Myth: Labor-heavy business process is the best to add a personal touch
When I started my coordinator position back in 2019, the office’s business process was very labor-heavy. What do I mean by that? Everything had to be manually entered, updated, and counted.
I was told that manual follow-up and data entry are preferred for accuracy and a “personal touch”.
The first myth is easy to tackle- in most cases, humans make mistakes, not Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets or CRM tools.
When it comes to the second myth- about the personal touch- you will be surprised to see how messages can be customized and personalized with CRM tools. In other words, you can personalize at scale with Slate Mailings.
Since I dived into Slate– the CRM tool that my institution uses- it transformed how I work, how my office works with students, and how my office collaborates with other offices.
Among many things you can do with Slate, I will focus on how I utilize the Slate CRM tool to automate repetitive tasks– because we are not hired to just do repetitive tasks!
Let’s look at the real case scenario to have a better understanding of how Slate can lift your burdens.
Real case scenario- Benefits of using Slate Mailings:
*Before the CRM (BC) and after the CRM adoption (AD)
- BC: The office sends weekly reminders manually to all incoming students to complete the pre-registration steps, pay the deposit, etc.
- AD: The office utilizes mailing in Slate CRM which sends out automated weekly mailings to new students who meet the filters (logic).
- BC: Based on the template, staff members customized the mailing to urge action from the student.
- AD: Any fields in Slate can be customized so the fields sound natural in the context. For example, if the form submission field says “Yes” or “No,” these fields can be customized to say we have “received (=Yes)” your form or we have “not received (=No)” your form.
- BC: When there are new students whom we need to send out the same mailing, we copy and paste the message and send it to the student manually.
- AD: When using queries for the recipient list, Slate mailing automatically detects the new data entry and sends out a mailing to students who have new data entry only.
- BC: Stakeholders reach out to the office to confirm if the office received their forms.
- AD: Slate users can add/edit Communications to confirm the submission of the forms.
- BC: the group mailing tool that worked based on the Google Sheets added a column to the spreadsheet whenever it sends out the mailing. It was not the best way to track recipients and see who opened the email.
- AD: Anyone can download the real-time report that shows which recipient opened the email and clicked the link which makes it easier to troubleshoot and assist students.
- AD: You can set the “Reply to” email address so all inquiries regarding your colleagues’ email can be directed to them.
How to create Slate Mailings
1. To create a new Mailing, click the Megaphone icon from the menu then click New Mailing.
2. Then type the internal Name, Folder, and Template if you are required or prefer to use one then save.
Savvy tip: If the mailing needs to be used every semester, add the number to the mailing so it appears on the top. It works as a great reminder of what you need to communicate with your students every semester.
3. There are two ways to add recipients. One is by adding the spreadsheet and the other is by adding Slate Query. Here are the pros and cons of adding recipients by spreadsheets/Slate queries:
Upload spreadsheet:
- Pros: If you have the spreadsheet of recipients, it’s time-saving as you don’t need to create filters
- Cons:
- All mailings sent based on the spreadsheet will not appear in the Timeline tab
- Savvy way to use: When the recipient list does not have to be updated in real-time
New Query:
- Pros:
- All the mailings can be tracked from the Timeline tab
- Recurring messages that meet the filter can be sent automatically
- Existing fields can be used to customize the message
- With filters, you may not miss any students
- Cons: If you don’t have enough fields to create filters to specify recipients, it may not be easy or possible to specify recipients
- Savvy way to use: When the mailing needs to be sent regularly and/or the recipient list needs to be updated.
Savvy tip: Since all applications come through Slate in my institution, I go with New Query when sending mailings to applicants, or incoming students. For mailings to returning students, I upload spreadsheets that the office manually manages.
4. Whether you upload the spreadsheet or create a new query, each mailing must have the email address field. I usually pull the Preferred/first name of the recipient as well.
These fields can be added to the message by dragging or double-clicking the field from the right side. Note that the used field in the message has curly brackets.
