What is the difference between a Bulk Mail and an Invitation?

Bulk Mail:

Bulk Mail can be sent to either an individual contact, a group, organisation, meeting or managed event. The email that is sent out is not linked in anyway to the group etc - it is a mail that is sent out which can contain images, links to other sites and mail to: links. The icon for the bulk mail looks like three little envelopes: . For help on creating a bulk mail - see the other FAQs in this section.

Invitations:

Invitations can only be sent to events - which include Meetings and Managed Events. The purpose of the Invitation mail is to extend an invitation - and to then get a response from the person the mail was sent to - confirming or declining their attendance. Please note: RSVPs will only be received by the system if an invitation is used. The invitation icon is a single envelope with a green arrow:.

Invitations enable the user to send out a mail which can receive and record a response - so confirming or declining an invitation.

When used with a Meeting, the RSVP links are found in the body of the mail, as #confirm# or #decline# links. When the recipient clicks on their chosen link - the system picks up the response - and changes their status to either confirmed or declined. Once an invitation has been sent to the recipient - they cannot receive another invitation until you change their status back to --Set--, which has to be done manually. This means you can add people to the meeting and send them invitations - but the people who were sent the invitation first time round will not receive it again.

When used with a Managed Event - the link in the email (#here#) will send the recipient to the Event Profile that is linked to the Managed Event. So in the Managed Event - you can click on the compose invitation icon:Invite.jpg. For more information on managed events - check the other FAQs on this site. As with meetings: once an invitation has been sent to the recipient - they cannot receive another invitation until you change their status back to --Set--, which has to be done manually. This means you can add people to the managed event and send them invitations - but the people who were sent the invitation first time round will not receive it again.

Please note: If you do accidentally delete the link (whether it be the #here# or confirm or decline links) please do not just type it back in - this will NOT work, you need to go back to the event and start again.

So - if you have created the event - if it is a managed event your profile is linked - and you want to send out the invitation - check that you are clicking on the compose invitation icon and not the bulk mail icon. The best way to do this is to first check that you have a link in the body of the mail before you get the draft of your mail and get ready to send. Also - very important: send yourself a test invitation - then you can also check the profile - and make sure that you are happy with it and all the necessary links work. Once you have sent yourself a test - the sent mail will be in the logs - so if you are happy with it - you can go into the invitation logs, click on the subject of the message that you sent as a test to yourself - and use that template - it will automatically be linked to the Managed Event. Just remember that you have to first add the contacts to the event - and then compose and send the invitation, you cannot start with the invitation and then add the contacts, the link will NOT work then.