I posted a blog about Dynamics 365 email templates back in 2018. At that time, the tool in Dynamics was OK for sending emails that included simple text, personalization and a link–automated customer service messaging and the like. But the interface was crude, and you had to do some workarounds so that what appeared in someone’s inbox resembled what the CRM user saw when they sent it. The bottom line was, it didn’t lend itself very well to sales-oriented emailing.
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better
Starting with the Dynamics 365 for Sales v9 release, Dynamics 365 for Sales users benefit from enhancements to the email user experience plus additional functionality. Whether you’re sending a 1-off email or creating a template to use over and over again–it’s easier to build, and the look of the results is more predictable.
Start your template
You can start the template from 2 places, the email user experience or the admin Settings area. Starting from the email user experience is new, so let’s do that. Go to the Activity View and click the Email button.
See the down arrow next to Insert Template? Click to find the option–Convert to an email template.
Name the template. Keep in mind; this is the name you will search on when you insert the template. Choose the permission level and entity category. This template is going to be for Contacts only.
Let’s get personal
This template is a personalized request to a Contact for a quote review. The subject is going to say, “Hey first name, let’s review that quote!” If the Contact’s first name isn’t in the Contact record (doubtful), “buddy” will be inserted. Click on </> Insert Dynamics text command. Choose Contact, First Name, and type “buddy” in the Default text field.
Here’s what that looks like in the template.
Let’s repeat that step in the greeting. We’ll insert the Company name at the end of the first sentence. If Company Name is missing, insert “your firm.”
Let’s finish it off by placing the user’s full name in the signature. It looks like this.
Work it
Let’s go back and open a new email record, use Insert Template command, and select our Sample Email Template. We get a preview here.
Here we are ready to send the template. Personalization is working in the subject line and in the body of the email. This could also be triggered by workflow too.
Need help with templates? Let’s talk!
Mark Abes, Vice President, Dyn365Pros, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner, San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Southern California
