CRM

The CRM (customer relationship management) app is where a team keeps track of the people and businesses it works with. It holds your customers and prospects, the companies they belong to, the deals you're working on, and everything that has happened with each of them. It can also send marketing email: newsletters, announcements and automatic follow-ups, to people who signed up to receive them.

Take a small design studio as an example. Its website has a newsletter signup form that adds people to a "Newsletter" list in the CRM. Each month someone designs the newsletter in the CRM's email designer and sends it as a campaign to that list. When a reader clicks a link about a service, an automation tags them and creates a task for a colleague to call. When that call turns into a project, the colleague adds a deal to the sales pipeline and drags it from stage to stage until it's won. Every email, click, note and deal move shows up on the contact's timeline, so anyone on the team can see the whole story.

note

The CRM comes from the CRM plugin. If you don't see CRM in the web app's app rail, your administrator hasn't turned it on. See Plugins.

CRM contacts are separate from your personal contacts. Your address book is yours, for the people you email. CRM contacts belong to a team workspace and carry sales and marketing information.

Workspaces and roles

Everything in the CRM lives in a workspace, shared by a team. A sales team might have one workspace, and a separate brand or department another. Members of a workspace see the same contacts, companies and deals.

Each member has a role, and each role can do everything the roles below it can:

Role	What it can do
Viewer	See everything in the workspace.
Editor	Also create, change and delete contacts, companies, notes, tasks and imports.
Admin	Also change the workspace's settings, members, senders and custom properties.
Owner	Also delete the workspace and make other members owners. A workspace always has at least one owner.

Create a workspace

1. Select CRM in the app rail.
2. The first time, you're asked to create your workspace. Type a Name and select Create workspace.

To create another workspace later, open the workspace switcher at the top of the CRM and choose + New workspace…. Your administrator may limit who can create workspaces and how many.

Set up the workspace

Open Settings in the CRM's menu. Admins and owners can change these sections:

• Workspace: the name, the Time zone, the Website, and the Postal address (shown in marketing email footers). A postal address is required before you can send a campaign.
• Members: search People by name or address, choose a role, and select Add member. Change a role or Remove a member from the list.
• Send as: the mailboxes the CRM sends from. Pick a Mailbox you're allowed to send from, adjust the name shown to recipients, and select Add sender. Replies to CRM mail arrive in that mailbox. Check Log email with contacts on a sender to put the ordinary one-to-one email it exchanges with contacts on their timelines.
• Custom properties: extra fields for contacts or companies, such as "Renewal date" or "Plan". Choose what the property belongs to, give it a label and a type (Text, Number, Date, Yes / no, Dropdown or Multiple choice), and select Add property.
• Do not email: addresses no campaign is ever sent to. Bounces and spam complaints are added here automatically, and you can Add address by hand.
• Delete workspace (owners only): deletes the workspace and everything in it, for every member. This can't be undone.

Contacts and companies

Contacts are people, and Companies are the businesses they work for. Both are in the CRM's menu. A new contact is linked automatically to the company whose website domain matches their email address.

Add and find records

1. Open Contacts (or Companies) and select New contact (or New company).
2. Fill in the details and select Create.

To find records, type in the search box, or select Filters to build conditions such as "Lifecycle stage is Customer" and "Tags includes vip". A filter can match all of its conditions or any of them, and can use your custom properties, list membership and segments. Select a column heading to sort.

Work with many records at once

Select records with the checkboxes (or select all on the page), then choose Add tag, Remove tag, Add to list, Remove from list or Delete. Select Export to download everything your search matches as a CSV file.

A contact's page

Select a contact to open their page. It shows:

• their fields and custom properties, Tags (comma-separated) and Owner, which you can change and Save;
• their Subscriptions to your mailing lists, where you can Subscribe or Unsubscribe them;
• Notes: type a note and select Add note;
• Tasks: type a task, optionally set a due date, and select Add task;
• their deals;
• Activity: a timeline of everything that has happened, such as emails sent, opened and clicked, forms submitted, list changes and deal moves.

Company pages work the same way, without subscriptions.

