Create an Email Send

Create a New Email Send

The first step is to create an Email Send record. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM, navigate to ClickDimensions > Emails and click on it.

Click New in the upper left corner to create a new Email Send.

This is the draft of the Email Send record:

The first field you will see on the Email Send record is the Name field.

The Name field is used to provide your Email Send a name other than the subject line so that you can easily determine which Email Send is which if you need to come back to the record at a later time.

NOTE: The Name field requires ClickDimensions version 8.12.0.

 

Next is the Status field at the top of the Email Send record. This field will populate with a Draft indication when the Email Send record has been saved as a draft.  

Once you have sent the Email Send, you will be able to see if it is processing, sent, in error recovery, or if the error recovery has stopped.

Email Send Status Indications and What They Mean:

• Draft: The Email Send is still a Draft; it has not yet been sent out and can still be edited.
• Pending: The Email Send is being processed in preparation for sending.
• Sent: The Email Send has been sent out.
• Error Recovery: An issue occurred that is preventing the Email Send from sending. We will make three attempts to resend the email.
• Recovery Stopped: The additional attempts to send the Email Send in Error Recovery were unsuccessful and no further attempts will be made.

NOTE: Email Sends with a status of Error Recovery or Recovery Stopped will be displayed in the Error Email Send view.

Next is the Email Send Type field. This is a read only field that was added in version 10.6 and is populated based off of what feature initiated the email send. The potential values are: Email Send, Survey autoresponder, Form autoresponder, Subscription autoresponder, Campaign Automation, RSS Email, Quick Send, and Inboxcast.

In the new record, fill in the following fields:

General Settings

Email Template (Optional)

In this field use the Look Up icon on the right side of the field.

The Look Up Records dialog window will open. Search for the Email Template record that was previously created. Select the record and click OK.

The Email Template name will populate the Email Template field. Also, the Subject and Preheader that was entered in the Email Template record is brought into the respective Subject and Preheader fields. You can still edit the subject field and the preheader field, and any updates you make will reflect only within this particular Email Send record; they will not change in the original Email Template record.

If you are associating a preexisting Email Template with your Email Send record, notice how the type of designer also populates the Editor Type field within the HTML Version section of the Email Send record. If you choose to create an Email Template within the Email Send record, rather than associating a preexisting Email Template, you must choose Editor Type before you save the Email Send record and build your Email Template.

NOTE: Once the Email Template is attached, any changes made to the Email Template must be made in the HTML editor of the Email Send record for the changes to be seen in the sent email. To learn more click here.

Subject Field (Required)

It is alright if an Email Template is not attached or the Email Template does not automatically populate the Subject field. Simply enter the text for the subject line of the email. This is the text that will appear in your recipients’ inbox.

Preheader (Optional)

This is the third line of text that will appear when looking at a message in the inbox's list.  This field exists within Email Send records and Email Template records.

Campaign (Optional)

In the Campaign field you can associate a CRM campaign record. If you associate a CRM Campaign record with your Email Send, you will be able to see all the Sent Email records created from this Email Send in the CRM Campaign record. We'll also automatically add it as a utm_campaign parameter in your links for Google Analytics. If you don't want this to happen, please toggle Add Google Analytics Campaign Tracking to No under Advanced Settings.

Category

The Category field was added in version 10.6 and allows you to select a preset category to help identify the purpose of your emails and to improve the understanding of your email statistics.

Additional options can be added to this field via CRM customizations by navigating into the 'Customize the System' area, navigating to Option Sets, and selecting the "Asset Category" option set.

Opening the properties for this Option Set will allow you to add options into the "Asset Category" global option set.

Please note that you may need a CRM admin or CRM partner to help make these customizations and values should only be added and the existing options should not be deleted or modified for this option set.

 

FROM Settings

From Record Owner (Required)

When an Email Send is sent out while From Record Owner is set to Yes, the From Name and From Email values for each individual recipient will dynamically be set to the name and email address listed on the CRM User record of the Lead or Contact's record owner. If From Record Owner is set to No, every recipient will see the values in From Name and From Email.

