Editing Templates
Overview
An appropriate Template is at the heart of your campaign. Your templates are used to create the letters or other media that will be sent to your prospects. Lead Miner's special properties and algorithms apply your leads to the final letters or postcards using your exact specifications, but the template you use is very important to the overall results your campaign will achieve. Lead Miner provides Sample Templates that can be easily modified for a quick campaign, but also offers you the option to use your own ideas and create new templates completely from scratch, or from some other media source that you have previously used successfully, if you so desire. This chapter describes how to use Lead Miner's editor in the most efficient manner for whatever your needs may be.
The Template Editor offers you many features including the modification or creation of new templates of letters, postcards, emails, envelopes, headers and footers for use in your campaigns. Editing or designing templates to your campaign's precise specifications and audience is key to using Lead Miner successfully. Once a template that is tailor-made to your current campaign is designed, it will be very easy to alter it to befit campaigns with similar provisions. If you would like a more unique or customized template and/or campaign, and do not have time to create it yourself, our professionals are happy to create it for you, for an additional fee. To have us create your campaign, please click on this link for more information.
Call us at 415-455-1100 or toll free at 877-994-8100 (Toll Free), or email:
support@GoCampaigns.com
Open the Editor
The editor is opened from the CRM, by pressing the Edit Templates button near the bottom of the window, as highlighted in the screen below.
The Template Type Selection dialog box appears.
Once you select a template type for editing from the following window,
(and as also explained in the CRM chapter), you will be presented with a window to select the template you would like to Edit, Copy, or Delete.
To delete a template, select the template you would like to delete, select the Delete template button, and click OK.
A confirmation box will appear, as follows:
Press OK to delete the selected template or Cancel to recant the operation.
To copy a template, select the template you would like to make a copy of, select the Copy template button, and click OK.
Note: It is often very useful to use the Copy template function to maintain a copy of your original template before making any changes. This feature is similar to the "Save as..." feature in a word processor.
A dialog box will appear asking you for the title of the new template copy you have just created. Enter a unique template name in this box:
Press OK to finish creating the copy of the selected template.
To edit a template, select the template you would like to edit, select the Copy template button, (the default), and click OK.
The template editor window will open with the selected template. If this is the first time you are using the Edit template button, or if it has not been disabled, the Helper Window will appear initially to offer you basic editing tips.
Helper Windows
Helper Windows offer information and an opportunity to open the User's Guide. They can be disabled by checking Do not show this again.
The Helper window may be closed or left open for guidance while you are using the editor.
The editor window's appearance will vary slightly, depending on the type of template you're editing. Overall, it will look and function as is described here.
Mensuration features provide vertical and horizontal measuring labels for more precise alignment of your templates. These, as well as the toolbox (top section), can be turned on or off from the View menu.
Special Insert Tags
Special tags are used to dynamically insert variable data or symbols into the letters or other media in your campaign. They are divided into three categories. Each tag category is color coded in the dropdown list.
- Tags in this color are substituted with variable data visible in the CRM.
- Tags in this color are special symbols. No variable substitutions occur with these.
- Tags in this color are substituted with variable data that is computed on the fly. This data is not visible in the CRM.
Drop Down list:
To insert any of the special tags or symbols, click on the dropdown above, scroll down the list and choose a field to insert.
Then place the cursor where you wish to place the field and click on the insert 
button.
To delete any of the special tags or symbols, you can either use the Delete or Backspace keys, or
select the tag to delete from the dropdown and place
the cursor on or near the tag to be deleted and click on the remove 
button.
Below is an example of a letter using fields, computed fields and comparable image fields.
Editing Text
To insert text, just left-click your mouse anywhere in the text area. You will see a blinking red text cursor at that spot. You can alter the location by using the Up, Down, Left or Right arrow keys on your keyboard, or by a left mouse click somewhere else.
To delete text you can position your cursor to any text location and use the Delete or Backspace keys.
Alternately, you can select (highlight) a section of text with your mouse by a left-click and drag, then use the Delete or Backspace keys. Deletion of text can also be accomplished by selecting a section of text, then using the cut button just as you might do in any test editing program.
The Cut, Paste & Copy iconic buttons also work as they do in most other applications.
It is possible to copy text to the clipboard from another application and paste it into a new or existing template to reproduce it in a letter or postcard. This allows you to take advantage of getting text quickly from previous marketing or other efforts that you may wish to use for your current campaign.
Additionally, you can also select (highlight) any portion of the text and use the following options:
- Change selected text Color
- Make selected text Bold, Italic or Underline
- Change selected text's Font Style and Font Size
- Make selected text Right, Left or Center justified
Add or Remove Pages
Use the buttons highlighted in bright yellow below to add and remove pages.
The Remove (-) button will always delete the page that is nearest to your cursor, so you must be aware of the exact cursor position before using the Remove button, or you may delete a needed page unintentionally..
The Add (+) button will always add the new page to the end of your letter.
Adding a page will result in a heavy, black, horizontal line being added at the appropriate location. The line will not be included in the actual print.
Inserting Tables
To insert a new table, place your text cursor where you would like to place the table
and click on the table 
button (top, right icon above). The Table Definition box
will pop up.
Note: Always create tables with the Border ON, or they will not appear. You can later change this property once the cells are populated with background colors, images, text, or other selections.
