes.
5. For recipients who don’t fall into the selected Contact Types in the previous step, you may add their e-mail addresses individually in the OTHER RECIPIENTS field (If you have multiple e-mails addresses, separate them each by a comma).
6. You may attach documents to this communication, by clicking on Attach documents, and following the instructions to select and upload the document(s).
7. You may opt to send this communication now by checking the Send now checkbox, or you may send it at a later scheduled time by unchecking the Send now checkbox and completing the SCHEDULE DATE and SCHEDULE TIME fields.  Fundly CRM will automatically send this communication out at the specified date and time.
   
   NOTE: Don’t worry—Checking the Send now checkbox won’t automatically send the communication!  You still have to click the SEND button at the bottom of the screen, in order to actually send it.
8. If this communication is not yet completed, or you think you may want to return to it later to make some changes, click on SAVE AS DRAFT.   To send it now (or at the later time that you specified), click SEND.  If you’d like to see how this communication will look to recipients before sending it, click PREVIEW.
   
   
9. The status of this Newsletter, E-Card or E-Blast (saved only, sent or failed), as well as the date sent and contact log (the contacts to whom it has been sent) will now appear on the left hand screen under Acknowledgement History.  (At first the Status will say “Sent for processing.”  Just give it a few minutes for it to finish sending out the Newsletters before the status gets updated. 

Helpful Tip:  Once you create a Newsletter, E-Card or E-Blast in Fundly CRM, you can easily copy the content (including layout, graphic files and text) and update it to use again without having to create it all anew.  Just click on the red Copy icon for the communication you wish to copy in the Communication List panel (left side of the screen).