Iress ContributorAMA: I'm Courtney Youngblutt, Xplan Design Consultant and efficiency expert, Ask Me Anything!
đź“šThanks so much for all of your questions! Some of them definitely required me to think outside the box but also reminded me of how flexible Xplan can be in helping to automate processes.
There were some common themes around how to automate various activities in Xplan. I’ve included some links to a couple of useful community articles below in case you want to try out any of these in your practice!
- Email Templates
- SMS Email
- SMS Email System Settings
- Client Appointment Reminder via SMS
- Advanced Search
- Advanced Search - Adding and saving criteria
- Campaigns
- Manage Schedules
Tip when using Scheduler - don’t forget to enable it once you have set it up!!
Hi Courtney
Is there a way to send an automated templated email to a client on their Birthday?
Please also go through auto sending quarterly reports and sms reminders for appts also.
It would great if xplan task lists for a day could be ordered (like drag and drop) for priority (not just using priority drop down) - is this possible?
If there are any other xplan efficiency gems you know of and no one has asked about, please share, as we don't know, what we don't know until we know it!
Thanks ;)
- courtney.youngblutt
Ordering task lists by for priority
This is absolutely possible! Are you using the new task hub? I hope so, it’s a new(ish) favourite feature of mine. In the new task hub you can sort your tasks by a variety of options, including priority:
From the classic tasks screen you can simply click on the column heading to sort by priority (If priority isn’t visible in your list of column, use the settings cog to the right of the tasks heading to select which columns you’d like to see.
Thanks, Courtney - I am still using Classic Tasks (old view) - it is what I know and love and great to see a day at a glance!
- courtney.youngblutt
SMS reminders for appointments
The most efficient way to send SMS and Appointment reminders is to use a diary template that has your email or SMS template linked to it. That way, the email or SMS can be set to automatically be sent out based on how many days it is until the appointment occurs. You’ll need to have an account with a third party SMS provider and complete some set up in Xplan. You’ll also need to ensure your clients have an SMS email address entered.
- courtney.youngblutt
Quarterly reports can be automated in a similar way to the birthday email above using Scheduler.
- Decide on your reports
- You could create an xmerge report pack or use your preferred reports direct from Portfolio
- Create your email template
- Use xmerge code to personalise the content
- Link your xmerge or portfolio reports to the email template
- Create an advanced search criteria
- This is really up to you - decide on what clients you’d like to send the report to and align the criteria accordingly
- Set up a schedule
- Set the schedule to use your search criteria to search for clients who you want to send quarterly reports
- Set the schedule to send your email template
- Schedule it to run quarterly or at your preferred time
- Don’t forget to enable the schedule for it to run
The key to achieving the greatest efficiencies with this automation is to trust your data. Make sure you have robust routine processes in place, ensuring key client and portfolio data is accurate and up to date.
- courtney.youngblutt
Hi Lisa, I love these questions! Thanks for posting.
Is there a way to send an automated templated email to a client on their Birthday?
Absolutely! When automating routine tasks such as this, Scheduler is your best friend! I’ve provided high level steps for you below and a link back to the Community where you can find step-by-step instructions.
- Create your email template
- Use xmerge code to personalise the content
- Create an advanced search criteria
- There’s actually criteria specific to birthdays, look for Key details| Birthday and set it to between 0 and 0 days to search for today's birthdays
- Set up a schedule
- Set the schedule to use your search criteria to search for clients with a birthday today
- Set the schedule to send your email template
- Schedule it to run daily at your preferred time
- Don’t forget to enable the schedule for it to run!
Check out this article in the Iress Community: Best Practice: Client Birthdays
📲Instead of an email…..what about sending a birthday SMS?
