User Guide for Bulk Mail Management System (BMMS)

User Guide for Bulk Mail Management System (BMMS) Table of Content In this user guide, we first guide you through the process of creating, approving and releasing bulk mails. 1: How to Access the System 2: How to Create a Campaign 3: How to Manage and Approve a Campaign 4: How to View the Campaign Report 5: How to Duplicate an Existing Campaign Then we describe some of the useful advanced features: Appendix 1- How to view the Pre-built Contact Lists Appendix 2: Create and Manage You Own Contact Lists Appendix 3: Mail Merge Appendix 4: HTML Template and Image Management Appendix 5: Segment Terms of Reference Campaign A Campaign means a bulk mail. Creating a Campaign means creating a bulk mail sending to many recipients. Mandatory Campaign Type This type of campaign will be sent to all recipients. The recipients cannot unsubscribe it. They must receive it. Commercial Campaign Type The recipients can have the option to unsubscribe this type of email in the future. 1

Pre-built Contact List This mimics the previous Email Alias Groupings. We migrated most of the groups and combined some of infrequently-used ones. For example, there are still lnstaff, lnstudents, etc. However, the four groups, bachi-4year-y1-prog, bachi-4year-y2- prog, bachi-4year-y3-prog, bachi-4year-y4-prog are combined into a single bachi- 4year-prog. 2

1: How to Access the System a. Login URL This system must be used with Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 or above. Access the following URL to log in to BMMS: https://emass.ln.edu.hk/intimate For Internet Explorer versions 10 or 11, users may need to enable the Compatibility View Mode in the browser (by clicking the gear icon at the top right corner, then Compatibility View settings, then Add, then Close ). 3

b. Login Page Input the following to log in (Figure 1-1): Email: your Lingnan username Password: your Lingnan password Group: select your department Click Login. Figure 1-1: Login Page 4

2: How to Create a Campaign There are 7 steps in creating a campaign as below. Step 1 Create a new campaign Click Create Campaign. (Figure 2-1) Figure 2-1: Create campaign Select Create a brand-new campaign and then click OK. (Figure 2-2) Figure 2-2: Creating a new campaign 5

Step 2 Define basic information Fill in the information as below: (Figure 2-3) Campaign Name: must be unique Campaign Group ID: just leave it blank Campaign Expiry Date: set it to be later than the campaign release date Campaign Type: For mandatory campaign type, select Not Specified. For commercial campaign type, select your department. Click Save and then click "Next". Figure 2-3: Define basic information 6

Step 3 Configure sharing If you do not need to share your campaign to other departments, just click Next in this step. If you want to share the campaign to other departments, please select the department(s) that you want to share. However, please note that you must first save your campaign in step 3 and then come back here to configure the campaign sharing. Figure 2-4: Configure sharing Step 4 Define delivery channel Fill in the sender information as below: (Figure 2-6) Sender Name: input Email display name Sender Email Address: input sender email address Reply-to Name: input Email display name Reply-to Email Address: input sender email address Bounce Email Address: click to select bounce <edmbounce@ebounce.ln.edu.hk> Outgoing Mail server (SMTP): just keep the default value Character Encoding: Unicode (UTF-8) Select Put the hard bounced customers to the global hard bounce list. Ignore all the other fields and click Next. 7

Figure 2-6: Define delivery channel 8

Step 5 Define target customer Select email recipients as below: On the Contact tab, click Add. You can select the pre-built contact list by typing a portion of the list name and then click Search. For example, input lnstaff as below (Figure 2-7). Click Search. Click on the radio button of the list you need. Click OK. For more information about the pre-built contact lists, please refer to Appendix 1. For more information about creating your own contact lists, please refer to Appendix 2. Figure 2-7: Define target customer On Opt-out tab, If this is commercial type campaign, choose the third option Move unsubscriber to opt-out list of the campaign's type. (Figure 2-8). If it is mandatory type campaign, choose Do nothing. No report. Click Next. 9

Figure 2-8: Opt-out On the Dedup tab, check Enable Duplication and then E-mail check boxes. 10

Step 6 Create template If your campaign is mandatory, Just choose Basic HTML and then click Next. (Figure 2-9) Figure 2-9: mandatory type campaign If this is commercial type campaign, Click Basic HTML. Click the button. Input unsubscribe as below (Figure 2-10) Click Search. Click on the radio button of the Unsubscribe template. Click Ok and then click Next. 11

Figure 2-10: commercial type campaign Input the email subject in the Email Subject field. (Figure 2-11) In the bottom, there is a blank area for adding email content. You edit your email content here with the formatting tools above. You can copy and paste the content from other applications, but the format may not preserve. For the font size in the content editor (Figure 2-11), please note that it is referring to the standard HTML font pixel size. It is not equal to the font size (points) used in Microsoft Word. If you have prepared the email content in a Word document, then you can have the preserved format by the following steps: (1) Save you Word document as a webpage (html file extension). (2) Refer to Appendix 4, create a template with your html file. (3) In Figure 2-9, when choosing the template, use that template. In that way, you will have an email content similar to the content that you created in Word. 12

