Table of Contents
The Communication dropdown menu contains many useful tools, such as Send Email, to compose and design custom emails, Message Admin, to review email analytics and schedule recurring emails, and the Form Builder, to create forms for your members to fill out. The following sections detail the various pages available from the Communication menu.
Send Email
Send Email is a tool that allows users to create a message or build a message from a template.
To create a new email, select Communication > Send Email > Message.
The email can include special fields that add specific profile information, such as the recipient's first name, the current date, or links to different self-service areas of MC Trade. After the email is sent, this information will auto-fill with the relevant information.
Click Here to learn more about sending an email.
Message Admin
Message Admin allows users to manage drafts, recurring emails, and scheduled emails. It also allows users to view message history and message-wide analytics, like emails sent, emails opened, links or attachments clicked, and emails that failed to send (undeliverables).
The message history includes:
- Analytics for each email
- The option to resend an email
- The option to load recipient profiles in the profile selector
Click Here to learn more about Message Admin.
MailChimp Sync
MailChimp users can set up an integration with MC Trade to sync profile data to a single Audience in MailChimp with different tags based on database values, and pass email communication records from MailChimp into profile Contact records in MC Trade. The sync can happen manually through the browser interface or can also be scheduled to occur automatically once each night.
Click Here to learn more about MailChimp Sync.
Form Builder
Forms allow Members to easily fill out information for various uses: joining as a member, sending a donation, renewing a contract or membership, etc.
The Form Builder includes a list of forms available in MC Trade and allows the creation of new forms.
Each form includes the following:
- Name of the form - click to edit the form.
- Number of submissions - click to see more information about each submission, including the date, profile, and any related invoices.
- Type of form - includes Join, Donation, Renewal, Prospect, or General.
- Form ID number - a generated ID to identify the form in MC Trade's database.
- Actions - to create a copy of the form or to deactivate/reactivate the form.
If there is a long list of forms, click on a column header to sort by that column, and the option to move between pages at the very bottom.
Click Here to learn more about the Form Builder.
Manage Web Content
The Manage Web Content section consists primarily of images and documents uploaded to the system to use in web pages or components, in emails, event confirmations, etc. HTML code and Reports/Exports can also be set up as web content records.
Click Here to learn more about Web Content.
Coupons
Members often use the Coupon section to create coupons for discounts on goods and services to other Members, or to the general public.
The Coupons section lists all submitted coupons across all profiles that are currently active.
This screen includes options to add or edit a coupon, which opens a new window with the Coupon Admin screen for that profile. The Coupons screen also includes the option to delete a coupon.
Click Here to learn more about Coupons.
News Articles
This section is used to post news articles to a searchable list on your website. By default, these articles display in the Member's Only section of the web components, however, they can also appear on their own unique page anywhere on your website (/news).
Click Here to learn more about News Articles.
Banner Ads
Banner ads are images that can appear on any webpage of the MC Trade website, including the directory, the eCommerce store, news articles, and the coupon list. Various types of banner ads can be customized to show up on different pages and areas of your website.
Banner ads can link to a URL to direct users to the ad's content.
Click Here to learn more about Banner Ads.
Ecommerce Items
Ecommerce Items are products, files, or services being sold. To create eCommerce Items, first set up Ecommerce Codes under Admin > Manage Codes > Website Codes > Ecommerce Codes.
Once that's complete, go to Communication > Ecommerce Items to add new Ecommerce Items.
Most clients sell merchandise, industry-specific manuals, or reports from their database or files with data such as PDF, Excel, or Word, for users to purchase.
Click Here to learn more about Ecommerce Items.
Public Links
Public links are used to easily access and share various website components, such as directories, portals, and other pages.
All these URLs can be easily copied to use in emails, website CMS editing, and more.
If there are multiple website domains in MC Trade, there will be a dropdown menu to choose which site to link to, and the links will be copied using that specific domain.