Sending Contact Communications

Used in conjunction with Email Documents, DEACOM allows users to send mass emails or print out mailings using pre-defined templates. This feature allows users to house and maintain communication documents directly in the system as well as quickly and easily keep Contacts updated with the latest communications. Examples of documents include: new customer paperwork, credit applications, Terms & Conditions, pricing letters, new customer welcome packet, etc. A common practice is to setup Email Templates for use when creating Campaigns or following a Work Flow assigned to a Contact. This way, communication to Contacts is standardized and controlled. Because of all the different available CRM Reporting filters, mass emails can be sent to many different combinations of Contacts. Users may want to send specific communication to Contacts within certain CRM Groups or Markets, assigned to specific Sales Reps, or to only Bill-to Companies or Vendors. Campaigns can be used to endorse new products, promotions, solicit feedback, or distribute any other news related to the company. This is easy to do in DEACOM as it’s possible to create templates and set up pre-filters to email individual, groups, or all Contacts. Campaigns can be text only or attach various Documents within the chosen Email Template. While some Campaigns, like new product information, may only need to be sent once, others, like ongoing Promotions or recurring surveys, may make more sense to send on a recurring, scheduled basis. The process begins by creating a Campaign, continues with running a CRM report and distributing the Campaign, and ends with entering and reporting on Campaign Results. Campaigns are also a step above the Email All feature because users have the ability to report on Campaigns sent and the corresponding results. A typical Campaign life cycle begins with creating the Campaign, then identifying recipients, followed by distribution, then entering results, and finally analyzing results.

Security and Configuration

Prior to using the Email All and/or Campaigns functions:

  • A user's email settings must be configured
  • Email Documents should be setup in CRM > Maintenance > Email Documents.
  • DEACOM web services must be installed and running for some features, such as email monitoring.
  • Several Contacts must be set up and configured for receiving mass emails in the General tab of the Edit Contact Person form.
  • Additionally, depending on the type of Campaign, the Contacts should be linked to Customers or Vendors. That way, if there is a sales Promotion, a user can run a report of all active Bill-to Companies then run the Campaign designated for the sales Promotion. Or if there is an email blast specific to Vendors, a user can run a report of all active Vendors then run the desired Campaign.
  • The user attempting to send the emails must have appropriate security settings for “CRM -- Email All” in System > Maintenance > Users.
  • Prior to distributing Campaigns, the desired Contacts need to have either “Both” or “Campaigns” listed in the “Mass Email” field of the Edit Contact Person form.
  • If running a Campaign for the user-defined Contact Search 1-5 fields, these fields will need to be defined and values chosen.

Procedure

Managing Emails

Adding Email Templates

  1. Navigate to CRM > Maintenance > Templates – Email then click “Add New”.
  2. Enter a template Name, Subject, Body, and Footer with the desired information. If creating a body that contains HTML tags, the "HTML" flag must be checked. The following tags are available to the Body or Footer field on the Edit Email Template form: <<us_login>>, <<us_fname>>, <<us_lname>>, or <<us_email>>. When these tags are included in the Body or Footer field of an email template, and that email template is chosen when using the email buttons on the Edit Ticket form via CRM > Ticket Reporting, then the login name, first name, last name and email address of the primary contact on the ticket will be displayed in the email template.
  3. Users also have the option of adding attachments to templates by clicking the “Add” button. The list of available attachments is maintained under CRM > Maintenance > Email Documents. If an attachment is selected, the details will display in the Sequence, Description, and Attachment on the Edit Email Template form.
  4. Once complete, click “Save” then "Exit". Back on the Templates – Email form, the newly created template Name and Subject will display in the list.

Templates can also be modified and marked as "Active/Inactive" in the same location by selecting the record and clicking "Modify". Note that the Templates - Email form defaults to show only "Active" records. To instead display "All" or "Inactive" records, change the selection in the Display pick list.

Sending Mass Emails

To send mass emails, first confirm that all Contacts and Email Templates are accurate then:

  1. Navigate to CRM > CRM Reporting.
  2. Enter desired data in the pre-filter then click “View”.
  3. In the generated report click “Email All”.
  4. Select the desired template from the list. A system prompt will appear listing how many emails will be sent; click “Yes” if the number is correct. A second system prompt will display to confirm the emails were sent successfully. Depending on the number of emails being sent out, the CRM user may see the email messages flashing on the screen.

