When you are ready to send a proposal to your customer for their feedback and approval, iPoint makes it easy to send a PDF of your proposal directly to your customer with a single button click. And to simplify things even further, you can pre-write your email templates so that all you have to do is hit the send button on your email program.
Emails from iPoint are comprised of two elements, the standard email text (also known as the body of the email) and the HTML email (or the graphical elements). Your customers’ email programs will determine what they see. If their email program is set up to view “text only” emails they will only see the information entered on the Standard Email tab as described below. But if their email settings allow for HTML email information from both tabs is used to generate the email. Both email elements are sent to recipients and their email programs will determine which information to display.
Default Proposal Email SettingsStandard Email
Using the Proposal Email Message field, type a default email message to your customer. Enter Merge fields by clicking the appropriate field on the right. iPoint will insert the field wherever your cursor is in the text field.
When the Email button is selected on the Client Proposal Options, iPoint will fill the default text into your email, address the email to your customer, and attach a PDF copy of your proposal.
The same process holds true for sending your client Change Orders. Customize the default emails for change order approval by entering text in the Change Order Email Message field. Again, you can utilize merge fields.
Merge Fields descriptions
- { Customer First Name } – the first name of the customer listed in the email. (e.g. Mickey)
- { Customer Last Name } – the last name of the customer listed in the email. (e.g. Mouse)
- { Customer Full Name } – the full name of the customer listed in the email. (e.g. Mickey Mouse)
- { Customer/Job Name } – the customer’s name plus the name of the job. (e.g. Mickey Mouse/Magic Kingdom)
- { User Name } – the name of the user logged into iPoint when the email is sent.
- { User Signature } – the email signature of the user who is logged in and sending the email. Taken from Settings > Users > Email > Signature
Default Proposal HTML settingsHTML Email
This tab allows you to configure the HTML email that is sent. An HTML email has the ability to be formatted as opposed to a standard text email, which has no formatting.
Header Text
At the top of both the email and the corresponding Web Portal page, is a header that can be customized with text fields on both the left and right sides.
- Using the Left or Right fields, enter the text you want to appear.
- Insert Merge Fields by selecting from the dropdown list, then placing your cursor in the text field where you want the merged text to appear. Finally, click the Insert button.
- Note: the {User Name} merge field does not function on the Web Portal. So instead, we recommend using {Sales Rep Name}.
Button Text
At the bottom of the email is a button that, when clicked, takes the customer to the corresponding Web Portal page. The text in these buttons is customizable by changing the text in the appropriate field:
- For Proposals – is the button text when sending out a Proposal
- For Change Orders – is a different button and is included on emails for Change Orders (I know, tricky, right?
)
Reply To
Emails sent through the iPoint interface are sent through an iPoint server that cannot accept replies. So, when a customer replies to the message sent through iPoint, it will go to the name of the salesperson associated with the proposal or change order by default. But some companies prefer to have all customer replies go through a consolidated email (like sales@companyname.net). If this applies to your organization, enter the desired Reply To Name and Reply To Email in the appropriate fields.
Do NOT include PDF as an attachment to the email. – This option removes the attached PDF that is sent along with the email. This makes for smaller emails. And if you are using the e-Signature option in iPoint, the proposal or change order will be included on the Web Portal. Check this box to send just an email with a link to the Web Portal where the customer can download, print, and view the PDF.
Why might you want to do this? iPoint is unable to tell if the document was viewed through an email. However, the software is capable of seeing how many times and when the PDF was viewed on the Web Portal. So by keeping the PDF exclusively available online, you have better tracking capabilities.
Use the CC and BCC checkboxes to include emails sent to specific internal staff members. You may want to send all proposals to a sales manager, for example.
Enter the email addresses in the CC and BCC fields. To include multiple email addresses, separate each with a comma. (e.g. george@avhouse.net, bill@avhouse.net).
Use Marketing/WO SMTP Settings for ESig/CCP Requests – Remember that iPoint notifications are sent from our central iPoint email processor. However, the email will appear to come from your company. Checking this box allows you to define your own email server instead of the default.
- Check the box
- Don’t forget to define your SMTP Settings in Settings > Web Services > Marketing & WO Notices