Most of the information about the communication is entered under the General tab.
Select a communication Method from the drop-down list. This describes the method used to deliver the communication to the customer, e.g. fax, printed letter, email, recorded email, etc.
| 1. | You would have created these methods in the General Lookup Tables (Chapter 2: Setting Up EventPro Planner, Step 5: General Lookup Tables, Communication Methods). |
| 2. | Remember that you may have selected a default Outgoing Communication Method when adjusting your default System Settings for Communications earlier in Chapter 2: Setting Up EventPro Planner, Step 1: System Settings, Communications. |
| 3. | Remember, also, that you may have marked certain companies, contacts, attendees or exhibitors as "Do Not Contact By" certain methods. This is primarily relevant for email communications. For example, if you attempt to send an email to a recipient you have marked to not contact by email, you will receive a Confirm dialog warning you that the email recipient chose not to receive communications of this type. |
|
You can use a Letter Template for your Communication.
Remember that if your letter template contains Merge Fields, which pull in personalized data for each recipient (e.g. Names, Events, Dates), you must ensure that you select the appropriate template for the recipients. For detailed instructions on how to create letter templates with merge fields, see Chapter 14: Letter and Label Templates.
You do not necessarily need to attach the letter template here. There are different ways of using a template for a communication:
| 1. | Letter Template as Attachment: |
| a. | To add the letter template as an Attachment, select the template from the Letter Template drop-down list in the upper half of the window. If you cannot find the letter template you want to use, remember that you have to add the template to Event Setup; see Chapter 5: Set Up an Event, Letter Template Setup. |
| b. | From the drop-down list to the right, choose whether to want to attach the letter as a PDF or an RTF. |
| c. | To edit the template, create a new template, or preview the template with the merged text, click the Edit button to open the Word Processor window. |
| i. | In the Word Processor, make your changes and click File | Save to save the changes in the current template for this communication. The changes you make here will not be saved in the original template in the Letter/Label Templates setup area. |
| ii. | Click File | Save As Template to save the document as a new template. |
| iii. | To preview the template with the merged text, click on the Merged Text tab. You can turn on or off the preview panel along the left by selecting View | Preview Panel. You can also preview the template by selecting File | Print Preview. |
| d. | When you are finished with the Word Processor, click File | Close to return to the Communication [New] window. |
| 2. | Letter Template in Body of Email: |
| a. | If you only want to incorporate a Letter Template into the body of the email (not as an attachment), do not select a template now. |
| b. | You can later load the template into the bottom section of the Communication [New] window so that the letter template appears in the body of the email. See Subject and Body of Communication below. |
| 3. | No Letter Template: If you do not want to use a template, e.g. this communication is a simple, plain-text email or a record of a phone call, or you want to incorporate the letter template into the body of the email, select <NONE>. |
|
Choose a Reference from the drop-down list. If you selected a letter template with an assigned Communication Reference, the appropriate reference will appear by default. You can leave this field blank if you want. However, remember that you can use references later to create a filter that will show you which communications have been sent to which customers. Review how you set up communication references in Chapter 2: Setting Up EventPro Planner, Step 5: General Lookup Tables, Communication References.
|
The Contact Date and Contact Time will default to the current date and time, but you can change these if necessary.
|
| 1. | If you created this communication in the Booking Calendar or Event Maintenance screen (including the Attendees tab), the Event field will be set to the currently viewed event and disabled. |
| 2. | If an Event has not defaulted in and you want to link the communication to a certain event, you can select one by clicking the ellipsis next to the field. |
| 3. | To review how to search in a Find window, see Chapter 1: Overview, Common Functions: Find a Record. Select the correct event in the selection grid and click OK. |
| 4. | You can leave this field blank if you do not want to link the communication to an event, but if you created this communication in the Booking Calendar or Event Maintenance screen (including the Attendees tab), the Event field will be set to the currently viewed event and disabled. |
|
To choose the recipient of the communication, use the Attached To drop-down list: None, Contact, Attendee, User, User Group or Exhibitor. Note that depending on where you started this communication, one of these options may be pre-selected and a default recipient may be entered. For example, if you created a communication under the Exhibitors Communications tab, the selected Exhibitor would default into the Attached To field.
