There are a number of different ways you can use DragonDMS to contact customers. This is particularly useful if you have an important message to communicate.
Individual Customers
You can contact individual customers from within the Customer section of your DMS. Use the search function to find the relevant customer.
Within the contact record, click on the Activity tab where you will have the option to Send Email or Send Text. Once you have selected the relevant option, you can either free type the message you would like to send or you can choose an Alert.
Alerts are preset messages that are useful if you will be communicating the same message to different people at different times. Alerts can be created in Settings:
For Text Message Alerts go to Settings > System > Text messaging.
For Email Alerts go to Settings > System > Email.
Please note the email function will only work if you are using Microsoft Outlook on your PC.
If you are using the Text Message feature, Text Message bundles can be added to your account by contacting the Dragon2000 Admin Team.
Any Text Messages or Emails sent will be recorded on the Activity tab of the contact Record.
All Customers
The Mailshot functionality allows you to send bulk letters, emails or text messages to all customers making it even easier for you to stay in touch with all your contacts in one go.
You will only be able to send to customers who have opted in to each form of marketing (i.e text, email or letter).
Mailshots can be created within the CRM > Mailshots. There are three stages to creating your mailshot:
Step 1
Click on New and use the Mailshot Criteria to select the group of people you would like to contact. If you are wanting to contact everyone within your database then select All Customers. Alternatively, you can use the options available to target a specific group of people. For example:
I am writing to Customers
Who have bought Used Vehicles
The Advanced Criteria section can be used to narrow down your audience to a specific group, for example, customers who have brought vehicles in the last 2 weeks.
Once you have applied your criteria, you can use the Record Count to see how many contacts this applies too. The View Records option will show you the details of these contacts and there is an option to export the results to CSV.
Step 2
You can create letters, text messages, emails, call sheets or labels. Depending on the contact method you choose, DragonDMS will check the contacts and will then only use contacts that have the relevant contact details. For example if you choose email, DragonDMS will only send the email to those contacts that have an email address and have given consent to be contacted via email.
Click Continue once you have selected the relevant option.
Step 3
The final step is to decide what you are going to send to them. If you have an existing template created, you can select this from the drop down list available. If not, click on New to create a new one. If you are creating a new template, you can use the Insert option to add a level of personalisation to the mailshot you are sending. Once the new template has been created, it will be saved in the list for future use.
The message that you send will be logged against the customer in the activity screen of their contact record.