Creating Emails with ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

What Are Emails Created with ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Email created with ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 are messages you create using the tools in the ExactTarget application but that you send to customers whose information you store in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

You create emails in the ExactTarget application, where email creation tools provide powerful personalization of email messages to your customers. See Creating an Email for an in-depth description of the tools available.

Personalization lets you include a placeholder in the subject line or body of an email that is replaced with customer-specific information. For example, if the subject line of your message is %%First Name%% - Seminar Invitation, the %%First Name%%  placeholder is replaced by the recipient's first name at the time of send.

Dynamic content lets you include different content in the body of the email depending on subscriber attributes. For example, if you have an attribute that indicates the region where the subscriber resides, you could include different content for subscribers in different regions.

Both personalization and dynamic content require your system to be set up to map Dynamics CRM fields to ExactTarget attributes. See How to Map Dynamics CRM Fields to ExactTarget Attributes for more information.

The ability to edit ExactTarget emails from your Dynamics CRM interface provides full visibility into your emails and one-click access to seamless login and editing. Using this feature, you can edit an email prior to sending it with the send wizard. Because users can launch the editing window only for the emails that appears on their ExactTarget Emails screen, this functionality supports your Enterprise architecture and Lock and Publish accounts.

Why Use Emails Created with ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

The integration gives you the capabilities of sending highly customized and trackable messages using the information already located in your Dynamics CRM instance without having to transfer any subscriber information.

ExactTarget enables marketers to create and send more relevant emails because it uses your CRM data to create personalization and dynamic email content. ExactTarget accomplishes this by retrieving information from the standard and custom fields in Dynamics CRM and including it in the personalization strings or when deciding which dynamic content to use.

How to Create Emails with ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

You create the content of your email messages in the ExactTarget application. Use the following steps to create an email:

1. Click the ExactTarget tab on the navigation bar.
2. Click ExactTarget Emails.
3. Double-click the folder in the navigation bar where you want to create the email.
4. Click the New button from the toolbar.
   The email editing tools appear. See Creating an Email for an in-depth description of the tools available.

How to Edit Emails with ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

You create the content of your email messages in the ExactTarget application. Use the following steps to edit an ExactTarget Email from the Dynamics CRM interface:

1. Click the ExactTarget tab from the navigation bar.
2. Click ExactTarget Emails.
3. Double-click the folder in the navigation bar that contains the email that you want to edit.
4. Double-click the email in the workspace that you want to edit.
   The system launches an ExactTarget email editing window with the email you selected.  You can also edit an ExactTarget Email double-clicking the email on the ExactTarget Emails screen or by clicking the email name on the send wizard.