| 1. | Choose None if the intended recipient is not in your database or if you do not want the communication linked to any particular entity in your database. |
| 2. | Choose Contact to select a recipient from your Contact database. Click the ellipsis to bring up the Find Company/Contact window and select a company or contact. |
| 3. | Choose Attendee to select a recipient Attendee from an event. Click the ellipsis to bring up the Find Attendee window and select an attendee. In order to select an Attendee, there must be an event selected for the Event field above and there must be attendees assigned to the event. |
| 4. | Choose User to attach the communication to a single user or choose User Group to attach it to multiple users. From the drop-down list to the right, select the appropriate User or User Group. |
| 5. | Choose Exhibitor to select a recipient Exhibitor from an event. Click the ellipsis to bring up the Find window and select an exhibitor. As with Attendees, there must be an event selected for the Event field above and there must be exhibitors assigned to the event. |
|
| 1. | You need an email address in the To field if you want to send this communication as an Email. |
| 2. | If you attached the communication to a Contact, Attendee, User, User Group or Exhibitor, the appropriate email address should default into the To field. If the recipient has an Alt. Email address, you can select it by clicking the drop-down arrow to the right of the To field. |
| 3. | If you want to add additional recipients, click the To button to open the Select Recipients window. |
| 4. | Use the Select From drop-down list to select the type of recipient: Contact, Attendee, User, User Group or Exhibitor. |
| 5. | If you are looking for a User or User Group, select one from the Select drop-down list. Otherwise, find the recipient by clicking the ellipsis to the right of the Select field below. Select the recipient in the Find window and click OK. EventPro Planner will warn you if there is no email address for the intended recipient. |
| 6. | The selected recipients will appear in the bottom selection grid. Continue adding as many recipients as you require. |
| 7. | To remove a recipient, double-click on the record or right-click and select Remove. |
| 8. | When you have selected all the recipients you need, click OK to return to the communication. The recipients will be entered in the To field. |
| 9. | If the recipient does not have an email address in the database, you can simply type the email address into the To field. If the recipient is not in your database anywhere, be sure to record his or her name somewhere in the email or document for future reference. |
| 10. | You can also type in multiple email addresses, separated by a semi-colon and space, e.g. Somebody@somewhere.com; APerson@aplace.net |
| 11. | You can type email addresses into the Cc and Bcc fields or click the Cc and Bcc buttons to bring up the Select Recipients window (follow the same instructions as the To button, above). |
| 12. | If the attendee or contact was set up with an Alternate Contact that is Automatically Cc’d, the email address will appear automatically in the Cc field. |
|
| 1. | Enter the Subject of the communication. This will be the subject under which the communication will be saved in EventPro Planner. If the communication is sent via email, it will also become the subject header of the email. Remember that if this is a Report Communication, you may have selected a default Subject Format when adjusting your default System Settings for Communications earlier in Chapter 2: Setting Up EventPro Planner, Step 1: System Settings, Communications. |
| 2. | If this is an email communication, click the Add Signature button to add your personal signature to the bottom of the email. You must create a signature in your user email settings before you can use it. See Chapter 2: Setting Up EventPro Planner, Step 4: Users, Create User: Email. |
| 3. | In the Notes field at the bottom of the window, type in any notes you would like to record regarding this communication. If this communication will be sent via email, the notes you enter here will become the body of the of the email message. You can format the notes using the formatting icons and drop-down menus above. For more advanced formatting, you can edit the notes in the Word Processor by clicking the Wordprocessor button. For instructions about using the word processor, see Chapter 14: Letter and Label Templates, Word Processor. |
| 4. | You can use a Letter Template as the body content of an email, if you prefer: |
| a. | Click the Load Template button above the notes area at the bottom of the window. |
| b. | In the Letter Templates dialog, select the appropriate template and click OK. |
| c. | The template text will appear in the notes area, which displays the body text of the email. |
| d. | If the Letter Template contains merge fields, ensure that the merge fields are relevant for the recipients of the email. Also ensure that the formatting of the letter template is appropriate for email; some formatting intended for printing may not look right when sent as an email. See Chapter 14: Letter and Label Templates to learn how to create letter templates. |
| 5. | Check the Read Receipt box if you want to receive a message notification when the recipient views the email. |
|
| 1. | If you are sending an email and want to attach a file, click the Attach Files button. |
| 2. | Locate the file you want to attach and click Open. |
| 3. | If you want to remove a file you attached, click to highlight that file and click the Delete button beneath the Attach Files button. |
|
| 1. | If you want to add reports as attachments to this communication, click the Add Report button. |
| 2. | In the Run Report dialog, select the report you want to attach and click OK. |
| 3. | In the next dialog, you can choose the printing options for this report and click OK. |
| 4. | The report will be added as a PDF attachment to the bottom of the Communication. |
| 5. | To add another report, click the Add Report button again. |
| 6. | Continue until you have attached as many reports as you require. To learn more about these report options, go to Chapter 18: Reports. |
|
|
