Knowledge Base

Here are specific steps for creating a 6 month reminder postcard:

1. First you need to define the individual postcard you want to use - the Correspondence Definition.  Go to Misc/Setup > Correspondence Definitions, click the "Add New Source/Mailout" button at the bottom left, and enter a description, something like "My 6 Month Reminder Postcard".

2. Now on the right on the Mailout/Correspondence tab of this correspondence definition screen, check the box that says "Use Report instead of Word Doc", and choose the "Postcard - Reminder" report in the drop-down box there.

3. Now in the Category for Source box there, enter "Reminder", and then just click OK at the bottom right of that Sources / Correspondences screen.  Now you've created the correspondence definition, and it can now be used in a funnel.

4. Now go to Misc/Setup > Marketing Funnels.  Usually you only need 1 funnel to be active in the list on the left, and then each overall funnel contains individual Funnel Sources that are listed on the right.  If there are funnels already listed here that you are not using or don't want to use for now, then just uncheck the "Funnel Currently Active" box at the top so that there are no funnels listed as active in the overal funnel list on the left.  Then click the New button at the bottom left corner, and enter the new funnel name as just "My Funnel".

5. Then at the upper right under where it says "Funnel Sources", click that Add button.  It will then ask what dataset you want to use, and "Contact List" should already be selected, and that is what you want, so just click OK

6. Next you will see the Funnel Details screen.  In the Source Description drop-down box there, choose the "My 6 Month Reminder Postcard" correspondence you created in step 1 above.  In the "Minimum days between contact" put 30, because this is a monthly reminder, and in the "Note" box there, type "6 month postcard" or something like that.

7. Now click the Change Criteria button.  On the criteria screen, click the plus button on the left to add a new row, and the 1st row needs to be "Client? is Yes (True)".  So the conjunction box at the beginning of this 1st row is "(none)" - which it will always be for the 1st criteria row since there is no previous row to connect it to, then in the drop-down box for a field name, you choose "Client?", then in the next drop-down box for the operator, you choose "is Yes (True)", and that's it for that 1st row.  Then click the plus button under that row to add a 2nd criteria row under that 1st one, and it needs to be "AND No Mail? is No (False)", so the conjuction box on this 2nd row will have "AND", then the field name you choose is "No Mail?", and the operator is "is No (False)", and that's it for that 2nd row.  Then click the plus button again under that 2nd row to add a 3rd criteria row, and it will say "AND Last Done Order Date is between 7 months ago and 6 months ago", so again the conjunction box on this 3rd row will have an "AND", then the field name to choose is "Last Done Order Date", then choose "is between" in the next drop-down box for the operator, then choose "Relative Date" in the next box, type the number 7 in the next box, choose "months" in the next box, then "ago" in the next box, then "Relative Date" again in the next box, then type the number 6 in the next box, choose "months" in the next box, then "ago" in the next box, and then just click OK at the bottom of the criteria because that's it.  So to quickly summarize what the criteria will say:

Client? is Yes (True)
AND No Mail? is No (False)
AND Last Done Order Date is between 7 months ago and 6 months ago

8. Now click OK on the Funnel Detail screen, and then just OK on the Marketing Funnels screen, and that's it.  You've now created a marketing funnel that contains one letter that is a 6 month reminder postcard. 

You can follow steps 5-7 above to create a 12 or 18 month postcard.  The only difference would be in step 7 in the 3rd criteria row, you'd make it "AND Last Done Order Date is between 13 months ago and 12 months ago" for a 12 month reminder, or "AND Last Done Order Date is between 19 months ago and 18 months ago" for an 18 month reminder.  You may want to use different wording in your postcard for those other reminders too, so you would need to go to Reports > Mail Merge Reports > highlight the "Postcard - Reminder" report, click the Copy button at the bottom, name it something different (e.g. "Postcard - Reminder - 12 mth"), and then click Layout/Design and change the wording in the postcard however you need to. Then create a different Correspondence Definition that uses that different mail merge report (steps 1-3 above). 

You would never need to do step 4 above again because you only need one overall Funnel (the "My Funnel" you created in step 4) and then all your individual letters are Funnel Sources under that 1 funnel.

A "Thank-you letter" would be very similar to setup, except you'd want different wording in the letter itself, so you'd need to define a separate correspondence definition that uses the "Letter - Thank You" mail merge report (steps 1 and 2 above), and since you'd probably want to do thank you letters weekly instead of monthly, then the last row of the criteria for the funnel entry would be "AND Last Done Order Date is between 8 days ago and 1 day ago", and the minimum days between contact would be 7 instead of 30.

So again, once you have your funnel setup, you are done with the hardest part.  To stay on top of sending your postcards or letters, just once a month (or week if you're doing thank you letters weekly), anytime during the month or week you want, go to Calls and Mailouts from the main menu, to the Mailouts tab, click the Refunnel button, and then in seconds, whatever funnel entries you've setup will be created for you, and you then just make sure your printer is loaded with whatever postcard or letter form, and click Create Now, and print them.


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