Email Marketing Guide
Welcome. This guide is meant to introduce you to your free email marketing account and show
you how to setup the various campaigns we offer. There are also training videos available at
ReachOutWithHartford.com.
- CONTENTS –
1. Preparing and uploading your email list
2. Setting up an email campaign
1. Preparing your email list
The first thing you need to do is upload an email list for your campaigns. This is easy to do but there are a few things you need to do to prepare your data file for upload.
NOTE: You are only permitted to upload a list of your current agency customers. You may not upload
any rented or purchased lists, as this violates CAN-SPAM laws. Furthermore, you should only upload current customers who have an active Hartford policy with your agency.P
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Your data file needs to be in CSV (excel) format and should include three fields; “Email”, “First Name” and “Last Name”. The “Birthday” date field is optional but necessary if you wish to use the Birthday Greeting template.
Below is a screenshot of what your Excel file should look like. For this example we included all four fields, but only the first three are needed.
Download a sample data template
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Once you have your data file prepared, uploading the file is very easy.
1. Visit ReachOutWithHartford.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
2. On the top section of the page the “Audience” button should be highlighted. At the top right of the screen click “Import”.
3. In the green bar at the top, click the button “Create a new import”.
4. Read through the Permissions Statement and click the box at the bottom to accept the terms, and then click “Continue”.
5. On the next screen you’ll be asked to import your data. Click “Upload a file”. Then on the following screen click “Browse” to select the Excel file containing your list. Click “Continue”.
6. You’ll need to be sure that your data fields are being uploaded correctly. If you setup your data using the instructions above you should see a row for “Email”, “First Name” and “Last Name”. Click the “Guess” button (shown below) and the appropriate field names will fill in next to the correct row. You’ll need to be sure the row that contains your “Emails” is labeled correctly.
7. If your data has a header that displays in row one (see arrow below on right) be sure to check the “Skip” box so it does not try to import your header data.
8. Once all of your fields are matched up, click “Continue”.
9. The next screen will ask you to name your list as a Group, which will make it easy to select the names when you setup your campaigns. In the field provided type the name of the list (example: “My Hartford Policy Holders”), then click “Add”.
10. Your new group of names will be setup. Click “Continue”.
11. On the final page you’ll see a summary of your import. Look over the information and make sure everything is correct. Finally, click “Import”. You will see a message that your import is in
progress and may take a few minutes. You’re now done with the import process and can close the screen or continue on to setup your campaigns.
2. Setting up an email campaign
The Hartford has provided 6 different email templates to choose from. Each template represents a different email campaign you can send. You’ll need to setup each campaign separately.
Each campaign should be setup to launch on a specific date. Since each campaign template is themed, you’ll want to launch them on the appropriate date. For example, you can setup your “Happy New Year” campaign to launch on our around January 1st. Furthermore, the “Birthday Greeting” campaign can be used to send your customers a birthday email on their actual birthday.
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ETTING UP YOUR CAMPAIGNS
1. When you login click on the “Campaigns” button at the top of the screen (pictured above).
2. Click on the “Create a new mailing” (pictured above).
3. You will then see a selection of templates to choose from. Select the template for the campaign you wish to setup.
4. The template will load on the screen for you to customize.
5. First click on the gray box to add your photo to the email. A pop-up will appear and will walk you through uploading your own photo.
6. Then you’ll personalize the text near your photo. Simply click on the text you wish to personalize and begin to type. For example, click on the “Your Name” text box and fill in your name. Do the same for the remainder of the fields.
8. You’re almost done! On this final screen choose which recipients should receive this campaign. If you only uploaded one list simply begin to type the name of the list in the “Choose
Recipients” field and it will pop-up. Next, enter the subject for the email in the “Subject Line”
field. All other options can be left as is (pictured below).
9. Now scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Schedule for later” link. You do not want to click the “Send Now” button.
10. A pop-up calendar will appear. Simply select the appropriate date the email should be sent and click the “Schedule It!” button.
3. Setting up a Happy Birthday email
To setup the Birthday Greeting you must have uploaded your data and included a “birthday” field. Review the “Uploading Your Data” instructions for more information.
To setup this campaign you will follow all of the same instructions as above up to instruction #7. 1. Customizing the Happy Birthday template and click the “Review & Send” button.
2. Under “Mailing type” select “Trigger” (pictured below).
3. Under “Activate a trigger” click “Create a new trigger” (pictured below).
4. You will see a pop-up screen called “View/Edit a Trigger Event”.
5. For the first option select “Has a birthday or other date related event” from the drop down (pictured below).
6. At the bottom of the screen check the box next to the name of your uploaded list. This is the list that should contain the Birthday date field (pictured below).
8. After you save the trigger, you’ll be taken back to the mailing setup screen. You’re almost done.
9. In the “Enter a subject line” box enter “Happy Birthday”.
10. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click the “Activate” button.
