Emailing Customers

One of the many benefits of having your ESC database connected with your email provider is that you can email customers directly.  

If you don't already have your Email settings entered into your ESC company, you'll want to visit the Setup Email in ESC article to get that done.

Email a Customer Directly

When you need to send a direct message to a customer, you'll do so from the Customer Center.

1. Click on the Customer Center button on the icon bar.
2. Then use the Search field on the Customer Center toolbar to narrow the list down to the customer you need to contact.  If more than one customer remains in the list after your search, you'll simply need to click once on the customer you wish to contact in order to display their profile in the Details panel.
   
   
   
   
3. Under the Details panel, The Primary Contact name, Phone number and Email will show below the customer's address information.  If no email address is showing, you can click on more to view other Contact entries to see if an email address has been entered for any of them.
4. Click on the Email address to open the Send Email screen.
   
   
   
   
5. The To... field will automatically be populated with the email address you selected.  The From... address will be populated with the first Reply Address in your Email settings (which is in the Sales Forms fields in System Setup → Email → Addresses).
   Note: if you have a default Email template setup in this screen, the Reply Address from the Template will be used instead.  More information on Email Templates can be found below.
   
   
   
   
6. Fill in the Subject and Body of the Send Email screen with the necessary information.  You can also attach files from your computer by clicking the Insert File button (looks like a paperclip).
7. You will also have the option to 'Request a Read Receipt' so that you can be sure the recipient has not only received, but also read your message.  You'll do this by clicking on the Options button on the toolbar. The Read Receipt will be sent to the From address in the Send Email screen.
   
   
   
   
8. Once the Send Email screen has been filled out to your satisfaction, you'll need only to hit the Send button to send this email on its way to the recipient.
   Note: When you click Send, the screen will pause for a moment before disappearing.  Please do not click Send multiple times.  This occurs because the email is not being sent directly from ESC.  When an email is sent, ESC my log into your outgoing mail server and pass the message along.  This takes a few seconds to do and the Send Email screen will not disappear until ESC has received confirmation from the outgoing mail server that the message was sent successfully.  If the mail server returns an error, ESC will pass that error along to you so that you will know there is a problem.

Email Templates

A Template allows you to setup the Send Email window once and reuse that setup every time a transaction is sent from ESC.  Saving a Template will save the following fields:

• Carbon Copy (Cc)
• Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc)
• From
• Subject
• The Body

To create a new template...

1. Pull up the Send Email screen from any email option in ESC and click the Email button to get to the Send Email screen.
2. Fill out the information that you want saved into the template (From, Subject, Body, etc.).
   
   
3. Click Save Template on the toolbar.
4. Give your template a name.
   
   
   
   
5. Select whether this template will be available to all users or to just you.  You can also choose to make this template the default for your user.  If you make this template your default template, then it will appear automatically every time an email is sent through this same screen.
   
   
   
   
6. Click OK.  

If you do not wish to actually send this email, you can now click the X at the top-right corner of the screen to exit the Send Email screen.  If you create multiple templates, you'll be able to select them from the Templates drop down menu on the toolbar.  Every user can setup their own default template so that the correct Reply address is used for that user each time they send an email.

Emailing Customers with Word Processor Templates

ESC allows you to create, store, print and email Word Processor documents in your company database.  This saves a great deal of time when sending out lengthy messages.

1. Start by heading to the Customer Center.
2. Select the customer you wish to contact and click on the Edit Customer option at the bottom of the Details panel on the right side of the screen.  You can also double-click on the customer in the list to edit them.
   
   
   
   
3. In the Customer screen, navigate to the Documents tab.
4. Click on the Add New button at the bottom-left of the screen and select Create Word Processor Document.
   
   
   
   
5. When the Add Word Processing Document box appears, you will be provided a drop down list of all Word Processor Templates already entered into your database.  There will also be a <NONE> option, which will allow you to start from a blank document.  Select which option you want to start with and click OK.
   
   
   
   
6. When the document opens on the screen, any Merge fields added to the original document will automatically be populated with the selected customer's information.  If any changes need to be made to this document, they may be made at this time without affecting the original template.
   
   
   
   
7. To send this document via email, click the Email button on the toolbar.  You'll see the customer's Primary Email address filled into the To... field and the Word Processor Template you created will appear in the Body.  
8. All that is left to do is enter a Subject line and your Reply Address in the From... field.  Then you may click Send. 
   
   
   
   
9. When the Send Email box disappears, you'll be returned to the document created for this customer.  By clicking Save and Exit, ESC will prompt you to save this document to the Customer's Documents tab.  
10. The Document Name that is assigned automatically, will be the name of the template and the date in which it was created for this customer.  The name can be changed if you choose.  Click OK to attach the document.
    
    
    
    
11. Click Save on the Customer screen to make sure the document is now Saved to the customer's file.