Creating the Email Template: 

1. Login to Reach (https://cne-101031.crm.dynamics.com/) . Make sure you use your NetID email and not your standard with your name (NetID@msu.montana.edu). Your password is the same you use for your standard email. Example: netID@msu.montana.edu [NetIDpassword].

2. You'll need to be in the "Marketing" App. Example 1

3. On the main page, you'll see the bar on the left. Under "Channels," you'll click on "Emails." Example 2

4. To search for an existing email, click the drop down labeled "Names," click "Filter by," and change the first dropdown to "contains." Use the text box below to look up previous emails (it will not work if you misspell words or if it is not the EXACT phrasing. Try using one or two words i.e., Sophomore Sequence, Apply Early, etc.). Examples 3 and 4 Sometimes, an example email template will be provided in the historical notes section of the Outreach Calendar. 

5. Click "Apply" to start the search. This will show you all emails in the system with that phrasing. You can also check the Outreach Calendar for the email template names of the same email we have sent in the past to help you with your search.

6. If you find an email that matches the context you need for the new email, move on to step 7. If you do not find an email that matches the content you need, pause on this section of instructions, and follow the instructions on the section below labeled "Create a new email."

7. First assess the email’s contents to see if any changes need to be made. If it is an email that was recently sent out, it may not need to be changed. Check for dates, language, working links, etc.

*If the email does not need to be changed and you know the email is good to go (typically only if it’s been sent within the last couple of weeks or it’s a general email (such as “Apply Today!”), then you can skip to the “After Feedback” section below. If you don’t think the email needs to be changed, but it’s been a little longer than a couple of weeks since it has last been sent out, skip to the “Getting Feedback” section. Knowing these options will come with time, so until you are confident, I would recommend always getting feedback before submitting an email.

8. You need to clone/"save as" the email before making any changes. If you don't, you're editing a previous email which we use to reference. To clone, click the dropdown to the right of the "Save" in the white banner toward the top. Click "Save As" which will prompt you to change the title and subject line of the new email. 

9. Click on the name of the email, and change the name of the template. If the email content is the same type of email you need to send, you should have to change much other than the date the email will be sent and remove the word "copy" at the end. The name should include UGRAD - Target - Email Purpose - Date Sent --> Example Name: UGRAD - Fall 2024 Prospects - Apply Today! - 9-16-23. (Always use dashes and not slashes) Example 5 Click "Save and Close." (These titles can be edited later if needed)

10. Important: A popup will appear at the top right of the screen. You must click "View Record" in order to be viewing and editing the new email you've created, otherwise, you are editing the original. Example 6

11. Once you are on the new page you've opened, you should make sure the email sender is correct in who it will be coming from (Typically Mike, but depends on the email). You can view this by clicking the double arrow dropdown near the top. This is where you can edit the subject line as well. Example 7 When done with this step, just click the double arrow again.

12. Change/add the appropriate signature to the bottom of the email. Most emails will be from Mike and will already appear in the email. If not you can reference previous emails to find someone's signature block.  

13. After you have made all the appropriate edits to the cloned email, highlight ALL text and make sure the font is "Arial" and the size is "14." 

14. Make sure ALL links are the same color (some may be a different shade of blue or purple) and NOT underlined.

15. Click "Save" at the top. Continue to the "Getting Feedback" instructions section below.

**More edit instructions (adding images, spacing, etc.) are available toward the bottom of the page.

Creating a New Email:

If there is no previous email you can use for reference, you might need to create an email from scratch. 

1. When in the Emails Channel, click "New +" near the top of the screen. Example 1

2. You'll need to choose between the two "Recent" email templates. One is for Commercial emails - These are emails that are generalized and going to large targets (Example emails might be a general Apply Today email, general check out our housing, webinar invites, etc.). The other option is for Transactional Emails - These are emails that are going to smaller targets/contacts that have shown they want more information (Examples emails might be a webinar confirmation/reminder, orientation information, AOR content, apply for housing when students are already admitted, etc.).  Once you've selected the correct template, click "Select." Example 2 Typically, once students have applied to MSU, their emails will be transactional, not commercial. Nick will also double check this setting before he sends, so don't stress on it!

3. A new email template will open. You'll need to name the template at the top by replacing "Email 1." Add the sender/whoever the email will be sending from (typically Mike). Change the subject line to match the description of the email appropriately. We usually name it beginning with "Montana State University - " and fill in the blank with a short phrase after the dash. Example 3 Close the top portion by clicking the double arrow dropdown button on the right.