When From Record Owner is set to Yes, none of the recipients will see the values listed in the From Name and From Email fields on the Email Send unless the name and/or email address are missing from the Owner's record. In this case, the values listed in From Name and From Email are used as back-up values.

From Name and From Email (Required)

From Name represents who the Email Send will be sent from. From Name can be the company’s name, a personal name, etc. There are no limits in specifying the value.

Any valid email address is allowed in the From Email field.

You may also use FreeMarker tags in the From Name field of an Email Send record to further personalize the experience.

If you are using Dynamics 365 Online with UCI enabled and ClickDimensions 10.11+ installed, then you will also have a "Verify" button next to the From Email field.

Clicking on the "Verify" button will check the domain of the email address to ensure that a corresponding domain has been setup within your Email Sending Domains and that the domain has been verified properly. Currently if the verification fails, this will not prevent your emails from still sending. For more details, please see our Email Sending Domains article here.

 

From User

Use the Lookup Icon to select a User in CRM to be listed in the From Name and From Email. The From Name and From Email fields will be populated automatically with the user’s name and email address. You can select any user in the CRM system; you do not have to be logged in as the user to select his or her record.

Tip: Having a personal name in the From field increases response rate.

Reply To Email Address

You can put an email address (different than the From Email) in this field and when someone replies it will go to this email address instead of the From Email. It does support the use of FreeMarker.

The Reply To field can only hold one email address, but if you find that you need multiple individuals to receive the replies, you can use a distribution email address in this field.

The Reply To at work:

• Keep in mind that the Reply To address will not be used with out of office or auto response emails, because the email client standard is to send auto response emails to the From email address.
• When email recipients reply back to the ClickDimensions Email Send in their inbox by clicking their email client's Reply To button, their email reply by default will not be recorded back into CRM/CD as the reply is handled through the recipient's email server and not ours.

DELIVERY Settings

Send Immediately (Required)

You can send a ClickDimensions email immediately (default option is Yes) or you can schedule the delivery. To schedule the delivery, click Yes to toggle the option to No next to Send Immediately. The Send On fields will become active. Select the Date and Time you want the email to be sent. Once you click Send, ClickDimensions will wait and send the email on the specified date and time.

NOTE: Even if you are scheduling an email, you must click Save and then Send otherwise we will not know the message is ready for sending (the Email Send record will remain in the Drafts System View). Clicking Save and then Send will set the Email Send record to the Scheduled System View, where it will reside until the the Send On Date and Time you specified has been reached.

NOTE: If you're using ClickDimensions version 8.0.0 or newer, ClickDimensions will now automatically save the Email Send record and all of its current settings that are in place at the moment you press Send. However, we still recommend that you manually save any changes you make.

Once all of the required information and additional fields have been entered, click Save.

Test Email Addresses (Optional)

It is highly recommended that you place at least one email address in the Test Email address field. The email addresses in this field will receive a test copy of the email when the Test button is clicked. These addresses must be separated by semicolons. For more information on testing an email, click here.

Recipients Settings

For a more in depth discussion on adding recipients, see the Add Recipients to an Email Send article.

Before you can add recipients to your Email Send, you must first save the Email Send record. Click the Save button on the top ribbon.

Add Marketing Lists, Contacts, and Leads

Once the Email Send draft has been saved, click the plus sign within the sub-grid(s) to choose the recipients' records you would like to include.  You may send ClickDimensions Email Sends to Marketing Lists (static or dynamic), or individual records (Leads, Contacts, Accounts) or a combination of Marketing Lists and individual Lead/Contact/Account records.

The convenient sub-grids to add Marketing Lists, Contacts or Leads are pictured below. To email individual accounts you'll need to go to the Email Send's related records > Accounts.

Below is an example of a Marketing List selected and an individual Contact selected. 

Signify Content Type & Subscription List Association

Once recipients are associated, you can signify if the Email Send is Transactional or you can associate a Subscription List - depending on your Subscription Management method & your ClickDimensions Version.

If your organization is utilizing the Opt-In Subscription Management method, you will see 2 fields of "Transactional" and "Subscription List".

