Managing Email Templates
Email templates are one of the most powerful weapons in your sales toolbox. They help increase the bar for quality and consistency of the emails being sent to prospects, while simultaneously lowering the bar for effort and creativity required to generate and send the emails so that anyone can easily send out timely, well-written follow-up emails.
You can also create and send SMS templates in the same way by activating the Inbound Phone Numbers feature. Read this article for details on activating that feature.
Identifying Email Templates
When writing email templates, start with your most common and repetitive emails and work your way down. The more common the email the bigger the opportunity to optimize it and yield big results. For example in a sales process:
Introduction Email
First Follow up
Second Follow up
Meeting Confirmation
Post Meeting Email
Some emails simply involve less personalization than others and are ripe targets for using as templates because of the ease with which the templates can be used and adapted.
You can also build out drip email campaigns with helpful educational content so you can build out a nurturing stage to touch cold leads and nurture them over a period of time.
Creating Templates
STEP 1: Create The Template
Click on the Settings icon in the upper right corner of the leads page. (Or click Settings > Pipeline Settings in the left sidebar.)
Then select the Email Templates page in the sidebar.
To add a new template, click the + ADD TEMPLATE button in the top right. To edit a current template, just select it from the list.
STEP 2: Name The Template
Write a name for this template (this will not be visible to leads).
The name will appear in the template list on the templates page as well as the drop-down selector when you are composing a new email.
STEP 3: Draft The Template
Draft up your email. Don't include an email signature here. Each user's signature is added before the email is sent.
STEP 4: Insert Merge Tags
Merge tags serve as a placeholder that will automatically insert specific information from the lead record.
For example, including the {{first_name}} merge tag will insert the lead's first name when you send the template.
You can insert a merge tag by clicking the bottom left icon which will open a list of options. Simply select the one you want and it will be inserted at the position of your cursor.
These are the default merge tags available, but you can add additional ones by creating custom fields:
First Name
Last Name
Secondary Name
Phone
Email Address
Property Street
Property City
Property State
Property Zip Code
Assignee Name
Assignee Phone*
Your Company Name
In addition to the above, LeadSimple supports various merge tags in processes:
{{owners.first_name}}*
{{tenant.first_name}}*
*Note: To access contact role merge tags, you'll need to add contact roles to your process if you haven't already done so (see these videos for more information).
*Note: The phone number listed first on your user profile will be the number that populates in the Assignee Phone merge tag. If you want to be able to select which phone number is used in this merge tag, vote on this feature request.
Customize Defaults
You can give a default value for a merge tag. Just replace the word "default" with your chosen default.
Hi {{first_name | there}},
If the first_name field on a particular lead is blank, then "there" will be used instead.
So, if the lead has a name, this tag will be filled like this:
Hi John,
But if the lead does not have a first name, the default value will be used:
Hi there,
STEP 5: Add Attachments
To add an attachment, click on the "Add Attachment" button at the bottom of the email template. This will open a file finder from which you can select one or more files.
Once the attachment is uploaded it will appear in a list at the bottom of the template editor.
Attachments can be removed by clicking the X icon on the right.
File size limit of 20 MB for uploads. It accepts common document and image formats.
STEP 6: Override the recipient by adding a custom recipient
You can override the recipient by adding a custom recipient to the template. This means that the template will be sent to your custom recipient email address and not to the lead/contact. This allows you to add emails (both automatic and manual) to your workflows to send to your team (such as a "Congratulations, we just signed a new property!" email).
To do this, click on the blue To, CC, BCC button on the top right of the email template editor.
Then, add your custom To address or addresses to the To Address field and save.
Now, this template will always go to the custom To Address(es) and not to the lead or contact. You can then add it as an auto-email to your Signed Contract stage to notify the whole team that you just signed a new property!
STEP 7: Sending Email Templates
Send An Email Template From the Lead's page
Go to a specific lead record and click on the Send Email button then click on the + Email Template button.
Then select the email template you want to insert. (Note that templates this lead has already received will be checked off.) You can sort the templates alphabetically, by recency, or by popularity.
After the email template is inserted you can edit it as needed before sending it.
Send a Template Email Associated With a Task
When you schedule a task for the future, you can associate an email template with it.
Select the template you want to attach.
Now, when you click on the task to complete it, the template will auto fill.
Once the email is sent out, the task will auto complete.
Sent a Template Email Automatically
Once you've attached an email template to an email task, you can set that email to go out automatically. This will also auto-complete the task.
You can also have an email template sent out automatically as a part of a workflow as well. Read more about that here.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can I Undo or Revert Options for Email Templates/Stages Workflows?
Currently, there is no "undo" button or saved history for email templates. Once an email template is deleted, it cannot be retrieved.
Deleting Email Templates in a Workflow
Email templates are saved per pipeline. Deleting a template in one pipeline will remove it from all workflow stages within that pipeline.
Deleting an email task with an email template within a specific workflow stage will not delete the template itself, so it remains available for the pipeline and process to be used in any other stage.
Changing the Default Sender Address for Email Templates
To change the sending address, go to your user profile. Under "Email Accounts," you can select the default sending address for each pipeline or process.
Using HTML Tags in Email Templates
HTML tags aren’t currently supported in email templates. If you need specific formatting, contact support for possible alternatives.
Editing Your Email Signature
You can edit your email signature in your user profile, and it will apply to all emails sent from your account. Customize Your Email Signature