So you have built a beautifully crafted email that's ready to go out the door! Whether you are ready to send that email out immediately or you'd like to schedule it for a later time, this article will walk you through the process of getting your Email all wrapped up!
Let's talk through the "Target", "Specify", and "Send" stages. Before sending your email, be sure to read all the way through the Specify section of this article to make sure you're not missing anything.
Target
The Target step provides options for determining the recipients of your email.
When creating a new email, you are required to specify an Email List on the very first page of the build process. This list will be used as the default selection of recipients for sending the email, which will be sent to the primary email address of each Individual on the list.
When sending an email via a list, your email list must be created a minimum of 15 minutes prior to sending your email. It is recommended that you create your email list before creating your email, to allow time for the list to be generated.
You will see three options to target your recipients.
The "Send to Email List" option will allow you to select further criteria for the inclusion or exclusion of specific records based on a Contact or Individual query. This option allows for greater flexibility when specifying which Individuals will be receiving an email - just click the "Show Advanced Options" link.
In the pop-out menu, you can now select the Contact or Individual query that has the specific criteria necessary to filter down the Email List. You can select multiple queries for inclusion or exclusion. This is an excellent way to easily suppress any Contacts that have a "Do Not Email/Market/Contact Etc" Tag.
The "Use Individual Query" option will allow users to select one or more Individual queries. The primary email address for each Individual from a Query will receive the email. Sending an email using an Individual Query will also add those Individuals receiving the email to the Email List specified on the email.
The "Use Contact Query" option will allow users to select one or more Contact queries, and then specify which Individuals within the included Contacts should receive the email:
- Primary: Only the primary email address for the Primary Individual will be used.
- Primary and Secondary: If there are email addresses for both the Primary and Secondary Individuals on any records, both the primary email address for the Primary Individual and the primary email address for the Secondary Individual will be used.
- All: The primary email address for each Individual listed under a Contact record will be used.
Sending an email using a Contact query will add all of the Individuals receiving the email to the Email List specified on the email, making it easier to manage future sends.
Once you have made your selections, click Next again to continue.
Specify
The "Specify" step is where you will determine when your email is sent. If your email is ready to send immediately, click on the "Send it Right Now" button on the left.
For future delivery, use the calendar option on the right to select the day to send. You can schedule an email to send up to one year in the future. Once a day is selected, click on the clock to specify a time of day as well. Double-check the time zone to make sure you are choosing the correct delivery time.
Once you have chosen a delivery date and time, click on "Send Later" to confirm.
There are a few things to keep in mind when scheduling an email to send later.
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At the 24-hour mark ahead of a scheduled email being sent, the list of recipients and contents will be cemented
- Any Individuals added to the Email List or Query will not receive the scheduled email.
- If a scheduled email has the status of "Planned" the list of recipients has not yet been cemented and changes can be made.
- When the status is "Scheduled" the contents and recipients have been locked in and changes cannot be made. If you need to make changes to a scheduled email, our best practice recommendation is to CANCEL the scheduled email and then reschedule.
- Scheduled emails can be canceled up to 15 minutes before the intended delivery time. Any cancellation after that time may result in the email being sent as originally planned.
Send
Clicking on either the "Send it Right Now" option or the "Send Later" option will advance you to the "Send" step, where you will confirm your selections. And that's it!