First you will need to indicate if the Email Send is Transactional, and if it is not, you will need to association a Subscription List to the Email Send in the field to ensure that only opted-in recipients receive the email.

If your organization is still using the default Opt-Out Subscription Management method:

• And have not updated to version 10.5 of the Clickdimensions solution, these two fields of "Transactional" and "Subscription List" will not be present. 
• And have updated to version 10.5+, then the "Transactional" field will be present and allow you to send transactional emails.
• The Subscription List field is only available using the Opt-In configuration method so regardless if your CD Solution is updated to at least 10.5, you will not see this field.

In both cases, Subscription Lists will instead be used directly with Marketing Lists instead of the Email Send itself. See the Dynamics 365 Opt-Out Style tab on the Create a Subscription List article for more information.

Suppressed Marketing Lists Settings

You may select one or more static or dynamic Marketing Lists to exclude from your Email Send.  For example, if you want to send an email to people who have not yet RSVP’d for an event you are hosting, you can use your original Marketing List of possible attendees as the one you will send to, and set other Marketing Lists of people who have already said they will attend and people who have already said they will not attend as your suppression lists for the Email Send.  Anyone on the suppression list(s) will be excluded from being sent the email even if they are on the original Marketing List of possible attendees that was set for the Email Send if the email addresses match.

To learn more about this feature, click here.

Text Version

Clicking on Text Version will expand the collapsed area. If a text version of your Email Send doesn't already populate in the area or you have updated the email content, click the blue A button to generate or update the Text Version. More on Text Versions is mentioned here.

If you create or edit the Text Version at all, don't forget to click the frame's Save button.

 

Optional Advanced Settings

Email Address Field (Optional)

If you want to send your message to an email address other than the email in the Email (emailaddress1) field in the Lead or Contacts' records, you can change that here (select between Email Address 1, Email Address 2, and Email Address 3).  If you leave this field untouched, it will send your message to the Lead or Contact record's main/Email Address 1 field on the record as a default.

Email CNAME

If you would like to brand the links in this specific email send differently than the default Email CNAME, you can set up multiple Email CNAMEs and select from one of the alternatives. More on this feature here.

If this field is left blank, the links for this email will be branded with the default Email CNAME you have set.

Add Google Analytics Campaign Tracking

If you associated a CRM Campaign to this Email Send above, and you set this option to Yes, ClickDimensions will automatically add the Google Analytics tracking script to each link in the Email Template for that same CRM Campaign name. Read more here.

Track Email Events

Indicates whether Opens and Clicks will be recorded for the Email Send once sent. By default, this value is set to Yes.

Make sure to click Save!

Next Steps: Edit a Template in an Email Send.

Create a New Email Send

The first step is to create an Email Send record. Go to Marketing > Email Sends > Create a New Email Send record.

Notice the Status field at the top of the Email Send record. This field will populate with a Draft indication when the Email Send record has been saved as a draft.  Once you've sent the Email Send, you will be able to see if it is processing, sent, in error recovery, or if the error recovery has stopped, etc. right within the Email Send record.

Email Send Status Indications and What They Mean:

Draft: The Email Send is still a Draft; it has not yet been sent out and can still be edited.

Pending: The Email Send is being processed in preparation for sending.

Sent: The Email Send has been sent out.

Error Recovery: An issue occurred that is preventing the Email Send from sending. We will make three attempts to resend the email.

Recovery Stopped: The additional attempts to send the Email Send in Error Recovery were unsuccessful and no further attempts will be made.

In the new record, fill in the following fields:

Email Template (Optional)

In this field use the Look Up icon on the right side of the field.

The Look Up Records dialog window will open. Search for the Email Template record that was previously created. Select the record and click OK.

The Email Template name will populate the Email Template field. Also, the Subject and Preheader that was entered in the Email Template record is brought into the respective Subject and Preheader fields. You can still edit the subject field and the preheader field, and any updates you make will reflect only within this particular Email Send record; they will not change in the original Email Template record.

If you are associating a preexisting Email Template with your Email Send record, notice how the type of designer also populates the Editor Type field within the HTML Version section of the Email Send record. If you choose to create an Email Template within the Email Send record, rather than associating a preexisting Email Template, you must choose Editor Type before you save the Email Send record and build your Email Template.

