Salsa Training Handbook for the League of Women Voters

7/30/2019 Salsa Training Handbook for the League of Women Voters

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SALSA BEGINNING HOW-TO GUIDE COMPILED BY LAUREN GEPFORD, SUMMER 2011

PAGE 1 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MISSOURI

OUTLINE:

1. Homepage/Dashboard Collectionsa. What you will likely use salsa for most often

2. Supporter Managementa. Manage Supporters

i. Supporter Detailsb. Manage Groups

i. Creating Groupsc. Query/Export

3. Email Blastsa. Email Blast Homepage

i. Quick Linksii. Completed email blasts by dateiii. Create from previous blastsiv. Support and updates from salsa kitchen

b. Email Blasts Create Blastsc. Create Blastd. Content

i. Steps 1-5ii. Editing Textiii. Link Tooliv. Dynamic Content

e. Send Optionsf. Targetingg. Validationh. Summary

LEARNING SITES:

Salsacommons.org left hand side bar called learn has some documentation to learn

about the different tools. Also, at the salsacommons.org page, you may scroll to the very

bottom and see a list called The Platform, which also has a wealth of information about

how salsa works and its capabilities.

USERNAME AND PASSWORD:


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You will need to obtain a username and password from Gretchen Knell at LWVUS

([email protected]). You may want to copy Jo Sapp or your local league president on

correspondence with Gretchen.

After getting your username and password, you can begin: www.SalsaLabs.com in the

top right corner is the Login button. Enter your credentials and click Log In. You can also

go directly to this address to login: https://www.salsalabs.com/dia/hq/sso/

HOMEPAGE/DASHBOARD COLLECTIONS

This is what your beginning page should look like. Rather than repeat all the information

that salsa has offered in order to learn how to use the program, this will focus on items that

are more important to LWVMO activities. Please see salsacommons.org and salsalabs.com

to address particular issues.

I recommend watching the Salsa Tour: Recipe 101 video which is immediately on the

homepage.

To read about the different ways to set up your salsa homepage, click the

documentation tab in the upper right corner (under Support) and read Dashboard

Overview and Dashboard Collections

WHAT YOU WILL LIKELY USE SALSA FOR MOST OFTEN:


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MANAGE SUPPORTERS:

In the second image above, you can see what the supporter management homepage looks

like. Under the manage supporters tab you are able to add supporters or see the full list

of supporters. Adding supporters should normally be done through the LWVUS website. Thededuplicate supporters tool is not available for the state chapters and is managed through

the national organization.

If you want to check to see if a certain person is in the salsa system, or if you want to find a

certain person and see their specific information, click on list supporters and then change

the SHOW ROWS WHERE drop down menu on the top right to chose the criteria that you

want to search by, such as last name. Then in the box to the right of the show rows where

drop down menu, type in your search, such as the last name Smith. By choosing the last

name option in the drop down menu and then searching for Smith, you will pull up any

supporters in the salsa system with the last name Smith listed for them (which, remember,is connected to the LWVUS roster/member list and should be up to date).

If you were to then want to do a search-within-a-search, such as a search for those with the

last name Smith and who in St. Louis, you would first do the Smith search as described,

then change the drop down box to City and type in St. Louis in the entry box, and it will

narrow the current results to those just in St. Louis. Beware that if you are doing a new

search after having just performed a search, it will automatically do a search-within-a-


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search. To clear your current search before performing a new one, either go to manage

supporters->list supporters to begin with the full list, or while you have your Smith list

pulled up you will see above it a listing for Active Filters. Click the red minus button to

clear the current filter before performing a new separate search.

SUPPORTER DETAILS:

Then, salsa will provide you with all of the LWVMO supporters with the last name of Smith

(as above). If you want to see information about a particular supporter, click on the Details

link to the left of their information.

Tip: I recommend right clicking the Details link and opening it in a new tab or a new

window. When you click on Details the only way to get back to the search listing, such as


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the list of all the Smiths, you have to go back in your browser, which can sometimes entai

clicking the back key many times if you have moved from the home Details page.

