Bulk Email Basics

SmartSpace can help you connect with customers, members, staff and associates, with its Individualised Bulk Email System.  Here are the basics:

• Individualised greeting and other custom information,
• Send in plain text or HTML (formatted for web or email view),
• Saves all records in database then;
  • Sends on a regular schedule,
  • Records status of each send,
• Review status of emails at any time,
• Export send lists to spreadsheet file for integration with word processing systems and mail merge where necessary,
• Use default footers and/or custom footers,
• Easily add individualised unsubscribe links,
• Easily send individualised login details
• Use just about any report or list as email targets.
• See how many recipients click on links back to your website
• Se how many email openings have occurred with each send

Click here to view a short video on sending Bulk Emails (5.00).

To use the bulk email feature you can take two different approaches:

1. If you have the Groups module, navigate to Database Manager > Groups;
   • There you can select the group of people you wish to email to by clicking on the Email Icon,
   • You can refine your selection from there.
2. For those with just the customer manager, produce any report and click the "Email to This List" button at the bottom of the report.

Please note:  To use the Bulk Email system, you must set up your Communications Settings.  Click here for more.

Create the Email

Once you have reached the Bulk Email form, you can create your email:

1. If you have come to the form using a list as your targets you can start on the email immediately;
   • Alternatively, if you have the required modules, you can select the groups of people you wish to send the emails to.
2. Depending on what your Bulk Email Preferences are, you can send either a plain text email, or an html email (go to Control Panel > Communications Settings to select the default format).
3. Things to note about email formats;
   • If you are sending a plain text email (there will be no formatting tools in the text field) and any web address or email address you insert will usually appear in the email as a link which can be clicked by the recipient,
   • If you are sending a html email, you must insert the link using the formatting tools if you want the recipient to be able to click the link,
   • Addresses that appear in Footers will not appear as links when sending a html email.
4. You can include linked images (linked back to the SmartSpace web server) - embedding images in emails is not recommended, especially when sending in bulk as the size of the emails may become very large.
5. Attaching other files to bulk emails is currently not permitted in SmartSpace;
   • Instead, save the file to the Webserver through the Content Manager and link back to the file in your email,
   • We strongly recommend that you save all documents into the .pdf format for universal viewing.

Sending Emails

1. Insert the Email Subject and Text ( both required).
2. You can add who the email is from by putting your name in the From field.
3. You can optionally include other data by ticking the appropriate boxes below the Text field.
4. The Unsubscribe box should always be left ticked except where the emails are vital to the recipients registration, membership or other association with you;
   • Unticking the unsubscribe links sends emails to all those who are in your list, including those who have unsubscribed.
   • You should not combine promotional material with necessary information.
   • Promotions, newsletters, specials and other communications which are designed to "stay in touch" should always carry the unsubscribe link.
   • Sending information to people who have unsubscribed will only serve to antagonise them, not win them over.
   • Untick the unsubscribe link only in exceptional circumstances.
     • ATTENTION!!  It is against the Smartspace Terms of Service to not include the Unsubscribe link for ordinary informational emails
5. If you wish to send the login details to the recipient, tick the Login Info box
   • If they do not have login details already, they will be generated for them
6. Attach a Custom Footer if required.
7. Once you are satisfied the email is OK, click the Review Before Sending button.
8. Review the details and Send To Targets or Review as required.
9. Review the status as necessary.

Reviewing Sent Emails

Once you have clicked the Send To Targets button, the list of email targets is saved ready for sending in an organised way, to prevent any anti-spam systems identifying your emails as spam.

Depending on the queue and the number of emails you are sending (the queue is cleared at between 500 - 1000 emails per hour), it may take some time to send all emails.

You can view the status of the send by going to Database Manager > Manage Communications > (click the subject line of the email).

Status of the emails could be;

• Sent - successfully sent by the system,
• Failed to send - system could not send the email;
  • Where mail has not been sent, you can requeue the Email into a new list,
  • Please note that all emails in the email job which could possibly be sent will be requeued when you click the requeue link.
• Not valid email address - either no email address exists or the data in the email field is not in a valid format.
• Queued for sending - has not yet attempted to send.
• Unsubscribed - the targets of the email have unsubscribed from receiving non-essential emails.

In all cases, you can export the list to a .csv file which you could use in association with a mail merge function available on most word processing programs, to send by postal mail.

Engagement Stats

When you go into the detail of a sent email via "Manage Communications" the engagement stats are available

• If you have included a link from your website, the system will record how many visits have been made directly from the email
• If you are sending an html email (not for plain text emails) the system will record email openings
  • Please note that if the recipient blocks remote images, the opening will not be recorded
  • It is estimated that around 35 - 40% of all email delivered, blocks images, so you will seldom get opening rates above around 70%
  • The system only records individual opening of the email, so may record more than one opening from a single individual if the email has been opened more than once