Note: Once the Email Template is attached, any changes made to the Email Template must be made in the HTML editor of the Email Send record for the changes to be seen in the sent email. To learn more click here.

Subject Field (Required)

It is alright if an Email Template is not attached or the Email Template does not automatically populate the Subject field. Simply enter the text for the subject line of the email. This is the text that will appear in your recipients’ inbox. Preheader (Optional)

This is the third line of test that will appear when looking at a message in the inbox's list.  This field exists within Email Send records and Email Template records.

Test Email Addresses (Optional)

It is highly recommended that you place at least one email address in the Test Email address field. The email addresses in this field will receive a test copy of the email when the Test button is clicked. These addresses must be separated by semicolons. For more information on testing an email, click here.

Campaign (Optional)

In the Campaign field you can associate a CRM campaign record. If you associate a CRM Campaign record with your Email Send, you will be able to see all the Sent Email records created from this Email Send in the CRM Campaign record. We'll also automatically add it as a utm_campaign parameter in your links for Google Analytics. If you don't want this to happen, please toggle "Add Google Analytics Campaign Tracking" to No under Advanced Settings.

From Record Owner (Required)

The From Record Owner field determines who is listed as the From Name and Email Address. If you select Yes, the From Name and Email Address will come from the Owner of the Lead, Contact, or Account record that is listed as a recipient. The From Name and From Email address will change dynamically depending upon who the recipient is and which CRM User owns the recipient’s record.

From Name and From Email (Required)

A From Name is required in order to send an Email Send record. It can be the company’s name, a personal name, etc. There are no limits in specifying the From Name. Any valid email address is allowed in the From Email field. The From Email field will receive any replies or auto-response emails to the email blast.

Note: These fields are still required if you choose Yes in the From Record Owner section. This is to ensure that there is always a From Name and From Email–just in case a record does not have an Owner.

You may also use FreeMarker tags in the From Name of an Email Send to further personalize the experience. 

 

From User

Use the Lookup Icon to select a User in CRM to be listed in the From Name and From Email. The From Name and From Email fields will be populated automatically with the user’s name and email address. You can select any User in the CRM system; you do not have to be logged in as the user to select his or her record.

Tip: Having a personal name in the From Name field increases response rate.

Send Immediately (Required)

You can send a ClickDimensions Email immediately (default option) or you can schedule the delivery. To schedule the delivery, click No next to Send Immediately. The Send On fields will become active. Select the Date and Time you want the email to be sent. Once you click Send, ClickDimensions will wait and send the Email on the specified date and time.

NOTE: Even if you are scheduling an Email, you must click Save and then Send otherwise we will not know the message is ready for sending (the Email Send record will remain in the Drafts System View). Clicking Save and then Send will set the Email Send record to the Outbox System View, where it will reside until the the Send On Date and Time you specified has been reached.

NOTE: If you're using ClickDimensions version 8.0.0 or newer, ClickDimensions will now automatically save the Email Send record and all of its current settings that are in place at the moment you press Send.  However, we still recommend that you manually save any changes you make.

Once all of the required information and additional fields have been entered, click Save.

Advanced Settings (Optional)

Click the text Advanced Settings to see these options.

Email Address Field (Optional)

If you want to send to an email address other than the email address in the Email field in the Lead or Contacts' records, you can change that here.

Add Google Analytics Campaign Tracking

If you associated a CRM Campaign to this Email Send above, and you set this option to Yes, we will automatically add the Google Analytics tracking script to each link in the Email Template for that same CRM Campaign name. Read more here.

Reply To Email Address

You can put an email address (different than the From Email) in this field and when someone replies it will go to this email address instead of the From Email. This field does support FreeMarker.

The Reply To field can only hold one email address, but if you find that you need multiple individuals to receive the replies, you can use a distribution email address in this field.

Please keep in mind that the Reply To address will not work with out of office or auto response emails. This is because the email client standard is to send auto response emails to the From email address.

Make sure to hit save! The next steps are to add recipients and edit the template.