Click Here to view this article as a PDF.
Author: Kristenson, Joel
Last Updated: 2016-09-28
Overview
This article walks through three things: how to setup a user (that you’ve already created) with the ability to receive mass email drafts, how to test a mass email, and how to test an individual email template.
Tip: Use the Ctrl+F hot key to jump to different sections of this article (example: “#1”, “#2” or “Related Resources”.
Outline
#1 – Setup a User to Receive Test Emails
#2 – Send Out a Test Email from a Mass Email Campaign
#3 – Send Out a Test of an Individual Email Template to an Individual Contact (Anyone in the Database with an Email Address, Not Necessarily a User)
#4 Related Resources
#1 – Setup a User to Receive Test Emails
1) Query for the user and open their record. I used my own record for this example.
2) Navigate to Admin > Attributes > Expand the security attribute tree > Check the box for ‘Receive Mass Email Drafts > Click [Save].
3) Keep the user’s record open, navigate to General > Contact, and verify that they have an email and the box for ‘Enabled’ is checked.
4) [Save and Close] their record when finished. If everything is configured correctly this user will show up in the list of eligible ‘testers’ the next time you send out a mass email campaign.
#2 – Send Out a Test Email from a Mass Email Campaign
Build and run your search query and queue up your mass email campaign. In this example I sent a targeted email to everyone in Minnesota who gave last year but didn’t give this year, which produced 989 records.
Select your options for the campaign, and click [OK]. Typically I leave everything as default so I can verify how many people are actually going to receive the email which won’t display if choose to send to a saved query. My example is below.
*If you choose to send to everyone in the current list you’ll get a popup message that displays the total list of recipients who will receive your eblast, click [OK] to proceed.
In my example all emails were enabled, and there weren’t any duplicates so the count remained the same at 998. If your number drops substantially your emails likely haven’t been enabled and you’ll need to send in a request to support@trailblz.com.
You can now insert one of the templates you’ve previously created, insert one of our standard templates to start with, or compose a new email message. Enter a subject line before testing. Click the [Test] button in the bottom-right of the email composer. My finished example is below.
Once you click on the [Test] button you’ll get options for the user(s) you can send tests to. Check the boxes for the user(s) you want to send it to and click [OK]. In my example I only sent the test to myself.
You’ll get a popup message once the test has been submitted, click [Close].
Below is an example of my 1st test, opened it MS Outlook (desktop version). The formatting didn’t come exactly how I wanted so it’s another example of why to run lots of tests! The next section shows how to test a single email template to anyone in the database who has an email address (not necessarily a user).
#3 – Send Out a Test of an Individual Email Template to an Individual Contact (Anyone in the Database with an Email Address, Not Necessarily a User)
Search for the contact you want to send a test email to. The person must have an email address present that’s currently ‘enabled’. In my example I searched for a person named ‘Raymond Webb’.
Verify the contact has an email address, that it’s enabled, and then click the [Email] button in the bottom-right.
Insert your template that you’ve previously created, create a new message, or insert a standard template, then click [Send] in the bottom-right. In my example I inserted a template that was already saved.
Click [OK] once the email has been sent.
You can verify the test has been sent and when the recipient opens it (as long as they download an image) by navigating to the email log section of their record card:
Tip: It’s recommended to test many iterations of an email to different people who will view it in different email clients/devices i.e. Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, mobile, desktop etc., this tends to yield the best result and will point out any major anomalies. Also, it’s good to have a very ‘strong subject line’ that doesn’t look ‘spammy’ – you can search Google for good info on the topic.
Related Resources
Article: Adding SPF / DKIM Key to your domain’s Txt Record --- Greatly Improve Your Email Open Rates! (*requires access to your web host)
Article: Query by Email
Article: Deleting an Email Campaign
Article: Sample Custom Email Signup Form to Get you Started
Article: How to Import a Google Web Font into your Trail Blazer Email Template
Article: Configuring your From and Reply Email Address Settings
Article: How to Cancel a Mass Email Campaign as it’s Going Out & Reschedule a Queued Email Campaign
Article: How to Create Custom Email Responders for Specific Events – New 2016 Feature Upgrade
Article: How to Use the Event Contribution Total Merge-Field in a Mass Email to Thank Attendees for the Total Amount they Gave at a Specific Event – 2016 Upgrade
Article: How to Access and Use the Standard Trail Blazer Email Templates
Article: How to Create a Custom Thank-You Auto-Responder Email with Merge Fields for your Online Donation Form
Article: Mobile Responsive Email Template – Constant Contact Reference
Article: Sample HTML Email Templates with Inline CSS
Article: Fix your HTML email formatting
Article: Sending Out Test Emails
Article: Delayed email messages
Article: Email Opens and How Trail Blazer is Managing This Process
Article: Sending Mass Emails
Article: Personalize your Emails
Article: How to Create a Hyperlink around a Screenshot of your PDF Newsletter and Hyperlink it to the PDF Document
Article: How to Create a Hyperlink around a Screenshot of your Video and Link to the Video from your Trail Blazer Email Template
Article: How to Upload Documents to your System Gallery such as PDF’s, Spreadsheets, Audio Clips, Image Files, Etc.
Article: Querying by Email
Article: How to Create Trackable Links in your Email Campaigns, and Ho to Analyze those Statistics after the Eblast Goes Out
Article: Running an Import of Contact Data from Excel into your Database – Basic Overview
Article: Exporting Email Addresses from 3rd Party Mass Email Systems – Notes on CAN-SPAM Policies
Article: How to Find Duplicate Contact Records by Identical *Primary* Email Address, and Automatically Merge them Together
Video: Eblasts Create and Send Eblasts – Includes Image Management
Video: Eblasts 101 – How do I send an Eblast
Video: Eblasts 102 – Setting people up to receive test (drafts) emails
Video: Scheduled Emails
Video: Donation Auto Responders with Merge Fields
Video Playlist: Eblasts
Trail Blazer Live Support
Phone: 1-866-909-8700
Email: support@trailblz.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trail-Blazer-Software/64872951180
Twitter: https://twitter.com/trailblazersoft
* As a policy we require that you have taken our intro training class before calling or emailing our live support team.
Click here to view our calendar for upcoming classes and events. Feel free to sign up other members on your team for the same training.
* After registering you’ll receive a confirmation email with the instructions for how to log into the GoToMeeting session where we host our live interactive trainings.
* This service is included in your contract.
