Broadcast Emails provide you with a method of sending out an email to any number of your contacts, personalized to each recipient through the use of acceptable Email Merge Fields (listed in Step #5 below). Let’s take a look at how you go about sending out a Broadcast Email (accessible from the Contact Options - Bulk Actions menu on the Advanced Search page after running your search):
After you have selected the group of Contacts you want to include in your Broadcast Email from the Advanced Search page, you can then click the Broadcast Email option indicated above. This will open a dialog for you to begin composing your Broadcast Email. *NOTE: If you haven't provided your SMTP settings in your Site Preferences, you will instead receive a message indicating you must do so prior to using the Broadcast Email functionality. Instructions for providing this information can be found at the end of this post.
If you've saved your SMTP settings, after clicking the Broadcast Email option you'll see your Compose Broadcast Email modal:
1. Email Template - if you've set up any Email Templates within your database, you can choose one of them here to begin setting up your email.
2. From – The From field is the name that will be displayed to the recipients of your Broadcast Email.
You can set this up under Manage Your Account —> Change Site Preferences in the Email Options section in the Email Display Name field. Details are here.
3. To – The To field indicates how many records you selected on the Advanced Search page to include in your Broadcast Email.
4. Subject – Whatever you type in the Subject line will show up as the Subject of the Broadcast Email for your recipients.
5. Attachments — you can click the "Choose Files" button to browse your computer or network for files to attach to your Broadcast Email.
6. Body– The Body area of your Broadcast Email is where you can create the body of the email you would like to send.
Note that above the text box for entering your body you are provided with some common formatting tools. You can use these tools to format any of the text you enter into your Message Body.
Additionally, you have the ability to create a standard signature to use in all Broadcast Emails (you can see one in the example above for Tucker McLaughlin) under Manage Your Account --> Change Site Preferences --> Email Options in the Email Signature field. Once you have set up an Email Signature there, it will automatically populate your Broadcast Emails. Details are here.
Also, you have the ability to personalize your Broadcast Emails through the use of acceptable Email Merge Fields. Below is a list of those acceptable fields:
##Firstname##
##Lastname##
##Middlename##
##NicknameFirstname##
##Salutation##
##Suffix##
##SpouseFirstname##
##SpouseNicknameFirstname##
##Name##
##Familyname##
As an example, if you wanted your email to begin with “Dear John Doe,” you would enter the following above the body of your message:
Dear ##Firstname## ##Lastname##,
Then, all of your emails would be addressed to each client using their First and Last Names.
6. Send Broadcast Email – Note that there are two selection boxes and three buttons here: Save Copy as Note, Send Me A Copy, Send Broadcast Email, Send Test Broadcast Email or Cancel:
If you select Save Copy as Note, your Broadcast Email will be saved to each contact record to whom it is sent as a Note.
If you click Send Me A Copy, you'll also receive the Broadcast Email.
If you click Send Broadcast Email, your email will be sent to all recipients on the list that have an Email 1 address entered within their record. After clicking this, you'll see a "Broadcast Email Queued" dialog. This indicates that we've pushed the message and all its details to a queue and will send from there. You can click the link that says "click here to check the status" and you'll be taken to your Manage Broadcast Emails page, or you can click OK and continue working. You can check the status at a later time by going to Manage Your Account —> Manage Broadcast Emails.
If you click Send Test Broadcast Email, a copy of the Broadcast Email will be sent to your email address w/o sending to everyone else on this list. This is always a good idea as it allows you to proof the final look of your Broadcast Email prior to sending it to everyone on your list. If you click Cancel, you will be returned to your Advanced Search results and no Broadcast Email will be sent.
NOTE: Broadcast Emails are sent to the email address marked "Primary" on selected contacts' records. If a contact does not have an address marked "Primary", they will not be included as a recipient on the Broadcast Email. They will show up as a Failed Send on your Manage Broadcast Emails page.
These are the basics of creating and sending Broadcast Emails within Redtail.
You will not be able to use Redtail's Broadcast Email functionality if you have not entered your SMTP settings for you email account within Redtail's Site Preferences.
You can provide this information under Manage Your Account —> Change Site Preferences:
On your Site Preferences page, scroll until you see the Email Options section:
The sections which apply in regards to your SMTP Settings are the last five fields here. You can read more about the other options in this section here.
The SMTP Settings will vary, depending upon where your email is hosted. If you are uncertain as to the settings you should use for any of these, you can contact the company that hosts your email to provide. If you use Outlook, Thunderbird or another email client, you should also be able to find this information within the account settings for your email account.
If Redtail hosts your email on our Zimbra platform, this section might look like the above for you after completion (though your SMTP Username and SMTP Password would be unique to your email address).
After entering all your information here, click Save Preferences in the top right corner of the Email Options box.
You should then be able to utilize the Broadcast Email functionality within Redtail.
Comments