When you go to Details for Susan Smith, you can see which chapter she belongs to (if oneis assigned, some still need to be assigned), her address, if she has taken any actions

before (letter to editor or legislator, for example), any listed contact information, etc

There are different tabs on the left that you can browse through and edit information if

needed (Overview-Profile-Custom Fields-Action History-Addresses-Contact History

Donations-Events----)

MANAGE GROUPS:

You can create groups to group supporters in an endless amount of ways. It is not

necessary to create a group for different league chapters around Missouri because eachmembers information already has the option to assign them a local league, which is not

group related, but is more engrained in the supporters information like their address and

email address are.

Currently, there are five groups established:

- Fair Tax Action: This was established to become a group where all supporters whohave taken action on Fair Tax related issues during the 2011 legislative session. An

email was sent out to all LWVMO supporters in the database and all those who clickedon the link in the email to send a letter to their legislator were put into this group.

This is a good way to keep track of how many supporters are interested in different

issues. There is also a group established in the same way for those who took action

on Photo Voter ID (VPID) during the 2011 session.

o For example, by comparing the Fair Tax and Voter ID groups, one can see thatemails urging action related to the Fair Tax have had more support than emails

urging Voter ID action (51 supporters have taken action on VPID issues and 82

have on Fair Tax actions)

-There are also groups set up for the LWVMO Board (needs more members added ifdesired, only includes 3 right now), LWVMO Web Sign Ups (those who sign up for the

email list through the old, pre May 2011, website), and LWVMO Missouri Residents.

These groups can also be used to target emails. As explained later, when choosing who to

email you have the option to choose a group. For example, you could email everyone who

has taken action on PVID issues (writing their legislator or editor) and ask those action-

takers to come to a press conference or sign an online petition. Targeting your email

recipients by their interests helps ensure that they are not bombarded by LWVMO emails


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and can then allows an organization to send out more emails in a more effective manner.

The more emails one receives from an organization, the less likely they are to open them,

so if one can prevent flooding supporters with emails everyday about different topics and

instead email supporters based on their interests, you will see that they are more likely to

open and take action on the email.

There is also a way to set up a listserv for a group. This is a topic that someone may want

to explore later.

CREATING GROUPS:

Groups can be created by typing a group name into the New Group Name entry box and

clicking the Create New Group button. For example, one could create a group for all thesupporters in Congressman Cleavers district. Youd type a name into the name box and

create the group. Then go over to the query/export page to add relevant supporters to

the group (Continued in next section).


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QUERY/EXPORT

Click on the query/export tab, as circled in the above picture.

You have the option to select a saved query or create a new one.

To continue with the example of making a group for all supporters in Congressman

Cleavers district, you need to run a query to pull a list of all the supporters in Cleavers

district, and then you add that list of supporters to the Cleaver group (group functions

described in the last section).

In the Query Name box, type a name for this query if you want to run it later (can be

useful). Then, under Supporters who match you choose your criteria. In the example

shown below, legislative district is chosen, then Federal House, and then MO05 is chosen

and the Add button is clicked to add it to the selection listed to the right of the long list ofcongressional districts. Click the blue save and run button at the very bottom.

You then have a list of all supporters whose address listed falls into Cleavers district. Keep

in mind that this will not include those who have not provided a mailing address or whose

address is missing.


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You will then be provided with options for what to do with the list of supporters in Cleavers

district. The two options which you will mostly use for what to do with the list of supporters

are add the list to a group or delete the list from a group. Under the add to a group

option, click the drop down menu and select the group you would like to add them to (i.e.

Cleaver Constituents. After completing this process you will be able to select the Cleaver

Constituent group when sending out a blast email or an action alert, which will be handy if

you want to only address those in the 5th Congressional District (i.e. you want to inform

Cleavers constituents of an event Cleaver is having that you want them to attend, or you

want to urge them to write or email Cleavers office to voice their opin ion on an certain

issue). See the next page for the picture of what it looks like to add a query to a group.

