GroupMAX ME User Guide Group Campaigns and Acknowledgements
Group Campaigns provide the ability to communicate with meeting attendees through targeted emails. These targeted emails can include room upgrades and other promotions in order to drive incremental revenue. Campaigns are automatically added to every event when included in Bundles and need to be activated in order to be sent to attendees. In this section, learn how to: Create campaigns and acknowledgements in the Library Enable and schedule campaigns within an event Customize promotions for a specific event Send out an announcement to guests that housing is open Promote extended stays Send a quick message to all guests attending an event At the completion of this section, users will be able to: Create a professional, custom message on behalf of the meeting planner to promote the event to attendees and encourage booking within the block Create targeted email messages to drive incremental revenue through upgrade room types and extended stay promotions Create instant messages for on site groups to promote hotel amenities and services or even a meeting room change 8.1 Understanding Group Campaigns Group Campaigns provide the ability to communicate with meeting attendees through targeted emails. These targeted emails can include room upgrades and other promotions in order to drive incremental revenue. Campaigns are automatically added to every event when included in Bundles and need to be activated in order to be sent to attendees. Types of Campaigns There are six pre-set Group Campaign categories. Pre-Arrival (Reservation Pre-Arrival Reminders): Send reminders to attendees about an upcoming reservation or event. Send seven days prior to arrival and include reservation information, event location details, amenities and restaurants information, cancellation policy reminders, and the Hotel Confirmation number (if the hotel downloads into their reservation system). Don t forget to promote any upgrade rooms still available. Post-Stay: Send emails to attendees after the event to collect feedback (surveys, thank you messages) or for marketing future opportunities such as post event surveys. Upsell: Offer upsell opportunities with destination attractions. Customize the template and target specific attendees with the special offers. Promote restaurants, spa services, shows, golf, room upgrades or any other services to attendees on the Attendee Website. Announce Event (Pre-Open Notifications): Send a message before the event opens to announce the event and when reservations will be open to attendees. The email list could come from a previous GroupMAX ME event, or import list of names and email addresses provided by the planner. Ask planners to provide contact information such as names and emails of previous attendees. Announce Event campaigns are a great way to boost event pickup and drive reservations online and in the block. Quick Notify: Send an immediate message to attendees. Use Quick Notify for instant promotions when the group is in-house such as a special available in the restaurant, a discount offered at a local attraction, or simply a welcome from the planner. Reg/Not Booked (Registered but No Housing list): Contact event attendees who have registered but not reserved a room in the block, with a reminder to book their hotel accommodations. RegLink license is required. Send out ten days prior to cutoff to remind attendees that housing rates are only guaranteed until the cutoff date, and how important it is to book within the block. All campaigns and acknowledgements are automatically added to events from the library. At the event level, the campaigns are turned off by default and the acknowledgements are turned on by default. 2 3
Who, What and When are the key elements of effective marketing and communication. GroupMAX ME Campaign types differ based on the timing options, recipient options and content options offered. Choose the Campaign type carefully to benefit from the flexibility of this communication tool. What About the Opt In Rule and Tags? The following table outlines adherence to opt-in rules and available content tags based on Campaign type: When Can Each Campaign be Scheduled to be Sent? The following table outlines timing options based on Campaign type: Who Can Each Campaign be Scheduled to be Sent to? The following table outlines recipient options based on Campaign type: 4 5
8.1 How to Setup a Group Campaign in the Library 1. In the Communications Library, select (add) next to the type of Campaign to be created or the pencil or to edit an existing Campaign Image 8.2.1 2. In the Name field, enter a unique name for the Group Campaign. The name should be descriptive. 1. Determine when a campaign will be sent by selecting a specific date or by using the configurable options provided in the drop-down menus (see image 8.3.1). 4. Select the type of recipients to receive the Campaigns by default. Options include all guests, primary guests only, attendee types, room types, etc. The recipient choices will vary depending on the type of campaign and can be selected or updated at the Bundle or event level (see image 8.2.2). Image 8.3.1 Image 8.2.2 2. Select the type of recipients to receive the Campaigns by default. Options include all guests, primary guests only, attendee types, room types, etc. The recipient choices will vary depending on the type of campaign and can be selected or updated at the Bundle or event level (see image 8.3.2). 8.2 How to Add or Edit a Group Campaign in the Library 1. Select the (add) link next to the type of campaign to be created. 2. In the Name field, enter a unique name for the campaign. The name should be descriptive. 3. Determine when a campaign will be sent by selecting a specific date or by using the configurable options provided in the drop-down menus (see image 8.2.1). 5. Choose the layout display and color selections of the campaign (see image 8.2.3). Select a color using the color chart or inputting a hex color code. Select colors for the background, header, body and footer. Images can also be uploaded instead of a color. 6 7
