Website - Getting Started

Overview

Video

This video provides an overview of how to use the New Editor.

Note: Sections of the video have been referenced below with corresponding times in the video for ease of access

Content

Accessing the Tool 

To access the email creation tools, follow the steps below depending on your access role.

Admins: Hover over Admin bar in the left-hand corner of the screen, select Compose Email.

Editors: Hover over Admin in the main navigation, select Main Tools, and then Inbox/Groups.

The following Email interface screen will launch.

Add Recipients 

Choose the recipients of the email, by clicking on the desired method to assign recipients.

1. Members: Select members individually to receive messages.
2. Staff: Select Staff/Employees individually to receive messages.
3. List Recipients: Not used
4. Static Groups: Send to specific Static (fixed Member) groups
   1. All Members: all members active in the directory
   2. All Staff: all staff active in the directory
5. Dynamic Groups: send to specific Dynamic (fluctuate based on defined criteria) groups.
6. Mailing Lists: Not used
7. Events: Attendees from a specific event  

Add Subject

Next, add a subject to your message.  Target the subject so it is clear what the message entails.  Use your Club’s name so Members recognize the email.  Avoid caution words such as “money” that email services can flag as spam, and prevent delivery to your Members.

To create an email using the new email editor, after adding recipients and a subject line, begin by clicking the “Click to Edit - New” button on the email compose screen:

Working With Templates

When you first access the new Clubessential Email Editor, you will be taken to the Template Manager. This allows you to quickly start an email from a template. 

The all-new template manager functions as a repository for all of your new editor email templates, and you can save and categorize all of your templates.

We’ve also provided a number of themed templates for newsletters, events, and more. You can change the logos and colors on these messages to match your brand to quickly and easily compose a great looking message.

Once you’ve chosen a template, you can easily edit content, images, and hyperlinks within the template. 

Composing an Email

To begin formatting your email, choose your desired content options by dragging them to the center of the content panel.

Body

The Body of the email is the foundation, by which general settings are applied and inherited by the structure and content blocks. For example, if you choose a certain font within the message settings on the Body tab, then all content will inherit the exact same font type. 

Please Note: While the new Clubessential Email Editor offers the flexibility of customizing your email design, it is important to keep consistency with your designs that reflect the branding for your private club. To access your branding guide for specifications on font and colors, hover over Admin > Click on Style Guide.

Structure

The Rows tab is where you can determine the types of rows you would like to add to the message. The rows will hold various content types within it. Using the row options, easily create one column, two columns, and various sized columns for the body of the email. 

Every row will have its own settings, which allows for flexibility in your design. For example, you can select a background color for the entire row, just the message area, or a specific column within it. 

Once a row has been added, It can be added using the Column Manager. Click on a row to bring up the row settings within the right hand panel. From here, click and drag the dots in-between the columns change the sizing. Use the Add new button to add more columns to an existing row. Use the trash can icon to Delete any column within a row.

Content

The content tab is where you will add various content elements to the structure. Drag and drop your content options, like text, hosted video(s), images, a button, etc. to your structure and then you can begin editing.

Images

All images used with the new Clubessential Email Editor will be separate from the Image Explorer from the website. Once an image block is added, you can add images by clicking “Browse” or by simply dragging images from your computer to the image block.

Editing Images

Once an image is selected, the following menu will populate on the right-hand side. To make any changes, select Apply Effects & More. 

The Apply Effects menu will open, allowing you to filter, crop, resize, and more. 

Styling Text

Selecting any text in the email will open a text editor menu, shown here. This menu allows for text stylings like font, sizing, alignment, color, and more. 

Hyperlinking Text

To hyperlink any text in your email, simply highlight that text and select the Insert/Edit Link button on the text styling menu, shown here (1). Next, paste the hyperlink needed into the URL field in the Insert/Edit Link menu (2). 

Inserting Snippets

Place your cursor within the email text where you would like to insert the snippet. Next, select More from the text styling menu. Then select Snippets. 

The Snippets menu will open. You can then select from a full list of snippets to include anything from Member Name and number to date and time with specific formats. 

Once a snippet is selected, click Add Snippet. The snippet will show in the body of the email. See example of Member First Name snippet below. 

Buttons

Buttons can be added to any email by selecting Button from the content section and dragging it anywhere in the email body. 

The button can be styled to your liking by clicking the button content in the body of the email. A formatting menu will populate on the right-hand side. From here you can change the color, alignment, hyperlink, padding, and more. The text styling menu will also populate above the button to change font, size, and style. 

Message Preview

Preview your messages before sending them out with the Message Preview feature. This will allow you to see how the email will display on mobile and on a desktop. Click Actions > Preview.

Saving the Message

Once your email is composed, you can click the save button at the top right and continue to send the email as you would with the old editor.

The new editor will auto-save your message every 60 seconds. While viewing the Template Manager the Autosaves tab will display previous version of the email currently being edited. To select a previous version, select "Open".

Please Note: It is very important that once you have created an email in the new email editor that you DO NOT edit the contents with the old email editor, as the content will behave unpredictably. Likewise, inserting HTML content from old email editor templates into the new editor is not recommended.

Saving Templates

To save your email as a template for future use, use the “Save as Template” option under the Actions menu at the top left.

While the template functionality has changed, you can still save your email as a draft as you would have with the Legacy editor.

Email Settings

Use default and recommended Send to External Email Address option designated below. (Note: Other options are tied to older versions of the software, and are not recommended).

Email Delivery Options

Once reviewed, the message can be either sent or saved for later sending.  Additional options also exist to assist with tracking.

When you are finished editing and saving your message you will need to click the Preview Message button, located below the click to edit area.

First, designate whether to use Primary Addresses, Secondary Addresses, or Both (as defined in the Member setup in the club directory).  The most common (and Default) option is Primary Address Only.

Options also exist to assist with tracking. Designate whether to Track the Message (for viewing/delivery statistics within Mail Reporting) and whether you, the message sender, would like to receive a notification email when sending is complete.

Finally, choose from the following options to define the next steps for deploying your message.

• Send Message Now - Sends the message immediately, this cannot be undone. After sent, it will show in the Sent email tab.

• Save Changes - This will place the message in Drafts email tab to revisit later.

• Send a Test - This will send a test to selected email addresses. Select an Available User, pulled from the directory, or enter an email address (that can be from outside the system) to receive your test message.

• Make Changes - Takes you back to the Compose screen of the Message Center, for further editing.
  

Schedule for Later

 Allows set-up to send the message at a later date and time. 

First, you will want to designate whether the email will be sent once, or will be recurring. 

For a One Time message, simply select the date from the calendar and the time from the drop-downs that you would like your message to go out.  Click Update Schedule to save and exit. 

For a Recurring message, you will want to use the calendar to select the first day your message should go out and select the send time from the dropdowns. Then use the Frequency drop-down to choose if your message should go out Daily, Weekly or Monthly. 

If you choose Daily, you can then decide if your message should go out every day of the week, only on weekdays, or on a recurring schedule where you will be asked how often it should be sent.

To send your message Weekly, select how many weeks there should be between send, as well as which day or days of the week your message will go out.

The final option is monthly sending. Here you can choose to send on a specific day of each month (the 1st, 10th, 15th, etc) or on a specific day of the week each month, using the drop-downs provided. 

And finally, you will want to decide when your scheduled email should end. The Schedule Indefinitely box is checked by default. If you uncheck this box you will be able to use the second calendar to decide a stop date for your recurring message.

Click Update Schedule to save and exit. 

You can also click Edit Message to be taken back to the first Compose screen of the Message. You can also click Cancel Edit, to cancel the sending of this message.

Downloadable Guide