Figure 2-11: Create campaign template If this is commercial type campaign, there is the default unsubscribe message in the email content. Please do not remove it. You edit your content above it. (Figure 2-12) Figure 2-12: commercial type campaign unsubscribe message You can add images to the email by using the image tool. (Figure 2-13) For more information about image management, please refer to Appendix 4. 13

Figure 2-13: Adding images You can add attachments to the email by clicking Add button. (Figure 2-14) Figure 2-14: Adding attachments 14

After editing all the email content, you can send a sample email to yourself for review by clicking the Preview & Send Sample Message button. (Figure 2-15) For the prompted message box, enter your email address, then click Send. You will receive a sample email after a few minutes. (Figure 2-15) Figure 2-15: Send a sample message for review After editing and review all the email content, click Next at the bottom. Step 7 Set schedule We set the release date and time of the campaign. Click the New Stage button. (Figure 2-16) 15

Figure 2-16: Set schedule Select Roll out as scheduled and then set the campaign release date and time. (Figure 2-17) Figure 2-17: Roll out as scheduled 16

In Coverage, select Currently remaining to include all recipients. (Figure 2-18) Figure 2-18: Currently remaining Click OK. Remember to click Finish to save the whole campaign. (Figure 2-19) Figure 2-19: Finish 17

3: How to Manage and Approve a Campaign You need to approve the campaign before it can be released to recipients. You can view and edit the campaign before approval. Click Manage Campaign. (Figure 3-1) Just click Search or input your criteria and then click Search. In the search result, click on the radio button of the campaign you need. To approve the campaign, click the Approve button. The emails will be sent according to the date and time set. Figure 3-1: Approve a campaign 18

You can click the View button to view the campaign details. The preview of the email can be seen on the Template tab. Figure 3-2: View a campaign You can also click the Edit button to modify the campaign again before approval. 19

4: How to View the Campaign Report Click Manage Campaign. (Figure 4-1) Just click Search or input your criteria and then click Search. In the search result, click on the radio button of the campaign you need. Click the View button. Figure 4-1: Manage a campaign Near the top right corner, click the Campaign Report drop-down box. (Figure 4-2) Figure 4-2: Campaign Report 20

There are lots of reports. We briefly describe some of the most useful and frequently-used ones here. Campaign Activity Summary report (Figure 4-3) You can view the campaign delivery summary, such as the number of emails sent, failed, unsubscribed, and even opened. Figure 4-3: Campaign Activity Summary Messages Received report (Figure 4-4) A list of each email sent. You can even view the individual email content. Figure 4-4: Messages Received Report 21

5: How to Duplicate an Existing Campaign In creating campaigns, you can reuse an existing campaign to save time and effort. Click Create Campaign. (Figure 5-1) Select Duplicate an existing campaign. Click OK. Figure 5-1: Duplicate an existing campaign Just click Search or input your criteria and then click Search. (Figure 5-2) In the search result, click on the radio button of the campaign you need. Click Duplicate. 22

Figure 5-2: Duplicate an existing campaign If an alert box prompts out as below, just click Close. Figure 5-3: Duplicate an existing campaign You can now start to edit the new campaign. 23

Appendix 1- How to view the Pre-built Contact Lists You can view the pre-built contact list by clicking the List button. (Figure A1-1) Select Show All and click Search to see all the lists that you have access. You can also select With Basic Info and type in a portion of the list name in the text box to search for target list. To view the detail of the list, click the radio button of the list and click View. Figure A1-1: How to view the Pre-built Contact Lists In the contact list detail page, click Search to view all the records in the list. (Figure A1-2) You can even export the list by clicking the Export button. However, due to data privacy concerns, this button is disabled by default. To re-enable it, please fill in the Confidentiality Agreement of BMMS Service Request in ITSC Helpdesk. (mylingnan Portal > IT Corner > ITSC Helpdesk > Request a Service > Email (on the right column) > Confidentiality Agreement of BMMS (on the left column)) After clicking the Export button, choose the desired fields and the output format as CSV and click OK. (Figure A1-2) 24

Figure A1-2: To view pre-built contact list detail and export the list Click OK. Wait a moment and you will be prompted to save the file. 25

Appendix 2: Create and Manage You Own Contact Lists A2-1: Create a new contact list Users can create their own contact lists by clicking the Lists button and then New List. (Figure A2-1) Figure A2-1: Create and Manage You Own Contact Lists Input the following information: (Figure A2-2) List Type: Keep the default Customer Contact List ID: The name of your own contact list List Name: Same as List ID Description: A description for the list And then click OK. 26

Figure A2-2: Input new list information Please note that users can only create and import data into the lists. However, for security reasons, they are not allowed to edit or delete them. Therefore, to add entries to the lists, you add them by importing from CSV files. The method is described below. A2-2: How to import data into the contact list First, prepare a contact list in CSV format. A sample is shown below. A typical list would have the fields: First Name, Last Name and Email Address. (Figure A2-3) Figure A2-3: CSV sample Click Import. (Figure A2-4) 27

