Using ConvallisCRM to send an Email Campaign Pt. 2

My last post described how to prepare and send a targeted email marketing campaign. This post continues by describing how you can record responses and send a follow up email to those who didn't respond.

Once the email has been sent you need to prepare for the responses that you will receive. This will come down to one of two types, either an enquiry or a request to be removed from the mailing list. Removing a contact from a mailing list is simple, the first step is to find the contact record and to then edit it. You can then go to the mailing list tab and 'untick' the contact from the campaign, however to be more compliant with data protection law you would be better unticking the 'Receive emails' check box which will prevent the system from ever sending a bulk email to that contact again.

Recording an enquiry is just as simple, the first step would be to create a category which you might call 'Campaign Response' (creating categories and mailing lists was described in the previous post). You would then find the contact record and edit it, going to the categories tab, finding the 'Campaign Response' category and ticking the check box which links the contact record with that category.

After a week or so you may want to send a follow up email, having sent the original email you will find this step relatively straightforward. The first task is to create a new mailing list, perhaps calling it 'Campaign Follow Up'. You then need to do what is probably the most difficult part of the whole procedure, which is to create a new query which includes all those contacts who were sent the original email. To do this click on the 'Enquiries' tab then click 'Create' to load the query editor, choose some appropriate fields to display when results are returned and then set some constraints. The constraints would be 'Mailing List' equals 'Barnstaple Campaign' in the first row and in the second select 'and' in the first column, 'Category' in the second, 'not equals' in the third and in the fourth type or choose 'Campaign Response'. Give the new query and appropriate name and then click 'OK' which will return you to the enquiry grid.

The query will run and return a list of all those contacts who were included in the original 'Barnstaple Campaign' but who didn't respond and thus didn't get linked to the 'Campaign Response' category. With this data displayed in the grid you can easily link them to the new 'Campaign Follow Up' mailing list. To do this expand the add/remove box under the grid and then choose 'Add' in the first drop down list, 'Mailing List' in the second and 'Campaign Follow Up' in the third, having done that click the 'Go' button which will tell the system to go ahead and link the contacts in the grid to the chosen mailing list.

With the contacts linked to the new mailing list you can then send the email, which would be the same process as described in the previous post except that you would choose the 'Campaign Follow Up' mailing list instead of the 'Barnstaple Campaign' mailing list.