At the bottom of the query/export page you will see a list of all the email addresses

included in that query (all email addresses associated with Cleavers district). This is thespot check list which allows you to manually browse who lives in Cleavers district (please

note that this portion is not included in the picture on the next page because of space

issues).

There are many other ways to use the query tool and the group tools, and it is best to

browse your options and see the different opportunities these tools offer for organizing

your supporters.


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The rest of the options that fall under the Supporter Management tab, including manage

custom fields, manage imports, manage exports, and built-in reports will not be discussed

in this beginning guide. If you feel you would like to explore those options more, please

explore the salsa website documentation, contact salsa, or contact League member Lauren

Gepford ([email protected]).

So, the main explanation for the supporter management tab is complete and the next tab to

explore is email blasts, which will be the MOST UTILIZED component of salsa.

Skip these for now
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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EMAIL BLASTS

EMAIL BLAST HOMEPAGE

The above picture is the email blast homepage (called email blasts overview), found by

clicking on the email blasts tab at the top of the page. The email blasts tab has options


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that include: email blasts, summary report, autoresponse/triggers, manage replies, email

templates, blast archives, built-in reports, and unsubscribe pages. This documentation will

cover: email blasts and summary report.

QUICK LINKS: Create a Blast, List Blasts, Email Blast Summary

First, the homepage, pictured above, is explained. You have quick direct access to creating

an email blast or listing email blasts, and there is also a quick link to see the email blast

summary (these quick links are blue and underlined, and circled in black in the above

picture).

Completed Email Blasts by Date

Below those quick links you find completed email blasts by date, which shows the most

recent email blasts that were sent out. On the left hand side of the email blasts by datesectionis the email blast key, which contains a link for each email (i.e. Details for email

blast 104464). That link will lead you to the email creation page. This link is best used for

emails that you have begun creating but have not yet sent, so that you can reach the in-

progress email to continue editing it or to send it.

Create From Previous Blasts

At the bottom of the page there is a section, create from previous blasts, which allows you

to open an email that was previously sent and edit it to create a new blast email. This tool

is very helpful. One of the easiest ways to initiate a new email blast is to use the createfrom previous blast tool, especially if you are wanting to send out an email that is very

similar to one that has already been sent. For example, if you created an email blast to

initially notify members of the annual conference and sent that out, then you could later use

the create from previous blasts tool to recycle that annual conference email and add a line

at the beginning of the email, such as Reminder that the annual conference is one month

away, so make sure you RSVP by such and such date.

Support and Updates from Salsa Kitchen

Before moving onto the specifics of how to create an email blast, please note that on theright side of the email blast screen you will find sections entitled Support and updates

from the salsa kitchen. These are quick ways to find more information about issues,

troubleshooting, and innovations that other salsa users are writing about, and you will also

find links to updates that salsa is making to their software/platform. The information in

these right-side sections changes often, as there are many salsa users and salsa is

constantly making updates and fixes to their programs.


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ALSO NOTE: If you want to hide one of these sections just explained, you will find an X in

the upper right hand corner of each section (in the red-ish color header). If you click that X,

then the section will disappear. To make that section appear again, click on the email

blasts tab at the top of the page, and then a link will appear in the top-right corner whichsays Revert to Default Dashboard click on the Revert to Default link to make the

disappeared sections reappear.

EMAIL BLASTS CREATE BLASTS

On the email blasts homepage there is a list of different options across the top of the page,

underneath the normal tabs, as described at the beginning of this section. The two options

explained here will be email blasts and summary report.

CREATE BLAST

Hold your mouse over email blasts to get the drop down menu to appear, which includes

create blasts and list blasts (circled above). Begin by clicking on create blasts. This is

the process of creating an email blast from scratch, and it is what salsa will probably be

used for the majority of the time. The following page will appear.

