Autoresponder Settings

[Shari]

I read about Autoresponder Setting in the Manual, but I'm still not sure I'm understanding how it works. Wouldn't the subject line always be different? Do I want e-mails to come to our organization's main e-mail address?

Also, what advantage is there in setting up e-mails to go through our own server instead of Salesforce's server, besides quantity? When a person receives an automatic e-mail when they donate online, will it be apparent what server it's sent from?

[CnP.Support]

Good day Shari,

Replies to your questions. Your questions are quite good and will be added to the manual. At times it is hard to figure out what ideas in a feature are hard to grasp.

Your question: Wouldn't the subject line always be different?

REPLY: The subject line, in this release, is fixed per autoresponder. Of course you may set up unlimited number of autoresponders for different scenarios. The idea of variable subject has been discussed several times but we have not been able to figure out a use-case where variables may be used. For example we can come up with inline variables that may be substituted before sending the email but it will become quite complex for all the different conditions. If you have any specific examples you wish to see please let us know and we may be able to add it to the next update.

Your question: Do I want e-mails to come to our organization's main e-mail address?

REPLY: I am not sure I understand what you mean by "come"? With autoresponder you are SENDING from an email address not receiving emails. If you clarify this further I may be able to provide a better answer.

Your question: what advantage is there in setting up e-mails to go through our own server instead of Salesforce's server, besides quantity?

REPLY: There is one difference we have noticed that is outside our control. When Salesforce sends an email it uses the account generating the email as the sender and you have no control over customizing it. When you use your SMTP server you can set the mail from and name to be a different name & email than the account used for connecting to Salesforce. Here is an example: The account used with Click & Pledge to connect to Salesforce is: [email protected] - If an autoresponder is sent the sender will be [email protected]. If you use your own SMTP you may set it up to be [email protected] so it is a lot more customizable.

Your question: When a person receives an automatic e-mail when they donate online, will it be apparent what server it's sent from?

REPLY: It is not "apparent" and 99.99% of users have no idea how to find out what server has been used. One can determine all that information by looking at the envelope but again most people have no idea how to do this or even make sense of the information provided in the envelope, so the answer is NO. The only difference in behavior is what I explained earlier.

[asapconnections]

REPLY: The subject line, in this release, is fixed per autoresponder. Of course you may set up unlimited number of autoresponders for different scenarios. The idea of variable subject has been discussed several times but we have not been able to figure out a use-case where variables may be used. For example we can come up with inline variables that may be substituted before sending the email but it will become quite complex for all the different conditions. If you have any specific examples you wish to see please let us know and we may be able to add it to the next update.

I don't see how to have a different subject per autoresponder. I have setup multiple autoresponders on the Autoresponder tab, but on the Autoresponder Settings tab there is still only the opportunity to customize one subject and reply-to address.

Am I missing something?

[CnP.Support]

Good day!

The Autoresponder Setting is for DEFAULT values that will be used for the Autoresponder. Each Autoresponder has its own subject but will be auto-filled with the default value.

The idea of the default values is to help minimize typing when setting up many Autoresponders.

See below: