Latest revision as of 10:00, 22 March 2022

Please note that this page is currently under construction. There is more information to come.

Overview

The Email Broadcast application provides a powerful communications tool that can be used in conjunction with other applications in SmartSimple. This application can be used in a variety of ways: 

• Newsletters and updates for customers, internal staff and external applicants
• Invitations to events and links to public calendars
• Links to surveys or contests to be completed by customers

The Email Broadcast function in SmartSimple is a handy way to send mass messages to the recipients that you choose to receive a message. It is useful for large batches of recipients, acting more like a broadcast than a direct reply-to communication email. 

• Tip: If you use the email broadcast feature regularly for your SmartSimple instance, you can create a shortcut on your home page for quicker access to this function.

Configuration - Essentials

General Characteristics of Email Broadcast

To create an email broadcast you will need access to the Email Broadcast application. Unlike most other applications, there are no manager permissions associated with this application. Once you enable the application, you can use all the features.

Each email broadcast consists of two components:

• A message formatted in HTML or plain text containing links to other sites, pages or SmartSimple features; such as web forms and calendars. All these links can be tracked.
• The recipient list – the contacts and users you have selected to send the message.

Accessing the Email Broadcast Feature

1. Click on the 9-square menu icon on the top right of your page.

2. Under the heading Tools, select Email Broadcast.

A list of email broadcasts, if there are any available, will be displayed.

Creating an Email Broadcast Message

To create a new broadcast message, click the + icon on the top of the Email Broadcast page. 

The following fields are used to create a new broadcast message:

The bottom of the page will also have Last Updated By and Last Updated fields that will be autopopulated once you Save the broadcast. These indicate who the message was last updated by and the date that the message was last updated.

Sending an Email Broadcast Message

After filling in the fields to create a new broadcast message, click the Save button at the bottom of the page. When you click the Save button, the page will refresh, your content will be saved to the system, and new buttons will appear at the bottom of the page: 

After clicking Save, new menu options on the left-hand side will also appear.

Clicking on the Recipient List will allow you choose which contacts should receive this broadcast message when it is sent. 

The + icon on the top left will allow you to add recipients. You can choose from a list of all the users in your SmartSimple instance. You can also use the Search functionality in the list of users in order to control the results of your list, selecting certain columns or roles to view. 

Click OK to add the selected users to the list of recipients for your broadcast message, or click Clear to remove your selected options and to make no new changes to the list of recipients.

 After adding recipients, you can always remove them from the recipient list by selecting them from the list and clicking the trashcan icon that will appear. 

The filter icon on the top left of the Recipient List will allow you to Exclude Roles.   Clicking on this button will enable a modal window to pop up that prompts you to select from available roles to select any that should be denied access to this broadcast message.

After adding recipients, to Send your broadcast message, simply click the paper airplane icon that will be present at the top left of your screen.  

• The Send Broadcast paper airplane icon will also be available from the main list view of Broadcast Messages stored in the system, accessed from the main menu via Tools > Email Broadcast. 
• You can re-send broadcasts anytime, or efficiently send many broadcasts at once by simply clicking the Send icon next to the desired Broadcast Messages from the list view. 

Once your broadcast message has been successfully sent, you will see this pop-up confirmation message: 

Broadcast Message List View

This section will help you understand the Broadcast Message list view, which contains the list of all Broadcast Messages you have created in your SmartSimple copy.

Reader Log

Clicking into a broadcast message will open up the message's details, including a left-hand side menu that has an Email Metrics tab. 

Click into the Email Metrics tab in order to view the reader log.

The Email Metrics displays the Statistics and the Click Performance.

Configuration - Advanced

Email Broadcast Security

It is important to permission the ability of Email Broadcast manager in order to prevent the feature from being misused and instead "spamming" your clients and customers. 

In order to find out how to make certain roles a Manager of the Email Broadcast feature, see our Email & Email Broadcast Security page.

Personalizing Email Broadcast Messages

See, for now, Personalizing Email Broadcast Messages. 

Template Variables

You are able to add variables to the body text of the window template. For applicable Email Broadcast variables, see below: 

Adding Calendar Links to an Email Broadcast Message

To add calendar links to an Email Broadcast message, you must first have two requirements: 

• Permission to create and manage calendars via Roles and Security Settings 
• The Internet-Enabled option for the calendar in question 

To access calendars, click the 9-square menu icon on the top right of your page.

Under the heading Tools, select Calendars. Click the cog icon on the top to enter into Configuration Mode. 

Select the Edit icon next to the Calendar that you want to copy into an Email Broadcast Message. 

 

• If you ensure that the calendar is Internet-Enabled, a URL link should appear in the details of the calendar.

Copy and paste the URL of the calendar; then, when creating a new Broadcast Message, simply paste the link into the body of the message. 

Adding an Image to an Email Broadcast

1. Create an Internet-enabled Smartfolder.

• See Folder Settings. 

2. Upload the image into the Smartfolder that you have made. 

• See Uploading Files to a SmartFolder. 

3. Choose View URL from the File Options list of the uploaded image.

• See File Options. 

5. In the HTML code of your Email Broadcast, add the URL to your IMG tab.

• The HTML content of an email broadcast can be configured when you first create an email broadcast - see Creating an Email Broadcast Message, Message Format.

6. Save the Email Broadcast.

7. Click the Preview button to see that the image has been successfully inserted into the broadcast message. 

Learn more about formatting email broadcasts

See Also

• Email
• Email & Email Broadcast Security