How Do I Create a Postcard?

Postcards are a great way to recognize and celebrate special dates, like donor anniversaries, birthdays, and giving milestones. To have postcards automatically start showing up in donors' mailboxes, you'll need to start by creating a postcard. You can do this from the Letters on Demand page by hovering over the left side bar, then selecting Marketing. Under Marketing, select Letters on Demand.

On the Letters on Demand page, you'll see a list of all the letters and postcards for your organization. To create a new postcard, look for the Actions menu in the upper right, click, and then select "Create a Postcard."

This will launch the Postcard Wizard, which has six main steps.

On the setup screen, give your postcard a unique name. You can also select a Campaign Segment to help track the success of your outreach.

Once you have entered a name and selected a Segment, click next in the bottom right to move to the Template step.

The easiest way to create a postcard is to use an existing template. There are two basic template designs to choose from.

The first template (shown on the left above) has a design on the front that allows for custom messaging, font selection, and additional design elements. The second template (on the right) has just an image on the front. If you would like to include text, as the example shows, you will need to use an image that already contains text.

Postcards have both a front and back design. The back of each template is the same, with space for a message and reserved space for your recipient's mailing address.

We strongly recommend starting with an existing template and then editing the content to customize it for your organization. If you would rather generate your own HTML content from scratch, then click on the "No thanks, I'll create my own HTML" link below the displayed templates.

Selecting a template or clicking on the "No thanks" link will advance to the next step.

You'll begin editing by customizing the front of your postcard.

If you are using the customizable HTML template, you can customize the design elements using the toolbar in the editor. For example, just highlight the "Happy Birthday" text to edit the text, and then use the toolbar options to change the font or color.
To change the color of the background, you'll need to right-click anywhere on the background, and then click"Edit." This will bring up a new dialog box.

If you know the hex code of the color you want to use (which you likely do, if it is a brand color), you can simply type in the value. Click on the square to the left to bring up a color picker with a selection of common colors to choose from. Click on any color block to select that color.

To add a custom color, click on the palette icon to bing up the color picker dialog box. There, you can enter the RGB values, a hex code, or use the tools on the left to fin the right color match and select it.

If you are using the image template option, you can right-click on the image and then click "Image" to replace the template image with your own.

You can choose to add your image by entering the URL for it in the Source field. This means that your image must be available online. Make sure you are using a valid url that is hosted on your site (not a Google Image or Dropbox file, for example). Your URL should look something like this:

To upload an image file stored on your computer (or on a networked drive), click on the "Upload" option and you'll see the option to drag-and-drop your file or browse for an image file.

Once your file is uploaded, it will be converted to a URL, which will display in the Source field. Click Save to add the image to your postcard.

It is recommended that you periodically save to avoid losing any work. Just click on the Actions menu in the upper right and click on "Save." Click "Save and Preview" to see a rendering of what your actual postcard will look like, front and back, with the address block inserted for mailing.

Once you have the Front of your postcard set, click next in the bottom right to move on to designing the back.

The back for each postcard template is identical. 

Just as with editing the front, you can right-click the red bar at the top and select "edit" to change the color, and right-click on the Human Fund logo in the lower left to replace the image with your own. Highlight the provided sample text to change the font, style, and replace the text with your own message.

Be sure to keep your message brief! The white space on the right side is required so Virtuous can insert the Contact Name, mailing address, and bar code. Don't forget to save your work periodically by selecting "Save" from the Actions menu in the upper right.

Once you have completed designing the front and back of your postcard, click on "Save & Review" in the lower right to move to the Review step. You will see a preview of your postcard, which you can also download and print. Make sure the design of your postcard looks correct - this is your chance to make sure it will look exactly the way you'd like when it is sent to your recipients.

Your preview will include your return address block and recipient address block, and all of the elements present on your actual letters.

If the changes need to be made, click on the "Prev" option in the lower left to go back to either the Front or Back step (or both) and modify your design.

If your postcard is ready for prime time, click "Next" in the lower right to continue.

The final step will ask you to confirm that you are ready to publish your postcard.

Click on "Save & Publish" if you are ready to go!

Only published versions of postcards will be sent via Automation. If you would like to make changes to a postcard that is being used in an active workflow, you can edit and save and even preview those changes as often as you like. Once you've made all of the changes, you will need to publish your postcard again in order to have your changes take effect and begin sending your updated version.