Creating and Sending Email Templates

STEP 8: Creating and Sending Email Templates

Quite often you will find that there is a repetitive process that you are doing when sending emails. For example it might be:

1. Asking for or confirming a meeting / coffee date
2. Sending the first video of a course for a pastor to look at
3. Following up on how a course ran
4. Checking the details we have in the database are correct

You really don’t want to be typing what is essentially the same email over and over again and that is where templates come in. We are going to create a simple template asking to meet for coffee. We will use our fictional character from earlier, Jessica.

Exercise 5 – Create an email template

1. Search for Jessica and bring up her detail page.
2. On the right hand side of the screen click on Email (in the Activity Centre, Right hand side of the screen)
3. Create a Subject Line: Can we meet for a coffee? (you can be way more creative!!)
4. Depending on how formal you need to be in your country might change the way you great people. In my (western) experience people like to be greeted by first name and do not need titles. However that is up to you. Here is what I am going to put:
   1. Hi
   2. And then I am going to click on the Insert Merge Field icon at the bottom of the area. It looks like two brackets:
   3. I am then going to select the appropriate field. 
      1. In the search box at the top of the pop up window type: first name
      2. Select Contact : First Name.
      3. Press Insert
   4. I’m now going to add some more text to my template. Here is what I added: (you can add something that feels like you and your team)

Hi {{{Recipient.FirstName}}},
My name is {{{Sender.Name}}} and I work for {{{{Sender.CompanyName}}}. There are a number of us that move around the country looking for how churches are engaging in evangelism and offering our help if it is appropriate. I was wondering if you might have time for a coffee and a chat?
Is there a time in the next week that would work for you?
Every blessing, {{{Sender.FirstName}}}
{{{Sender.Name}}}
{{{Sender.CompanyName}}}
{{{Sender.Title}}}
Email: {{{Sender.Email}}} | Mobile: {{{Sender.MobilePhone}}}
Web: alpha.org.??

1. Click on the Insert, Create or update template icon at the bottom of the email screen:
2. Click on the Insert, Create or update template icon at the bottom of the email screen:
3. Click on Save as New Template
4. In the pop up window enter a template name and description:
   1. Template Name: Request for coffee – friendly – [your name/initials]
   2. Description: Fairly easy going email asking if there is a chance for coffee.
5. Click Save
6. Now back at the main window of the contact I want to preview the email to make sure it looks alright. Click on the preview icon to do this, it’s the one that looks like an eye. My template looks like >>>>>>>>>>>>>> If there are things I want to change I press close, change them, save the template again and then preview.
7. Finally I want to make sure this email I am sending to Jessica (initially) is also added to the Church account. So I switch the related to option to Churches / Organisations and then start typing Jessica’s church name and it pops up and I select it.
8. Now that I am ready I can send this email to Jessica. Press Send.

PRACTICE YOUR MERGE FIELDS

I’ve done this in such a way that the entire team could use it. I’ve used merge fields where ever I can. Please practice putting in the merge fields.