Using the Enhanced Features within Email Campaign Activities   Can I do this? Some of these tasks may require you have a specific security role ( A defined set of privileges. The security role assigned to a user determines which tasks the user can perform and which parts of the user interface the user can view. All users must be assigned at least one security role in order to access the system. ) or equivalent permissions. If you encounter a security dialogue warning of this please contact your System Adminstrator.

Accessing VEM features

You can access many VEM-enhanced features simply through the VEM Toolbar Buttons on the Compose Email screen - whether using the Quick Campaign Wizard or the Distribute Email Campaign Activity.

Additionally you can:

• manage your monitored Email Links in the CRM Marketing section
• use the VEM Template Editor in the CRM Settings > Email Templates section
• use VEM Workflow custom activities in the CRM Settings > Workflow section

The VEM Toolbar Buttons

The first button (new) added to the toolbar is Modify source code and the last one (VEM Functions) takes the place of the standard UNSUBSCRIBE button, but offers dropdown access to several new functions.

When you click on the the VEM Functions button, you are presented with a number of functions: The Remove Subscription option operates exactly as without VEM - inserting an Unsubscribe mailto: link in the email. The Insert tracked link option allows you to create / edit / insert monitored hyperlinks. The Insert template option allows you to create / edit / insert email templates. The Insert data field option allows you to create / edit / insert datafields for merge processing. The Confirm subscription option allows you to insert subscription management checkboxes in the email.

Using the Modify (HTML) Source Code feature

Often the standard WSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) doesn't allow you as precise control as you'd like over editing your email communication. Use this button to toggle between standard editing mode and HTML source. You will notice that other toolbar buttons and progress buttons are disabled in source editing mode.

TIP: Remember to use in-line styles and ensure any images are accessible over the internet for all recipients.

For best results we recommend that you use a dedicated HTML page creation application such as Microsoft Expression to create your email template rather than relying on a Javascript-based WSIWYG editor, and then upload your finished base template to the public internet to test performance, links and layout. You can then add a link to this page in your email entitled "Difficulty seeing this email?". Then we suggest to send a test email campaign activity to yourself to double-check everything is as you expect.

Managing Monitored Hyperlinks on-the-fly

The advantage of monitored hyperlinks over the ordinary type is that you will know when recipients have clicked through. Each clickthru event creates an associated object in your CRM which can be both reported upon through the VEM analysis reports and optionally used to trigger a workflow.

The Insert tracked link button works in two ways depending on whether you have some text (or an image) selected within the email body or not.

• NONE SELECTED - you are presented with the Quick Create dialog, which is a very simple form asking only for a name and URL to create a new Email Link object.
• RANGE SELECTED - you are presented with the Lookup Single dialog, which allows you to select from already setup Email Links. Once you select one the currently selected text is converted into a monitored hyperlink, which shows the Email Link name as a mouseover title. (This works very similarly to the standard Unsubscribe button)

NOTE: VEM Monitored Email Links can also be created and managed in the Marketing Section of your CRM site.

We recommend as an alternative to direct markup in the Compose Email screen you use the VEM Template Editor to add the monitored links to the Email Template. This will minimize the effort involved in the distribution of the email campaign activity and ensure reproducibility.

Managing Email Templates on-the-fly

The Insert template button brings up a special dialog which not only allows you to select from existing templates, but also to edit or create new ones entirely. This additional functionality is accessed via the NEW and EDIT buttons on this dialog.


You will notice that the types of template from which you can select (in this case Global and Contact) are determined by the type of recipient for the particular Campaign Activity. You are then restricted to these entities attributes from which to choose your merge datafields. If however, the template name begins with 'VEM' it will appear in the Global Templates section and you are allowed to choose from all three types of recipient (Account, Contact and Lead).

The VEM Template Editor is also accessible via a toolbar button on the Email Templates grid, and note that Email Templates created and managed on-the-fly are compatible with standard-.

TIP: To create templates which have maximum re-usability start your template name with VEM, but note that you can only edit these using the VEM Template Editor.

Managing Datafields

The advantage of data fields is that they allow you to personalize your email communications, you can address your recipient by their name and include information drawn from their contact/account/lead entity. This potentially enables you to engage with your audience on a more individual level.

You can work with Datafields just as you would in the standard Email Template Editor, but now the result is rendered by the VEM merge-engine rather than for only one specific recipient. You can markup data fields in the Compose Email screen but we recommend using the template approach for best reproducibility.

If you use the VEM Template Editor and start your template name with 'VEM' you are able to re-use templates across three types of recipient (Contacts, Accounts or Leads) in the same Datafield (e.g. Contact!FullName;Account!PrimaryContact;Lead!Name). To the extent this is possible, data fields created and managed through VEM are compatible with standard- and utilise the same syntax.

TIP: You can even double-click on VEM Datafields to edit them, rather than having to use the toolbar button.

Managing Subscriptions

For use in a permission-based newsletter subscription situation VEM offers a specific feature to allow users to manage and update their subscription titles. You can advise recipients of their membership of selected marketing lists. Use this option to insert checkbox placeholders for marketing lists you select, which will be rendered appropriately (ticked or unticked) in the VEM merge-engine for each email recipient.

Your accompanying text can advise recipients that they can manage their subscriptions to these newsletter lists by simply replying to the email with modified 'ticked' status if necessary. VEM's inbound email processing will then take care of modifying their subscription status.

Using Attachments in Email Distribution

Best practice in email marketing is generally to avoid attachments in email campaign activities. You take the risk of alienating your audience and increase the likelihood that your communication will be marked as spam. In addition you risk excessive database 'bloat' as multiple copies of the attachments are stored against each sent email. The recommended alternative approach is to offer links for your recipients to download documents from the public internet. Despite this there are situations, notably in the case of permission-based newsletters etc, when being able to send attachments in email distribution activities can be beneficial.

VEM offers ths facility by allowing you to associate attachments with templates which can be used in email campaign activities. Using the VEM Template Editor you can use the Attachments tab to do this, using otherwise standard CRM dialogs. To tackle the database 'bloat' issue, VEM offers a custom workflow activity to delete the bodies of sent email attachments.

Behind the scenes VEM creates a *** Reserved for template... email which holds these attachments and is associated with the template. When you use the VEM Insert template feature the composed email is marked with the relevant template, and the VEM merge-send engine does the rest as each email is created and sent.

Using VEM Workflow

VEM offers custom workflow activities to assist your eMarketing tasks - these are located on the standard Workflow Action menu when creating your system workflows.

Add to Marketing List - You can use this activity in conjunction with monitored links: In this case you might wish to build lists focussed on different areas of interest for your email campaign recipients in order for follow-up by product specialists. Since VEM creates a new Email Click instance each time a recipient clicks through to a monitored link, you can use this event to trigger a workflow, and within this workflow (after checking the Email Link name) call this action to add the related party of the Email Click to a chosen Marketing List.

Delete Sent Email Attachments - You can use this activity in conjunction with VEM template attachments. Generally it will not be desirable to retain attachments on sent emails stored in the CRM - they can easily occupy a lot of storage space and eventually affect performance. With this custom workflow activity VEM assists you in reclaiming space. You may choose to set this up as a recurring task (say daily) based on an initial on-demand trigger. Since the custom activity has global scope rather than on selected emails or templates your choice of primary entity will merely affect from which grid you are able to initially trigger the rule.