Write a Letter to a Constituent

From a constituent record, you can write a personal letter to the constituent.

When you write the letter, you can use a Microsoft Word document saved to the Letter Template Library or create a new Word document. Before you write the letter, you must complete several setup tasks in Marketing and Communications and Microsoft Word:

  • From Marketing and Communications, create a direct marketing export definition to determine the merge fields to use to include information specific to the constituent. On the Options tab of the Export Definition Properties screen, select Allow definition to be used by other areas of the application. After you create the export definition, generate a header file based on the definition.

  • In Word, create a document that contains the letter content and insert the merge fields from the header file.

  • From Marketing and Communications, in the Letter Template Library, create a letter template with a Constituent letter type and Export definition output type. In the Export definition field, select the export definition created for the letter. In the Letter field, select the Word document that contains the letter content.

When you use the Write a letter task for a constituent, you must specify which letter template to use. On the Letter Template Search screen, you narrow down your search by things like name or letter type. To select a letter template, select on the name.

  1. Open the record of the constituent to receive the letter. For information about how to open a constituent record, see Constituent Search.

    Note: To access the Write a letter screen from the Contact tab of the constituent record, under Contact information, select the address to which to send the letter and select Write a letter.

  2. Under Tasks, select Write a letter. The Write a letter screen appears.

  3. Under Letter, enter a unique name to help identify the letter and select whether to use a new or existing Word document to create the letter.

    If you select Use an existing letter from the template library, search for and select the document to use from the Letter Template Library.

    Note: To edit the selected document in Word, select Edit letter. After you save the document, you return to the Write a letter screen.

  4. Under Address, select the addressee, address, and salutation to use with the letter.

    Note: If you select a letter template based on an export definition, the Address section is diabled. The export definition provides the addressee, address, and salutation.

  5. Under Details, enter the date you send the letter to the constituent.

  6. To help categorize the letter with similar interactions, select its type, category, and subcategory.

  7. To restrict use of the letter to specific sites at your organization, select the sites to manage the letter.

  8. In the Comment field, enter any additional information about the letter.

  9. Select Save. The Interactions page for the record appears. Under Pending and completed interactions, the letter appears with the selected mail date and interaction type.

  1. Open the record of the constituent to receive the letter. For information about how to open a constituent record, see Constituent Search.

  2. Under Tasks, select Write a letter. The Write a letter screen appears. For information about the items on this screen, see Write a Letter Screen.

    Tip: To write a letter from the Contact tab, under Addresses, select Write a letter on the action bar of the address to which to send the letter. From an organization constituent record, you can also write a letter to an individual who appears on the Relationships tab. Under Relationships - Individuals, select the individual to receive the letter and select Write a letter on the action bar.

  3. Under Details, enter a unique name to help identify the letter and its *.docx file.

  4. In the Mail date field, select the date you intend to send the letter to the constituent.

  5. In the Comment field, enter any information about the letter, such as an explanation of why the constituent receives it.

  6. To help categorize the letter with similar interactions, select its interaction type, category, and subcategory.

  7. Under Letter, select the address and name format of the constituent to use with the letter.

  8. In the HTML editor, compose the content of the letter.

    • To adjust the format and appearance of the content, use the toolbar.

    • To insert the constituent’s name in the content, such as in the salutation, select how the name should appear in the Formatted name field.

    • To insert a portion of the selected address, such as the street address or (Undefined variable: BB_Variables.ZIP Code_UC), in the content, select the information in the Address field field.

  9. To configure the print margins of the letter content, select Page margins. On the Edit page margins screen, enter the amount to allow for the top, bottom, and side margins.

  10. Select Save. The Interactions page for the constituent appears. Under Pending and completed interactions, the letter appears with the selected mail date and interaction type. For information about the Interactions page, see Interaction Information.