CLICK ON THIS TO USE THIS TEMPLATE. A

RED BOX WILL APPEAR WHEN THE TEMPLATE

IS SELECTED.


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Enter a Reference Name that will help you identify the email. Email recipients will not be

able to see this reference name.

Then select an email template: To use the normal template, which is highly recommended,click on the picture of the template at the bottom (the picture that has the LWV logo, circled

in the picture above).

You can tell the default

template is selected when a red

box appears around it

(pictured to the left).

You do not need to do anything else to initiate the blast other than enter the reference

name, click on the template to highlight it, and then click the save button at the bottom of

the page.

After you click the save button many more tabs will appear to the right of the Create Blast

tab, as circled in the picture below (content, send options, targeting, validation, summary).


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You will see that the title of the page has changed from create a blast email to the title of

the email, which in this example picture is salsa manual documentation (circled above).

Whatever the reference name for your email was is now listed at the top of the page.

Next, click the blue save and continue button at the bottom, which will move you to the

content page.


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CONTENT:

When you move from the create blast to the content page, you will begin creating your

email.

Step 1)First, you can alter the From email entry box if you would like the email to come

from a different email address than the default email, which is [email protected]. You

can also change the email name, which is set to the default of The League of Women Voters

of Missouri. For example, you may want to enter the main office email address and change

the default name from LWV of Missouri to League President Lois Detrick or another

example could be having the email come from a local league president (i.e. Peg Prendergast

LWVMO KC/J/C/P) and changing the email address to the local leagues address.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Arrow to displayediting toolbar


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Step 2) If you want the email recipients to be able to send a reply to a certain email address

or person, change the Reply-To email box. This email address does not have to match the

email address in the From box. These may differ for various reasons. For example, large

organizations may want the email to appear as if it came from the organization president,but when someone replies to the email they want the email to be sent to a central office or

designated email answerer, which is why a different email would be put in the reply to

box.

Step 3)Enter a title in the subject box (the default says testing the waters, so make sure

to change this). This is the title that will appear in the subject line of the email that your

recipients see and receive, so try to make it a catchy, short, and to-the-point title. Long titles

will be cut off in most email inboxes. Its recommended to use consistent titles, such as

ACTION ALERT if the email will contain a call for action (i.e. writing a legislator, signing a

petition, writing a letter to an editor) or LEGISLATIVE UPDATE for updates about what has

happened to a piece of legislation or issue that League is following or LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN

for the bi weekly bulletins that are sent out during the Jefferson City legislative session.

Step 4) The header line of the email, located below the LWV logo, has a default setting to

say Important Message in italics. Highlight and erase the important message and replace

it with what you want your header to be, which is sometimes the same text as the subject

line of the email or it could differ.

Step 5)Highlight and erase the text of email here text and replace it with the actual text

of your email blast. If you originally wrote your email blast in Microsoft Word, it is HIGHLYrecommended that you copy and paste that text into a notepad document, and then copy

and paste the notepad document text into salsa. This is because Microsoft Word text has a

lot of formatting in it that will mess up your salsa email and make it hard to format. When

writing your email in MS Word or Notepad, try to avoid any kind of formatting (bold, italics,

underline, colors, different fonts, tabs, indents, etc). When emails are written in word and

formatting is used, it can make it next to impossible to copy and paste the text into salsa,

leading the email creator to have to completely retype the entire email message into salsa.

This may have to be done.

EDITING TEXT

After you copy and paste or re-type your message into the area between the header subject

and the bottom area where you see the LWVMO contact information, then you can begin

formatting your text and message, including adding links, color, bold, italics, etc


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To do this, you must display the editing box. Right below the Add dynamic content drop

down box (located above the lwv logo) there is a down-pointing arrow on the left-hand side.

Click that arrow to display the editing box, as pictured below.