Monitoring Emails

If desired, companies have the option to capture and record emails between specific contacts and DEACOM users in the Contact Notes for the selected Contact record. This will log the Date, Time, Note Type, User, Contact Person, and Email Body (with or without Attachments) as part of the Contact Note. To use this feature, the "Email Host" and "Email Port" must be correct and "Email Note Type" must have a selection in System Options, a valid email address must exist in the "Email" field of the Contact record, and both the Contact Person and the DEACOM User must have the monitor email flag checked. To modify the Contact Person:

  1. Navigate to CRM > CRM Reporting > click "View".
  2. Select the desired record and click "Modify".
  3. On the People tab of the Edit Contact form, select the Contact Person and click "Modify".
  4. On the General tab of the Edit Contact person form, make a selection from the pick list in the "Monitor Email" field and save changes.

To modify the DEACOM User:

  1. Navigate to System > Maintenance > Users.
  2. Select the desired User then click "Modify".
  3. On the Edit User form, check the "Monitor Email Correspondence" flag and save changes.
Notes:
  • The frequency at which emails are sent between DEACOM users and Contact people is defined by the value in the "Email Poll Mins" field in System > Options.
  • Users utilizing this functionality should archive old emails to lessen the load on the servers.

Managing Campaigns

Adding a Campaign and Results

To add a new Campaign:

  1. Navigate to CRM > Maintenance > Campaigns > click “New”.
  2. Enter a Name for the Campaign then click the magnifying glass on the “Email Template” field to select an existing template.
  3. By default, the "Active" check box is marked off. Users can also assign a Campaign as the default by checking the "Default" check box in the Edit Campaign form.
  4. Click "Save" to create the record and "Exit" to close out the form.

To add Email Results corresponding to a Campaign:

  1. Navigate to CRM > Maintenance > Campaign Email Results > click "New".
  2. Enter a Name for the Result.
  3. Ensure the "Active" flag is checked. If this record should be the default result, check the "Default" flag as well.
  4. Click "Save" to create the record and "Exit" to close out the form.

Running a Campaign

To distribute a Campaign:

  1. Navigate to CRM > CRM Reporting. Enter the desired filters then click “View”.
  2. Once the results load, click the “Campaign” button on the Toolbar.
  3. Click the magnifying glass in the “Campaign” field to select which Campaign to run. The default Email Template will populate, but this can be changed to another template if desired.
  4. Ensure the “Send Email” flag is checked then click “Apply” to send the Campaign. The system will send emails to all Contacts in the selected report. DEACOM will then display a prompt to indicate if all emails were successfully sent or if any failed. In addition, the system will create an entry that may be viewed via the Campaign Detail report containing the default email result, date email was sent, the company, the Contact the email was sent to, and the name of the Campaign.

Entering Campaign Results

To log a result for a sent Campaign:

  1. Navigate to CRM > CRM Reporting.
  2. Select “Campaign Detail” in the “Report Type” field, enter further filter selections such as in the "Start Date", "End Date", or “Campaign” fields if desired, then click “View”.
  3. Locate the Campaign record that requires a result entered and double click to open.
  4. Navigate to the Campaigns tab, where all Campaigns sent to this Contact will be displayed.
  5. Double click the Campaign to open the Edit Campaign form, click the magnifying glass in the “Email Result” field, then select the desired item from the list and save.
  6. Repeat as necessary for each Contact Person for which results need to be logged.

Note: If needed, the best way to elaborate on a Campaign result would be to attach a Note to the Contact Record. Do this by clicking “Add Note” in the Contact Notes section within the Edit Contact form. If attaching a Note, it is best to include all details regarding the original Campaign sent so it is obvious what the Note is in reference to.

Reporting on Campaign Results

To report on logged Campaign results:

  1. Navigate to CRM > CRM Reporting.
  2. Select “Campaign Detail” in the “Report Type” field, enter further filter selections such as in the "Start Date", "End Date", “Campaign” or “Email Result” fields if desired, then click “View”.
  3. The Campaign Detail report will populate, typically displaying the following columns: Date, Time, Company, Person, Campaign, and Email Result.

Users can then analyze the information for trends. If the same Campaign is run multiple times over a long time span, it is also helpful to compare the results of each time the Campaign was run. This can lead to understanding if the Campaign is gaining or losing effectiveness, reaching more or less Contacts, leading to a higher volume of orders received, resulting in more new Customers, etc.

Note: Users can filter based on the date the campaign email was sent.This is enabled by selecting Campaign Date in the Date Based On field in the CRM pre-filter.