Before beginning to actually create your email or newsletter in LeadCentral, you should do some preparation related both to the communication goals and also the actual elements (images, logos, links, etc.) that will be required to build the email.

Consider Your Goals

The first step in the process is to do some thinking about why you intend to distribute the email or newsletter. What action do you want the recipients to take or what key points do you want them to remember? Who do you want to reach with your mailing? Take a minute to write down the answers to these questions as a way to clarify your goals. Next, write a two- or three-sentence abstract for the email, as well as a descriptive and enticing subject line. For a newsletter, write an abstract and title for each article.

Collect the Content

Images help capture the recipients’ attention and can help tell your story. Locate appropriate photographs. If you will be using videos, gather them and create a thumbnail image of an interesting frame of the video (width 105). If you will be linking to other documents such as whitepapers, presentations, PDFs, etc., identify their location and create a thumbnail of each document (width 128). Include a description of format, based on your companies branding standards. Identify the URLs for any external links to landing pages, offers, media sites, etc. Identify a link label for reporting purposes for each your URLS that is based on your companies pre-determined labeling standard. The link should be short and to the point. If you are going rely on LeadCentral to gather leads based on recipient clicks and opens, determine the keywords that you want to capture and store in the database’s Customer Interest field when a recipient submits a request.

 

Open the MRC to see a listing of Campaigns, right click on the campaign name where you want to add the new project and left click on the Add Project option. On the right a new blank project form to the Project Summary screen. The first thing you want to do is fill out the (A) Project Name. Use naming standards that your company has set up so it is easy to find project. A typical naming standard is media tactic, name if newsletter if it is ongoing followed by start date. (for example Newsletter/ABC News/2014). Listed next to the project name is the Campaign Name that you selected and the project will be located, this is automatically filled in for you.

Project Setup Details

Under Project Attributes you have three options for Project Type: Standard Process, Custom Process and Send Batch Email, for this example choose the (1) Project Type Send Batch Email. When you do this you will notice the screen options change. The next option is to choose the (2) Domain Server Name. You will find a dropdown of the values available. The options shown on this list are domains that are warmed up and ready for use for email drops. The final option in this section is to Click the (3) Add Email Template button. From the (4) Add/Edit Email Template dropdown menu choose Add New Prospect Template from the dropdown list. Enter the name of your email template in the (5) Template Name field. Use a name that includes its purpose and possibly the date of the email drop. (Example: New product announcement – January 2015). Click (6) Create Template.

 

In this step, you will use a new wireframe that you selected and named, and fill it in with the text, pictures, and other information to create your email.

From the Marketing Resource Center, use the left navigation pane to find and open the desired email template. The blue envelope under your project will signify the prospect email. Click the Edit Email tab to view the blank wireframe template, ready to add your content.

 

Wireframe Tour

• The template will show placeholders for your dynamic or variable content (text, images, links etc.).
• Places where you can enter text are indicated by placeholder text.
• Places where you can enter images are indicated by a grey box with the dimensions of the available area in pixels.
• The image also shows the fixed content that is common to all emails based on this wireframe.

 

You cannot change the design of a wireframe. Contact GrowthPoint to discuss if there is not an existing wireframe to meet your needs. If you want to recheck the available wireframes, the available wireframes can be previewed from the Marketing Resource Center Tools menu option entitled View Wireframe Samples.

To add an image click on a grey images placeholder in the wireframe. This opens the Edit Dynamic Section window (shown to right) where you can select an existing image or upload a new image. Image placeholders have a suggested image size displayed in the wireframe. You will also see the image size indicated in the window when you click the grey image placeholder to add your images. Images uploaded will be resized automatically. If you do not want to the system to resize your image or like how it is done, you can resize the image on your own and upload the new image. This is discussed below.

Choosing an Existing Graphic

From the Edit Dynamic Section window, use the (1 & 2) folder navigation panes to find the desired graphic. Note along the top of the window that you can click icons to Refresh the screen, create a New Folder, and switch views between a list view and thumbnail view. As you click on files in the list on the left, you can see the image in the (4) Preview Window.