Import from a spreadsheet

1. Open Import.
2. Under The file holds, choose contacts or companies, pick the CSV file, and select Upload.
3. Check how the file's columns map to CRM fields. RapidMX suggests a mapping.
4. Optionally:
   • check Update records that are already here to update existing records rather than skip them;
   • fill in Tag everything imported with (comma-separated);
   • choose a list under Subscribe everyone imported to.
5. Select Start import.

The import runs in the background, and the Import page shows its progress.

warning

Only subscribe people to a list if they agreed to receive that email. The CRM records how each subscription was made, but it can't know whether the people in a file gave their consent.

Tasks

Tasks in the CRM's menu lists the workspace's follow-ups. Add one with a title, assignee, due date and priority, and tick it off when it's done. The person a task is assigned to gets a reminder shortly before it's due.

CRM tasks are separate from your personal tasks.

Mailing lists, forms and subscriptions

A mailing list is a group of people who agreed to receive a kind of email from you, such as a monthly newsletter or product updates. Campaigns are sent to lists. The CRM keeps a record of each subscription: when, how and from what address it was made.

Create a mailing list

1. Open Lists and select New list.
2. Give it a Name for your team, and optionally a Name subscribers see (optional) and a Description subscribers see.
3. To make new signups confirm their address first, check Ask signups to confirm by email (double opt-in) and choose who Confirmation emails come from.
4. Leave Offer it in the preference center checked if subscribers may join or leave this list themselves.
5. Select Save.

The list page shows how many people are Subscribed and how many are Awaiting confirmation.

Add a signup form to your website

1. Open Forms and select New form.
2. Fill in the Name (only members see it), the Heading and Text under the heading visitors see.
3. Choose the fields to ask for with + Add a field… (for example First name, Company or a custom property), and mark the ones that are Required. Email is always asked for.
4. Check the lists people are subscribed to when they sign up. To make them confirm their address first, check Ask signups to confirm by email (double opt-in) and choose who Confirmation emails come from.
5. Optionally fill in Tag contacts with (comma-separated), the Message once submitted, or a page to send them to instead (Or go to this page (https://)).
6. Make sure Take submissions is checked, and select Save.

Select Open form to see the form on its own page, and share that link. To put the form inside your website, select Copy embed code and paste the code into your site.

What subscribers can do

Every campaign email has an unsubscribe link, and mail programs that support it also show their own one-click unsubscribe button. The designer's Footer block adds both an Unsubscribe link and an Email preferences link. On the email preferences page, subscribers choose which of your lists to receive, or select Unsubscribe from all email. Neither page needs an account.

Design an email

Campaigns and automations send email designed in Templates.

1. Open Templates and select New template. Give it a Name and Subject, and select Create and design.
2. Build the email in the designer:
   • Drag blocks from the palette into the email: Heading, Text, Image, Button, Divider, Spacer, Social links, Footer, and HTML (HTML blocks can only be added by workspace admins).
   • Sections can have up to four columns.
   • Click text to edit it in place. Select a block to change its settings, such as colours, sizes and links.
   • Insert merge tags, such as the contact's first name, so each reader gets a personal email.
   • Use Undo and Redo, and Save for reuse to keep a block for other templates.
3. Fill in the Preview text, the line inboxes show after the subject.
4. Select Preview to see the email for a sample reader or any contact, at desktop or phone width, or as plain text. Select Send test to send it to one of your own mailboxes.
5. Select Save.

tip

A campaign email needs an unsubscribe link, for example in a Footer block. The template list marks templates that don't have one yet.

Send a campaign

A campaign sends one email to the subscribers of your chosen lists.

1. Open Campaigns and select New campaign. Give it a Name and select Create.
2. Fill in each section:
   • From: the sender, one of the workspace's send-as addresses.
   • To: the lists under Send to the subscribers of, and any lists to leave out under But not to the subscribers of. You can narrow it with Only those in the segments or exclude Never those in the segments. The editor shows how many people the campaign will reach.
   • Email: the template to send.
   • Tracking: Track opens (an invisible image) and Track clicks (links go through a redirect).
   • A/B test (optional): see below.
3. Under Send, check the list of anything that's still missing, such as a sender, a list, an unsubscribe link or your postal address.
4. Leave When (empty: now) empty and select Send now, or pick a date and time and select Schedule. Select Save draft to finish later.

Campaigns skip addresses that are on the Do not email list, that have unsubscribed, or that bounced or marked your mail as spam before. Sending is spread out over time, so a large list can take a while.

While a campaign is going out you can Pause, Resume or Cancel it. Messages already sent stay sent. A scheduled campaign can go Back to draft until it starts. Duplicate copies a campaign to send again.

Test two versions (A/B test)

In the A/B test section, add up to four variants, each with its own subject line or template. The variants are sent to part of the audience first. After the number of hours you set, the variant that did best under Pick the winner by (Opens, Clicks or Replies) goes to everyone else.

Read the results

Once sent, a campaign shows its report: how many were sent, opened, clicked, replied, bounced, unsubscribed or marked as spam, which links were clicked, how each A/B variant did, and a recipients list you can search and filter. Opens and clicks by automatic mail scanners are counted apart from people's.

Opens, clicks, replies and bounces also appear on each contact's timeline. A hard bounce or a spam complaint puts the address on the Do not email list.

Segments

A segment is a named group of contacts defined by a filter, such as "customers in Germany who opened an email in the last 30 days". You can use segments to filter contacts, narrow a campaign, and start automations.

1. Open Segments and select New segment.
2. Give it a Name and add conditions.
3. Choose the Kind:
   • Dynamic - keeps up with the filter: contacts join and leave on their own as they start or stop matching.
   • Static - the contacts matching now: a snapshot. Select Refresh to update it by hand.
4. Select Create. The segment shows how many contacts it holds.

Lead scoring

Lead scoring gives each contact a score, so your team can see who is most interested. A contact's score is the sum of the workspace's rules.

1. Open Lead scoring and select New rule.
2. Choose the kind of rule:
   • By who they are: points for contacts who match a filter, for example 10 points for the job title "Director".
   • By what they do: points Each time the contact opened an email, clicked a link, replied, had an email bounce, submitted a form, subscribed or unsubscribed. Optionally count only In the last (days, empty: ever), and cap the rule with At most (points, empty: no limit).
3. Set the Points (negative takes away) and select Create.

Scores update in the background. Select Recalculate now to update them straight away. The score is a contact field, so you can filter and segment by it.

Automations

An automation is a workflow that runs by itself when a contact does something. For example: when someone subscribes to the newsletter, send a welcome email, wait three days, and if they haven't replied, send a follow-up.

Create an automation

1. Open Automations and select New automation.
2. Pick a starting point, or Start from scratch. The ready-made ones are Welcome, and follow up if there's no reply, Welcome series, Follow up on a form, Win back and Birthday greeting.
3. Give it a Name and select Create.
4. Select the trigger at the top and choose what starts the automation under When a contact, for example Subscribes to a list, Submits a form, Enters a segment, Opens an email, Has a deal won or Reaches a date (birthday, renewal, anniversary…). You can also limit it with Only contacts matching (optional).
5. Add steps below the trigger and select each one to set it up.
6. Select Save draft while you work, and Publish when it's ready. Publishing checks the whole flow first.

The steps you can add are:

Kind	Steps
Timing	Wait a while; Wait for an email to be opened, clicked or replied to, with a branch for "It happened" and one for "It didn't"
Branches	If / else on a filter; Random split into Path A and Path B
Actions	Send an email, Set a field, Add a tag, Remove a tag, Subscribe to a list, Unsubscribe from a list, Create a task, Notify a member, Put into another automation, Post to a webhook

In the automation's settings you can set a goal that takes contacts out early once they reach it, and whether a contact can go through it Once only or Again, once they've finished.

Watch and manage an automation

Each step shows how many contacts are at it. Contacts in it lists everyone going through the automation, At step shows where each one is, and Take out removes a contact. Pause stops the automation and Resume starts it again. Editing a published automation doesn't move contacts already in it: they finish the version they entered.

