Email blasts and distribution lists

Wild Apricot uses email "blasts" that go out to a membership distribution list

Creating and sending email blasts



A four step process, customized for ASURA, to create and send e-mail blasts is described below. All the following material assumes that you have logged onto Wild Apricot and have selected the “Admin” view.

In the gray vertical menu bar at the left of the screen click on “Email” and then on the "Compose email" link in the blue rectangular box in the horizontal menu bar. You should see a selection of named email templates. There are over twenty ASURA defined templates, all located first in the list. The template names are reasonably self explanatory. The most commonly used are:

  1. ASURA E-News – used to send out E-News letters
  2. ASURA Template – the general template for blasts to members
  3. Board Ballot with Pictures – sending out Board election ballot
  4. Call for Board Meeting Materials – sent by Secretary before the Board meeting
  5. Meeting Agenda – sent by Secretary before the Board Meeting
  6. Obituary notice - used tp send the obituary notices

Double click the desired template. You should now see that you are in the second tab of the gray email creation menu bar and that your template has appeared with a “START TYPING HERE” message.

All the pre-defined ASURA templates, except for the Obituary template, assume you just want to enter text. If you want some a bit more fancy contact the Technology Manager.

  1. Click on the “START TYPING HERE” message and then enter your email text. You can copy and past from a Word document if that is convenient. 
  2. When you have composed your e-mail click on Tab 3 in the gray e-mail creation menu bar.
  3. Click on the green “Send a test” button; this will send a test e-mail to your computer
  4. Review the e-mail to make sure the e-mail looks like what you want. If there are problems return to Step 2 and make the corrections.
  5. Once you are satisfied with the e-mail click on Tab 4 in the gray e-mail creation menu bar.

  1. You need to select the desired distribution list. Click on the “+ Contact list” button and scroll down until you find the appropriate list (see the predefined distribution lists on the right). Click on the checkbox next to the desired list and then on the “add selection” button.
  2. If you are not part of the distribution list and would like a copy of the email click on the “+ Contact” button. Enter your name in the “Search” box, click on your name in the list, and then click on “Select”.
  3. Enter the e-mail subject in the “Subject” box
  4. If you are sending the blast for someone else change the “Reply to” by clicking on the “Change reply to” button, entering the name of the person to receive the e-mail replies in the “Search” box, click on the name in the list, and then click on “Select”
  5. If you want to see how many members actually open the email make sure the “Tracking” box is checked (default setting).
  6. When you are ready to send click on tab 5 in the gray e-mail creation menu bar.

  1. Make one last review of the blast. Do the number of recipients seem correct? Is the subject meaningful? Is the correct person going to get any e-mail replies?
  2. You have a choice of sending the e-mail immediately or scheduling for some later time. Typically, you will want to send it now and will click on the green “Send” button.
  3. Occasionally Wild Apricot has difficulty successfully sending the blast and some recipients do not get the e-mail. To check, select “Log” from the “Email” menu and find your blast. There will be statistics stating what percentage have received or failed to receive the blast. Once the percentage reaches one hundred, and this may take several minutes, if any of the e-mails failed to be delivered click on the red percentage button and then on the “Resend to selected failures” button. You need to check back to see that these redos were delivered. In most cases all the redoes will be delivered but occasionally there will still be some that were not delivered.  Send the names of those who did not receive the email to the Business Manager who will find out why the email address we have is not working. 

Distribution lists

There are two types of distribution lists:

  • Simple lists that search the membership database to find all the members that match some the filter values, e.g., membership status=active + retired after 2/21/2012
  • Board lists that search the membership database for members who belong to one of ASURA's defined group(s), e.g., the Board, Committee Chair, etc. There are currently 20 predefined groups.

Shown below are the eight predefined distribution lists, some are simple and some are Board. Also shown is information on how to create new distribution lists both simple and Board.

All of Wild Apricot’s saved searches could be used as email distribution lists but only the following eight are. 

  1. ASU Obituaries (simple) if you want to mail those members who want to receive obituaries
  2. ASURA Board (Board) if you want to mail to the Board Members
  3. ASURA Board Meeting (Board) if you want to mail to the people who get ASURA Board meeting materials, i.e., ASURA Board members, Ex-officio members, Committee chairs, health and legislative Liaisons, the Board Support Staff (ASURA Office, Business &Technology Managers and other consultants, e.g., Dick Murra), and Past presidents who want to receive board materials
  4. ASURA Committee Chairs (Board) if you want to mail to the committee chairs and various liaisons
  5. ASURA Executive Committee (Board) if you want to mail to the Executive Committee
  6. ASURA News (simple) if you want to mail to ASURA members who have indicated they are willing to receive e-mail blasts
  7. ASURA Event (simple) if you want to mail to ASURA members who have indicated they are willing to receive event e-mail blasts.
  8. ASURATraining (Board) if you are practicing sending E-mail blasts.

These distributions lists are located on the Contacts page, which you can access by clicking on “Contacts” in the gray vertical menu. Click on “Saved searches” to view a complete list. The list is alphabetical so the distribution list, i.e., saved search, you want is at the top.

 

If you need to send emails to a special group (e.g., members who retired in some time period, members who attended some event, etc.) then you will need to create a special simple distribution list before composing your email.

  1. On the vertical gray menu bar hover over "Contacts" and then select "Advanced searches".
  2. Clear any old searches by clicking on the "Clear all" button.
  3. Build your advanced search to locate the members of interest (see Wild Apricot help "Advanced search - contacts")
  4. Click on the "Search" button.
  5. Review the list to make sure these are the members you wanted to contact. If not refine / correct your search. Each time you make a change be sure to click on the “Search” button to refresh the list.
  6. When you are satisfied click on the green "Email contacts". You will see that you are now in the template selection screen, tab 1 of the e-mail creation menu.
  7. Double click the desired template. You should now see that you are in the second tab of the gray e-mail creation menu bar and that your template has appeared with a “+Add layout” button.
  8. Go to Step 2 in the create email material to the left to complete the process.

If you need to send emails to a new group or to a different collection of existing groups, then you will need to create a new Board distribution list. Note: if you using a new group you need to check that the group has been added to the set of Wild Apricot Groups, see help on working with Wild Apricot Groups.

  1. On the vertical gray menu bar hover over "Contacts" and then select "Advanced searches".
  2. Clear any old searches by clicking on the red "Clear all" button and then on the green Add criteria button.
  3. Scroll down to the Membership related items and click on "Group participation" and then "OK"
  4. You will now see a list of all the groups that are currently defined. Check the box of every group you want to include in your search.
  5. Click on the "Search" button.
  6. Review the list to make sure these are the members you wanted to contact. If not check to make sure you checked only the groups you wanted. You may have to check the membership for the Groups to make sure they are correct. Each time you make a change be sure to click on the “Search” button to refresh the list.
  7. When you are satisfied, if you want to save the new distribution list enter a name in the "Save search as" box and click on "Save".
  8. Now click on the green "Email contacts". You will see that you are now in the template selection screen, tab 1 of the e-mail creation menu.
  9. Double click the desired template. You should now see that you are in the second tab of the gray e-mail creation menu bar and that your template has appeared with a “+Add layout” button.
  10. Go to Step 2 in the create email material to the left to complete the process.

Updated 29 Nov 2022 by Barry McNeill

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