salesforce - towson university creating an email campaign 3 creating a template a template is...

Salesforce Creating an Email Campaign

OTS Publication: SF01 • 10/05/2016 • [email protected] • Office of Technology Services © 2016 Towson University This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License.

Details available at http://www.towson.edu/OTStraining

Introduction

Email marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses electronic mail as a means of communicating messages (typically in the form of newsletters, invitations or fundraising appeals) to an audience. Towson

University uses Salesforce as the software solution for the creation of email marketing, called an Email Campaign.

Logging In

To access the Salesforce environment, you must first login.

1. From your favorite browser, visit http://www.towson.edu and select the QUICK LINKS icon.

2. From the FACULTY OR STAFF tab, select Salesforce under TOOLS.

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Salesforce: Creating an Email Campaign

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3. The Salesforce Login screen will appear. Enter your Username (NetID) and Password and click Login.

4. The Salesforce environment will appear.

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Creating a Template

A template is typically created for you by the Creative Services team. This template resides on a webpage that will be provided to you. The code from that template will be used to create your email template design.

1. From the App Menu in the upper right hand corner of the screen, select Email to create an Email

Campaign.

2. Select Email Content from the Menu bar.

3. From the Email Editor section, select the Email Template Designer link. The Email Templates screen appears.

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4. Under the Email Template Details section, select the folder in which you will be saving your template to. Typically, there will be three folders; your office templates folder identified by name, My

Email Templates, which is available only to you, and Unfiled Templates, which is available to all users and should be rarely used.

5. Click the New Template button. This will launch the designer allowing you to paste your HTML code.

6. Enter a name for the email template in the Email Template Name field. The same name will be appended and appear in the Template Unique Name field. Note: The naming convention for campaigns and templates is OFFICE ABBREVIATION > CAMPAIGN PURPOSE >DATE.

7. In the Encoding dropdown, select Unicode (UTF-8).

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8. In the Email Content section, enter a Subject for your email in the Subject field. This will be the Subject Line that will appear to recipients of your message when it is sent out.

Note: Approximately 33% of email recipients decide whether or not to open an email based on subject line alone. The following guidelines will help you arrive at a suitable subject line:

Keep the subject line to less than 50 characters Use action oriented verbs such as: learn, visit, dine, explore,

Personalize the subject line to make people feel special such as: “You’re Invited” Create a sense of urgency Use numbers such as: “Join 750 others at this event”

Pose a compelling question such as: “What are other people saying about…” Don’t use all Caps or too many exclamation points

Test your subject line on a few people before sending the campaign out. When the appropriate fields are complete, you are ready to copy the email template provided to you by

Creative Services.

Obtaining the HTML Code

1. From your favorite browser, navigate to the webpage provided by the Design Center. Note: This is typically a link that will be provided to you via email.

2. Once the page loads, you will need to obtain the source code for the page. This will vary depending on

the browser you select. Please follow the steps for each browser:

Internet Explorer

1. Select View, and the Source from the drop-down menu that appears.

Google Chrome

1. Right click a blank part of the web page

2. Select View page source from the pop-up menu that appears.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Press the Alt key to bring up the browser's menu bar.

2. Select Tools, Web Developer, and then Page Source.

Safari

1. Right-click a blank part of the web page.

2. Select Show page source from the pop-up menu that appears.

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3. Once the source code appears, select the entire code. This can be done by dragging your mouse to select all the text or using the CTRL-A keyboard shortcut. Copy the source code by selecting CTRL+C

on your keyboard or right-clicking and select Copy from the pop-up menu.

4. With the source code copied, head back to the Email Template Designer and click the Source icon

on the editing toolbar in the Email Content section.

5. The Source window will appear and some sample HTML will be visible. Select the sample HTML code that is added and delete it.

6. Paste the source code from the website into the Source window by selecting CTRL-V or right-clicking

and selecting Paste from the pop-up menu.

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7. Click the Source button again and your template will appear.

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Adding Template Content

If you are using one of the pre-designed newsletter templates provided by Creative Services, you can add content in the form of text, buttons and images. During the creation process, Creative Services will show you how the design of the template will look. Your content should be built to fit the template design.

Adding Text

Text can be added by copying from the original location and pasting as plain text. The best approach is to

paste small chunks of text for each section of the newsletter.

1. From the source location, select the text you wish to copy.

2. Copy the text as you would normally.

3. Head back to the template designer.

4. Select the section of existing dummy text and click the Paste as Plain Text icon.

5. Depending on the browser you are using, the Paste as Plain Text window will appear. Paste the text

into the window using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+V and click OK. The text will be pasted into the design.

6. Repeat the process for each section of the newsletter until all content has been added.

7. Format the text to match the style of the newsletter. Note: Typical newsletter font is Arial 12 points.

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Adding Buttons and Hyperlinking

Typically, buttons are provided for you as part of the design. All you will need to do is create a hyperlink.

1. Select the text inside of the button and type what you want the button to say.

2. Select the text again then click the Link button on the toolbar.

3. The Link window will appear. Type or paste the URL of the link in the URL field then click OK.

4. You do not need to have a button present to create a link. You can select any text in the design and

create a hyperlink from it using the steps above. If you wish to link to an email address, select E-mail from the Link Type dropdown and enter an email address in the E-Mail Address field. Note

5. Click OK to add the link.

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Replacing Images

If your newsletter requires images, please work directly with Creative Services for correct placement in the newsletter. Images have to be a correct resolution and size and their placement inside of the

newsletter is managed within the template. Creative Services will provide the design and copies of all images including links. Note: Do not attempt to add any images to sections of the email unless there is an

image placeholder. This will break the design and recipients will not be able to receive the newsletter as intended.