5. When mailing is ready to be sent, click the “Send Mailing” button and review the Pre-Flight Checks. It’s a convenient way to see if you are missing anything.
For example, you will see the error message if the field name {{Name}} is used in the message but there’s no “Name” column in the spreadsheet or “Name” field in the query.)
6. To schedule recurring messages, check “Ongoing” and select your preferred frequency.
If you are familiar with sending basic mailings with Slate, check if you have explored the following features as well! They are my favorites and I use all of them in almost all my mailings.
1. Anchor
Consider anchors as bookmarks. If you have multiple pieces of information in one mailing, it is helpful to add anchors next to each heading.
Then you can utilize this anchor as a hyperlink where readers can click it and jump right into the anchor.
Why do I like anchors? Because students use mobile devices more than ever to check their emails and oftentimes, it’s easy for them to get lost in text-heavy messages.
Savvy tip: Adding multiple lines with bullet points while drafting a message is not easy at this point. I would write everything out, highlight them, and click the “Insert/Remove Bulleted List” icon to apply bullet points.
2. Headings, Text Colors, and Background Colors
As you can see in the above images, anchors work best with different paragraph styles. My go-to is Heading 2 for the sub-title of each paragraph.
Other than the heading, appropriate use of text colors and background colors can highlight important wordings or sentences for readers to ensure the effective delivery of your message.
Savvy tip: You can click “More colors” to see more color options- I don’t know if it is only me but I like to go with #ffff66 as it is the perfect, subtle yellow color that looks like a highlighter.
3. Hyperlink
Other than adding anchors and links to web pages, you can also provide an email template for recipients (your students) by pre-writing the message subject and body.
Why would I provide the email template? To make it clear call-to-action for recipients.
Instead of having to write a full email, just hitting the send button for an email template is easier for recipients, especially for students.
I would use the email template to make it easier for students to opt out of something or let us know if they are graduating, just to name a few.
By utilizing email templates, it’s easier for the office to know what the students mean- sometimes it’s confusing to understand what their inquiries are!
Savvy tip: When adding hyperlinks to direct users to web pages, set the target to “New Window (_blank).”
By doing so, readers will not leave the message but open a new window to check out the web page. When they would like to continue reading the email, they will be able to come back to where they are to finish reading the message.
The following Slate mailing features will be a great add-on to customize your message.
1. Conditional Logic
If the subset of the message needs to be customized based on the student’s level, major, citizenship, etc, conditional logic can help you.
To add the conditional logic, click the “if” icon.
In this example, we will include “Check out scholarship opportunities for students from Ethiopia!” to Ethiopian students only. The first step is to add a logic.
Then, include the message between ‘if’ and ‘/if.’
To see if the logic is applied correctly, click the preview message and search for the student that meets the logic.
The following image below shows the view of the message for Ethiopian students on the left. Students who are not from Ethiopia will receive the message on the right.
Conditional logic is one of the great ways to personalize a sub-part of the message and only show relevant information to readers.
2. SQL
Other than conditional logic, you can also customize fields by utilizing simple SQL sentences like “case when.” You can also change how the field is shown in the message by utilizing “existence” or “bit,” etc.
Step-by-step will be shared in the third post of this series “How to automate repetitive tasks with Slate CRM” where I explore Slate Query.
If you follow this far and put them into practice, you will soon be called a Slate guru in your office/department.
I would like to close this post by sharing common mistakes when utilizing Slate Mailings– remember Slate Mailings is not going to send the same message to the same recipient unless it is set to be a recurring message.
This means that if the message gets updated every semester and is sent to the same group of recipients once a semester, you should copy the mailing, update the message, and send it out.
If not, Slate will not send the updated message as the recipient received the previous message.
In this light, it is important to think about how to utilize various Slate features to catch all recipients (for example, deferred students, etc.) when the same message needs to be sent.
In the next post, I will share another great feature of Slate- Forms. As Communications can be created based on the form submissions, understanding how Slate Mailings will be beneficial. See you in the next post!
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