MC Trade has the ability to create Merge Fields and Dynamic Links or values (a.k.a. Special Fields) in an email that allow your recipients to receive personalized emails and to be automatically logged in to restricted areas of your website just by clicking the link. This process enables your email recipients to bypass the log-in process and land directly on the self-service areas of your Members Only area, so they can more easily take advantage of the tools you are providing them.
The links are available and used in the Communicator when sending emails and created by using the Special Fields drop-down menu in the HTML Editor.
There are three types of Special Fields that you can place in an email:
- Merge Fields - dynamically places the name and contact information of the Profile receiving the email in to the body of the email message
- Date Fields - automatically places date and day stamps in to the body of the email message
- Dynamic Links - creates a link with the Encrypted Profile ID of the Profiles receiving the email in to the body of the email message
The following Merge Fields are available to use in an email:
- Report Name
- First Name
- Last Name
- Address 1
- Address 2
- City
- State / Provence
- Zip Code / Postal Code
- Email Address
- Home Phone
- Work Phone
- Website
- Mailing Address
- Billing Address
- External ID (from Details, if enabled)
- Dues Anchor Month
- Dues Annual Amount
- Custom Field Value (Only one custom field can be used per message. Input the Custom Field ID to determine the correct field value to use.)
The following Date Fields are available to use in an email:
- Today's Short Date (e.g. 7/11/1974)
- Today's Long Date (e.g. July 11, 1974)
- Today's Day Name (e.g. Saturday)
The following Dynamic Link Special Fields are available through these menus:
- Open Invoices Link -- Sends the recipient to their Open Invoices web page so they can print or pay any of their open invoices. This is helpful for when you want to email invoices to people. Note, individual profiles will always see their invoices and their related profile's invoices if they have Editor status for that profile.
The link to open invoices will expire in 30 days.
-
Portal Login Credentials Link (Username/Password) -- Inserts the Username (or Email address if no Username exists) from the Web tab of the recipients Profile Record, as well as a unique "Set Password" link that allows the member to set/reset their secure password.
This link is only available for 24 hours. Consider adding the following warning to emails using this link: "If the link expires, you may complete the Forgot Password process to gain access to your Member Portal directly at XXXXX". XXXX= your public link to the member portal. -
Unsubscribe Link -- Send the recipient to a form to request that their email address be removed from your mailing list. Upon completion, your system administrator will receive the request via email and need to set the Profile's preferences accordingly.
Release Note 25.25 advises against using this link, as the new update will include an unsubscribe link automatically at the bottom of every email. - Business Connect Request Link -- Send the recipient to their My Business Connect Requests page where they can see if they are any waiting requests for them.
- Update Profile Link -- Sends the recipient to their Update My Profile form. On this form they can update any information you have allowed to be edited. You can configure this form in the Admin > Set Preferences > Profile Update Form Settings menu.
- Update Affiliations Link -- Sends the recipient to their Update My Preferences page. This page shows all the available Affiliation Codes that you have set to Show in Members Only Area, with check boxes indicating which Affiliation Codes the recipient is already assigned. They can check and uncheck any of these boxes.
- Referral Report Link -- Sends the recipient to their My Referral Report page, which shows them a summary and detail of every referral they have received through your website and your staff. You can configure the Referral Report in Admin > Configuration Settings > Referral Reporting.
- Update Social Media Link -- Sends the recipient to their My Social Media page where they can identify their own profiles on several popular social media sites, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more.
Follow these steps to use Special Fields in your email communications:
- Start an email in MC Trade. You can do this from several locations, from the right-click menu or from an individual profile.
- In the Message area, begin writing your message. These fields will work with either type of message: HTML or Text.
- As you write, use the Special Fields drop down menu to insert the field of your choice.
- If MC Trade tells you to adjust the link, make sure you do so or the link will not work.
Upon completion, each recipient in the Profiles tab of the message will receive a unique version of the email with their links personalized for them.