Creating and Editing Message Content

Use the Edit Message page to create and edit the message content. On this page, you can also preview your message and send a Quick TestYou can send a test message to specific email addresses, for example, to see how your mail merge fields and dynamic content will appear to different recipients..

• If you are creating a message, the Edit Message page opens when you click on the Message Create page.
• If you are editing a message, on the navigation bar, click Email Marketing > Messages. The Messages page opens, displaying a list of all available messages. Point to the desired message and click Edit to view the Edit Message page.

For information about specifying message recipients, see Selecting Message Recipients.

What to do Next?

• Specifying message subject or sender
• Personalizing Messages
• Selecting a template
• Renaming a message
• Editing the HTML version
• Editing the text version
• Adding images
• Adding links
• Adding enhancers
• Adding mail merge tags to the message body
• Changing the HTML Encoding or Character Set
• Previewing a message
• Sending a Quicktest

Specifying Message Subject and Sender

1. In the Subject field, type the desired text in the Subject line.
2. In the From field, type the name you want recipients to see when they receive the message.

The From Email field shows the address to which replies to the message will be sent. This is the reply-to address specified for the list. To ensure that the replies are processed correctly, do not change this address.

Personalizing Messages

You can personalize the message by using Mail Merge tags. For example, you can insert the First Name tag into the message subject to address each recipient personally.

You can use Mail Merge tags in the Subject, From, and From Email fields. To do this:

1. Click where you want the Mail Merge tag to appear.
2. Click Personalization next to that field.
3. Select the desired field from the drop-down list.

Selecting a Template  

You can use a template as the starting point for any message. A template provides a structure for your message, such as the page layout and background color.

To select a template:

1. Click .
2. Do one of the following:

• To select a default template, click , select the desired template, and click OK.
• To select a template that you created, click , select the desired template, and click OK.

Renaming a Message

1. Click on the message name. The field becomes editable.
2. Type the new name.
3. Click .

Editing the HTML Version

Messages open in the default design view where you can edit messages using toolbar buttons similar to those in standard word processors and Aurea Campaign Manager automatically corrects errors in your code.

Alternately, you can use the Code view to edit a message in the way similar to code editors, such as Adobe© Dreamweaver®. You can switch between the views at any time, and changes you make using one will automatically appear in the other. For more information, see Code View.

Editing the Message Using the Code View

1. Do one of the following:

• If you are working in the default design mode, click on the HTML editor toolbar to switch to the Code view.
• If you are working in the Text mode, select the HTMLHypertext Markup Language. A set of tags used to mark the structural elements of text files. HTML files include tags that create hyperlinks to other documents on the Internet. tab and click .

2. Make your changes and click .

Editing the Text Version

You must create and edit the text version of the message on the Text tab of the Edit Message page. Note that changes you make to the HTML version do not automatically appear in the text version. This means that if you change the text or HTML version, you must manually update the other version.

1. On the Edit Message page, select the Text tab. The text version of the message opens.
2. Optionally, click to add any changes you made in the HTML version.
3. Make your changes and click .

Adding images

You can add images from the Asset Library or another location to the HTML version of the message in either the Design mode or Code mode. You can add .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, and .png files.

Adding an Image

1. Click where you want the image to appear and click .
2. In the Insert window, select the Library tab.
3. Select the desired image from the Asset Library and click OK.

Adding and Removing Links

You can add a link to a URL, a specific location within the message, or to an email message.

Adding a Link to a URL

1. In default design view, click where you want the link to appear or select the text you want for which you want to add a link, and click on the HTML editor toolbar.
2. In the URL field, type the URL to which you want to link.
3. In the Textfield, type the text alias for the link.
4. Optionally, select Open in new tab check-box if you want the URL to be launched in a new tab of the browser.
5. Click OK. The Link dialog closes and the link is created.

Editing a Link

Click on the link you want to edit and select . You can also change the link style by clicking and applying the desired style.

Removing a Link

Click on the link you want to remove and select .

Adding Enhancers

An enhancerA commonly used form, such as a survey or unsubscribe request that you can add to your message. is a commonly used form, such as a survey or unsubscribe request, that you can add to a message. Aurea Campaign Manager provides several enhancers that you can add to your messages. You can also create your own enhancers. For more information about enhancers, see About Enhancers.

To add an enhancer, click where you want the enhancer to appear, click , select the Enhancers tab, and select the desired enhancer. The enhancer is added to the message.

Adding Mail Merge Tags to the Message Body

You can use mail merge tags to personalize messages. For example, insert the recipient's First Name tag into the message greeting to address each recipient by name.

To add a mail merge tag:

1. In the default design view or Code view, click where you want the tag to appear.
2. Click , select the Personalization tab, and select the desired tag.

The tag is added at the location you selected.

Changing the HTML Encoding or Character Set

1. In the main Edit Message page, under HTML Encoding, select either 7-bit or Quoted Printable as shown in the following image:

2. On the right-hand side of the Edit Message page, under Character set, select the desired character set as shown in the following image.

Previewing a Message

Click . Your message opens in a new browser window.

Sending a Quick Test

While editing a message, you can send a Quick Test to specific email addresses. If you have mail merge tags, enhancers, or conditional content in the message body, you can also send multiple messages using random test data from your list. You might want to do this, for example, to see how your mail merge fields and conditional content will appear to different recipients. Aurea Campaign Manager will not send the test messages to your contacts; it will simply use the contacts' profile data and send the messages to the addresses you specify.

For example, when sending three Quick Test messages to john@cam.com, Aurea Campaign Managerinserts data from any three contacts in your list and send all three messages to john@cam.com.

1. Make sure that you have:

• Selected the message recipients.
• Filled in the From, From Email, and Subject fields.
• Created the Text version of the message.

2. Click .
3. In the Recipient(s) dialog, type the addresses to which you want to send the test message, separated by commas.
4. Optionally, to send test messages using random data from your list, select the Send multiple drag button and specify the number of test messages to send.

5. Click OK. The test messages are sent to the addresses you specify in the Recipient(s) dialog.

Next step

Test and Proof the message