Email Templates
Add your email content, using your own copy, or call on our specialist copywriting team for support*, and review the performance of these over time to see where your leads are coming from.
Email Templates is where you can add, edit, and order templates to use in your campaigns. There are two tabs at the top, which we'll look at in detail below:
The templates view gives you an overview of all the templates on your account, whether created by you or purchased.
The My Orders view shows the templates that you have ordered from our specialist copywriters and keeps you up to date on their status.
* Outbase has the option to quickly and easily order a template written specifically for you by one of our expert copywriters, for a one-off fee, which can then be used as much as you like, across your campaigns. It's a great way to get a leg up if you're not sure what to write or want a fresh perspective. See What's in an Outbase Template? for more information.
The templates view shows you all the templates created on your account, with an at-a-glance view of stats for you to compare. You can search for a specific template from the search box at the top of the screen, or filter your emails to just see initial or follow-up emails. For example, if you are A/B testing the messaging in two initial templates, filter to just see initial templates and you have a quick comparison.
Email Templates
Email Templates shows the following columns:
1. Template Name
The name you have given the template.
2. Subject
The email's subject line.
3. Stage
If the email is an initial email, the first email sent to a prospect in your campaigns sequence, or a follow-up.
4. Date Created
The date the template was created.
5. Open Rate / Click Rate / Lead Rate
The open/click/lead rate for the template, giving you a quick overview of its performance.
6. Last used
The last date when the email was sent to prospects.
7. Total Sent
The total number of this template that have been sent to prospects.
8. Date Modified
Shows the most recent date when any changes were made to the template.
9. Actions
Edit (pencil icon) - click here to open the email template in edit mode and make any changes.
Delete (trashcan icon) - click here to delete the email template and confirm with Yes in the pop-up.
At the bottom of the table in the screenshot above, you will also see a template that was ordered through Outbase. These display the same as your created templates, you give these a name when ordering, but you will see a blue shopping cart icon to the right of the Template Name, to help you distinguish between templates created by yourselves and templates written by our trusted copywriters.
We know what it's like, trying to put the words in the right place and then trying to fit t into a short and snappy email, rather than a 5-page word doc! That's where we can help - we have our own specialist copywriting team who are the experts at creating the perfect introductory emails for Organizations just like yours. Plus, will only take a few minutes of your time to send us the information we need to get the team started on writing that initial email that will really get you noticed.
Click the Order a Template button to get started, check out What's in an Outbase Template? for more information, or go to Example Template Request to get an idea of the information we're going to ask for.
And that's it - in 2 business days, you'll have that template that's really going to get you noticed, written, and ready to start sending.
Happy to run with your own template? That's cool. Click Add a new template to go to the Create Template view.
First time creating a template, or need some guidance about the basics? The Messaging section of the Getting Started Guide shows you step-by-step through the process for creating your first messages.
First things first, give your template a name - make it something that other people will understand as this is what will display in the Email Template view. Then select the type (Initial Email or Follow-Up) from the drop-down box, and give your email a subject line.
There are some additional settings that are available if you are creating a follow-up email, so below we will cover creating an initial email, using the check wording, using variables, and creating a follow-up.
Initial Email
If you are creating an initial email, once you have followed the steps above to give the template a name and subject line, you are now ready to write your content. Copy and paste copy you're already happy with straight into the editor or start writing here directly. Our editor allows you to format your email so it's just right!
Want to see a preview? You can send a test email to yourself by clicking Send test email in the top right, then choosing the email address to send the test to, and what text should display for any variables in the template. Then click Send and your test is on its way!
We know what makes a good email, and Check Wording will check your content for length, recurring words, spam terms, and more.
Check Wording
Just open Check Wording (tools icon), select the email account the emails will be coming from (so that the checker includes this when looking for links), and you'll get some feedback on what you've written.
Currently, our Check Wording only checks for English (US), so if you're UK Based, don't panic if it tells you you're spelling isn't correct!
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Nobody's perfect! So while we don't recommend pouring over your template trying to get this to 100%... But we would suggest reviewing anything that comes in below 60% as this could cause problems with email deliverability.
If you're using Outbase data from the Audience Builder, then we have pre-defined variables for use here, that can help personalize and make your emails more one-to-one and genuine.
If you've uploaded your own file-based audience by CSV file, then you might not have all these variables available in your data, but you may have mapped additional fields, that you can then use from the Custom Fields tab.
To add a variable, click Add (plus icon) to the left of the variable and the following pop-up will appear:
Add Variable
If you select Required parameter and click Apply, then any prospects where the {{FIRST_NAME}} of the prospect is not known will be skipped, and they will not receive this email template from your campaign sequence. You will receive an error in the Calendar view that Outbase was unable to send this email to the prospect and they will fall out of the campaign sequence.
However, if you select Optional parameter, you can then include text to include in the case that this field is not known for the prospect, meaning the campaign sequence can still continue.
In the example above, using the Optional parameter {{FIRST_NAME|there}} if the first name is known, for example, we are emailing Elon Musk, this will display:
Hey Elon,
However, if the prospect's first name is unknown, the email will still send, but the text will read:
Hey there,
While it is unlikely that the first name of a prospect is unknown, this might be more likely with other variables and is just used as an example.
An overview of the Default Variables offered through Outbase is covered on the next page of the User Guide.
When adding a follow-up template, the variables are still available as described above, and the check wording feature.
You will also see options to include previous messages as a thread and to add a signature to the email.
Follow Up
We recommend including previous messages as a thread. By doing this to your prospect it looks like you have found the previous email you sent them in your sent folder and then forwarded this on to them, with a little nudge. This is why follow-up emails have a default subject line of
FW: {{INITIAL_EMAIL_SUBJECT}}
as this mimics this approach and makes the email sequence seem more personal and genuine.
With the above, if your initial email has the subject line "Quick chat", then follow-up emails will have the subject line "FW: Quick chat".
If you are creating follow-ups in this way then we also recommend ignoring the Check Wording's advice on length and keeping follow-ups short and to the point, as the initial email content is included in the thread.
As your initial email will always include your full signature, if you are sending follow-ups as a thread, you can also choose if you want to include your signature in your follow-ups, or if you prefer just sign off with your name.
If you prefer to send each email as a completely new email, uncheck the box to include previous messages as a thread and update the subject line as appropriate. In this case, we strongly recommend adding your signature to every follow-up in your sequence, so that you and your Organization are easily identifiable and to keep your outreach compliant in areas where links to privacy policies and unsubscribe links are required.
So you've made a fantastic choice and decided to order a template - awesome!
From My Orders tab, you can view the progress of any orders in progress or that are ready to go. If you have ordered multiple templates (which is a great idea by the way!), you can search for specific templates by name, using the search box, filter by status (Submitted or Completed), and search between two dates.
My Orders
Ordered templates here show:
1. Template Name
The name you gave the template when completing the order form.
2. Requested By
The name of the user who placed the template order.
3. Created Date
Date the order was created
4. Due Date
Date the template is due to be submitted by.
5. Status
Completed - the template is ready to go! A completed template will also be added to the templates tab, so all that's left for you to do is add it to a campaign sequence and start sending!
Submitted - your order details are with our creative team and they are busy doing amazing things with words. It should be with you in 2 business days.
6. Actions
Click the view button (eye icon) to see your order form at any point.
Last modified 1yr ago