Getting started with invotrak emails
September 17th, 2007 by ryan
One of the more helpful features of invotrak is the streamlined way in which you can send emails to clients notifying them of an invoice they need to pay. A common workflow is to create an invoice, upload this invoice file to invotrak, and then send an email to the client alerting them to the amount they owe, the terms, and even attaching the actual invoice to the email.
Sending this email alert, however, can still be a little tedious, so let’s take a moment to see how invotrak makes this task a little easier.
Let’s first consider the example of a client who is billed on a weekly basis. Every week, you find yourself sending out the exact same email to the client with the latest invoice attached. Or, consider the example where you have dozens of clients that must all be invoiced each week. Either way, you have to send out a whole bunch of emails that are very similar, with the correct invoice attached. Let’s take a look at how to send an email using invotrak.
Sending a Basic Email
The invotrak emailing feature makes it very easy to send a simple, customized message to a client when issuing an invoice. To do this, follow these steps:
- Make sure each of your clients is entered into invotrak. Most importantly, make sure there is an email address listed for each of these clients (so we know where to send the emails to!)
- Be sure to click the Settings link at the top of the page, and make sure the checkbox next to “Go to Send Email page” This will tell invotrak that, after recording an invoice, you want to also send a corresponding email. If you don’t click this link, you can always send an email later: just click the invoice you wish to send from the Invoices List page, then click the Send Email link on the right.
- Create your invoice, as you normally do, and click the Record an Invoice link from the Invoices List page. Enter the appropriate details into the fields (be sure to also select the right client!), and click the Record link at the bottom of the page when you’re done.
- On the Send Email page, you have the normal fields (such as the recipient, the subject, etc), as well as a notice on the top right of the page showing what file will be attached to the email (this is the invoice file you uploaded). Fill out these fields, and click Submit.
You’ve now sent your first email using invotrak! Your client will receive the message you entered into the Body of the email, along with the invoice file as an attachment. Note that there won’t be anything in the email to signify it originated from invotrak. In fact, it’s setup in such a way as to appear as though it came directly from your own email program, so if your client replies to the email, it’s go directly to you.
