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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / HTML Email Marketing a...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

HTML Email Marketing and Tracking

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Posted on by Josh Hirons 35

Hello All: 

My company has tasked me with implementing an email marketing campaign with some basic html tools and MS CRM. I have searched the community docs and am having trouble finding a good source to use to do this.  I have already put together the email content with images linked to their location on our server.  Now I need to know the best way to use the leads that I have imported into CRM with the email content generated and track the click through rates for the various linked items that I have read CRM can do. 

 I have looked at the quick campaign, full campaign and email merge functions and am having difficulty putting them all together to do what I need.  I am on an extremely limited budget (i.e. third party vendors are out at the moment) and need to have a professional looking html email campaign go out that I can track and manage its effectiveness.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

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  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

     

    Hi Josh

    We are about 2 or 3 weeks away from launching eCampaign an effective email marketing tool for Dynamics CRM 4.0, which I would hope will do the things you mention above

    If you did feel that you wanted to track progress of the the email marketing add-on for dynamics we have a separate group running on LinkiedIn http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1803842&trk=hb_side_g

    Thanks again

    Alistair

  • kelly wade-arnel Profile Picture
    kelly wade-arnel 35 on at

    did you resolve this?  i just joined this network and need an answer to the same question...

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    Hi Kelly

     We have succesfully released eCampaign now that takes care of this issue and provides an amazing solution for email marketing for CRM

    the link below is to the eCampaign website

    http://www.2bconsulting.net/extended/ecampaign.aspx

    regards

    Alistair

  • Mitch Neff Profile Picture
    Mitch Neff 30 on at

    If you already have the leads imported and the email created, the most cost-effective way to proceed is by using the campaign function in CRM without any third-party add-ons.  While many of these tools are great at giving additional metrics and usability features, the bare-bones of what you need is already in CRM.

    Here is the "Three Simple Steps" version of what you want to do to get you pointed in the right direction:

    1- Create a marketing list with the leads you imported.  Use Advanced Find to get these leads by create date, topic or whatever other crieteria and then use that look-up to create a Marketing List

    2- Create a campaign and add the new Marketing List

    3- Create a Campaign Activity within that Campaign using the E-mail channel.  When everythign is set-up, Distribute the Campaign Activity.  This will open a blank email window.  Copy and Paste your HTML into the window (make sure those graphics are hosted on a webserver!) and Send the campaign on its way.

    There are many other articles availible via web search that will go into more detail on this topic (that's where I learned).  I would also recommend the CRM 4.0 Unleashed book availibe on-line or at your local bookstore.

    Mitch

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at

    Hi Mitch

    Some good points but the key to effective email marketing is the ability to track what is happening with the emails once they are sent and that is why the 3rd party add-ons are so important as a marketeer you need to segment down the intrested prospects by seeing which ones read your email and which ones clicked on certain links driving traffic to landing pages and your company web site, the HTML bit is a given unfortunatly the CRM interface does not does this well either and you are reliant on using html editors and making sure all images are posted externally.

    I do understand your points but campaign in Microsoft CRM is quite weak and there are great tools about to make it better.

    Join the group on linked in

     http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1803842&trk=hb_side_g

    Cheers

     Alistair

     

  • Mitch Neff Profile Picture
    Mitch Neff 30 on at

     Josh - The only tracking availible without thrid-party add-on is email replies, by the way.  In your html, you will need to either send a reply email when someone clicks a CTA link or button OR track the hits to your landing area from the email and create manual campaign responses... sounds fun, right?  At the end of the day, the e-mail marketing piece of CRM is incomplete and you will end up buying a third party solution that fits your needs to complete the picture.  There are many availible and they are all slightly different, so do your homework and know what you need when you go shopping.

    Alistair - I whole hearted agree.  Marketing without tracking is like golfing without keeping score - how do know when you are doing something better?  Dynamics CRM seems custom tailored for third-party add-ons in this respect as the ability to create, execute, and manage a targeted (html) e-mail campagin was glossed over at best and neglected at worst. 

    The initial poster made it clear that he had a mandate to do this without a third party add-on.  He also wanted to track CTR, both of which are not possible with the native CRM functions, at least in a ture and classic sense.  I have been in his position of having a boss that wants everything done for $0 spend, and it is a frustrating place to be.  You can't turn screws with a hammer no matter how hard you try.  What has worked for me is to get his campaigns up and running, get used to the tools in CRM and then demonstrate the need for the add-on by showing the lack of metrics availible in the standard product.  You work your tail off in these forums (and on LinkedIn, fb, etc.) and I can appreciate that.  I hope your company is doing well and helping many marketers in need.

     Mitch

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