4. Next, you'll need to make sure the reply to email, compliance, and topic are all correct. The compliance should already be the same (transactional or commercial) to match the email template you chose. Example 4

5. You'll need to change the Default value of the email salutaltion. Do this by double clicking the highlighted "{[First Name]}" toward the top of the email. Example 5 Change the Default name to something like "Future Bobcat" so that if we have an issue with a student's first name or it's blank, the default will substitute the first name. Example 6

6. Create the email from here. 

7. Return to the "Creating the Email Template:" section above, starting with step 12.

Getting Feedback: 

Before adding the email template to the Outreach Calendar, you need to get feedback from the team on the email. Feedback emails get sent to: all admissions counselors, Mike & Anders, and anyone else relevant to the content.  

1. Open the email you’ve been working on.

2. Click "Test send" toward the top of the screen. Example 1

3. Type in your email in the "Send test email to" text box and press "Test Send." Example 2

4. The email will send to your inbox. Open it and make sure the email looks okay and has no errors. Forward the email to the admissions counselor team (and anyone relevant to the email content) asking for feedback.  It can help to explain in your forwarded email the context of the email. Example 3

5. Once you receive feedback from team members, make any necessary changes in the email in Reach.

Once you think the email is ready to send, continue to the next section of instructions below labeled "After Feedback."

After Feedback: 

Once you have received feedback from the team, make sure that you update the appropriate email template accordingly. 

1. Do your final check and make sure that everything is correct (fonts, link colors and underlines, spacing, signatures, etc,.). Once you have done this, you can enter this email template name, target, and mail profile in the Outreach Calendar/"List for Stovey" Excel sheet. Make sure to "Save" as it does not save automatically. Example 1

2. Click "Ready to Send" near the top of the screen so Nick knows it's ready to go.  Example 2

The Enrollment Management Analyst (Nick) will take it from here to schedule the email to be sent out.

Adding images:

Sometimes, an email is better with a photo! Examples of this might include the Admitted Outreach alpha group emails (AOR), travel emails introducing yourself, etc. It is important to know that Reach email editing breaks the email into categories: Section, Column, Text/Image (Listed from outside to inside). 

Sections indicate a row, Columns are the columns within the section, the text or image is the type of content in the column. The standard email consists of 1 section, and 1 column with text. You'll need to add new sections to build an email with an image. The instructions below only indicate one style of adding an image, but will teach you all steps needed to create any format for images, so use your common sense as needed.

I suggest creating the entire email as if you weren't adding an image first, as this is the easiest way to structure your email. Example 1

1. Add a new section by clicking into the text, click the blue dropdown, and select "Section." Example 2 Click the blue + at the bottom of the email section. Select the type of columns you need for your email. I recommend making whichever side you want your text on to be the larger portion of the ratio. I want my text on the left of the image, so I'm selecting "2:1" Example 3

2.  For the column you want text, select "Add element here," select "Text," then copy and paste the text you want displayed next to the image. It works best if this is its own paragraph. Example 4

3. For the column you want an image, select "Add element here," select "Image," then upload the image you want to put in the email.  Examples 5 & 6

4. Click on the image, and click the square on the corner to drag and resize the image. Ideally, you want the image to be the same height as the text you have in that section. Example 7

5. You'll need to add one more section  beneath the image section to finish out your email text and signature. Repeat steps 1 & 2 in this current section to add a new section below. You'll likely want 1 column with text. Examples 8 & 9

6. Copy and paste the ending and signature of your email into the text in this last section. Examples 10 & 11

7. Delete the reused text from the first/top section of the email. Examples 12 & 13 Now, the email sections should reflect what you want your email structure to be.

8. Finally, adjust the spacing of the sections, columns, and image/text to make sure the spacing looks alright. Throughout this step, you might want to test send the email to yourself until you like the way it looks! You'll edit spacing by first clicking on the image, then select the properties button on the right side of the screen. Click into the "Spacing" section and change the Outer Spacing to 0px. Example 14 Click into your text on the right and adjust the spacing the same way. Instead of the "Properties" button, it will be the "Text" button on the right (in the same spot). Example 15

9. Click the blue text dropdown (highlighted in Example 15), select "Section" and change the outer spacing to 0px again, the same way you did with the image and text. Typically, only the section and image/text boxes need the spacing changed, but if you test send to yourself and think it is spaced too far, you can try to adjust the column spacing as well.

**I put my sections at 0 spacing, columns at 10 spacing, and image/text at 0 spacing.