Adding Outbound Email Invitations

You can add outbound email invitations using the Program Details screen or by navigating to the email configuration step in the program wizard flow.

To add outbound email invitations from the Program Details screen

1. Navigate to the Email Invitations section of the Program Details screen, and click Add.

2. If adding an initial invitation, click Add in that section.

3. If adding a repeat invitation, click Add in that section.

To add outbound email invitations

1. If you have a third-party vendor defined, then you can select the Send Emails from the Third Party Vendor.

   Third-party vendors must be configured by Customer Care. If none are configured, then this option does not appear on the Email Invitations page.

2. Select the Email From Address from the list.

3. If you intend to send emails using the contact owner's email address, then select the Use Contact Owner's From Email Address check box.

4. Select the email execution date.

5. Enter the Email Invitation Subject Line.

6. Select the character set.

   The most commonly used character set is Unicode (UTF-8).

7. Choose whether to use a template created for the Email Invitation or to create the Email content using the editor.

8. If you are using a template created outside Oracle CRM On Demand Marketing, select the Template Name from the list of available templates.

   The template loads into the editor.

9. To edit the content of the template, click the Edit Template link to the right of the Template list.

   The screen refreshes in edit mode. You can edit using the HTML editor or the Plain Text editor. The HTML editor is the default editing mode and allows content to be edited without requiring knowledge of HTML code. The Plain Text editor allows edits to be made to the template's HTML code.

10. Complete the necessary edits.

    In HTML Email you can either select an existing template or create a new template by selecting Create Content. The editor enables you to create your own template along with the options of inserting personalization attributes, hyperlinks, and using standard formatting, such as bold, italic, font size, and so on.

11. Add personalization attributes by selecting the Personalization Profile from the left list, for example, Demographic. Then select the attribute from the right list, for example, First Name.

12. Click Insert.

13. Set a default value to be used for the personalization attribute in the event that there are contacts in your program target list where no value exists for the selected personalization attribute.

    For example, if First Name is selected, and you suspect that there are contacts included in your list that do not have values in the First Name field, enter Customer or Professional or the default value of choice to be used when no value exists in the contact record.

    Many attributes are available for personalization, including Personalized Pretty URLs, which cause Oracle CRM On Demand Marketing to recognize returning contacts and prepopulate existing profile information in a Web form.

14. Complete the necessary edits for the HTML Email Invitation, then copy and paste the content into the space for the Text Email Invitation.

    The tag ${Demographic.FirstName} is converted into the first name of each contact in the List at run time.

For the Text Email version all links must be listed in full as absolute paths. No formatting is carried over from the HTML content to the Text Email Invitation, so double-check the line spacing, indents, and bullets, and then correct them, as needed.

Using Email Signatures

You can personalize your outbound email message to appear as if it is being sent by a member of your company, for example the sales representative responsible for the account. To use an email signature, see Configuring My Setup Options.

If you select the ContactOwner Email Signature Attribute, the default value area displays a list with the default signatures. If the contact does not have a contact owner, the default email signature is used. The default personalization attributes enable you to configure the default values for personalization attributes in the outbound program emails. The default value is used if no value is found in the contact's profile field used for personalization.

Inserting the Forward to a Friend Option

Forward to a Friend is available for inclusion in outbound email invitations. Forward to a Friend must be configured globally for each account by clicking Admin, then clicking Forward to a Friend under Email Management.

To insert the Forward to a Friend option for an email invitation

1. Click Select Profile to display the profile list of personalization attributes, and choose Program.

2. Select the Forward to a Friend attributes in the right hand Attribute list, and click Insert.

   The Forward to a Friend tag is inserted at the point where your pointer was positioned immediately before clicking Insert.

Adding Repeat Email Invitation to Nonregistrants

You can send several repeat invitations to remind targeted prospects to register, particularly in the case of a time-sensitive event. Repeat invitations are configured in exactly the same way as initial invitations and the content from an initial invitation can be copied to create the repeat invitation. You can use a slightly different subject line for each repeat invitation.

Consider scheduling a repeat invitation one week after the initial invitation was sent, then schedule an additional repeat for each following week, until the event date.

Adding repeat email invitations to a program

1. In the Email Invitations section of the Program Details screen, click Add.

2. In the Repeat Invitations to Non-Registrants section, click Add.

3. Configure the Repeat Invitation in exactly the same way the initial invitation was created.

4. Enter the content or click the Copy From Initial Invitation link.

   Oracle CRM On Demand Marketing populates all fields from the Initial Invitation except the Email Execution Date.

5. Set up the Email Execution date and time for the Repeat Invitation.

6. Click Save when finished.