Deals and pipelines

A deal is a sale you're working on. It moves through the stages of a pipeline, for example Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation, Won. Every workspace starts with a "Sales" pipeline.

Track a deal

1. Open Deals. The board shows a column for each stage.
2. Select New deal, fill in the Name, Amount, Currency and Stage, and select Create.
3. Drag the deal from column to column as it progresses, or use Move to. Moving a deal to a lost stage asks why it was lost.

Select a deal to open its page. There you can set the Owner and Expected to close date, link the contacts and company involved, and add notes and tasks. The Stage history shows every move. Deal moves also appear on the timelines of the contacts involved, and a deal being created, moved, won or lost can start an automation.

The deals page also shows a forecast: the open value and the weighted value per stage, the win rate, and how long deals take to win.

Set up pipelines

Workspace admins can change pipelines under Pipelines: add a New stage, set each stage's Probability %, Kind (open, won or lost) and Rotting after (days), which flags deals that sit in a stage too long. You can create more pipelines, Make default one of them, or Delete pipeline.

Reports

Reports shows charts over the last 7, 30, 90 or 365 days (Period):

• Email: messages sent, opened, clicked, replied to, bounced and unsubscribed from, per day and as rates, and the top recipient domains.
• Audience: new contacts, subscribes and unsubscribes per day, and each list's subscribers.
• Sales: deals won and their value, lost and open, and the win rate, for all pipelines or one.

Each chart can also be shown as a table.

Connect other systems

Integrations in the CRM's menu connects the workspace to your other software, such as your website or online shop. A workspace admin sets these up, usually with the help of whoever runs that other system.

• Webhooks: RapidMX posts a message to an https:// address of yours whenever something happens, such as a contact being created, a subscription, or a deal being won. Select Add webhook, then use Test to send a test message and Deliveries to see recent posts.
• API keys: select Make key to create a key that lets another system add and update contacts, subscribe and unsubscribe people, or report events that start automations. The key is shown only once, so copy it. Revoke a key to stop it working.

The technical details of webhooks and the integration API are in the plugin's README.

For administrators

The CRM plugin's main settings are changed on the Plugins page of the admin console (see Plugins):

Setting	Key	Default	What it does
Public site address	mail:crm:public_url	this server's address	Where the public pages (signup forms, the preference center, unsubscribe links) are served from. Links in CRM email point here.
Who can create workspaces	mail:crm:workspace_creator_roles	empty	Comma-separated roles allowed to create workspaces. Empty lets every signed-in user.
Workspaces per user	mail:crm:max_workspaces_per_user	10	How many workspaces one user may create.
Campaign messages per minute	mail:crm:send_rate_per_minute	600	The most campaign messages the whole server sends per minute, shared by every workspace. Raise it only as far as your mail server and its reputation allow.
Per-message bounce addresses	mail:crm:verp	true	Gives each campaign message its own bounce address (sender+b-token@domain), so bounces are matched reliably. Needs plus-addressing, which RapidMX has on by default.

More limits (mail:crm:max_members, mail:crm:max_senders, mail:crm:export:max_rows, mail:crm:import:max_bytes, mail:crm:token_secret) and the schedules of the CRM's background jobs are server configuration keys; the plugin's README lists them all with their defaults. See Configuration for how to set server configuration.

Learning about replies, bounces and spam complaints needs an events Redis datastore on the server. Without one, campaigns still send, but those outcomes aren't recorded.

The CRM page in the admin console

The admin console gets a CRM page. It shows the number of Workspaces and Contacts, the messages Sent in the last day and Waiting to send, and every workspace with its size. If a workspace is being used to send abusive mail, select Stop sending to stop its campaign and automation email without touching its data, and Let it send to allow it again.

Server administrators have no access to the contents of a workspace they aren't a member of.

Limitations

• The CRM is new (version 0.2). Recording replies, bounces and complaints, and posting webhooks, haven't yet been verified end to end on a real deployment. Watch your first campaigns closely.
• Senders must be mailboxes the member can already send from. There is no separate list of allowed sending domains.