Kavi Help CenterKaviŪ Members Help
| Chapter 22. Using Website Tools to Send Email Manually | ||
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Part I. Kavi Members Concepts and How-tos | 
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Table of Contents
Kavi Members provides three tools that administrators can use to send email messages manually. The two "template blast" tools send template-based email messages where the message body is prefilled (but editable) and the subscribers are retrieved through search tools, and the third tool allows administrators to send whatever email message they want to whomever they want, including website mailing lists. These tools are Send Template Blast to Users, Send Template Blast to Company Representatives and Send Simple Email.
Template blast tools provide search tools that allow you to select any number of recipients and send them all the same email message.
The template-based message contains standard text, plus embedded variables that are replaced with data from the company or user record when the email message is generated, so each message in the template blast is personalized.
It is quick and easy to compose template-based email, since the From, To, CC and Subject fields are set in the template — but template-based email is also flexible because you can edit these fields on the fly whenever you want to compose an original message.
Messages generated through the website have the proper domain in the originating sender field, which keeps them from being classified as spam by the recipient's mail server. If an administrator sent a message from their desktop email client and set the From address to the website's administrative alias, the domains wouldn't match and the message would be much more likely to be classified as spam and rejected, or even deleted.
This tool makes it easy to send messages to multiple KMLM mailing lists.
Like other mail sent through the system rather than your desktop email client, this message is logged.
There are many ways to generate email messages through Kavi Workspace. Here are the other available options.
Use the Send Login Link button on the Manage a User page when you want to send a login link to a specific user. When you click this button, an email based on the Password Requested Email template is automatically sent to the user.
Kavi Groups mailing lists are used to distribute list messages to group participants. Both participants and group administrators can use Kavi Groups email forms to send mail to group lists or to specific participants. If you want to contact all participants of a specific group (and any groups with cross-posting enabled), send a message to the list. If you want to contact one or more people in a group, such as the group chair, use the links on the home page or roster to send your message.
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Kavi Mailing List Manager (KMLM) mailing lists distribute messages to subscribers. Administrators are usually subscribed as moderators, and a mailing list moderator is always allowed to post to the mailing list. Lists with strict posting rules require all messages to be moderated, in which case you have to approve your own post. Some organizations use Kavi Groups lists almost exclusively, and some use KMLM lists extensively, especially for lists where the public can subscribe.
Your organization may have a private administrators list in Kavi Groups or KMLM that allows you to interact with other administrators. If archives are enabled, messages are stored for future reference.
KMLM also has Dynamic Members Mailing Lists, such as the 'members' list itself. Dynamic lists select subscribers through a query each time a message is posted to the list. These lists have almost endless uses. Visit the KMLM Admin menu and click Dynamic Members Mailing Lists to see what kinds of dynamic lists are in use. As with other KMLM lists, you may have to be subscribed as a moderator and approve your own post on lists with strict posting rules.
Outside of mailing lists, most user communication in Kavi Workspace is handled through the automated email notification system. This is described in the Concepts document Scheduled Email. If you want to make sure that you aren't duplicating a message that is sent automatically, use Manage Email Schedule to see whether an email is scheduled for this event.
Kavi Members provides two tools that Organization Admins can use to send template-based email. These template-blast tools are available in the Kavi Members Admin Tools menu. One sends a company template, and the other sends a user template. Each template contains boilerplate text and variables that are replaced by real values drawn from the database when the email message goes out. The templates are used to generate automated email known as Scheduled Email, as well as template-based email sent manually by administrators. Templates are explained in greater detail in the section on Email Templates in the Concepts document Scheduled Email.
The email massage that is generated through the template blast tools includes any edits you make when using the template blast tools, but edits made here don't affect the underlying template. If you are a Super Admin and want to edit an available template or add a new one, click here to visit the Manage Email Templates tool.
After recipients are selected, the To field of each message is populated with this recipient's Primary Email. When the message arrives in the recipient's mailbox, this field displays the email address of just this particular recipient, so the recipient can't see who else was included in the template blast. Once the recipients are selected, the To field cannot be edited (except by returning to the Select step).
If you CC yourself on a template blast, you will receive a copy of every single message that is sent to recipients. If you selected a hundred recipients, you'll get a hundred messages. If you CC'd someone else, that person will also get a hundred messages. If you CC'd an alias, everyone on the alias will get a hundred messages. Worst case scenario: you CC'd a mailing list, and now everyone on the list will get a hundred messages.
You might use this field if you have a small number of recipients, but it might not be the best approach. Administrators want to use the CC field to make sure every single message went out. This works, but it doesn't show whether the users got the message or not. It's better to use Kavi Mailing List Manager troubleshooting tools such as Mail Delivery Logs to view the status of your message.
The Send Template Blast to Users tool is used to send templates about users. These templates include company as well as user variables.
There are quite a few default user templates, and your organization may have additional templates that are unique to your website. You may use any available user template to send a template blast.
Organization Admins can click here to visit the Send Template Blast to Users tool.
The Send Template Blast to Company Representatives tool is used to send templates about companies. These templates only include company variables. There are two company templates by default: Company Added Email and Company Info Changed Email. Your organization may have additional company templates that are specific to your site.
The name of this tool is something of a misnomer, since you can select any kind of user, whether the user is formally defined as a Company Representative (i.e., a user who has been assigned the Company Representative User Purpose) or not. But a message about a company must be sent to someone at the company who is authorized to act as a contact for the company, and in most cases, this user is a Company Representative (hence the tool name).
