Scenario
You want to bulk email your contacts, customers or employees etc. In this example, we will bulk email Customer.
In a nutshell, there are four major steps that you need to complete to send a bulk mail. These are as follows.
- Create a Saved Search to determine the list of Customers who will receive the email
- Create a Group (Target Group for the Campaign)
- Create an Email Template
- Send the Bulk Merge
Solution
I. Create a Saved Seach
- Navigate to Reports > Saved Searches > All Saved Searches > New
- Select Customer as your Search Type
- Use specific filters to identify who will receive the bulk email. If this is for all customers, you may leave the filter blank in the Criteria tab
- Click Save
II. Create a Group
Note: It is best practice to create a group only with your email address only at first to be used as a test before sending bulk email to your customers. You can create a test customer record under your name and email address.
1. Navigate to List > Relationships > Groups > New
2. Select Dynamic or Static > Select Customer.
Dynamic - If you have hundreds of recipients. If a user does not meet the criteria from the saved search added anymore at some point, then the user will be out of the group automatically within 24 hours after the change.
Static - If you have few contacts to add, you can add them one by one from here manually by clicking Add Members button. You can also use search but if one of the users didn't meet the criteria at some point, it will not automatically remove this user. You have to manually remove them from the group.
3. Click Continue
4. Enter a group name in the Name field
5. Select the Saved Search created in the Saved Search field
6. Click Save
Note: This should populate the list of the members of the Group. Also, make sure that the Global Subscription Status is set to either Soft Opt-In or Confirmed Opt-In for each members of the group. Otherwise, the email will not be sent. Also, make sure that there are no Summary Type on the Results tab of the search for you to pull it up on the list.
III. Create an Email Template
Note: This is only optional
Navigate to Documents > Templates > Email Templates > New
IV. Send Bulk Merge
Note: It is best practice to select the group you have created with your email address first to see how your email looks like once your customers receive the actual one before sending out the actual email.
1. Navigate to Documents > Mail Merge > Bulk Merge > Email
2. In the Recipients tab > Select the following:
- Group Type = Customer
- Group = (name of the group)
- OPT-OUT OVERRIDE box = Check this box to include customers who have unsubscribed from your emails (opted-out). This overrides their preference and will receive this bulk email operation.
3. In the Message tab, select your email template in the Template field
4. From Attachments tab, you can tick INCLUDE STATEMENT (For Bulk Emailing Customers) then configure the date. Under TYPE dropdown menu, you can select to either send it as PDF, HTML, etc.
6. Click Merge & Send
IV. Checking of the History