Sending communications to contacts

Quick Tutorial Full Training

To email a list of contacts, you will need to create a query that groups a set of contacts together. This list of contacts will become the recipients of your email and will provide the database property fields that can be used in the email communication.

Note: It is recommended to not send more than 1,000 communications at a time. If you have a large group of contacts to email, it is suggested that you break up the emailing list to 1,000 contacts per communication job. If you need to send more than 1,000 communications at a time, it is recommended that you use Advanced Email.

Creating a list of contacts to email

It is recommended that you set up a separate communication query for each unique grouping of contacts you want to send an email to.

  1. Go to Marketing > Communication templates.
  2. Define a new query. See Building IQA queries: Tutorials for more information about creating queries.
    1. Select New > Query and enter a name for the query.
    2. Select source business objects. If additional filtering of the intended Recipient set is desired, the Recipients query should be defined with additional joins, so as to limit the intended recipients upfront.
    3. (Filters tab) Add property filters if you want to narrow the query list.

      4. Warning! Do not enter a value into the Limit the number of results returned option.

      Note: You cannot deselect recipients from the list before sending an email if there is a filter with a required or optional prompt .

    4. (Display tab) Select an ID column, as well as any additional columns you need:
      • (Required) You must select one of the following properties as a column or use one of these terms as a column alias: ContactId, Contact Id, CustomerId, Customer Id, iMISId, iMIS Id, PartyId, Party Id, StudentId, Student Id, or Id.

        • Important! Do not use ContactKey as an alias in queries you intend to use as a recipient query.

      • By default when an email is sent from a list (recipient query), the parameter {#party.Email} is included in the To field so the email is sent to the entire list. If you want to include additional addresses to which the communication can be sent without sending additional copies and creating additional interaction log entries, enter those addresses in the Cc or Bcc field. Any addresses entered in the Cc or Bcc fields will be included on each copy of the communication but will not cause additional copies to be sent.

        • Example: Entering{#party.Email} and anotheremail@example.com in the Tofield sends one copy of the communication to the recipient’s primary email address, and sends a second copy toanotheremail@example.com. The recipient will also have two different entries in the communication log for the two copies of the communication. To send only one copy of the communication with one interaction log entry, enter {#party.Email} in the Tofield, and add additional email addresses in theCc or Bcc fields.

      • If additional data sources are needed for fields to be included in the communication's Body, then you should use the Add data source on the communication's Data sources tab, instead of adding the additional sources to the Recipient query. To add recipient-based data to your communication, include a Filter using an ID property (ID or PartyID) in the IQA query used for the data source, and include the same property on the Display tab of the source query with an alias of PartyID.

    Note: If you do not want the required column or alias to display in the Query Menu content item on your website, use code_ to preface the alias (for example, code_PartyId or code_iMIS Id).

    Note: Limit your display columns to show only vital information

  3. Run the query to review the results. The results of the query determine the list of recipients to include in your email communication.
  4. Save the query.
  5. Select the folder where you want the query to be stored. To keep your email recipient queries organized, it is recommended that you use the Queries folder at $/Common/Communications.
  6. Add the Query Menu content item to a content record.
  7. From the Source query or folder field, select the query you just created.
  8. Modify the rest of the Query Menu configuration options as needed.

    9. Note: See Query Menu for more information about the configuration options.

  9. Click OK, then click Save & Publish.

Sending an email to a list of contacts

An iMIS staff user can send an email to any query-based list of contacts from a Query Menu content item if the Email button is displayed below the list. You can review the list, remove contacts from the list, and include attachments before sending the email.

Note: If the query prompts the user to select a parameter value before displaying the contact list, the Email button is displayed after the parameter value is selected. For these types of queries, the Choose Recipients link is hidden, and you cannot configure the recipient list before an email is sent.

Creating an email list of contacts displayed on a content page

Do the following to create an email list of contacts in content:

  1. Open the query-based contact list from the content record.

    Student email list content record with a query of student members, with an email button appearing below the query.

  2. Click Email to open the email editor.

    3. Note: You cannot access the Email button if you used special characters in the query path name, for example: &, @, *, ', and so forth.

  3. (optional) Click Open to select a previously saved email message draft.
  4. Click the Recipients tab. You will see a grid showing the full results of the original source query. If needed, you can Select another query to use a different contact list. By default, all recipients are selected. To remove recipients from the list, review each page, and uncheck the option box for each name you want to exclude.

