Email is your primary method of communication with your contacts. Act-On has many email design features to ensure successful delivery and the best engagement.
Here we will start gently, with a basic email design to get you confident with the Act-On email composer.
Step A: Start a New Email Message
When signed in to Act-On, go to Outbound > New Message:
A new browser tab opens with six options. Click Blank Message:
The Act-On Message Composer opens.
Step B: Address Your Email
In the Act-On Message Composer, at the top, click the Address tab.
Type a Message Title, Subject Line, and Preview Text for your email (help on what to type is shown on the screen), for example:
Below, in Sender select Logged-In User, and in Reply To select Same As Sender.
In Recipients, click Choose Lists or Segments. The Select List & Segment dialog appears.
Find the contacts segment you created in 2. Add Your Contacts (step D). In the example below, a segment in Act-On Contacts is selected:
Select your segment and click Submit. Remember, contacts in this segment should be OK to receive training emails from you.
Your chosen segment appears in Recipients, for example:
At the top right, leave the Subscription Category, as No Category Selected.
Click Save. If you are prompted to Save to Folder, select Default Folder.
Step C: Design Your Email
At the top, click the Design tab. Unless the default Header, Footer, and plain Stationery have been customized, the Blank Message looks like this:
On the right, click + Content. Blocks and Sections are available to add to your email:
We'll create a simple email with some text and an image in a two-column section.
First, we'll replace the Basic Section. Drag and drop a Two Column Section to just above the existing section (showing 'Drop Blocks Here') as follows:
Hover over the Basic Section below, point to the settings button to the right of it, and click Delete:
Now we'll add some text and an image. Drag and drop a Rick Text block onto the left column of the Two Column Section:
The Rich Text editor opens.
Type the text you want in the editor, for example:
When you have finished, click OK to close the editor.
Drag and drop an Image block onto the right column of the Two Column Section. The Image dialog opens.
Click Add image and in the Select Image dialog, click the image you want (if required, click Upload Image to add images) and then click Select.
In the Image dialog, set Image Align to Fit Block. This ensures the image keeps to the dimensions of the column.
Click OK. Your email design should look similar to this example:
At the top right, click Save.
Step D: Review and Test Your Email
At the top, click the Review tab.
At the bottom, click the Mobile tab. Note how the email's text and image are repositioned to optimize viewing on a mobile device.
On the left, in Validate Message, check that there are no red 'X' warnings in the table, and This message can be sent appears below the table. An amber warning triangle and 'Test Message Has Not Been Sent' appears in the table.
If there is a red 'X' warning in the table, the email cannot be sent until the issue is resolved. If there is an amber warning triangle in the table, for example, a 'Deliverability Corncern' as shown:
the email can be sent, but resolving the issue is recommended. Check with your Act-On administrator to resolve issues.
In this exercise, you can ignore an amber warning 'No Category Selected'.
At the top, click Test. The Send Test Message dialog appears:
In Test Recipients, select My Test List. This is the test list segment containing one contact (whose email you have access to) that you created in 2. Add Your Contacts (step E). Confirm when prompted. A test email is sent to the contact in the test list segment, and in Validate Message, a green tick with 'Test Message Has Been Sent' appears in the table.
Check the test email looks as expected, such as the layout and your organization's details in the email footer.
Select Send at the following time and enter Date and Time details to send the email approximately 30 minutes from the current date and time, for example:
Click Submit Launch Request. A Please Confirm dialog appears:
Check the details are correct, and then click Schedule. Your email is delivered to the contacts in the contacts segment selected in Step B above at the time specified.
What Good Looks Like
An example email, successfully delivered:
Congratulations, you sent your first email with Act-On!
Rather watch a video? Have a look at Compose & Send Emails in the New User Video Learning for information about creating emails (Act-On sign-in is required for access).
There's More to Email Design
This exercise is a basic email to get you started; there is much more to designing email for the best engagement. See Email Design for the Best Engagement.
Next, we'll create a Landing Page to engage visitors who click through from an email.