Sending a Bulk Email to all Clients

The following is an example of a Custom Process to send an email to all clients using a saved view to include primary clients only.

Watch the tutorial and follow the steps below to get started with automating bulk client emails for your practice.

Create the Email Template

This example is sending an email. The email that is created by the process needs a Template to be first set up.

1. Create an Email Template that will be sent to clients as part of the process.
   In this example, the Email Template is We are moving!
   
   
2. Ensure you enter a Name for the Email Template, to be used as the Email Subject. If a Name is not entered, the email subject will default to the Template Name instead.

Refer to the section Templates and Signatures for Email.

Create a Clients List View or Determine the View to use

If you are sending your email to all clients, you can use the system view "Active" clients which includes all Active clients. Review the view used to check this will include the clients you want to send the email to.

To run the Process for Primary Clients, follow the steps below to create a view that will be used to trigger the Custom Process.

Refer to:

• Adding/Removing/Moving Columns in the Clients Lists
• Sorting and Filtering Clients Lists
• Saving Changes to the View Layout, Modifying and Deleting Views

In the Clients list:

1. Include the Status, Primary Client and Opt In columns in the view.
2. Filter the Status column to include active clients only.
3. Filter the Primary Client column on "Yes" to include the clients that are specifically marked as the Primary Client. This will also automatically include clients who are not part of a Client Group. Refer to Primary Client.
4. Filter the Opt In column to exclude "No". This will exclude clients who have previously unsubscribed to email communications.
5. Save the view, for this example as "Email Blast for Primary Clients".
   
   Untick "Available for - List" so it is not included in the available views for users, and will only appear for Automation processes.
   
   
   

Add the Custom Process

1. In Automation - Processes, click Add Custom Process.
   
   
2. Add the Name of the Process, in this example, this is "Client Email - Office Move".
   
   
3. If required, add any additional description of the Process in the Description.
   
   
4. The Custom Process has the Trigger set to "Manual".
   
   
5. In this example, set the Filter to filter clients on the saved Client View "Email Blast for Primary Clients".
   
   

Add the Step to Create the Email

1. Click Add Step and select FYI Actions.
   
   
2. Select Create Email.
   
   
3. Additional Recipients can be added as the To, CC or BCC recipient(s). These are added similarly to when creating an email directly in FYI. Refer to Adding and Changing Recipients when Creating an Email and Process Step Details - Creating Emails, Documents and Tasks.
4. Select the email Template, in this example "We are moving!".
   
   
5. Update the Sender as required. Merge Fields can be inserted to select relative Users. Refer to Including Merge Fields in Automations.
   
   
6. Select whether to send the email immediately or to create a draft email.
   
   
7. Review the Filing details and rename the subject of the email in the Name field if required.
   
   
8. Click Save.

Testing a Manual Custom Process

When setting up a Custom Process, it is very important to test it to ensure it is working as expected.

1. Click Test.
   
   
2. The Select Test pop-up displays a list of the Clients based on the Filter that has been set up in the Process.
   
   
3. From the Select Test, search and select a specific client to run the test for.
   
   
4. Click Run Test.
   
   
5. Navigate to the documents list in the relevant client's workspace to review the test email.

Refer also to Testing Custom Processes.

Set the Status of the Process to "Active"

When you are ready, set the Status of the process to "Active".

Running the Process

To run your custom process, as this is sending to a segmented client list, it is run from Automations - Processes. It can be run by an FYI Admin, or a user in a User Group that has Permissions enabled for Automations. 

1. Edit the Process from the Automations - Processes tab.
2. Click Run.
   
   
   
   
3. A list of Clients displays as per the Filter applied. This shows a count of the number of clients it will run for. 
   Note: Before proceeding, check this is what you are expecting. In the following example, the process will run for 567 clients. 
   
   
   
4. To run the process, click Run.

For details on the different ways to run a Custom Process, refer to Running Custom Processes.