    The Recipients tab of the new communication features a grid showing the all receipts of the email. A checkbox appears next to each recipeint's name, and by default, all recipients are selected.

    By default, the maximum recipients returned by communication queries is 500. If your query returns more than 500 recipients and you want to deselect a contact that is not shown, you must modify the limit in the web.config file.

    Note: If you are not self-hosted, you must contact your host for assistance modifying web.config files.

  5. Click Return to Compose to return to the email editor.

Creating an email from a communication template

Do the following to create an email from a communication template:

  1. From the Staff site, go to Marketing > Communication templates.
  2. Open an existing template, or select New > Communication to create a new template.
  3. Click the Recipients tab to select the contacts to whom you will send the email.
  4. Click Select to select the query you want to use as the primary data source. This query retrieves the contacts to whom you will send email. By default, the SelectedContact query, which retrieves the selected contact (that is, the contact you are signed in as or working on behalf of) is the primary data source. See Creating a list of contacts to email for more information.

    5. Note: The query must have a column that identifies the contact’s ID. Also, if the query contains filters with required or optional prompts, it must have default values because they cannot be changed when the email is sent.

  5. Deselect the names of any contacts you do not want to receive the email.

    6. Note: If the query contains filters with required or optional prompts, you cannot deselect recipients from the list.

  6. Click the Body tab to continue composing your email template.

Composing and sending the email

Do the following to compose and send the email:

  1. Once you have created the email communication, compose or review the email content:
    1. From the Header tab, enter the From, Subject, Type, and email message.

      2. Note: The Subject cannot contain the < > symbols.

    2. If the communication Type allows unsubscribing, select a Website for unsubscribe link. This site is used by email clients to generate a one-click unsubscribe option within their interface. For more information, see Enabling one-click unsubscribe for communications.

      3. Note: This option is not available for Advanced Emails.

    3. If needed, click the Cc or Bcc links under the To field, so you can enter Cc and Bcc email recipients.

      4. Note: Changing theTofield from{#party.Email}to hard coded email addresses will only send the email to the hard coded email addresses; however, everyone in the recipient query will still have the communication recorded in their communication log on their account page.

    4. From the Body tab, select Add Attachment to include an XML or RDL (SSRS report), or Report Writer (static report) attachment to the email.

      5. Note: Report Writer reports are found in the $/Common/Report Writer/Reports folder. For more information about adding attachments and reports, see Creating a communication with an attached report.

    2. For more details about composing communications, see Creating a new communication template.

    Note: If you want to include additional addresses to which the communication can be sent without sending additional copies and creating additional interaction log entries, enter those addresses in the Cc or Bcc field. Any addresses entered in the Cc or Bcc fields are included on each copy of the communication but will not cause additional copies to be sent.
    For example, if you enter both {#party.Email} and anotheremail@example.com in the To field, one copy of the communication is sent to the recipient’s primary email address, and a second copy is sent to anotheremail@example.com. The recipient will also have two different entries in the communication log for the two copies of the communication. To send only one copy of the communication with one interaction log entry, enter {#party.Email} in the To field, and add any additional email addresses in the Cc or Bcc fields.

  2. Click Preview to view a preview of the email for each recipient. Click Prev or Next to review the email for each recipient. Ensure that any merge fields in the email appear correctly.

    3. Note: You must enter From and To addresses to preview the email.

    Note: The preview will stop showing after the 18th record.

  3. Send the email communication. To review the status of your communication job, go to the Communication logs (Marketing > Communication logs). For more information, see Communication logs.

    4. Note: If any emails bounce, check to see if the email contains invalid characters. For more information, see Regular expression to validate email addresses.

  4. (optional) To save the email as a draft for future use, select Save As. By default, the email message draft is stored in the $/Common/Communications folder of the Document system.
    • All information in your email is included in the saved drafts including the recipient list, attachments, and message content.
    • Make sure to label your communications carefully. Saved email drafts include all information from the saved communication, including the contact list query. It is recommended to use a naming convention to identify your query in any saved email drafts. For example, enter All Members Thank You Communication instead of Thank you communication to avoid any confusion about the content of the draft.

Figure 1: Validation of communications sent from imis

Flowchart demonstrating the email validation process using SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records for communications sent from iMIS. When a communication is sent, the inbound mail server conducts an SPF lookup with the Domain Name Server (DNS). Based on the SPF result, the email is either delivered to the inbox if the SPF record is validated or the delivery fails (marked as spam, quarantined, or blocked/deleted) if the SPF record is denied.