Difference between revisions of "Mass Email Sending"

Latest revision as of 00:05, 10 November 2014

bxp software (bxp) has the ability to send large volumes of emails to numerous recipients, as in an email shot. This is done through the Communications Centre module .

1 Overview

Email is a not guaranteed delivery format. Sending an email does not guarantee that it will be delivered. So you as the sender have a number of challenges to overcome to increase your chances of delivery, especially when doing a mass email send.

When sending emails you have two different types of email you can send. Text Only emails and HTML emails. Some government departments will only allow text only emails. Their email systems have the ability to convert the HTML back to text types, but you have no control on the format or layout of email. Text Only gives you a much higher chance of delivery but you lose the prettiness of your email. This is a big choice early on, but most people are willing to risk sending the HTML email for the benefits it brings.

Further reading:

• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32643/Why-Marketers-Must-Optimize-Emails-for-HTML-AND-Plain-Text-Infographic.aspx
• http://email.about.com/od/netiquettetips/qt/When-In-Doubt-Send-Plain-Text-Email-Not-Fancy-Html.htm
• http://www.aweber.com/blog/email-template-design/should-i-use-text-or-html.htm

In bxp, you can send either:

• Main Menu > Communications Centre > Text Only Email Sending
• Main Menu > Communications Centre > HTML Email Sending

2 Choosing who to send to

For the purposes of demonstration we are going to use a HTML email send. The plain text process is exactly the same up to the content of the message.

There are five options in the section in the module

1. Send a simple rich text email
2. Customer - Send a Customer rich text email
3. System User - Send a staff rich text email
4. HR - Send a filtered staff rich text email
5. Campaign - Send a campaign rich text email

1. General - "Send a simple" will allow you to dump in a ton of email addresses and do the send.
2. External - "Customer" will using the Relationship Management module to group the recipients
3. Internal - "System User" will use the email addresses assigned to bxp system user accounts
4. Internal - "HR" will use the email addresses logged in the "Human Resource Management" module of bxp
5. External - "Campaign" will allow send to records in any form built in the system. (Inbound, Outbound, Blended, Case Management, Examination, Quality, Survey)

For each of the different options there are grouping parameters to allow you to select just the records you want to include. For further information on how to use the grouping, click your relevant type here:

1. No grouping, just put in a list of email addresses, separated by commas.
2. Group Customer sending Group_Customer_Sending
3. Group System User sending Group_System_User_Sending
4. Group HR sending Group_HR_Sending
5. Group Campaign sending Group_Form_Sending

3 The body of the message

The sending screen will be similar to :

3.1 From

bxp can send emails From anybody. This is part of the marketing engine of bxp. The All n One team will set the From address for your system on your behalf at the start of the contract. As part of the contract you will have the ability to then control the from address as you need, but that you accept responsibility for spamming or misuse of the service. If you need to change the From address please contact your business development manager in All n One now. (+353 1 429 4000).

Failed delivery notifications, people on holiday and other automated response emails will be returned to the From address. So please set the From address carefully as this will help you troubleshoot failed email deliveries if there are any.

3.2 To

The recipient total will indicate how many people the system is going to attempt to send this email to.

If the To box is displayed you will see the email addresses of the people to get this email. When the email is sent, all addresses will be put in the BCC field for security and the To box will have the from address.

3.3 Subject

Subject is the subject of the email.

3.4 Body

The Body of the message is put into the large light blue outlined area. This interface is tailored to look like Microsoft Word 2007 however it is a HTML editing area. It is possible to generate your email here however most people prefer to create their HTML emails in other methods. Please review Writing_HTML_Emails for discussions on the body of your email.

If you have created an HTML email or contracted a marketing company to design one for you, at the bottom of the entry area click "Code" and then paste in your HTML. For more information on the Rich HTML Editing area, please click here. HTML_Editing_Area

bxp does not support attaching documents in the body of the email for a number of reasons. Please read here for more information Sending_attachments_in_Emails

As this is a HTML email it is possible to put tracking into your email. Please read here for more information Communications_-_Email_Clickthru