Now that the editing toolbar is displayed you can begin editing your text. Hold your mousecursor over a button to see what that buttons function is. The most commonly used

buttons will be the bold, italics, underlined, and link buttons, which are all located in the

middle of the upper row. To understand all the options it is recommended that you play

around with all of the different buttons, but try to keep the font style and color simple and

consistent.

LINK TOOL

Link tool: This is used often, especially if you want to condense a long link. For example, if

you want to include a link to Social Policy Issue Page for the LWVUS, you would need to use

this long cumbersome link -

http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Social_Policy&Template=/TaggedPage/Tagg

edPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=31&ContentID=10008

Instead of using that long link, you can use the link tool (which looks like a sideways

number eight, located next to the bold, italics, and underline buttons). Select a piece of text

that you want to act as the link, such as

Arrow to displayediting toolbar

Editing toolbar
http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Social_Policy&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=31&ContentID=10008http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Social_Policy&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=31&ContentID=10008http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Social_Policy&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=31&ContentID=10008http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Social_Policy&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=31&ContentID=10008


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Please consider reading more about this subject at the LWVUS Social Policy Page.

You would select/highlight the part of your text that says LWVUS Social Policy Page, and

after you highlight the text then click on the link icon (sideways number 8). When you clickon the link icon the Link function will pop up. You want to then copy and paste the long

version of the link, such as the one that was included above, and paste that long URL link

into the URL box. See the example pictured below. See the 1st picture under dynamic

content to view what a completed link looks like.

DYNAMIC CONTENT

Dynamic content is currently only used for entering a specialized members name, for the

time being. You can use dynamic content if you want your email message to say Dear

[members name], or just [members name]. This means that when the member receives the

email, it will address the email address as, for example, Dear Ann, or Bill, as long as the

email address has a first name associated with it. If there is no first name associated with

the email address, then it will default to say Friend wherever it would usually insert the

recipients name.

It can perform other functions, but those will not be explained here. To add dynamic

content, first place your cursor in the text in the spot where you want the recipients first

name to appear. Click there. Then click on the drop down box labeled Add dynamic

Link Tool

Highlight the text that you want to create a link out of Paste the long version of the link


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content and select Supporter Fields(see add dynamic content box identified in picture

below). Also note that you can now see that the LWVUS Social Policy Page has become a

link.

Once you select SupporterFields, you will be given a step-by-step instructions.

Step 1) You will want to click the first drop-down box, which will automatically display

supporter_KEY and choose First_name instead.

Step 2) Then click on the Generate Script button.

Step 3) Then click the Insert Content button.

Step 4) Then scroll down to the bottom and click the other Insert Content button.

This is pictured below, on the next page.


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After you take these steps you will find that [[First_Name]] appears in the text of your email

draft, as seen below.

When the email is sent out, it will begin with Dear Ann, or whatever the recipients name is

that is registered with their email address. Please note that you must type Dear, or whatever

salutation you prefer, before the [[First_Name]] dynamic content.

Step 1 drop down box, choose first_name

Step 2Generate Script

Step 3 Insert Content, [[First_Name]] appears in box

Step 4 Scroll to the bottom and click the other Insert Content button


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TEXT CONTENT:

Lastly, click on the tab that says text content, located next to the HTML content tab that

has thus far been the tab where work has been done (see picture below). After you have

clicked on that tab, then click on the auto-generate text from HTML blue button. This will

copy the text that you have typed into the HTML portion into the TEXT portion, which allowsthose who choose only to receive text emails to still read the email. Most email users

receive HTML emails (emails that allow formatting, pictures, etc) but a few receive only text

emails, so make sure to take this step.


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At this point a brief overview has been provided for different tools, processes, and

tips/tricks to use in the CONTENT stage of creating an email. This tends to be the most

difficult stage due to formatting errors and difficulties with text-matching. If you have a

particular problem with this stage, you may contact Lauren ([email protected]). You

will most likely not identify that you have had an issue until you send yourself a test email

(which occurs in the VALIDATION section of creating an email).

