Parking Lot Post: Email Marketing 101 in Online Express 7/19/18

Hi All, 


Thank you to everyone who came out for our Email Marketing 101 in Online Express this afternoon. We had some great questions and great discussion around best practices, so I wanted to post some additional information here! As a reminder, this was the last live session featuring Email in Online Express Database View. We're releasing Email functionality in the Webview of RE NXT, so we'll be covering that functionality beginning on August 16th  

What time zone is the default setting? Where do we edit that setting?

You can set up your time zone in Online Express through the Account menu. Click Organization Settings and choose your timezone. This is also where you can set other defaults like your organization name, address, and default colors. 

Will Online Express automatically exclude email addresses that have opted out from future sends?

The answer is yes, but with an important caveat. Online Express will exclude email addresses that have opted out from future email sends in Online Express. However, when you are able to use the new Email functionality in RE NXT Webview, you will need to make sure that you're excluding constituents who have opted out from Online Express emails in the past. That is one reason why we recommend you are marking constituent records that have opted out. 


Once you begin sending emails in RE NXT Webview, RE NXT Email will exclude opt-outs automatically, just as Online Express does today, but it's always good to know when viewing records who opted out and when. 

What are best practices for marking constituent records that have opted out? 

Since Online Express will not mark constituent records for you, the best practice is to decide how your organization would like to track opt outs on the constituent record and keep updating records accordingly. There are three primary ways you can mark opt-outs: 

1. Note Opt-Outs on the Appeals Tab: After you send an email campaign, when you click Add to RE, this adds a response to the constituent’s Appeals Tab of “Opt-Out.” You can then query on everyone who has this response on their appeal tab if needed. 
   
    
2. Update the Email Address and/or the Constituent Record: Organizations also may choose to update the email address and/or constituent record to note that they have opted out or that the email address should not be used.
   
   
   Here are two common ways that organizations might mark the records and email addresses: 
   1. Mark Email Address as Inactive and mark the email address as Do Not Contact (DNC)
   2. Check the box "Requests no email" on the Constituent record (this may work if your constituent only has one email address, but keep in mind, a constituent could opt-out of receiving emails on their Business address, but may still want them to their Personal Address)
      
      
      You can find records that have opted-out or bounced in Online Express through Unusable Email Addresses. This will show you records that have Hard Bounces and Opt Outs. If the email address is not already inactive, you'll notice that you'll see a "View Record" link beside it. This will allow you to go to the record:
      
      
      
      Once you've marked the email address as inactive, deleted the email from the record, OR marked the constituent record inactive, you'll notice the email address will appear crossed out. This is an indication that someone at your organization has already updated this information on the record:
      
       
3. Use Consent Tracking: If your organization has enabled Consent Tracking in Online Express, you can also configure Consent Tracking to automatically add a Consent record and a solicit code if desired to a constituent record automatically when constituents opt in and out of your emails. For more information about configuring consent tracking, see our solution here: How to track Consent in Online Express

What are best practices for marking constituent records whose email addresses have bounced?

Online Express will also automatically remove hard bounces from future sends, but you could also choose to mark these email addresses using Method #2 above. 

For more information about Opt-Outs and Bounces in Online Express, you can also refer to our documentation here.

For more information about Opt-Outs and Bounces in RE NXT Webview Email, you can refer to similiar documentation here.


I hope this information is helpful! See you at the next webinar!