Scenario 1: E-mail newsletter drawing from website content
Currently, Kabissa sends out a monthly newsletter to both the primary and secondary contact of all active member organizations.  This newsletter is a text-based email.  There is no way to automatically subscribe/unsubscribe. 

Priority 1:  At a minimum, we should be able to manually send a text-only email to all admin-level contacts of active member organizations.  (At least one Member Admin must receive Kabissa Gong Gong as part of membership obligation.)

Priority 2:  Be able to manage subscription options to Kabissa Gong Gong through Drupal/CiviCRM (not sure where this would reside) 

Priority 3: In the future, Kabissa would like to run more e-mail newsletters which people associated to member organizations can subscribe to.  On an ongoing basis, Kabissa staff and members add content to the various sections of the Web site - these are then used in newsletters. When it is time to send out a newsletter, an editor logs into the backend. Through a simple 3-step process, the editor can select recipients using a powerful range of combinable criteria, the newsletter template we want to use that automatically draws the content from the various sections of the website, and then edit/send the message out. The sent newsletter content is saved in the activity history of members that got it for future reference and is available for reading on the frontend as a newsletter archive.  Newsletters can be sent in both HTML and text formats, controlled by user preferences

Scenario 2: One-off mailing to one person based on a template

Priority 1: Kabissa very often needs to write to a single person working for a member organization - and often has to send the same basic e-mails to them. Through a simple 3-step process accessible through the backend, we can select a recipient, a template, and edit/send the message. Priority 2: The sent message content is saved in the activity history for future reference.

Scenario 3: One-off mailing to a group of people based on a template

Priority 1: Kabissa also often writes to various groups of members based on specific criteria - for example when visiting a city to let members know we are coming, or to reach out to orgs working in a specific thematic area. Through a simple 3-step process accessible through the backend, we can select a recipient, a template, and edit/send the message. Priority 2: The sent message content is saved in the activity history for future reference.

Flowchart

The basic process for sending mailings and newsletters is this:[NOTE: we are very open to alternative flows - this is just one suggestion]

1. From the backend, click on "mailings and newsletters" option and arrive at the Mailings and Newsletters page. Alternatively, when viewing a contact or group click on "send e-mail" and skip straight to step 2 (#3) below.
2. The first step in a wizard is displayed, in which you can select recipients. During this step, a powerful search form is presented which enables you to dynamically narrow and expand the list of recipients based on common field names, member ID number, role within the organization, and other criteria such as thematic area, geographic scope, country and region. As recipients are selected, their names are displayed and can be selectively removed from the list. Once you are satisfied with the recipient list, you can move to step 2 by clicking "Go to step 2".
3. On the second step, you can select a template from a list of preset templates. This includes a simple blank template, one-off "ping" messages as well as newsletters. Once the template is selected, you can move to step 3.
4. On step 3, you can preview/adjust message and send. During this step, it is possible to make changes to the From, Subject and Body fields and to indicate whether a bcc to the From address is required. Mailmerge fields in the form %%fieldname%% can still be inserted at this stage. Once you are satisfied with the message, you can click "Send" to send it off.
5. Once send is clicked, a confirmation message is displayed that the email has been sent, the e-mail is sent and the action is recorded in the activity log for each recipient, along with a complete copy of the e-mail. Newsletters are also archived on the frontend and accessible to website visitors.
   The newsletter is sent out in HTML or plain text format according to preference set by the recipient. Once the newsletter has been sent, it is possible to track "open rate" and "click through" hits to the website from the newsletter.

• Technical note: these specs are derived from an emailer tool we currently have at our disposal that very nearly follows this procedure (without the templates and activity logging) to enable us to send personalized e-mails and newsletters to our members. See attached files for example outputs for the three steps - and ask Tobias if you'd like to see the code for the emailer tool. Perhaps it can be contributed into civicrm. Salesforce also has mailings/newsletter functionality we like.
• Technical note: the templates spec is derived from ModernBill, which also has an excellent tool we currently use for sending preconfigured e-mail texts to members including mailmerge fields. An example of a typical modernbill template and the interface for managing them (which is somewhat complicated) is attached.
• Technical note: My idea is that rather than a complex web interface for managing templates, they would be created in plain text and uploaded to a specified directory on the server. Templates would be accessible via a simple web interface to browse templates by name and edit in a big text box (akin to Joomla templates). The template syntax would be very straightforward and only include the body of the message, including any mailmerge fields that are required. A more sophisticated program to grab and parse content from the database or RSS feeds would be needed for generating the longer newsletters.

