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NOTE: This feature is available in the Professional and Enterprise versions of both Spectra and Stratus Desktop. |
Use the software’s HTML Email Builder to build a set of HTML emails and newsletters to send to your clients
and prospects, either individually or in bulk. An HTML email works just
like a web page, allowing you to include images, fonts, and links to your
studio website. When you send HTML emails using Spectra/Stratus, you can merge
a variety of information from your database to personalize the
emails, as well as keep track of who was sent an email and when. Using
the software for your HTML emails allows you utilize the information you already
have in Spectra/Stratus to personalize, target, and track your marketing emails.
HTML
Email Sample
Before You Begin #
There are two important questions to answer before you being building
your HTML emails in Spectra/Stratus:
-
How will we create
the HTML code? Unless you are an HTML programmer, creating
an HTML email that looks good in multiple browsers and email programs
can be very tricky. Here are a couple options to consider: -
One option is to have your website
designer help you create an initial HTML email and/or newsletter
that you can use as a template. Your designer will be able to
carry over some of your studio’s branding and design elements
to your emails and show you how to create new versions from your
template. -
Another great option is to use an HTML
email designer. One option is to utilize SendGrid to build your HTML emails. This is the power behind our StudioPlus Mail service, and they offer a mobile-friendly HTML builder available to their users. Emails created in MailChimp can also be exported as HTML and imported into Spectra/Stratus. -
Where will the
images in the emails be hosted? Each image you include in an
HTML email must be saved (hosted) on a public server on the web. If
the image cannot be found when a recipient opens the email, they’ll
see a big red “X” or some other message in place of the
actual image you intended them to see. So you need to decide where
these images will be hosted. Also, no matter where your images are
hosted, you need to make sure each link in your HTML code (including
image links) contains a complete
URL (i.e., “http://www.thestudio.com/……”) and
not a relative link (i.e.,
“…/images/picture.jpg” or “file:///studio/users/……”).
Links should always start with “http://www….” -
The HTML Email Builder provides a
built-in tool to upload the images in your email to your personal
Stratus Drive. In addition
to uploading the images, the software will also take care of updating
all the image links in your email, making sure they refer to the
image location on your Stratus Drive. This
is the option we recommend. -
Another hosting option is to create a folder on your website for the
images. You then need to make sure your procedure for creating
your HTML emails includes saving a copy of each image to that
folder. This process should be set up and coordinated with your
website designer. -
Another option is to use an image
hosting service. If you use a HTML email designer like
High Impact Email or MailChimp,
free image hosting may be included. When you create a email using
the design program and export it to HTML, the images will automatically
be uploaded to the free hosting site and the links will be correct.
Then you just need to import the email into Spectra/Stratus (step 7, below).
Building an HTML Email in Spectra/Stratus #
-
To build an HTML email in Spectra/Stratus, go to Tools > Design Tools > HTML Email Builder.
-
Click New on
the ribbonto create a new
HTML email. -
The HTML
Email Builder
will open.
-
Type the Description
of the email and the Subject Line. Select the … to include any Merge Fields in the subject line. -
Next select the Data
Type. The data type you choose
will determine which merge fields will be available for this email,
as well as who you can send the email to when sending it to a single
client. For example if you select a client data type, you will only
have client information available to merge (not session or invoice
information) and you will be able to send the email just from a client
record. If you select a session data type, you will be able to merge
both client and session information and you’ll send the email from
a session record. All data types are available when using the Communication Wizard to send bulk
emails. -
Select the user who is creating the email and what Email Category this email should fall under. See also: Email Categories
-
Choose if you want to append an email signature. You can also make
an HTML email inactive in order to keep it from appearing in the various
HTML email drop-down lists throughout the software. -
Next, there are a couple options for creating
the body of the email. - You can click Import
HTML to import HTML code that has been saved on your
computer. For example, this could be an email or newsletter
that your web designer has created for you or an email you’ve exported from a service such as MailChimp. You’ll browse
out to the file and click to import the code. - The other option is to copy (Ctrl+C)
the HTML code from within another program – like Dreamweaver or High
Impact Email –
and then paste (Ctrl+V) it into the Source
tab in the HTML Email Builder. -
Once your HTML code has been imported or pasted,
you can click the Source tab
to see the code or click the Preview
tab to see a preview of the email.
HTML Email Builder – Preview
-
You may want
to insert merge fields, such as the client’s name or the session date, to personalize the email. There are three ways to do this: -
On the Source
tab, you can add merge fields directly into the HTML code.
Place your cursor in the correct place in the code and click
Insert Data Field.
Then click on a field in the list to insert it. Repeat the
process to add additional merge fields. On the Preview
tab, you’ll see a placeholder, something like [[fldfirstname]],
for each merge field you added. The actual client or session
information will be merged when the email is sent.
HTML Email Editor – Insert
Field -
You can also add merge fields right on
the Preview tab. To
do this, you’ll need to highlight the text you want to replace
with a merge field and then click
Insert Data Field. Click on a field in the list to
insert it. Repeat the process to add additional merge fields.
HERE’S
A FLASH FOR YOU!
To simplify adding merge fields, we recommend including
comments in your emails and newsletters so you know
exactly where the merge fields should go. For example,
include comments such as (insert name here) and (insert
company name here). You can then simply highlight
this comment and replace it with the correct merge
field. -
Finally, you can provide a list of all
the available Spectra/Stratus merge fields for your web designer to
use when designing your HTML emails and newsletters. This
way they can put the merge fields into the code before they
give the email to you. It’ll be all ready to go! Click Get Field List on the ribbon
and then click Copy to Clipboard.
Paste this list into a document or email for your web designer.
-
Once you’ve created your HTML email, send it out
to a group of clients by using the Communication Wizard
or to individual clients one-at-a-time. To send individual
emails, go to the Communication
tab on a client, session, or invoice and click New
Email in the Messages
group. Scroll down to HTML Email
and select the email you want from the list. See also: Sending Email
