Communications

Explains how to create and manage communications for various channels

A communication is the message that you want to send. You can use it to send a single campaign or you can use it to send multiple campaigns, with revisions in between. Campaign data is combined for each communication.

Where you create a communication and whether you create a new communication or edit an existing one determines how campaign data is combined.

For this reason you should consider the following:

  • Which project to use - your campaigns will be combined with those for the other communications in the project.
  • Whether to edit an existing communication - your campaigns will be combined with earlier campaigns for this communication.
  • Whether it is better to duplicate an existing communication rather than edit it - your campaigns will be tracked separately.

Creating a new communication

Every communication must be included in a project.

To create a new communication: enter the Create New screen. This can be reached by one of two ways:

  • Click Create New Communication from the main screen.
  • Click Create New when creating a new project - see Projects.

The Create New screen lists the following types of communication, known as channels, down the left hand side. Click on the one that you wish to create:

  • Email - a mass email as part of a campaign
  • Text Message - an SMS text message
  • Document - create a document that can be printed and sent in the post or emailed as a PDF attachment
  • Chatbot - a chatbot that can interact with a customer
  • Video - a video for a customer

When you are creating communications, refer to the following useful information:

Managing existing communications

When you open a project, a list of all communications within that project is displayed. For example:

For each communication listed, you can edit it (by clicking the pencil symbol ) or delete it (by clicking the bin symbol ).

Note: If you try to edit a communication that another user has open, you cannot edit it; it is in read-only mode and a message is displayed with the name of the user who has it open. Similarly, if a communication is being moved or copied (which at present can only be done via the API), you also cannot edit it and a message is displayed.

Clicking the three dots gives you the following additional options (the list of options available depends on the type of communication):

  • Send Communication (available for emails and SMS) - a shortcut for sending the communication.
  • Version History (available for email and document communications only) - displays the version history of the communication. See Version history for more details.
    Note: The Version history screen can also be accessed by clicking the History button from the summary screen for the Communication.
  • Duplicate (always available) - creates a duplicate of the communication. You need to provide a new name for the duplicate.
  • Download (available for emails and SMS) - creates a PDF of the communication.
  • Analytics (available for emails, SMS and chatbots) - opens the page displaying the reporting analytics for the communication. See Reporting for more information.

Click the chevron at the right (>) to display a preview of the communication, together with a list of any attachments (email only). Note that this chevron is only displayed for email, SMS and document communications.

The column called STATUS will show a status of Live if a video communication is live.