Sending a Communication to a Group of Contacts

You can use the Communication Wizard to send a communication to a group of contacts. This topic includes this information:

• Preliminary Steps
• Sending an E-mail to Portal Users
• Sending a Fax or Letter to a Group of Contacts
• Sending an E-mail “Blast” to a Group of Contacts (with or without a template)

For additional information about MailMerge and SyteLine, see Inserting MailMerge Fields for SyteLine Contacts. That topic applies both to communications that use a template and those that do not use a template.

Preliminary Steps

Start with these steps for any type of communication:

1. Decide on the type of communication you plan to send: News, Promotion, or Other Communication.
2. Decide on the method of communication you plan to send: Fax, E-mail, or Letter. (If you plan to communicate with Portal users, only e-mail is available, and the rest of these preliminary steps do not apply; see Sending an E-mail to Portal Users.)
3. Use the Contact Groups form to create a group of contacts for this communication, if no existing group meets your needs.
4. Ensure that the contacts to whom you want to send the communication are signed up to accept that type and method of communication from you. Go to the Sales Contacts form, Preferences tab, and verify the settings for each contact.
5. Open the Communication Wizard form and continue with the appropriate steps:
   • Sending a Fax or Letter to a Group of Contacts
   • Sending an E-Mail Blast to a Group of Contacts

Sending an E-mail to Portal Users

1. Determine the type of communication you plan to send: News, Promotion, or Other Communication.
2. In the Communication Wizard, select Portal Users. The Communication Method defaults to E-mail. The list of portal users who will receive the communication is based on those who have subscribed to the publication SpecialPromotionsAnnouncements through their portal profile.
3. Type your message in the Message body. Templates and MailMerge fields are not available for use with Portal communications.
4. Specify the Subject.
5. Click Next.
6. Select an Interaction Topic and, optionally, specify a note about the interaction. The Type defaults to E-mail.
7. Click Finish. The system sends the e-mail to portal users through the Application Event System.

Sending a Fax or Letter to a Group of Contacts

1. Follow the Preliminary Steps.
2. If you are using a template, ensure that you have created a Word template appropriate for this communication, with MailMerge fields embedded. See Inserting MailMerge Fields for SyteLine Contacts.
3. In the Communication Wizard, specify the Communication Type.
4. Specify the Communication Method as Fax or Letter.
5. Select the group you defined in the Preliminary Steps.
6. Click Next. The contacts from the group who have specified that they want to receive this type and method of communication are listed.
7. Select the contacts that you want to include in this communication.
8. Click Browse and select the template you defined in step 2.
9. The system responds by creating a .csv file that contains one record for each contact, with the available MailMerge field values for that contact. You are prompted to open the file. If you want to verify the values, click Yes. Close the file when you are finished.
10. The text from the template, including the MailMerge fields, is displayed in the Message field. You cannot edit the text.
11. Click Next. A Microsoft Word file is created that includes one copy of the merged document for each contact.
12. Print the document.
13. Click Finish to close the Communication Wizard.
14. Fax or mail the printed documents to the individual contacts.

Sending an E-mail “Blast” to a Group of Contacts

You can use the SyteLine MailMerge fields either in a template or in a simple text message.

Using a MailMerge Template with HTML Formatting

If you specify a Microsoft Word template (using either of the file extensions .docx or .dotx) and use MailMerge, your e-mail is sent through your installation of Microsoft Outlook. The e-mail is created as an HTML document with merge fields embedded in it. Use these steps:

1. If you want to send these e-mail blasts from a special “Marketing” e-mail address rather than from your personal address, add the Marketing e-mail account to your Outlook Profile and temporarily set that profile as the default.
2. Ensure that you have created a Word template appropriate for this communication, with MailMerge fields embedded. See Inserting MailMerge Fields for SyteLine Contacts.
3. Follow the Preliminary Steps.
4. In the Communication Wizard, specify the Communication Type.
5. Specify the Communication Method as E-Mail.
6. Select the group you defined in the Preliminary Steps.
7. Click Next. The contacts from the group who have specified that they want to receive this type and method of communication are listed.
8. Select the contacts from the group to be included in this communication and click Next.
9. Click Browse and select the template you defined in step 2.
10. The system responds by creating a .csv file that contains one record for each contact, with the available MailMerge field values for that contact. You are prompted to open the file. If you want to verify the values, click Yes. Close the file when you are finished.
11. The text from the template, including the MailMerge fields, is displayed in the Message field. Do not edit the Message text in the form.
12. Specify a Subject for the communication.
13. Click Next.
14. The E-mail Blast populates the Word template with data from your selected contacts and e-mails each record separately from your Outlook profile. Sent e-mails can be viewed in your Outlook Sent Mail folder
15. In the Communication Wizard, log information about the communication. See the field descriptions for more information:
    • Topic
    • Type
    • Save to Sales Contact
    • Note
    • Show Content
16. Click Finish to save the log information.

Sending a Blast E-mail without a Template

You can also send an e-mail that is either basic text formatting or HTML, typed directly into the Communication Wizard form, and not using a template. Blast e-mails that do not use a template are sent out through the application event system.

To set up this type of e-mail:

1. If you want to type HTML formatted text into the Communication Wizard form, ensure that these event handlers are updated to allow HTML:
   • In the Event Handlers form, select GenericSendEmail. Click Event Actions. Click Edit Parameters. Ensure that Body is in HTML Format is selected and click OK.
   • Return to Event Handlers and repeat the above step for the GenericNotify and InteractionEmail events.
2. Follow the Preliminary Steps.
3. In the Communication Wizard, specify the Communication Type.
4. Specify the Communication Method as E-Mail.
5. Select the group you defined in the Preliminary Steps.
6. Click Next. The contacts from the group who have specified that they want to receive this type and method of communication are listed.
7. Select the contacts from the group to be included in this communication and click Next.
8. Type a Subject and enter your text in the Message field. You can include SyteLine MailMerge fields (see Inserting MailMerge Fields for SyteLine Contacts). If HTML is allowed (see step 1), you can type in basic HTML formatting such as <b>text</b> in your message text.
9. Click Next.
10. In the Communication Wizard, log information about the communication. See the field descriptions for more information:
    • Topic
    • Type
    • Save to Sales Contact
    • Note
    • Show Content
11. Click Finish to save the information.

Related Topics

Inserting MailMerge Fields for SyteLine Contacts