Our eNews feature allows you to keep your stakeholders updated regularly or send urgent messages immediately with ease. Once these messages have been sent, an Event is automatically related to the Stakeholders, so you know exactly who has received the message, and it comes out in reports.


Create your campaign record

You can add a new eNews by going to the Add menu on the Command Bar and down to eNews/SMS. 

 

 

 

This will create a pop-up window where you can dictate the subject, choose the method (Email or SMS), and the Project it’s to be associated with. 

 

 

Once you’ve filled in your details, click ‘Create’ and ‘Continue’ to open the eNews in the workspace to begin customising. 

 

Email

After opening the email campaign in the workspace, there are several ways you can tailor the message to suit your organisation’s needs. 

 

  1. From details and subject: These fields are auto populated with your details, however can be changed to reflect what your organisation needs. We highly recommend having a ‘From’ email which is manned – meaning any replies your Stakeholders send in response to the communication will be seen by someone. 
  2. Test Send: This is where you can choose to see how your eNews will appear to your Stakeholders by sending it yourself first. It will send the test to the email in your profile. 
  3. Adding Stakeholders and Team Members: This is where you can choose to add Stakeholders or Team members who you would like to receive this communication. This is the same process shown in the ‘Assign existing data in bulk’ section.
  4. Attachments: You can attach any file type to your correspondence. Keep in mind some Stakeholder’s mail servers may not be able to download large file types. 
  5. Designer: This is where you can customise your message. Further information is below. 
  6. Opt-out function: This link is included on any email sent out as part of anti-spam laws to give Stakeholders the option to stop receiving messages. 

 

Right clicking on the Designer window will give you the option to manage the cells within your message. 

 

 

This enables you to input headers, text beside images etc. 

 

Double clicking on the Designer window will open the editing options available. 

 

 

  1. Undo/Redo: You can easily undo or redo any mistakes with a click of a button. 
  2. Cut/Copy/Paste: Like any other editor, you can cut, copy, paste any information.
  3. Images and links: Insert any image within the Consultation Manager system or import one. Add in links to websites etc. 
  4. Mail Merge: To personalise your emails a little more, you can incorporate mail merge features where it takes information from the Stakeholder’s profile and personalises it. For example, choosing First name will input the information in the Stakeholder’s First Name field and input it into the email where you like. 
  5. Font: Choose the type, size and colour of the font you’re using. Also gives options to bold, italicise and underline text. 
  6. Alignment: Select how you’d like your text to be aligned in the space and incorporate bullet points. 

 

Once you’ve customised your correspondence, do a test send to make sure everything appears how you’d like. Once you’re satisfied, click ‘Send’ and it will send the message out to any related Stakeholders and Team Members. 


Hint: Test Sends will not include any attachments. 

 

SMS

 

Sending eNews SMS works similarly to emails where you can select the Stakeholders and Team Members to send it to, but with a few differences. 

 

 

  1. Subject: Like the email eNews, you can tailor this field at any time before the message has been sent out. 
  2. From Number: The number this appears to your Stakeholders is a randomly generated number from our third-party provider.
  3. Adding Stakeholders and Team Members: This is where you can choose to add Stakeholders or Team members who you would like to receive this communication. This is the same process shown in the ‘Assign existing data in bulk’ section.
  4. Message: This is where you can input the message you’d like your Stakeholders to receive. Anything over 160 characters classifies as multiple messages. 

 

Cost

Sending out messages as an email which has no costs associated in an Enterprise System, however SMS sends do incur a fee. 

We manage these costs via a crediting system, where your organisation can purchase a package of credits that can be used for this purpose.

These can be purchased by going to the Tools menu on the Command Bar, and down to Purchase Campaign Credits. 

 

 

This will create a pop-up window which shows the available packages and an indicator of how many credits a standard SMS will cost per send. 

When you click ‘Send’ on the eNews or SMS, a window will appear indicating how many credits the campaign will cost, as well as how many credits are available to use. 

 

 

From here you can choose to purchase more credits, send, or cancel and go back to the editing screen.

 

Hint: You cannot do a test send for an SMS campaign.