I want to schedule an email campaign for new cardholders
Let’s get started!
Our new cardholder series kicks off with a “welcome” message in week one followed by five e-blasts with different messages about programs, services and/or your collection—reasons for your cardholders to start using your library.
Follow these 4 easy steps:
1. Find a template and customize your e-blast
- In LibraryAware, do a template search for cardholders.
- At the search results, limit by Editor Type: Drag & Drop Email.
- Among your results you'll see the set of 6 coordinating templates to choose from.
- Click Create to open the template in the editor.
- Customize by including links to your library's resources.
2. Create a Subscriber Interest Group
A Subscriber Interest Group is a group of subscribers with similar interests or characteristics.
A Subscriber Interest Group is a group of subscribers with similar interests or characteristics.
- From the main navigation toolbar, click Subscribers.
- On the left side of the page, select Subscriber Interest Groups.
- Click the Create button.
- Name your new group something like "Welcome to Your Library."
- Don't check the Exclude from Opt-In page box. You want the list included so people can easily opt-out/unsubscribe if they want.
- Click Save.
3. Upload your list of new cardholders
At least 24 hours before you want to send out your first email in the series, use the Bulk Upload feature to upload your list of new cardholders.
- To successfully bulk upload a list of subscribers, ensure the file is a .csv or .txt file and is formatted correctly.
- From the main navigation toolbar, click the Subscribers link.
- At the Active Email Subscribers list, open the Add drop-down.
- Select Bulk Subscribers.
- Under Upload a list of subscribers, click Choose File.
- Find and select the file from your computer.
- Click in the Select Subscriber Interest Groups field to open the drop-down.
- Select "Welcome to Your Library."
- Click the Import and update Subscribers button.
- Allow up to 24 hours for the list to be validated.
4. Schedule your series
- To schedule the first email (Welcome), open the folder where you saved your customized e-blast.
- Hover your mouse over the thumbnail of the e-blast and click the three-dots menu that appears.
- Select Send Email.
- Choose the date and time you want your email to be sent.
- The Subject defaults to the name of the folder. Change this to something more engaging and reflective of the e-blast purpose.
- If needed, edit the Reply To Address and Friendly From fields.
- Under the Email Subscribers section, open the Send To drop down.
- Choose Subscribers by Interest Group since... and select the date of your upload. This will limit the emails to only those on the list you uploaded and not any you might add to the Subscriber Interest Group going forward.
- Click in the Select interest groups... field to open the drop-down.
- Select "Welcome to Your Library."
- Click Save Publication Event.
- Now schedule email #2 for two weeks later, email #3 for four weeks later, and so on.
PRO TIP! Create a table or spreadsheet when planning out your e-blast schedule. We find it’s easiest to plan it out with all the dates first, then start scheduling.
Example: Scheduling for sending six emails in a series, with uploads of new cardholders every week.
| New cardholders as of (uplod date) | Email #1 | Email #2 | Email #3 | Email #4 | Email #5 | Email #6 |
| 11/21/2023 | Schedule for: 11/27 | Schedule for: 12/11 | Schedule for: 12/26 | Schedule for: 1/8 | Schedule for 1/22 | Schedule for: 2/5 |
| Sub since 11/21 | Sub since 11/21 | Sub since 11/21 | Sub since 11/21 | Sub since 11/21 | Sub since 11/21 |
| New cardholders as of (uplod date) | Email #1 | Email #2 | Email #3 | Email #4 | Email #5 | Email #6 |
| 12/5/2023 | Schedule for: 12/11 | Schedule for: 12/26 | Schedule for: 1/8 | Schedule for: 1/22 | Schedule for 2/5 | Schedule for: 2/19 |
| Sub since 12/5 | Sub since 12/5 | Sub since 12/5 | Sub since 12/5 | Sub since 12/5 | Sub since 12/5 |
If you want to start another series with those who signed up for a card since your last upload, repeat steps 3 and 4. When you select Subscribers by Interest Group since... choose the date you uploaded your second list. That way, your first list of cardholders won't get the series twice.
PRO TIP! To schedule several welcome series over the next few months, just change the Subscribers by Interest Group since… to the day before you want each email to be sent. Mark your calendar to upload a list of new cardholders on that date, and you’re done. Set it and forget it!
View your email schedule
Check your schedule to make sure all emails are scheduled properly.
- From the main navigation toolbar, click Reports. The section opens at the Folders Schedule view.
- If you need to make changes to a scheduled send, click the View Details link. *Emails that are marked in progress or published cannot be changed.
Check your metrics
- From the main navigation toolbar, click Reports.
- On the left side of the page, select Metrics.
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