Email Wizard
The Email Wizard offers an intuitive workflow for admins to create and send emails, as well as fund updates to investors. This process allows admins to compose an email, select recipients and review before sending. Accessible from the Fund Details Page: Emails Tab, the Email Wizard is also available via the Functions menu on the Communications page. Clicking the Compose button launches the wizard in either pathway.
Email Wizard Accuracy Controls
Key Areas of Email Wizard
The Email Wizard breaks the process down into logical steps. Each step has the following key areas:
1 - Workflow Steps - Indicates the total number of steps in the workflow and where users are in the process. A green checkmark next to the step indicates that the step is completed.
2 - Status - Indicates the status: Email Draft, Update Published, Email Sent
3 - Selection / Composition Area - As admins move through the workflow, this area allows them to make selections as required.
4 - Email Details - Provides a live summary of the email as admins move through the workflow.
5 - Action Buttons - Allows admins to move forward or back through the process or delete the email, as well as save changes before publishing.
Use the Email Wizard
Navigate to Communication page located under the Functions menu.
The Communications page is organized in tabs grouped by communication type. By default, you will land on the Emails tab where an overview of all email details is displayed. To create a new email, click Compose. This launches the Wizard.
Step 1 - Compose Email
Review the various fields and options available:
- Select the Fund - will be pre-populated if accessed from the Funds Page: Emails Tab.
- Select Template - select a template from a list of all standard and custom email templates available. By default, the menu is set to None.
- Subject and Body - are left blank, unless a template is selected. Use the Add Variable button to add Fund, Investor and Contact variables to the subject and body of the email, as needed.
- + Add Attachment to email- click to add attachments as Secure links to the email. Use the checkboxes to include the attachments in email and/or Fund Updates.
NOTE: By default, the ability to include physical attachments in email is disabled to reduce the risk of data leak. Please contact Customer Success for more Information.
Step 2 - Select Recipients
A list displays all contacts related to the fund that have opted to receive emails. Use the available filters, as needed:
- Bulk Upload - lists all Pending and Published file uploads. Selecting the file upload will narrow down to the list of contacts that meet all of the following criteria and only one bulk upload filter can be applied:
- Every contact is associated to the fund through one or more investors
- Every contact has opted in to receive emails
- Every investor can be found in the bulk upload that was selected for the filter
- Every {contact, investor} pair has email permissions turned on for the target folder of the selected Bulk Upload
- Include bulk file uploads as attachments checkbox is enabled when a bulk file upload is selected.
- Investor - search by Investors included in the bulk upload.
- Tag - search by tag.
- See Classify Contacts with tags for more information.
- Folder Permissions - select recipients based on the available folder permissions.
- Class - search by class.
IMPORTANT: If a selected bulk upload is in a Pending state, it is not possible to send out an email. The bulk upload must be published to the system in order to successfully send out an email. If you attempt to send an email with a pending bulk upload selected, a popup will appear to let you know the bulk upload is in pending state and must be published before sending the email.
TIP: Use the Select CC Admins and Select BCC Admins menus to include admins as CC/BCC to ensure they are copied in the email sent out.
Step 3 - Review
The Review Page shows an overview of all files that are included in the upload. Refer the graphic below for more details.
- Search and Filters - Use to live search and filter.
- Status - This displays the status of the email (e.g., Draft, Sent). If published as a Fund Update, it also displays a Published status for the fund update.
- Download CSV - The Email Details and the table are downloaded as a CSV.
- Download Report - Downloads an Email Report Summary as a PDF.
- Preview - Display a preview of the email and includes the option:
- View as contact - Use the menu to select a contact to view the email as before sending.
- Send Test Email - Enter one or more email addresses, separated by semi colons and/or commas to send a preview for the test email before sending. *Send test email can only be sent to an Admin email address.
- Contact ID - Displays the contact ID of the recipients.
- Investors/Contacts with permissions - The number to the left of the forward slash ("/") represents the investors or contacts who have access to the fund and will be sent the email. The number to the right indicates the total number of investors and contacts in the fund that have opted in to receive emails.
- Attachments section - yes/no if documents are attached to the email when being composed, including:
- Attachments - any files added to the email in Step 1
- Fund Updates - if files are included in the fund update in Step 1
- Bulk Upload attachments - if bulk upload attachments are included in Step 1
- Bulk Upload ID - hyperlink to the selected bulk upload page which opens in a new tab.
- Delete - Click Delete to delete the email.
- Publish as Fund Update/Send Email - Click Publish as Fund Update, Send Email, or Back as required. Note that once an email has been sent, the option to navigate back is no longer available.
- Read status - displays the read status of the email and whether or not the contact has opened the email.
- Permission notification - If there are any associated investors who do not have permissions to access the email, a yellow notification banner appears with a list of those investors.
IMPORTANT: Information about Read Status
Email protocols do not have a built-in feature to acknowledge if an email was read or not. To track email read status, Sensr Portal as well as virtually all email solutions (ie: MailChimp, Constant Contact, Salesforce, etc.) use a method called pixel tracking.
Some email apps will block images for privacy reasons and then you'll see Sent rather than Read (e.g. MS Outlook). In other cases, such as Gmail, email apps will open all emails even before a user clicks the email. This is done for performance reasons. However, this will mark all emails as Read.
The bottom line is that for virtually all email solutions, a Read vs. Sent status on emails is correct with most email apps but is not guaranteed.
Email Wizard Accuracy Controls
Sensr Portal has multiple controls to view and verify recipients before you hit Send. It is recommended that you use these controls to validate the list of recipients.
You cannot compose emails for a fund that has not been published.
Disabled Compose Button If you select a bulk upload filter in Step 2: Select Recipients, review the yellow banner on Step 3: Review that appears at the top of the page. It shows all of the contacts and investors in the selected bulk file upload who are not going to receive the email. Click Expand to view the complete list.
2. Email Details section as seen on Step 2: Select Recipients and Step 3: Review, refer to the Investors and Contacts counts. Ensure that the investor and contact counts are less than or equal to the investor and contact counts in the bulk file upload.
3. If you are on Step 3: Review, use the Download Report button to review the PDF summary of the entire email, including recipient list and investor and contact counts.
You can also use the Preview button on Step 3: Review to access the Test Email feature to validate the list of contacts under the View As dropdown menu is accurate.
If you are using a bulk upload filter to select recipients, the system will prevent you from sending the email until the upload is published by displaying the popup below.
If you are in the Review step, and the bulk upload was modified in some way after you arrive at this step, the system will prevent you from sending the email by showing the popup below.
A modified bulk upload could mean one or more of the following:
- Recipients were removed from the selected bulk file upload.
- The Investor-file assignment was changed.
- The selected bulk file upload was deleted.
To resolve any of these, return to Step 2, reset the filter and reselect the bulk upload.
IMPORTANT: If a bulk file upload is modified after the email is sent, the system prevents you from resending the same email. To resolve this, simply start a new email.
Secure Links
Secure Links are a safer way to share documents with investors and contacts without having to send them as physical attachments to email. It allows them to access to the document directly within the portal provided they are logged in and have permissions to view them.
How it works
Investors recieve an email with hyperlinked filenames (Secure links) of the attached documents.
- Clicking on a link opens a new browser tab at the portal login page. If you do not see the login page upon clicking on the link, this means you're already logged in to the portal.
- Once logged in, the investor is directed to the Documents page, prefiltered to display the relevant document.
- Investors can then view the document by clicking on the document name.
