Using the CRM in DSS to Record Email Correspondence With Your Contacts

Having the ability to review all of the history associated with a contact facilitates client relationships and results in big benefits to your business. For this reason, the detail page for each contact in the CRM now contains the following information: 

• Incoming Contact History that shows the date and method—typically a website form, call, or online chat—the contact used to get in touch with your firm.
• Outgoing Email History that shows emails, usually email newsletters and email blasts, your firm sent to the contact from the CRM.
• Current Campaigns, which contains a list of email sequences that the contact is scheduled to receive.
• Notes, which can be system generated or entered by someone at your office to include information not covered by the other options.
• Email Correspondence, which displays your firm’s email communication history with a contact.

Email Correspondence is a powerful feature in the CRM that allows you to capture email communication with your clients from any email system (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Webmail, etc.) on any computer operating system. All you need is the information provided in the email itself and a little top-secret information.

Capturing Email Correspondence: How it Works

Capturing your email correspondence and associating it with one of your contacts in the CRM is easy. When you send an email to a contact, you will enter his email address in the “To:” field just like you normally do. You will also enter a special CRM email address in the “Cc:” field, along with anyone else you plan to copy on the email. Once you compose the email and hit send, your email system will deliver the email to your intended recipients. In addition, it will deliver a copy of the email to the CRM in DSS and associate it with the contact you sent the email to. The special CRM email address you add in the “Cc:” field is the trigger that makes it happen. If you are sending an email to multiple contacts, the system will associate the email with every contact in the CRM that it can find.

When the contact responds to your email, he will hit Reply All, which will send his reply to your email address and the special CRM email address. When the CRM receives the email, it will associate the email with the contact who sent it, and the email will appear in Email Correspondence. You will also receive a copy of the email in your inbox—just like you normally do.

If for some reason, the contact doesn’t choose Reply All and doesn’t send the email to your CRM email address, you can easily forward the email to the CRM and associate it with the contact.

Tip: To save time and effort, ask your contacts to Reply All so that their email correspondence will be automatically captured in DSS.

Your Super-Secret CRM Email Address

The key to making this new feature work is your unique CRM email address, which is your site’s domain name, followed by @clientmemo.com.

For example, if your site’s URL is http://www.yoursitename.com, your CRM address is [email protected]

Tip: To save yourself some keystrokes, add your unique CRM email address as a contact in your email system.

Two Ways to Activate the Email Communication Feature

Use the “Cc:” Field

Use this method when you send a new email or reply to one sent to you by a contact

1. Compose an email to one of your contacts.
2. Add your contact’s email address to the “To:” field.
3. Add your unique CRM email address to the “Cc:” field.
4. Send the email.
5. A copy of the email will be sent to your contact’s record in the CRM. To view the email, go to the contact’s record in DSS> Contact > Search and Edit. In the contact record, scroll down to the section called Email Correspondence.
6. Note that if you “Cc:” a contact that isn't in your CRM, you will receive a system email (typically delivered the next day) alerting you that an attempt was made to copy to the CRM but it did not succeed.

​

Use the “To” Field and the Subject Line

Use this method to forward an email to the CRM and associate it with a specific contact(s)

1. Find an email you want to associate with a contact in the CRM.
2. Click the forward button (this allows you to forward the email to the CRM).
3. Add your unique CRM email address to the “To:” field.
4. In the Subject line (after the subject of the email), add a dash, followed by the contact’s email address.
5. Send the email.
6. A copy of the email will be sent to your contact’s record in the CRM. To view the email, go to the contact’s record in DSS> Contact > Search and Edit. In the contact record, scroll down to the section called Email Correspondence.
7. Note that if you forget to add the client’s email address to the subject line when sending directly to the CRM, you will receive a system email (typically delivered the next day) alerting you that an attempt was made to copy to the CRM but it did not succeed.

Tip: The subject in the subject line is followed by a dash and the email address of the contact. Following is an example: This is my subject [email protected]

Are You Considering Adding Marketing Automation Software To Your Law Firm or Medical Practice Strategy?

If you feel you're missing out on your share of leads for your law firm or medical practice there's a good chance you are. The good news is Foster Web Marketing is here to help! Please contact us online or call our office directly at 888.866.0939 to schedule your free consultation with our experienced marketing team. We've been helping clients throughout the United States and internationally since 1998 and are confident we can help you not only reach, but exceed your goals.