Once you open the Mass Email Tool (which you'll find under the "System Utilities & Reports" section of the Welcome menu), you'll find a variety of options for defining what clients should receive the mass email.  Below those configuration options, you'll find a form that allows you to compose the email itself using an on-screen what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor.  

Emails sent through the Mass Email Tool always provide opt-out instructions to clients and are logged.  The log is available by selecting "View Mass Email Log" within the "Area Tools" menu at the top of the Mass Email Tool.


Configuration Options

At the top of the Mass Email Tool, you'll find several options for defining the group of clients who will receive your email. 

Mass Email Configuration Options

Clients can opt-out of (or in to) receiving mass emails by editing their profile via the Profile & Communications Options link in their Welcome menu. Administrators can opt clients out of receiving mass emails by editing the client's profile in Client and Record Management and changing the MASS EMAIL OPT-OUT option to "Do not send mass emails to this client." Administrators cannot opt a client into receiving such emails.  Note, too, that clients whose accounts have been manually deactivated either by editing the account's profile in Client and Record Management to set the DEACTIVATE ACCOUNT? option to "Yes" or via the "Mass Deactivate Accounts" tool within the "Area Tools" menu of Client and Record Management will also not receive mass emails.

SEND THE MESSAGE TO: This option lets you define who will receive the email.  Specifically, you can send the email to:

If you select a specific schedule from the SEND THE MESSAGE TO menu, WCONLINE will present a new menu that enables you to further define the recipient list.  

Optional Limits

With the exception of the 'administrators' and 'only you' options, the recipient list can be further limited to clients who have made specific selections from drop-down questions on your registration form (as set in Form Setup: Registrations).  For example, if you ask clients their "Standing" on the Registration Form, and have that question set to be answered via a drop-down that provides the choices of "Freshman" and "Sophomore," then the Mass Email Tool will display STANDING with the options:


Composing and Sending a Mass Email

Composing a Mass EmailOnce you've defined who will receive your mass email, you'll use the options in the composing area to prepare and send the mass email and then will send the email by selecting the "Send Message" button.  Depending on how many clients the message is being sent to, it may take a couple of minutes for the message to be sent and for the screen to refresh with a "success" message.  Only select the "Send Message" button once.  Messages are sent immediately but, depending on internet traffic, your email provider, and your own email program, may take from a few seconds to ten minutes to arrive in inboxes.

All emails sent through the Mass Email Tool will automatically include information about unsubscribing from future messages and will be copied to the CENTER/SYSTEM EMAIL as set in Global System Settings.

To opt out, log in to [YOUR SITE'S WCONLINE URL] and then select 'Profile & Communication Options' from the welcome menu.

MESSAGE SUBJECT: This is the email subject as displayed in the outgoing email's "subject" field.

MESSAGE BODY: This is the body of the message.  You can use the what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor to format your message (or you can compose the message in a word processor and then copy it into the editor, which will retain most formatting).  The editor also allows you to include images in the outgoing messages.  In order to help prevent messages from being caught by spam filters, we recommend including text that describes the purpose of the message (rather than only sending an image, for example).


Sections in this Chapter

SECTION 1: Using the Mass Email Tool

SECTION 2: Mass Emails: FAQ (Images, Trouble with Receipt, and More)