Organization Admins can click here to visit the Send Template Blast to Company Representatives tool.
Administrators use the Send Simple Email tool anytime they want to send a plain text message from the Organization Admin alias, but especially when they want to send a message to one or more mailing lists.
Since the email originates from the organization's website, the sender domain matches the domain that appears in the 'From' field, so the email isn't classified as spam by spam filters. Mailing lists always identify the 'Originating Sender' (i.e., the fully qualified domain name and IP address of the originator's email account) through the Return Path, so if a message is sent from the organization's admin alias (e.g., admin@example.org), the ezmlm mailing list software successfully matches the domain 'example.org' and accepts the post, assuming the admin alias is subscribed as a mailing list moderator.
If the mailing list is configured to moderate all posts and the admin alias is subscribed as a list moderator, the moderation request is sent to the admin alias, so look for the moderation request in your In box. As soon as you approve this message it will be posted to the list.
If the mailing list is configured to moderate all posts and the admin alias is subscribed as a list moderator, the moderation request is sent to the admin alias, so look for the moderation request in your In box. As soon as you approve this message it will be posted to the list.
Organization Admins can click here to visit the Send Simple Email tool.
Back to topThe most common use case is distributing an informal announcement through one or more mailing lists. To show how the process can vary, imagine the message is sent to two mailing lists. One of the mailing lists is an Private Moderated Discussion list that serves organization staff, and the other is an Announce-Only list that serves your organization's board members. The admin alias is subscribed as a moderator on both mailing lists.
The From field is prefilled with the admin alias. You probably want to leave this as is, but you can change it to a different site alias if desired. For example, if the listmoderator alias is in use on your site, you might opt to use it instead of the organization admin alias.
To select the two mailing lists, hold down the Control key and click the two lists you want.
This message is going to be sent to other recipients, so one email address is entered in the To and another is entered in the CC field. This could be an alternate email address for you and another administrator. Since these addresses will be exposed to other recipients, you won't necessarily use these fields when sending messages to mailing lists.
Enter your plain text message in the body of the email.
Since the message is going to be distributed through mailing lists, you'd only want to send an attachment if the mailing lists have a small number of subscribers. In this case, there is no attachment.
The message is displayed for you to preview. You click Send, and the message is delivered directly to the alternate email addresses for you and the other administrator. It is also posted directly to the Private Moderated Discussion list, since you sent it from the admin alias, and the admin alias is subscribed to this mailing list. The message sent to the Announce-Only list has been sent to the moderation queue.
Open your desktop email client to see which messages you've received. You can see one version of the message forwarded through the admin alias, and a moderation request. You must respond to the moderation request in order to send the message to the board of directors and complete the process of sending this email.
If you add users without sending out a scheduled email, these users won't be able to log in until supplied with a login link. For example, when a site is set up, users and companies are added to the database before the site goes live. When the site does go live, this tool is used to select every user in the database and send an email based on a template that includes a login link. If a batch of users is added via the Upload Data tool and the Super Admin forgot to enable the scheduled email, this tool is an option.
Organization Admins can click here to visit the Send Template Blast to Users tool.
Set search parameters to retrieve the user(s) you want to contact. When sending login links, you would set the Respect Email Preferences option to 'No', because every user needs a login link in order to set a username and password.
Search results are displayed with all users selected. A check mark in the check box indicates a user is selected. If you only want some of these users you can click to deselect those you don't want. If you only want a few of these users, it is usually faster to click Deselect All, then click specific check boxes to select the users to whom this message should be sent. When you have finished selecting your recipients, click the Select button.
On the Edit step, select the New User Signup Email template in the drop-down list, then click the Change Template button. The form fields change as the new template is displayed.
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Make sure the message body contains the '$u_change_password_link' variable. If this isn't available, make sure you clicked Change Template. If this is the template that you want to use but this variable is missing, you can type or copy this variable into the body of the message. This variable is replaced with a login link when the email message is generated. When a user clicks this link, he or she is taken to the Change Your Password tool to set a new username and password.
Edit the message body and other fields as desired.
The Preview step shows how your message will look when variables are replaced by data from one of your recipient's account. If you want to see another example, click the Preview Another button.
When you click Send, your email message goes out to all designated recipients.
When you need to send email to specific types of companies or users and want to be able to use email variables, you can use the template blast tools. The most common example is an organization that wants to send a message to Primary Contacts for certain types of companies.
Click this link to the Send Template Blast to Company Representatives tool.
Set your search criteria, including the desired Company Type (s). To select types that aren't necessarily adjacent, hold down the Control key and click on the types you want. To select multiple types that are adjacent in the list, use the Shift key.
Set the Contact Type field to Primary Contact.
If you only wanted to contact some of the companies that are present in the results, you could click on the check box to remove the check mark, which would deselect any that you want to cull out.
On the Edit step, select the email template that contains a message that is most similar to the one that you want to send (so it needs as little editing as possible), or select a template that is nearly blank. Be sure to click the Change Template button after making your selection. The form fields now display fields from the selected template.
You may edit the message and include any of the available variables.
Since you've edited the message, you might want to click the Preview Another button several times so you can see how the variables look when rendered with the text in the message body. If you want to revise your content, use the Back button, then preview the message again, repeating the Edit and Preview steps until you are satisfied with your message.
When you click send, your email message goes out to the Primary Email address of the Primary Contacts for all the companies you selected.
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| Chapter 21. How to Schedule Email |  |
Chapter 23. How to Add Records through Upload Data |