Nurturing campaigns are an automated series of emails, allowing for automatic opt-in based on triggers, and do not require ongoing maintenance once launched. This process is also known as a drip campaign. Your Vendor Library is a repository of ready made marketing material setup for you to quickly browse, select, and execute different types of tactics such as emails. To access your library you must be within the Marketing Center.

From the Marketing Center click Library. If you have access to more than one vendor library simply choose a vendor from the list. If you have already created a nurturing campaign, you can access it by selecting Tactics then Nurturing.

What will I find in this article?

1. Creation

Utilize the search features within the Library to browse and locate a nurturing campaign. Depending on your vendor library search filters are typically broken down by activity type, language, and audience. Simply check on/off the different filters. Select Email Nurturing under the Activity Types drop down. If you know the specific campaign you are looking for use the search box and enter the name into the field.

After you have narrowed down your search you can select a nurturing campaign by clicking the thumbnail image. This loads a preview and breakdown of each email in the tactic. Clicking the thumbnail of one of the emails will show a preview of that specific email. Click Customize & Send to pull the campaign into your account.

Once the campaign has been added to your account you will be taken directly to the Messages tab of the campaign.

2. Email Content

The Messages tab displays the emails included in the campaign. Click the pencil icon in order to edit it.

The Content tab is where you can customize the look and feel of the email. Depending on your vendor library, your email can be edited using one of the following two methods:

• Content Editor: The content editor provides full access to customize the email as required. You can adjust font sizes and colors as well as insert links and images. By placing the mouse over each icon in the toolbar of the editor it will tell you specifically what that option does. After you have finished building your content enter a subject line into the Subject field and select the Save button located at the bottom of the page.
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• Point and Click: With a few clicks, you can add or change images or text, and translate the content within the template without interfering with the integrity of the overall design. Choose from a pre-determined image library or upload your own. If you upload your own image the system will automatically crop and resize the images to the correct dimensions.

Content that can be modified has a red serrated square in the surrounding area. By placing your mouse over that area, a pencil icon appears. 

If you prefer to view all editable fields directly, you can do so using the Table View Edit option. This will display all editable fields in a list format. To the right of the listed fields is a preview of your email.

To modify that section click on the Pencil icon. In the new window, simply enter the new content into the field(s) provided to update the content.

If the section you are modifying requires an image to be replaced click the Choose File button and locate the image on your computer. When finished, select the Save button at the bottom of the page. The image will automatically resize to fit within the target location.

When finished modifying this section click Save at the bottom of the window. You can then move on to edit the next section of the email.

Once you have made all needed changes to the content, click Save & Refresh Preview at the top of the page to generate the email with the changes.

It is highly recommended to send yourself a test message. This provides you with an accurate preview of the email within your local mail client such as Microsoft Outlook or Gmail. This gives you an opportunity to resolve issues you might experience such as typos, broken images or bad links. To send yourself a test message click the Test Message tab at the top of the page.

Place a check in the box next to the user(s) you want to send the test message and click Send Test Message button. You can copy additional email addresses by placing them into the Send copy to other email addresses field.

When you have tested the email and everything is correct, use the breadcrumb trail to navigate back to the nurturing campaign. You can then follow this process for the remaining emails in the Nurturing Campaign.

3. Scheduling

When you return to the Nurturing campaign, you are taken to the Messages tab. Choose the frequency between sending messages, whether weekends are skipped, and the time when the message will be sent. These dates cannot be changed after you have added a mailing list. You can edit the number of days or time by clicking the number.

After setting the dates, you will want to activate the campaign.

4. Activate

To be able to add a search or mailing list to the nurturing the campaign, the campaign must first be made active. Above the Messages tab, toggle the Active status to On.

Select the Mailing List tab to add contacts to the campaign.

5. Mailing List

The Mailing List tab is where you add contacts to the nurturing campaign, either by adding the contacts directly or by setting up an automated search to add contacts when the meet a specific search criteria. When contacts are added to the mailing list then the campaigns will automatically scheduled. If you have set up searches they can be used to automatically add further customers to this list.  Adding your mailing list should be the last step of sending your nurture email.  Once you add your mailing list the contacts are automatically scheduled to receive the emails based on the frequency set.  Adjusting the frequency will effects new contacts added to the mailing list only. 

You can add contacts to your mailing list from a a group or with an advanced search.

• New Search: Select the New Search option and follow the steps to build your search criteria. See the Searching article for assistance with building an advanced search. When you are finished click Run the Search.
   
• Saved Search: If you've previously created an advanced search and saved it, you can run that same search again by selecting Saved Search, then select the search to run.
   
• Saved Groups: Attach a previously created group of contacts to the email. Click Saved Groups and then check the box(es) for the group to add to the mailing list, then click Add checked groups.Select the drop down button under Group Mailing List.
   
• Import: Import contacts into the mailing list using a CSV or XLS file. See our article on the Import process for more information.

After adding contacts to the mailing list you will be unable to change the scheduled dates for the email series. At this point the campaign is scheduled and will go out based on your contact settings.