Click Here to view this article as a PDF.

Author: Kristenson, Joel

Last Updated: 2017-12-27

Overview

This article walks through the steps to create and send a mass email campaign.  It also touches on how to track the email statistics after it goes out.

Tip: Watch this video to learn how to schedule mass emails and watch this video to learn how to create templates, upload images, etc.

Steps

Prior to sending a mass email you need to make sure you have a from/reply email address configured in your database.  This video & this article show how to accomplish this task.

1) Navigate to the Contacts (Voters/Donors) list.

2) Build and run your search query.  In my example I searched for everyone who had a primary or alternate email (that was subscribed), and donated last year but not this year, which produced 990 records.

3) Click File > Communications > Create Mass Email...  This requires appropriate security clearance.

4) Give the email campaign a descriptive name, select your preferences (I typically leave the default settings as is), and click [OK].

5) If you chose to send to everyone in the ‘current list’ you’ll get a popup notification that displays the results.  Click [OK] to proceed.  In my example the total recipient count grew to 999.

6) The email composer will open at this point.  You can insert your own template, start with one of our standard templates, or start from scratch.

7) Create a catchy subject line and click [Test].  My finished example is below.

8) Choose your ‘testers’ and click [OK].

9) Click [Close] after the test goes out.

10) Review your email message for any errors/rendering issues.  It’s important to test thoroughly on different device sizes and email clients (i.e. Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.).  My final test is below, viewed in MS Outlook (desktop version).

11) Once you’re satisfied with the test results, click [Send] and either send the email right away or select a time to schedule it.

12) After the eblast goes out you can track the overall statistics in the Email Campaigns list.

13) You can also search for who specifically opened or did not open the campaign in the Contacts (Voters/Donors) list.

The related resources link to a wide variety of articles and videos related to the email tools.

Related Resources

Article: Configuring your From and Reply Email Address Settings

Article: How to Send an Email Campaign to People who’ve Received Specific Email Campaigns(s) in the Past

Article: How to Add Email Attachments (i.e. PDF’s, Word Docs, Spreadsheets, etc.) to an Email Template or Mass Email Campaign

Article: How to Delete Unsent Email Campaigns, Test Email Campaigns, and Email Templates

Article: Editing Tracked Links for Mass Email Campaigns – Creating Names for those Missing a Name

Article: How to Access and Use the Standard Trail Blazer Email Templates as a Starting Point for Template Creation and Mass E-Mail Campaigns

Article: Setup a User to Receive Test Emails, How to Send Out Tests of a Mass Email Campaign, and How to Test an Individual Email Template

Article: Adding SPF / DKIM Key to your domain’s Txt Record --- Greatly Improve Your Email Open Rates! (*requires access to your web host)

Article: How to Import a Google Web Font into your Trail Blazer Email Template

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 Create a Custom Thank-You Auto-Responder Email with Merge Fields for your Online Donation Form

Article: Running an Import of Contact Data from Excel into your Database – Basic Overview

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 Create a Hyperlink around a Screenshot of your PDF Newsletter and Hyperlink it to the PDF Document

Article: How to Upload Documents to your System Gallery such as PDF’s, Spreadsheets, Audio Clips, Image Files, Etc.

Article: How to Cancel a Mass Email Campaign as it’s Going Out & How to Reschedule a Queued Email Campaign

Article: How to Create Trackable Links in your Email Campaigns, and How to Analyze those Statistics after the Eblast Goes Out

Article: Email Opens and How Trail Blazer is Managing This Process

Article: Querying by Email

Video: Thank you’s using mass email

Video: Eblasts Configure email settings before mass emailing

Video: Eblasts –Setting people up to receive test (draft) emails

Video: Scheduled Emails

Video: Eblasts Create and Send Eblasts – Includes Image Management

Video: Donation Auto Responders with Merge Fields

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.