Click the (7) Save button to add the selected graphic to the template, close the Edit Dynamic Section window, and return to your wireframe. If you make a mistake while in the Edit Dynamic Section and don’t want to keep the graphic you selected, you can select a different image to replace it, or click the (6) Cancel button to close the Edit Dynamic Section window without saving your changes. After you return to the Edit Email screen, you can also click on the image there to select a different image.

Uploading a New Image

If you need to upload an image, click the (3) Upload icon at the top of the Edit Dynamic Section window. In the Upload window that appears (shown at right), click the (A) Select button. Navigate to the computer and location where the image is located. If you need to add more than three images, click the (B) ADD button. After selecting the images, click (C) Upload to add the images to the list of available files. You can now use the instructions above to add your new image(s) to the wireframe.

Attaching Links to Images

You can make images “clickable,” providing links from them to other resources or websites. Navigate to the target resource and copy the URL. Select the image you want to add the link to which will open the Edit Dynamic Section window. Click in the URL field and paste in the URL. In the Link Name field, provide a descriptive name for the link for reporting purposes. In the Target dropdown, the system defaults to New Window (the linked item opens in a new window), which is the recommended option.

Finally, in the Alt Text field, enter some descriptive text for the image. This text will appear instead of the image for users who view emails as text-only or who have image downloads disabled in their browser. Click (7) Save.

Resize an Image

If you select an image that is too large or too small for the placeholder in the wireframe, the system will proportionally stretch or squeeze the image to fit the placeholder dimensions. The results should be satisfactory however if you do not like the results you can resize your image. If your image is too big for the placeholder, you can use an image editor to resize it. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the file and right-click it. Look at the “Open with” options available to see if you have an editor, such as Microsoft Office 2010, to open and resize it. If not, you will assistance from someone with editing software. Be careful enlarging your image to ensure the quality is still acceptable.

Need to replace an image

If you want to make changes to the image you uploaded you can make changes to the file offline and re-upload the image. To replace the image you previously uploaded, (A) select the image, keeping the same file name, Check the Overwrite if file exists box which is found under the Add button and click (C) Upload to add your new image. Keep in mind that when you preview your newsletter might see the previous image. If this is the case after you have uploaded a new image clear your computer cache.

No Image for a Placeholder in a Wireframe

If you do not add an image where there is a placeholder, there will simply be a blank area there in your email.

 

Open your project and click on the prospect email envelope. From the Edit Email tab, click on any block of text in the wireframe. This opens the Edit Dynamic Section window with a text editing window where you can add or edit text. You have the common text editing tools available in the toolbar. When copying/pasting text, the formatting is stripped however to be save when pasting your text you can right click and choose Paste Plain Text. It is important to only enter plain text or past in only plain text into the editor or you will have issues with the font not looking consistent.

You can add data stored in the contact record to your email, but in doing so make sure that all your records have that information and that you test your emails with this information so you know how it looks. More detail on entering this information and testing can be found here.

Also in the toolbar you have the ability to include hyperlinks in the text. After entering or editing text, click Save to return to the Edit Email tab. Note that if you do not update or remove the default text, it will appear in your wireframe. See the module on Hyperlink Manager for more information on working with hyperlinks.

Repeating a Wireframe Section

You can repeat the elements of your wireframe by hovering your mouse over the wireframe in the Edit Email window, then clicking the (1) Plus Sign at the top-right of the window. This duplicates all of the elements of the wireframe. You can now edit each of the text blocks individually. You can also replace the repeated images. Remember that if doing put a image in the placeholder that will leave a blank area in your wireframe. Click the Trash Can at the top of the window to delete the repeated section.

If the content is two columns wide, like the example to the right you do not need to fill out both sections. The section you don’t complete will show up blank. For example you can enter the article on the left and leave the right article blank.

Moving Sections in a Template

After repeating a wireframe section (see above), you can rearrange the sections by clicking a section and dragging it up or down in the template.

Previewing Your Template

At any time, you can click the Preview button to see what your email will look like. While the cursor will change to a pointing-finger when hovering over links, the links are not active.