Figure A2-4: Click Import Click Browse to select the CSV file. (Figure A2-5) Make sure to select the encoding matches the encoding of your file. Usually this is Unicode (UTF-8) for CSV files created in Excel. Click Next. Figure A2-5: Select Your Data Source Choose Always create new records. (Figure A2-6) Click Next. 28

Figure A2-6: Select Your Import Policy Check your data fields are mapped correctly. (Figure A2-7). A green tick indicates that the mapping is correct, whereas a red cross indicates not. In that case, click that field and can select the correct mapping in the Import as drop down box below. When all the mappings are correct, click Next to proceed. Figure A2-7: Data field mapping 29

Review the summary and check the data mapping again. If no problem, click Next. (Figure A2-8) Figure A2-8: Data mapping summary After successful import, click Close. (Figure A2-9) Figure A2-9: The contact list is successfully imported 30

Click Search to display all imported records. (Figure A2-10) Figure A2-10: search and view the list You can also view the records by clicking the corresponding buttons. (Figure A2-11) Figure A2-11: View the list records 31

Appendix 3: Mail Merge In step 6 of creating a campaign (Step 6 Create template), you can apply Mail Merge to your email content. For example, to perform mail merge for the recipient name. (Figure A3-1) Place the cursor at the desired location. E.g., just after the word Dear. Select the Last Name field from the Mail Merge Personal drop down box. Figure A3-1: Step 6 of creating a campaign (Mail merge) 32

Appendix 4: HTML Template and Image Management A4-1: Access Template Management Click Admin. Click the Templates icon to access the Template Management page. (Figure A4-1) Figure A4-1: Access template management A4-2: Add Template Click Search to search for existing templates. (Figure A4-2) To add new templates, click the Add button. 33

Figure A4-2: Search for and add templates Fill in the basic information for the new template. (Figure A4-3) Both the Template ID and Template Name should be unique. Figure A4-3: Fill in template information You can import an HTML file as the template content. (Figure A4-4) 34

Figure A4-4: Import an html file You can then preview your template by clicking the Preview tab. (Figure A4-5) Figure A4-5: Preview a template Finally, click OK to save the template. 35

A4-3: Approve Template Click Search to search for the template just created. (Figure A4-6) You have to approve the template before it can be used. You can edit or duplicate existing templates. You can also remove existing templates. Figure A4-6: Search, edit and duplicate a template 36

A4-4: Manage HTML images Click Admin. (Figure A4-7) You can manage images by clicking the Images icon. Figure A4-7: Manage HTML images Click Browse to select your image files to upload. (Figure A4-8) The recommended image dimension is not to exceed: 800 pixels (width) x 1132 pixels (height) and the file size not exceeding 600KB. Click Upload. Figure A4-8: Upload images 37

To create a new folder, type in the folder name and click Create. (Figure A4-9) Figure A4-9: Create new folder and view images A4-5: Use the uploaded HTML images If you want to add images to your email content, click the image icon. (Figure A4-10) 38

Figure A4-10: Insert image into email content Click Browser Server. (Figure A4-11) Figure A4-11: Insert image into email content Choose your target image. (Figure A4-12) Figure A4-12: Choose the image you want to use 39

Click OK. (Figure A4-13) Figure A4-13: Choose the image you want to use 40

Appendix 5: Segment Segment is a function for users to select a portion of the list. In step 5 (define target customer), you can add filtering conditions to the fields of the list to select which users you want to send to. For example, if you want to send only to the fourth year students in BA Chinese, you have to first choose the contact list: bachi-4year-prog. (Figure A5-1) Figure A5-1: Applying segment Click the Segment tab. In the Includes area (Figure A5-2), select the field you want to filter, such as STUDENT_TYPE, in this example. Select =. Select the value, such as Fourth Year, in this example. Click Save. Figure A5-2: Applying segment 41

If you always send to all members in the list, there is no need to use Segment. Click Segment Size to check how many final recipients there are in the list. (Figure A5-3) Figure A5-3: Check segment size In another example, if you want to send only to the undergraduate students majoring in Sociology, you have to first choose the contact list: ug-students. (Figure A5-4) Figure A5-4: Applying segment Click the Segment tab. In the Includes area (Figure A5-5), select the field you want to filter, such as 42

MAJOR, in this example. Select =. Select the value, such as Sociology, in this example. Click Save. Figure A5-5: Applying segment If you always send to all members in the list, there is no need to use Segment. Click Segment Size to check how many final recipients there are in the list. (Figure A5-6) Figure A5-6: Check segment size 43

Appendix 6: Dedup Dedup is the function to prevent duplicated emails sent to the same user. You can apply Dedup in step 5 (define target customer) of creating the campaign. In the Dedup tab, check Enable Duplication and then E-mail check boxes. (Figure A6-1) Figure A6-1: Deduplication settings 44