1. From within the template, right-click on the image placeholder of the communication piece and select Image Properties from the pop-up menu.

2. From the Image Properties screen, paste the URL of the image provided by Creative Services into

the URL field.

3. In the Alternative Text field, add a description for the image.

4. In the Width field, type the exact width of the image size called for in the template. Note: Each

template has image placeholders informing you of what the image width should be.

5. In the Height, delete the existing value.

6. Click the OK button. Your image will appear in the placeholder.

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Adding Merge Fields (Optional)

Depending on the type of communication you are sending out, you may want to add merge fields to add a level of personalization.

1. Under the Email Content section, select the Merge Object dropdown.

2. Select the object from which you want to obtain a merge field. Typically, this would be the Contact

object.

3. Select the field you wish to insert. The most likely merge field will be the First Name field.

4. Once the item has been selected, place your cursor at a section of the email content and click the Insert Merge Field button . A merge code will be added to the communication. When the email

campaign is delivered, the merge field will be replaced by each recipients first name.

Adding a Text Version

1. When your template is complete, click the Copy text from HTML into Plain Text button. This will provide email recipients with a text only version of the email for those that cannot receive HTML

email. Note: You will need to clean up the text for any coding errors such as %20% and place paragraph returns where appropriate.

Activating the Template

1. To make a template available for use, navigate back to the top and locate the Email Template Details section and click the Available For Use checkbox.

2. When finished, click the Save button. The Email Template is ready to be sent.

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Creating the Campaign

Once the content has been created, it is time to build the campaign. The campaign is the process by which email content is sent to a selection of contacts. This is the final step before recipients receive an email in their inbox.

Note: At this stage in the email campaign, you will have been working with the Salesforce team to determine your email audience. They curate the audience based on your criteria. The end result is called a

report.

1. From the menu bar, select the Email Campaigns tab.

2. Enter a name for your campaign in the Campaign Name field. Note: Use the same naming convention used previously: OFFICE ABBREVIATION > CAMPAIGN PURPOSE >DATE.

3. Under Step 1: Select your criteria, select the Query on Reports radio button.

4. Select the Report Folder from the dropdown and then select the Report which contains your email audience. Note: It is a good idea to click the Click to see Count hyperlink to see how many people

you will be sending the email to.

5. Under Step 2: Select your email content, enter the email vanity and email address in the From

Vanity/Email fields. A vanity is what shows up in the email program as the sender. Note: These are required fields, and the Email Addresses used must be valid.

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6. Select the folder from which your template resides and then select the template that you wish to send.

7. Before proceeding, it is a good idea to test your campaign. Clicking Test Message will allow you to

send a message to one or more individual internal email addresses. Clicking Spam Check will assess the readability of a message and determine if the message is likely to be labeled as SPAM. Clicking Preview will show you what the email message will look like.

8. Under Step 3: Select your Campaign Options, place check marks in each box according to your

desired campaign objectives. Each item and its description is listed below.

a. Maximum recipients per broadcast: This will cap the number of actual emails sent. It is rarely used unless there is a specific purpose provided to you by the Salesforce team.

b. Recipients should only receive 1 broadcast from this campaign: A broadcast is a

campaign that is mailed more than once. This should be checked if your report captures all new contacts on a daily basis and sends emails to those contacts. For example: a thank you email for touring the University. Checking this will ensure that new additions to the Contact

report get an email but existing people already contacted are not bombarded with repeat emails.

c. Allow more than one email to same recipient in a broadcast: If you check this option,

and your report contains a duplicated Contact, the email will be sent to the Contact for as many times that Contact appears in the report.

d. Track Click-throughs in Message: if your message has a hyperlink text or button, Salesforce can measure how many people clicked on a link. This is a helpful tool to determine

the effectiveness of your campaign.

e. Add Forward to a Friend Link in Footer: this enables the recipient to click a link and forward the email to someone else. This is helpful if you believe your message will have

information that your recipients may like to forward to others. However, please know that SalesForce will not capture the forwarded recipients as new Contacts.

f. Add Profile Update Link in Footer: this will add an option for the recipient to update their profile (name or email address) in the Salesforce database.

9. Under Step 4: Set your delivery schedule, choose an option for delivery. Note: Immediate does not mean the email message will appear in inboxes immediately. It will take a few moments (typically up to one hour) for the email to actually send from the system.

10. When you are ready to send your email, click the Schedule Campaign button. You will be asked to confirm you choice. Click OK Your campaign will be sent.

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Understanding the Campaign Detail Page

After you have scheduled your campaign, you will be brought to the Campaigns tab. This section of the report reveals important statistics as to the effectiveness of your campaign.

Number Sent: the number of emails sent by the system.

Bounced Back: the number of emails that did not reach the recipient because the email address was incorrect, no longer used, or possibly as a result of an ‘Out of Office’ message.

Received: the number of emails that viewed the HTML of a message, either by opening it or

having it appear in their email view panel.

Viewed HTML: the number of emailed that were opened by a recipient.

Opt Out: the number of recipients that responded by clicking a link at the bottom of their message requesting to no receive emails from Towson. Please know that this will prevent this

Contact from receiving any future email sends from any office using SalesForce.

Interacted: the number of people that interacted with an email, either by opening and viewing it, clicking on a link, forwarding to a friend, etc.

Did not interact: the number of people that did not interact with the email.

Forward to a Friend (BY): the number of people who forwarded a message to a friend.

Forward to a Friend (to): the number of people that successfully received the forwarded

message.

Profile Update View: the number of recipients that clicked the link to view their Saleforce profile.

Profile Update: the number of recipients that made a change to their Salesforce profile.

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salesforce - towson university creating an email campaign 3 creating a template a template is...

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