 

Adding hyperlinks

Adding hyperlinks allows you direct recipients to landing pages, documents in LeadCentral and other online resources. You can include multiple hyperlinks in the text of your template, enabling the recipient to quickly access the resources. You can also attach links to images.

 

1) When you have completed your email or need to take a break click update to save your changes. You can preview your newsletter by clicking the preview button or sending a test as you would a normal batch email

2) If you forget to save and you try to click to another tab you will get a pop up message that asks if you want to save your changed content.

If you want to add or remove a section click on the symbols on the top right of the section.

 

In the top right corner of a repeatable section you will find a plus sign to duplicate the section and a trash can to remove the section. 

 

If the content is two columns wide, like the example 2 below you do not need to fill out both sections. The section you don’t complete will show up blank. For example you can enter the article on the left and leave the right article blank. 

Before sending an email, newsletter or other document to your recipient list, it is critical to test it. When testing you want to review the content, check the links, ensure the images used are correct, and verify the deliver information and subject line. In the Tools menu you will find a checklist listing.

Send Individual Test Emails

This option is most often used when you are in the process of creating your content and want to send a test to yourself. This can be done from the email template. If your email is not already open, click on the blue envelope in the project list on the left side your screen. Once the email is open click on the (1) Email Summary tab, click (2) Test Email. A pop-up window opens, leave the (A) Select mail Source radio button set Sample. In the      (B) To: field, enter the destination email address, typically your address for initial testing. Click (C) Send Email followed by Exit, after you see the message as been sent.

The email will be delivered to the address indicated, note that the subject line and address information is as it will appear in your final email. Review the email, make adjustments or corrections as necessary and continue to send individual test emails to yourself or others until you are satisfied that it is correct, properly formatted and ready for further testing.

Send Test Emails to a Test List

This method is used after you have completed your own testing and want to send the email to a list of people for approval. In the project listing on the left side of your screen navigate to the project containing the email you want to test. Click on the project name, on the right side of your screen you will see the Project open to the Project Summary Tab. On the lower half of the screen the list information is shown. In the Test List section you can see the name of the test list that is set up for your project. Click preview to overview who is on that list.

To send a test to the test list indicated click Test by the email which you want to test from. In the Test Email pop-up, in the Subject Line Prefix, enter text that will be appended to the front of your email subject. For example, you may want to add “Test 1 –.“ When recipients get the email, the subject line will be “Test 1 – (your email’s subject)”. In the Override Email Address field, you can enter an address only if you want all the tests emails to be sent a single person. Click Send to Test Email List button. The system will prompt “Are you sure you want to send (Project Name) to the mapped Test list?” Click OK to send the test, then click the X on the top right of the Test Email popup to close the window.

Modifying the Test List

If it is necessary to modify the recipients on test list click on the Target List application on the top of the Marketing Resource Center. On the list side of your screen you will see List Categories, go down to the Test list category and find the list you want to modify. Click on the list you want to modify and the Target Summary window will open on the right side of your screen. Click the Target Definition to view the list criteria. Test lists are built based on the Criteria of the Email, thus any email listed in the Values column are included in the Test List. Add or remove a email address from the Values column to modify the list. When you are done click Save. You will get a message that says the List has been updated Successfully. Click OK. It is a good practice to click the Re Calculate Count Button to insure the list updated as you desired. For more detail on creating Target lists click here.

Some recipients will view your template as text-only. You need to prepare a version for them that you know will be readable. To do that, click on the Edit Text tab, then click the Import Plain Text From HTML Content button. This will transfer the text from the formatted version of your email as text-only. Review the text, deleting unneeded text and adding line breaks to improve readability, if necessary. Click Update to save your changes. In order to test the text email you will need to send it to a text email account.

1. To add the Text version of your newsletter, click the Edit Text Tab.
2. On the Edit Text Page click the “Import Plain Text from HTML Content” button at the bottom of the page.
3. I would confirm the text content looks good on your screen. You may want to add line breaks or additional formatting to make sure the email looks the way you want it to. In order to test the text email you will need to send it to a text email account.
4. When you are done making changes click the Update button.