Marketing

Sending an Email Blast to a List of Individuals

Sending Email Blasts with ClearVantage requires a list of recipients and the email content. You can create the list of recipients from a saved list or a list of individuals. To find a list of individuals use the Search For, Quick Search, or Power Query tool.

To send an Email Blast:

1. From a list of individuals, click Send Email Blast from the Activities panel.

   

2. The Email Campaign tab will open. Fill out the following fields in the Configure Email Marketing Campaign section:

   

   1. Appeal: Select the appeal code from the dropdown list. You can go directly to the linked appeal notebook by clicking the icon next to the dropdown. Appeals are created in marketing campaigns. See the appeals section of this guide for more information. This section is required.

   2. Recipient List: Use the current list you selected or use a saved list. For more on saved lists, see the next section. This section is required.

   3. CC Alt Email: Selecting this flag will carbon copy the email to the recipient’s alternate email address (if one is stored in ClearVantage), in addition to their primary email address.

   4. Subject: Fill in the subject line of the email. This will appear in the heading. This is a required field.

   5. From address: Select the email address you want the email to come from.

   6. From name: Fill in the name of the sender. It will be displayed in the heading.

   7. Reply address: Fill in the email address you wish to direct replies to.

   8. Attachment: Attach any files you want to add to the email.

   Note

   When sending Email Blasts, CVO requires that the "From" and "Reply" addresses contain domains that are accepted for email delivery through the SMTP vendor. By default, any email address with a domain matching the hostname for ClearVantage Online will be accepted.

3. Next, fill out the Configure Email Message section:

   

   1. Load Template: If you have an HTML template that you would like to use for the email, select it from the Load Template dropdown. If you have not yet loaded the template, click Upload New Template and select the HTML file you want to use.

   2. Insert Merge: Merges are used to make emails more personal. Select the data you want to use from the dropdown to add the merges to the email.

   3. Insert Link: You can insert a link to an event, dues, survey, or product. Select the radio and press Go. Select your event/dues/survey/product from the pop-up.

   4. Email body: Write the body of your email message here.

   5. Save Template Changes: Click this button if you uploaded a template, or made any edits to save those changes.

4. Once you have filled out all the fields, you can preview it by clicking Preview Email. Afterwards, click Send Emails to send out the email blast.

   

Test Email Blasts

The "Test Email" button allows users to send a test email to a selected individual in order to preview the message content. The email will be sent exactly as it would in the actual blast, including attachments and CC options.

Note

This is only available for email blasts from the individual list and notebook.

To test an Email Blast:

1. Follow the steps in the Sending an Email Blast to a List of Individuals section to set up an Email Blast.

2. Once the Email Blast form is set up and you are ready to test your email, you can click the "Test Email" button on the bottom left-hand side of the screen.

   

3. Search for the individual you wish to send the test email to.

   

   • Check the "Use Appeal CD" checkbox to track the test email with the appeal CD that you selected for the Email Blast.

4. To send the email, select the individual from list. The email will automatically send once you select the person.

Sending an Email to an Individual

There are two options to send an email to an individual.

1. Open the individual notebook of the person you want to send an email to. In the Activities button dropdown you will see two email options:

   

Personalized Email: Opens the Email Blast tool with the individual you selected as the only recipient. This allows you to create an email with all the features of the Email Blast tool, including tracking and merging fields for personalization.

Email: Opens a new message draft in your computer’s default email software, such as Outlook or Thunderbird. The “to” field will be prefilled with the email address of the individual you selected.

Using a Saved List to Send an Email Blast

If you have an Individual List that you will repeatedly use to send blast emails, you can save it as list to use for future use.

Creating a Saved List

1. To save a list, search for individuals with the Search for, Quick Find, or Power Query tool.

2. From the search results, click the "Save List" button to create the list of individuals.

   

3. Enter a name for the saved list. If you would like all users to access this list, check the “Subscribe all users to this list” checkbox. Select a Company CD from the Company CD dropdown.

   

4. Click "Ok" to save and close.

Sending Email Blast to Saved List

1. Select a saved list from the Saved Lists dropdown.

   

2. To send an Email Blast to this list, click the "Send Email Blast" from the Activity panel on the right.

   

3. Continue with the steps from the Sending an Email Blast to a List of Individuals section.

Scheduling an Email

To schedule an Email Blast to be sent out at a future date:

1. From a list of individuals, click Send "Email Blast from the Activities panel to the right.

   

2. Fill out the Email Blast form and click "Schedule Email" at the bottom of the screen.

   

3. Enter the Date and Time for the email to be scheduled out and click "Schedule."

   

Email Batch Manger

This tool allows you to see a list of past and upcoming email batches. It also allows you to preview batch emails, view the recipient list for email batches, and cancel scheduled email batches.

To open the Email Batch Manager:

1. Click on “Processes” then select “Email Batch Manager” from the Main Menu.

2. You can toggle between Upcoming Email Batches and Past Email Batches using the radio buttons at the top of the list.

   

3. If you click the Batch ID link, it will show you a preview of the email that was sent.

4. You can view the recipient list for each email by clicking in the appropriate batch row to highlight the row grey and select ‘View Recipient List’ from the Activity Panel on the right.

5. To cancel a scheduled email batch, you can click in the batch row you wish to cancel and select "Cancel Batch" from the Activity Panel on the right.

   

Communication Options

You can set up Communication Options for your members to opt into.

To set up Communication Options:

1. Click on "Administration" and select "Edit Reference Tables" from the Main Menu.

2. Select the "Lookups" reference table from the list of reference tables on the left. There is a "Filter by Category" dropdown that is available to filter the list by category.

   

3. Search COMMOPTION in the filter dropdown to navigate to your Communication Options.

   

4. To edit an existing COMMOPTION value, click the row you wish to edit and use the "Edit Record" section of the window to update the DESCRIPTION field. Editing the CODE field will prevent you from searching for records with the original CODE. click the "Update Record" button to save any changes.

   

5. To enter a new COMMOPTION value:

   1. Click on the "Add Record" button to add a new value.

      

   2. The "Add Lookups Record" will open, the category will automatically populate to COMMOPTION.

      

6. Enter a unique identifier in the CODE field. The code should not have spaces or special characters and should be in all capital letters.

7. Enter a description for the new value. This field can contain spaces and special characters. This is the title of the communication option. This will display in individual notebooks and on the web for your members to opt into.

8. You can specify the order of the values within each Category by entering a number in the STORTORDER column.

9. Select the Save button to save the new value.

10. Create a separate entry for each COMMOPTION value that you wish to have available.

11. Enter a GROUPNAME to group the Comm Options.

12. When you have finish editing and entering new communication values, refresh ClearVantage and navigate to any individual notebook in the system to see the available communication options. It will appear under the "Contact and Usage Permissions" section.

    

Query for Individuals Opted into Receiving Communications

To query for Individuals who should receive certain types of communications:

1. From the Main Menu, click on "Membership" and select "Individuals."

2. Open the Individual Query Tool by clicking on the query icon.

   

3. From the query tool, find the "Comm Preferences" category. To search for a group of individuals who should receive a certain type of communication, search by the "Comm CD" field and select the communication option from the dropdown. Also, check the "Comm Allowed?" Checkbox.

   

4. This query will find all the individuals who have opted into receiving that specific communication option.

5. Click on the "Search" button to generate the list of matching individuals.

6. You can now send an Email Blast to the list of individuals.