Details

Sending e-mails and newsletters is done on the backend - and can be initiated by clicking on Mailings and Newsletters link on menu or "send e-mail" when viewing a contact or group.

1. Sending Newsletter [PRIORITY 3]

On an ongoing basis, Kabissa editors add content to the Kabissa website - the best of which are sent out in summarized form in a periodic newsletter. When it is time to send a newsletter, a Kabissa editor follows these steps:

1. Click on Mailings and Newsletters
2. Click "send Newsletter" from Mailings and Newsletters page
3. Mailings and Newsletters Step 1: Select recipient group and click "go on to step 2"
4. Mailings and Newsletters Step 2: Select Newsletter template from list of available templates and click "go to step 3"
5. Mailings and Newsletters Step 3: An e-mail form is displayed with editable fields From, Subject, Body (HTML), and Body (Plain Text). Make any changes needed and click "Send Newsletter" to send the newsletter.
6. The status of the mailing is displayed on the screen - and a "Newsletter Sent to all recipients" message is displayed when it is done sending.

2. Sending one-off mailing to one person

Priority 1:  Kabissa very often needs to write to a single person working for a member organization - and often has to send the same basic e-mails to them. Through a simple 3-step process accessible through the backend, we can select a recipient, a template, and edit/send the message. Priority 2: The sent message content is saved in the activity history for future reference.

3. Sending one-off mailing to a group of people 

Priority 1:  Kabissa also often writes to various groups of members based on specific criteria - for example when visiting a city to let members know we are coming, or to reach out to orgs working in a specific thematic area. Through a simple 3-step process accessible through the backend, we can select a recipient, a template, and edit/send the message. Priority 2: The sent message content is saved in the activity history for future reference.

4. Reviewing what a user has received, opened and clicked on [PRIORITY 2]

In true CRM fashion, when reviewing a user's information on the backend, it is possible to see a list of activities relating to the user. Relating to this spec, activities that can be seen and tracked include:

• Newsletters this user has received (total number and which newsletters)
• Newsletters this user has actually opened (total number and which newsletters)
• Links this user has actually clicked on in newsletters (total number, which newsletters, which links)

5. Reviewing stats on the impact of a specific mailing [PRIORITY 3]

It is possible to review the impact of a specific mailing, including the following:

• Newsletters sent out to users (total number, which newsletters, which users)
• Newsletters actually opened by users (total number, which newsletters, which users) 
• Newsletters users have clicked links (total number, which newsletters, which users, total number per link)

This is done by clicking on Mailings and Newsletters, then clicking through to Newsletter History. On the Newsletter History page, a list of past mailings is displayed containing the name of the newsletter, the date it was sent out, and a summary of number of recipients sent to, number actually opened, and number of links actually clicked. The newsletter name is clickable. When it is clicked, detailed stats for the newsletter are provided on a single page, including:

• Number of newsletter recipients - and link to full list of recipient users. User names are clickable and go to the user's info page on the backend.
• Number of recipients that actually opened the newsletter - and link to full list of users that actually opened the newsletter.
• List of clicked links, containing the name of the link, the number of clicks, and links to both the original content on the website and a detailed view of clicked links. The detailed view lists the names of users that have clicked the link.

6. Managing Templates

Templates can be managed like Joomla templates - either by uploading files to a directory on the server or editing through a web interface. The web interface would list templates, which can then be clicked on and edited in a big form field.  Priority 1: Text only template; Priority 2: HTML graphic templates (e.g., for newsletters)

Priority 1: Templates are plain text files. They contain preformatted text as well as special codes that are replaced automatically by the system during the e-mailing process described above (between step 2 and step 3). The codes can include the following:

• Priority 1: Info relating to the user, including all contact fields, organization fields, billing info etc. For example, %%firstname%% would be replaced by the user's first name.
• Priority 3: Content from the website, including profile info, news, events etc.  This would be done through a granular implementation of RSS feeds throughout the site, for example %%http://www.kabissa.org/members/rss/latest/5%% would pull the five latest member announcements from the Joomla content database. Info displayed would include title, url, summary, and associated image (if HTML).