Mail Merge Templates

Mail merging to candidates, companies and contacts within Eploy is a fantastic time saving tool, allowing you to send multiple emails at once. The key to using the mail merge tools effectively though is to  develop the right templates & build up your templates library. The template content will help you with consistency on branding and language used across all of your communications, whilst also allowing you to benefit from merge fields for recipient names and details etc.

The Template Editor

You can create, manage and amend your mail merge templates within Eploy, using the template editor. You can access the editor from the Eploymenu, within Admin - Contact Templates - Email & SMS Merge.

Note: Only users with the correct permissions have access to the template editor.

From here, you can either click into an existing template to edit it, or select New from the toolbar to create a new template, based on the different recipient types.

When creating a new template, choosing the correct recipient type will mean you have access to all the right merge fields and the template will be available when emailing the relevant recipients, so ensure that this is set correctly.

Create Email & SMS Template

When you have selected the recipient type, you can then begin to configure the rest of the template options, starting with the Details:

• Title - This is the name of the template and will be visible when loading templates.
• Method of Contact - This field determines if the template will be used for Email, SMS or both.

Hint - Whilst you can create SMS only templates, you do need to populate email content too. This is so that if the SMS doesn't send (no credit available or the candidate has no mobile), then the email can be sent as a fall back.

• Correspondence Type to Auto Select -  By setting a correspondence type, you can ensure that when the template is used, a record of the email is saved against the recipient record. This is great for reporting, but should only be used if you do need to track the recipients of the template.
• Allow users to select this template for emails - This tick box makes the template active and available to use when manually sending emails. 
• Check Recipient has this preference when sending - As you can create custom preferences as part of the consent module, you can then prevent certain templates from being used if the candidate has opted out. This can be effective if you are sending mailshots, allowing candidates to unsubscribe from those types of emails / templates only.
• Order ID - Set this to control where in the list of templates this option will appear. If blank, will show in alphabetical order.

Email Content

The next section is then for the Email content, including:

• Add Merge Field to Subject - This tool will allow you to insert merge fields into the subject of the email when sent, further personalising the content to the recipient.
• Subject - This will form the subject of the email when sent.
• BCC Recipients - You can free type any specific email addresses here if you want them to always receive a blind copy of the template when sent.
• BCC Recipient Groups - Similar to the above, but this allows you to copy in any associated users to the action.

• Attach iCal - If this email template will be used as part of an action (i.e. interview confirmation), you can choose to include a calendar invite too, so the recipient can accept / reject it in their calendar.
• Attach Files - You can chose to include any files to be sent with the email when the template is used. This can be useful for sending interview instructions or directions to the main office etc.
• Attach Image Files - As well as attaching files, you can also then attach images which can be inserted in the content of your email templates. This will allow you to add rich content to your email templates, helping to make them more engaging for the recipient. 
• Attach Feedback Questionnaires - This option can be used if you want to encourage the recipient to complete a survey or questionnaire.
• Add Merge Field to Email Template - Use this drop down list to insert merge fields to your content. Simply place the curser in the appropriate place in the Email Template, then select the merge field from the list.

The Email Template is then the content or body of the email sent to recipients. Here, you can type into directly to create your email templates, or copy & paste content from safe sources.

Hint - Copy & Pasting from word processors or O365 platforms will include non-web friendly HTML tags. This could cause your template to appear incorrectly when used as an email. Whilst Eploy will attempt to clear any HTML tags, ensure you are not copying any styles or fonts etc from different sources. Best practice would be to always input your content directly into Eploy.

You can also configure HTML templates, which can be copied into the HTML view of the editor. Only use this though if you have the skills or support to do so, as our Success team will not provide support for broken HTML.

Once you have finalised your email content, you can then confirm the remaining email settings within the template:

• Remove Signature on Load - If the user sending the email has a signature set up, the use of this template can remove their signature when the template is loaded. This helps to avoid double signatures when triggering emails.
• Send Copy to Work / LTD Email - If emailing candidates, you can set this template to automatically send to their work or limited company email address (if populated).
• Use Vendor Email Address - For candidates submitted via the agency portal, you can trigger the email to go directly to the associated vendor.
• High Importance - Will flag the email as high importance to the recipient.
• Request Delivery / Read Receipt - These options will allow you to request receipts, though these maybe blocked by the sender.
• Track Email Clicked / Opened - Once sent, you can view the open / click rate of the email within the resulting correspondence record.

SMS

The final section then applies for SMS templates, where you can configure:

• From Text - This will show as the name of the sender to the recipient.
• Reply Method - If the recipient choses to respond to the SMS, you can decide how that response is received, either via phone number (SMS), email address or no replies. 

Note - changing the reply method will prompt either to provide an email address or phone number.

• SMS Template - This is then the content of the SMS. Note that the message limit is 160 characters, so additional characters would trigger an extra SMS and may impact on your account balance.

Once you have completed all of the required fields, you can click save to confirm your template and start emailing as required.