Follow-up Templates

The Follow-up Template feature provides an automated contact tool for initiating a series of predefined activities.  The follow-up template is often used for sending out Email at preset times during the course of a sales cycle. (The follow-up template can also be used to automatically schedule meetings, phone calls, and to-do items).

 

Administrator Authority Required

 

If your user profile is setup with Administrator Authority (SysAdmin), the Setup link will be displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the display screens next to the My Settings and Logout links. If you do not see the Setup link, then your user profile does not have the authority to access the system setup screens.

 

Accessing The Settings For: Follow-up Templates

 

Select the Setup link at the top of your screen. The System Setup Screen will then be displayed. In the submenu titled Customizable Settings, and select the Follow-up Template menu option.

 

The Follow-Up Master screen will be displayed. An example is shown below:

 

 

This window will display any Follow-up ID’s you may have already created. The ID is the main name used to designate the entire Follow-up Email campaign. It is from the Follow-up ID name, where each Email message and its sending parameters will be created or edited.

Creating A New Follow-up ID

To create a new Follow-up ID, click the New button. A form similar to the one shown below will be displayed:

 

 

Enter a name of the Follow-up ID. Then enter a short description.

 

To proceed to the next step click the Finish button. To go back to the listing of current Follow-up ID’s click the Back button. To exit the Follow-up Template command click Close.

Editing An Existing Follow-up ID

To edit an existing Follow-up ID, place a checkmark in the box  beside the Follow-up ID you wish to edit and click the Edit button. In this example, we selected the Follow-up ID called ‘Test Followup’ – a form similar to the one shown below will be displayed:

 

You are given the opportunity on this screen to change the name and description – in case you are changing the campaign to reflect a different purpose.

 

Like creating a new Follow-up ID, select Finish to proceed to the next screens. To go back to the listing of current Follow-up ID’s click the Back button. To exit the Follow-up Template command click Close.

Creating & Editing The Individual Email Messages (Steps) In The Follow-up Template

Following the screen that displays the name for the Follow-up ID, the system will then display the Follow-up Steps screen shown below:

 

 

This screen lists a summary of all the steps that make up the Follow-up Template. In the example above, there is just one step in the template. However, you can create as many as you like. When a Follow-up Template is activated, such as when you schedule a follow-up on the Contact Detail View, all the steps in the template will be performed at the day and time you specify in the Follow-up Step Details form (shown below).

 

To create a new Step in the Follow-up Template, select the New button. To edit an existing Step, place a checkmark in box  beside the step you want, and click the Edit button. A form similar to the one shown below will be displayed. The New form is will have the same parameters. Note how the form is divided into two areas: Follow-up Step Details and Automated Email Settings.

 

 

 

Step

An identifier that helps show the sequence of the step. For example, 0, 10, 20, etc.

 

Activity Description

A short description to help identify the step.

 

Start Time

The time of day to start the step.

 

Duration

If the Follow-up Template is being used to initiate a meeting instead of an Email, you can enter the duration here.

 

Activity Type

Select the type of Activity you are setting up for this specific step. Your options include To Do, Meeting, Call, Email, or Other.

 

Activity Status

Select the status of the Activity you are setting up for this specific step. Set this to OPEN unless you have a specific need to have the activity to set to CLOSED.

 

Offset Days

Set the number of days from the initial schedule date you want this specific activity to be run/scheduled.

 

Assigned To User

Select the User Id of the person who will be the owner of the activity.

 

Send Email Reminder

If the activity is for a meeting or a callback, you can automatically have the system send an Email reminder to the assigned user.

 

Minutes Before

Select the lead time for the Email reminder.

 

Send Contact Email

If this is set to NO, then nothing else needs to be filled out below. If YES, then the step will send out an Email message containing the information below.

 

Email CC and Email BCC

You can have a copy of the Email delivered to another recipient. Enter the Email address for the person. If you want a copy to be sent to the assigned user then be sure to enter %ASSIGNEDUSER% in the field instead.

 

Email Subject

Enter the subject for the Email. Note that you can also use merged fields as shown in the example.

 

Complete Activity

Indicate whether the activity is to be flagged as complete once the Email has been sent.

 

Text Email and/or HTML Email

You have the option of creating an Email as a Text Message or an HTML Message. For a text message, simply type, or paste, the text of your message into the edit box. For an HTML message, you can use your own HTML editor and paste the HTML codeinto the HTML edit box, or you can click the Launch HTML Editor button and use the editor provided with the system.

 

When using graphic images within HTML Email Messages, be sure each URL to a graphic file is publicly accessible on the internet.

 

Saving The Step Information

To save any entries or changes to the step, select Finish.

 

To return to the Step listing without saving any entries or edits, select Cancel.

 

 

Follow-up Templates can be scheduled by selecting the Schedule Follow-up(s) link on any Contact Detail Screen (just press the Activities button to display the link), and Follow-Up Templates can also be setup to start running automatically when anOpportunity Stage is selected, or when using the Lead Capture features of the system.