Caveat –
Before I start I would like to declare my interests. I work for a Microsoft Gold Partner who has
deployed eCampaign on customer sites.
I have intended to write this for a while and with the
release of the latest version for Dynamics CRM 2011 out soon, I thought I would
review the Dynamics CRM 4.0 version from a CRM Administrator Point of View.
To sum up what eCampaign is all about, eCampaign massively
extends the marketing capabilities within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
Users can quickly and easily plan, build and deliver
Marketing Campaigns that meets the needs of both the Marketing and Sales
Departments within an organisation. Most
useful of all, the user never needs to leave the familiar dynamics CRM
environment which has meant that from the go, the organisation has the ability
to deliver an exceptional Marketing Experience to its customers.
Key Features
- HTML Emails using a WYSIWYG Editor
- Tracking of all emails in Dynamics CRM
- Reporting Capabilities
- Unsubscribe facility
- Emails sent via Email Router
Using eCampaign
As you would expect, everything takes place from the
Marketing Area in the Dynamics CRM left hand Menu
Setting
up an eCampaign is as simple as filling in the following fields
·
Name – This is the name of the eCampaign
· Marketing List – This is the marketing list which will
contain all the members to be emailed
·
Subscription – This is what the members of the Market List
are added to. This is also the list that
users are removed from when a user Unsubscribes from an email.
· Member Type – This is filled in automatical when the
marketing list is added. You have the
option for Accounts, Contacts or Leads
·
Status – The options are Draft or Ready to Launch
·
Start Date – The Start Date of the eCampaign
·
End Date – The End Date of the eCampaign
·
Sender – Emails can be sent as the eCampaign Queue, Campaign
owner, Selected user or Record Owner.
·
Delay Sending – ecampaigns can be configuered to be sent a
specific Date and Time in the future.
·
Send Email to Reciptitants – There is a choice of which Email
address to choose when sending the eCampaign
·
Attachments – Multiple attachments can be added
to the eCampaign, up to a limit of 5MB
·
Email Message – When creating an email you can
choose from a template provided by eCampign or use the existing Email templates
from Dynamics CRM
What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editor
Once everything has been checked the email is ready to
launch. To do this the user selects
“Ready to Launch” from the status field.
The email will either send immediately or if the Delay Sending option is
being used, wait for the Date for the delay to occur.
It’s not unusual for an eCampaign to be planned, build,
tested and sent all within an 30 minutes of a sales meeting ending or the
release of an important press statement.
eCampaign Settings
eCampaign Settings are accessible from Settings menu in CRM.
There are options to
·
Set the default queue
·
Administer the image library
·
Modify the subscription page
·
Modify the Header and Footer of the email
·
Manage the Bulk subscriptions (Add users from
Marketing lists to Subscriptions – Members of a marketing list not included on
a subscription will not be receive any emails)
Reporting
The reporting feature within eCampaign has to be my
favourite feature. There at a glance
stats related to the eCampaign or you can dig deeper. I especially like know how many clicks there have
been on each link within the email.
At a glance stats from the eCampaign view
Detailed Information
Links Clicks Report
There are many many other features which I do not intend to
touch on as this is a simple Overview of eCampaign for CRM 4.0
This is a superb product, that in each site it has been
installed on has performed brilliantly and been very well received.
