How do I Navigate to a Contacts Messages Information?
While some actions for updating the most commonly changed data for a contact can be done in the summary modal actions button, every bit of data sheepCRM has related to the contact record can be viewed, added and updated in the contact record's detailed sidepanel view. Find the contact you wish to edit, bring up the summary modal and click on the view contact button to open up the sidepanel.
The messages tab shows all messages - draft and sent - to the current contact. There are multiple different types of messages that can be created and sent: Email, SMS and sheepApp notifications.
Viewing a sent/draft message
Click on the message to view a preview of the content. If the message is a draft you can edit the message field as needed. Once done, click on the save & preview button to proceed to the sending stage - alternatively, click on delete draft to delete the message completely.
Sending a new message to a contact
Click on the send message button located in the top right of the messages panel to bring up a window for a brand new message to be sent to the current contact.
This window will have the following fields:
Type of message
Select how the message should be sent to the contact - through email, SMS or as a sheepApp notification next time they log in or view their dashboard messages.
Message template
Optionally, select from a pre-made template - if selected this will pre-fill the subject and message fields with content from the template. Your templates can be created and edited in your communications settings.
Regarding
Select what the message is regarding - if you are messaging about a membership plan, invoice, booking or payment, you can select the specific item you are writing about, which will allow you greater context when using template tags in your subject or message. For more information on template tags, please see our article on email tips & tricks.
Subject
If not using a template, enter a subject line for the message. This field may not be accessible depending on the type of message selected above. You can use template tags in this field to personalise the content. For more information on template tags, please see our article on email tips & tricks.
Message
If not using a template, enter the body of the message. You can use template tags in this field to personalise the content. For more information on template tags, please see our article on email tips & tricks.
Once filled in, click on the save & preview button to save the message as a draft and preview how the message will be seen by the contact.
If the message looks correct, click on the send button in the bottom left to queue the message to be sent. Once in this queue, the message can not be cancelled so please ensure everything is correct before proceeding.
If you want to send the message to yourself to test further, click on the send test option next to the send button to send a copy of the draft message to yourself (using the details in your CRM user account).
Alternatively, you can click on go back in the bottom right of the window to revert to the edit view and make any changes needed.
⚠️ sheepCRM sends emails out in batches and will queue messages for delivery which means emails will not be instantly delivered and may show as queued status until sent.
Sending a new message to multiple contacts
In order to send a message to multiple contacts, you should make use of the bulk actions functionality in the contact directory. For more information on this process, please read our article on sending to multiple contacts.
How to resend an email that has been reported as not received by a member?
Head to the Contact Record> Messages tab> select the email you want to send again> Copy as draft
Complete the required fields eg Template to be used, regarding etc> Save and preview> Send when ready.
How to select an email address when sending an email?
Once you have added additional email sender addresses and if you have the correct permissions as a user, you can then select those email addresses when sending email from the system.
There are a few places where you can send email as a user.
From a Contact record via messages
From a Segment via the action email segment
From the Segment Directory
From a Team via the email contacts button
In the below example, we are sending an email from a contact record, but it will be true for each of the other examples as well. As you can see there is a new field there which depending on the sending options and your permission will allow you to select a different email other than the flocks default one. Each time you send an email you can choose to select a different one from the options.