8.3 How To Update a Group Campaign or Acknowledgement in an Event To access Group Campaigns or Acknowledgements within an event: 1. Click the Event Name on the HOME page. 2. Click Communications in the EVENT HOME navigation bar. 3. is the default view (see image 8.3.1). 6. Edit the Subject field as needed (see image 8.3.3). It will default to an appropriate message for the campaign. 7. Enter the name or company from whom the message is to be sent in the From Name field. 8. If needed, click in the campaign to edit the content. Use the HTML Editor to import images and links as needed. For more information about customizing the content, see the How to Edit Content or How to Use Tags sections. 4. Click the Edit icon next to the Campaign or Acknowledgement to be updated.. Image 8.3.1 5. Edit the Timing and select the Recipients to receive the campaign (see image 8.3.2). Image 8.3.3 9. Preview the campaign before sending (see image 8.3.4). Click the Send test message link and enter the email address of the person who will preview. Click Send. Image 8.3.2 Image 8.3.4 8 9
10. Click the Save button at the top or bottom of the page. 11. To activate the campaign, click the toggle button next to the campaign name at the top of the page (see image 8.3.5). The toggle button will change to ON and turn green. The campaign is now activated. 8.5 Understanding Acknowledgements Acknowledgments, also known as confirmations, are an automated email that is sent to the guest to confirm their reservation and information. These acknowledgements are sent after a guest makes a new reservation, modifies a reservation, or cancels a reservation. Because they are HTML emails, they can include pictures, text, links, and logos. There are three different types of Acknowledgements: New Modify Cancel Default acknowledgements are located in the Communications library. As with the Group Campaigns, it is possible to create multiple Acknowledgement defaults based on different criteria, such as attendee types (see image 8.5.1). Image 8.3.5 8.4 Campaign Reports It is possible to see the effectiveness of the campaigns by selecting the Reports tab in each campaign. The report is visible after a campaign has been sent. The report includes the following information: Image 8.5.1 How many messages were sent. How many times the message was opened (including multiple times by the same person). How many people opened it. If there were HTML links, how many times each of the links were clicked. In this section, learn how to: Create Acknowledgements in the Library Turn acknowledgements on and off for a specific event Customize acknowledgements for a specific event How many people opted out of future campaigns. HELPFUL HINT Use the appropriate icon to insert a table to create a complex layout that will keep multiple pictures and text aligned. 10 11
8.6 How to Add or Edit an Acknowledgement in the Library 1. In the Communications Library, select (add) next to the type of Acknowledgement to be created or the pencil or to edit an existing Acknowledgement. 7. Enter content in the body of the email. Each Acknowledgement provides full word-processing capabilities along with an HTML editor that allows for ease in importing images and hyper link text when creating customized communications (see image 8.6.2). For more information about customizing the content, see the How to Edit Content or How to Use Tags sections. 2. In the Name field, enter a unique name for the acknowledgement. The name should be descriptive. 3. If creating a new Acknowledgement, click the Select Attendee Type button and select the Attendee Types to recieive the Acknowledgement. 4. In the Subject field, enter the subject to be displayed on the email acknowledgement. 5. In the From Name field, enter the display name to be displayed on the email acknowledgement. Keep in mind that this will show as the display name, but the email will still be sent from Passkey. 6. Choose the layout display and color selections of the Acknowledgment(see image 8.6.1). Select a color using the color chart or inputting a hex color code. Select colors for the background, header, body and footer. Images can also be uploaded instead of a color. Image 8.6.2 8. Send a test email to preview the acknowledgement. Make adjustments as needed. 9. Click Save and turn on the acknowledgement. 8.7 How to Turn a Group Campaign or Acknowledgement On or Off As a default, Group Campaigns will be turned off in an event, and Acknowledgements will be turned on. To change this within an event: 10. Click the Event Name on the HOME page. 11. Click Communications in the EVENT HOME navigation bar. 12. is the default view. 13. Select the On/Off button to turn the Campaign or Acknowledgments on or off (see image 18.7.1). Image 8.7.1 Image 8.6.1 HELPFUL HINTS If you are familiar with raw HTML, you can edit the email in HTML by clicking HTML in the tool bar. This is particularly useful when copying and pasting in HTML from another source. 12 13
8.8 How To Use Tags Tags are placeholders that are replaced with dynamic data from the event, hotel or reservation. For example, the Room Type tag is replaced with the actual reservation Room Type when the email is sent. The Insert Tags feature allows adding event, hotel or guest specific information to the email. To insert a tag: 1. Use the first Insert Tags drop-down to select a category of tags, such as Event, Hotel, Recipient, RegLink, or Reservation. 2. Use the second Insert Tags drop-down to select the type of information you wish to insert. 3. In the email body, place your cursor where you want the tag to be inserted. 4. Click the + icon next to the tag name. The tag is inserted in the email message body. For example, to insert the web address of the event: 1. In the first drop-down, select Event. 2. In the second drop-down, select Attendee Website URL. 3. In the email body, place your cursor where you want the text to be inserted. 4. Write a new paragraph: The website is located at then place your cursor at the end of the sentence. 5. Click the + icon. The ${ Event.AttendeeWebsiteURL} tag is inserted. This means that when the email is sent, this line will show as The website is located at http://www.website. com 5. Preview the campaign before sending. Click the Send test message link and enter the email address of the person who will preview. Click Send. 6. Click the Save button at the top or bottom of the page. 7. To activate the campaign, click the toggle button next to the campaign name at the top of the page (see image8.7). The toggle button will change to ON and turn green. The campaign is now activated. 14