Members Database: Emailing Members

MEMBERS MASS EMAIL

​​Disclaimer: The mass email tool is not fully compliant with current laws and best practices. It is what we call in the software business deprecated functionality, meaning it will no longer receive updates. However, it does work for basic mass emailing, and it does offer an unsubscribe link for people who no longer want to receive emails from you. If you need to do more complex or frequent mass emails, we recommend using MailChimp or another third-party email and contact database tool. We offer a basic Mailchimp export tool; contact support for additional information.

1. From the top menu bar click on PEOPLE and choose the Members Database link. 
2. Enter the desired search criteria to obtain the desired list, or if you want to include all members, leave the search fields blank. It will include all members with an email address and the mass email function turned on. 
3. Click on the Email button at the bottom of the page. The Members Mass Email page will appear. 
4. You will be told at the top how many members match your search criteria and will be emailed. If you want to see or edit the list of members, click on the 'Click here' link.
5. Include Banner: If you would like to include a banner graphic from your banner library as the header graphic for this email, choose the banner graphic you would like to use from the drop-down list. 
6. Send From Email Address: This email address defaults to mailer@faithwebsites.com. This email address is verified on our mail server and is less likely to be flagged as spam than an email address that is not verified on our server. You are free to change this to your own email address if you like, but it's more likely to have delivery issues. The best method is to leave the send-from email address alone and enter your email address in the reply-to field.
7. Reply-To Email Address: This is the address that will receive replies back from the mass email. This field defaults to your email address as listed in your administrator profile (whoever you are logged in as.) You are free to change this to any appropriate email address.
8. CC Email Address: In addition to the list of email addresses from the members database that this email will go to, you can stipulate one or more additional email addresses to send this email to. If you enter more than one email address, be sure to separate them by a comma.
9. Subject Line: Enter in the subject of your Mass Email. 
10. Email Format: HTML or Plain Text
11. Message: This is where you will actually type in the email message.
12. Attachments: You may choose to add any attachments to the email. Click "choose file" to upload a document. The following extensions are allowed: .gif, .jpg, .pdf, .doc, .rtf, .xls, .htm, .html, .ppt, .pps, .png, .tiff, .txt, .zip, .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .ppsx
13. User Name & Password: Check this box to include the members' user names and passwords in these emails.
14. Send to Children: Check this box to also send this email to the children of the members that will receive it.
15. Send: Click the Send button to send the email to the members you selected.
16. Reset: Click the Reset button to clear out your changes.

EDIT MEMBERS' EMAIL SETTINGS

You can run a search to mass edit Member's email settings. 

1. From the top menu bar click on PEOPLE and choose the Members Database link. 
2. Enter the desired search criteria to obtain the desired list. Do not click search. Click on the Edit Members' Email Settings button at the bottom of the page. The Members Email Settings Data page will appear. This list will allow you to change these options quickly. 
   • Display Email: Choosing this box for the member will display the member's email on certain pages.
   • Receive Weekly Email: Choosing this box for the member will put them in the group to receive the weekly email.
   • Mass Email Tool: Choosing this box for the member will allow them to use the Mass Email Tool for the group(s) that they are attached to.
   • Last, First Member: This is the First and Last Name of the member.
   • Address Phone / Email: This is the contact information for the member. The email address is an actual link that will open up to your email screen.
3. Submit: Clicking the Submit button will save your changes to the Member's Email Settings.
4. Change Search Criteria: This will take you back to the search screen to change the criteria you used to do the search.

MAILCHIMP IMPORT

If you send regular Mass Emails to your members and want more features (many templates to choose from, subscription management, etc.), we suggest using MailChimp at www.mailchimp.com. It's an amazing, yet free tool. After creating an account at MailChimp, you can use the file provided here to import into your list. The Email, Email 2 (if spouse first name is entered), and Child Email addresses will be included in the file along with the First and Last Name for each.

1. From the top menu bar click on PEOPLE and choose the Members Database link. 
2. Enter the desired search criteria to obtain the desired list. If you do not enter search criteria, all members will be included. 
3. Click on the MAILCHIMP Import button at the bottom of the page. The MailChimp page will appear. 
4. Download: Click the Download button to get a list of your members to use in MailChimp. You can save this file to your computer.