At the bottom of the page, click on the save and continue button to move onto the SEND

OPTIONS stage.


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SEND OPTIONS

Under the send options tab, you want to click the Add to web page option. All the other

options should remain UNCHECKED. Then click the save and continue button at the

bottom (see picture below).


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TARGETING

Targeting is where you choose who you want to send the email to. To send it to the entire

LWVMO database, choose the Send to the entire list blue button, located towards the top.To select a more defined group, you will use the Supporters who match: section.

Defining specific sets of recipients Supporters who match:

There are many different ways to specify smaller groups of recipients to send an email blast

to. You will use the Select a category drop down box to make that selection. Different

options include:

Groups as discussed in a previous section, groups can be made to group togethersupporters of different varieties. Groups have been made that include all themembers who have taken action on voter photo ID related emails and fair tax relatedemails (written their legislator, written a letter to the editor).You may want to target a group with an email if that email is asking something thatwill more specifically pertain to a specific set of members. This is a good way to notoverburden your entire email base (if the member has never taken action on a photovoter ID issue, then it may not help to constantly send them PVID action alerts).So, for example, you may want to send an email that is petitioning members to jointhe PAVP committee, or asking members to testify on behalf of voter photo ID inJefferson City, only to members who have taken action on voter photo ID emails. Inthis case, you would choose select a category Groups PVID Actions. See thepicture below for this example.


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If you plan to continue sending emails specifically to one group (as explained before, the

groups are established in the supporter management tab) then you can make that selectioneasier by typing a name into the Query name box (circled above). For example, afterselecting the PVID Actions group you may want to type photo ID into the Query Name box.This way, next time you want to send an email only to this group of members, all you willneed to do is select photo ID from the drop down menu next to select a saved query.

There are also predefined queries, and one that is helpful is the LWVMO Board group. Tofind this, click on the drop down list next to select a saved query and select LWVMOboard (circled in the above picture).

You can also take these similar actions for some other commonly used selections, such as: Legislativedistricts: state house, state senate, and Congressional Actionhistory: you can choose to send an email only to supporters who have

previously taken part in an action, including writing a letter to an editor or legislator,or signing a petition. Choosing this option will include all members who have takenan action on ANY email. These are your most active members and are likely to be themembers who are more receptive to receiving larger quantities of emails.

Chapters: **** This is the best tool for local league presidents or communicationsleaders to use. This way, if there is a meeting, event, or issue that relates to a specificlocal league that league can use salsa to activate their members. This would really


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benefit local leagues because you can track which local league members are openingtheir emails, and as will be explained in an later salsa instruction manual, you canalso set up event invitations on salsa that allow email recipients to RSVP via salsa, or

to pay dues or event fees on salsa.

If you have any questions or want to learn more about how to specifically target your blastemails, contact Lauren Gepford ([email protected]).

After you decide who you want your email to go to, click the save and continue bluebutton at the bottom of the screen. This will bring you to the next stage, which is veryimportant, VALIDATION.

VALIDATION


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When you look at the validation page, you want to make sure that there are green check

marks next to every heading. Then, TYPE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS INTO THE TEST EMAIL

ADDRESS: BLOCK AND PRESS SEND TEST EMAIL. This way, you make sure that the email

that you are about to send out looks okay. It is also good to send it to a few other emailaddresses that have different servers (gmail, aol, hotmail, msn, etc). Each email provider

will receive the email differently. After you test your email and make sure that it looks okay,

you can click the continue to next step button at the bottom.

SUMMARY

The summary page shows you how many emails will be sent (in this case send to entire list

option had been selected, so 681 emails is the total number of emails possible to send, aka

there are 681 people on the LWVMO email database list).

You can schedule your email to go out at a later time by clicking the reschedule link (circled

above) or you may click the bright orange submit email blast now! button.

Wa-la!

Salsa Training Handbook for the League of Women Voters

Documents

Transcript of Salsa Training Handbook for the League of Women Voters