Creating a Holiday Template

Creating a Holiday Template

It’s that time of the year again when we send Holiday Greetings to all of our valued customers. ESC makes this easy using the Report Generation feature that Vishal mentioned in his Sending Christmas Cards article. If you decide to send the greetings through ESC you will need to create a word processor template first. These templates can be customized to include customer information along with full color images, different fonts, tables and more. This article will walk you through the process of creating one.

Creating a word processor template in ESC is as simple as clicking Customer Info | Manage Word Processor Templates from the main menu in ESC. Choose the option to add a new template to begin creating your Holiday Greeting.

The Word Processor in ESC works just like any other word processor with the exception of having the ability to use what we call Merge Codes. Merge Codes are specialized tags that will be replaced by your customer’s information when you generate letters based on this template. To include a merge code in your template, click the Insert button and choose the merge code that you would like to use.
When creating the template decide whether you will be sending it to the customer’s main billing address or the customer’s locations. If you decide to send the greeting to the main billing address use the Customer Merge Codes, otherwise use the Location Merge Codes instead.

One of the most useful merge codes is the Address Block. It will print the customer’s name and full address together on the letter. Adding these fields individually can work but since not all customers have information in the Address 2 field you are better off using the Address Block which will always format the address properly.

You can also enhance your letters with graphics. To place a graphic into your template, click the Add Image button at the top of the Word Processor Window. You will then be prompted to browse for an image on your computer to include directly on the template and that will print out when the template is printed. This is the perfect way to include your company logo or a coupon for future service. Since this is the holiday season we have included some festive clipart you can use in your greetings. Just download the attached file and unzip it in the directory of your choice.

Once you have created your template, you are ready to spread holiday cheer by combining the template with the power of Report Generation. 

Have a very happy holiday!

Written by Justin Egan
Featured in December 2009 Newsletter