Select the number of Rows, Columns and other features. We often recommend using Dynamic Width rather than Full Width, as this will make your tables align better in general with each other and overall in your letter. However, if you know the exact size you want the table to be in advance, you may press the Specific Size button and enter a number to represent a percentage (%) of the entire width of the template.
If you wish, you can add a background color to a table cell by clicking
on the cell of interest and selecting the desired color.
Note: Users only need to specify a number in the Specify Size box, if this is used. This sets your table to the percentage of the entire width of your template that has been designated. Users can also specify a number followed by "px" to specify the number of pixels for the width of your table upon creation, but this is only recomended for the special situation where you know exactly how many pixels the table must be.
Click the OK button when the definition is complete.
Use the Table Actions (highlighted below) to modify an existing table. To do this, just select the desired Table Action and right-click on the table or table cell.
**Click on the blue link for a more detailed explanation of Tables and their use, which follows in the ensuing section titled, "More Extensive Use Of Tables"
Inserting Images
To insert a new image, place your text cursor where you would like to place the image
and click on the image 
button. The file image selection box
will pop up. Select an image file and click Open. This will open the image editor with
the image inside. Click Save when done and the picture will be inserted into the template.
To insert images that will change dynamically depending upon recipient's qualfications, use the specific image tag from the Special Insert Tags. This will insert a placeholder image at the location. The placeholder images are dynamically replaced by library images when your campaign is applied.
Other Image Actions
On the top right side of the Template Editor, there is a blue outlined box which contains "Right Mouse Action Assignments." The Image Actions are noted at the bottom of this box, as shown below.
Note: The only Image Action that is usually required on placeholder images, is the Resize option described below. Placeholder images are dynamic and will be replaced with the images from your library when your campaign media is generated.
To change the size of an image, select the Resize option in the Image Action section below, then right-click on the image to resize. Please note that the image resizing is measured in pixels.
The following window will appear. The image that your have selected will not be affected by this operation. The only effect will be to resize what is being displayed in the template.
If the selected image is a placeholder image and there is more than one such image specified in the template, you will be presented with this option.
Using the Remaining "Right Mouse Action Assignments" Image Options
As noted above, It is not usually necessary to use the following three image options on placeholder images.
Remove, Edit, Replace options. These are described below.
To remove an image, select the Remove option in the Image Action section below, then right-click on the image to remove. If the images have been placed in a table, the cells of the table are also deleted.
To replace an image, select the Replace option in the Image Action section below, then right-click on the image and select a different image file.
To edit an image, select the Edit option in the Image Action section below, then right-click on the image to edit. More image editing information is shown below.
Image Editing
You can use the image editor to do the following to an image:
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The use of most of these functions is self evident. One exception is the crop function. To use that function, just click and drag your mouse inside the image, forming a box. When you release the mouse your image will be cropped to the size of the box you drew. Your mouse must be inside of the image from beginning to end, boxing out a segment of the image.
Sepiatone is another modification that you may not recognize. This option is a form of antiquing your image.
If you choose to edit an image with the image editor, you should be aware that this is modifying the actual source image and not just what appears on the page. A warning box will pop up to alert you about this before saving your changes.
**Click on the blue link here to obtain more detailed information on the Editor which is presented in a subsequent section titled "The Template Editor in Detail"
Special Instructions
Additionally, there are some important, template driven, issues you need to be aware of.
Editing the Return Address Template
The Return Address Template is a special kind of template, unlike any of the others, and used in a somewhat different manner. This template, when completed by the user, will contain the text that will be inserted wherever the Special Tag, "Return Address" is placed in another template type.
Open the Template editor in the usual way; select the Return Address button and press OK.
The Return Address "Template" will appear, and you will notice that this is not an actual editor window, as you have seen if you have edited any other template.
The Return Address "Template" is esentially just a large text field, which is intended for your basic three or four line return address. Whatever you have typed into this field will show up in places such as your envelopes, or wherever the Special Tag called "Return Address" is inserted into one of your other templates. Note: If you do not complete your return address in this template, nothing will appear in place of the Special Tag that uses this information.
Editing an Envelope Template
The blank stamp image highlighted below must be left exactly as it appears if, and only if, you intend to use Go Campaign's Print and Mail Services. Otherwise you can remove or change it as needed.
Editing a header/footer file
The header is the portion of the template that lies above the horizontal line, and the footer is the portion below it. The Header may contain your company logo, your address, or any information you would like to be at the top of your letters. Likewise, the footer file may contain your website URL, a statement of your company's service and integrity, or whatever else may be important for your prospects to notice.
Although you are editing the header and footer as a separate file, when you open the letter, they are integrated to appear above and below the text of your letter, as any normal header and footer would. The headers and footers are only used for letter campaigns.
Do not remove the horizontal line!
When editing a postcard template
The postcard front comes up in the editor first. The back side of the postcard will come up only after you dismiss (Save or Cancel) the front side.
Edit Front of Postcard
Edit Back of Postcard
Email Settings
Before sending out an email campaign you must specify your Outbound Mail Server and your From Address, either by using the Options menu, or from the CRM using the eMails button. The Main client and/or CRM email options settings window is pictured below. If you find you have not filled out this information, and do not know how to fill it in, you will need to contact your system administrator or other contact to obtain the correct settings.
Note: It is perfectly fine to create or edit your email template before the email setup information is filled in, but the email campaign cannot be processed without it.
Editing an email template
There are 3 extra buttons, which allow for web links, email links and document color background. When using web and email links, always select the text you want to associate the link with before clicking on the button.
Sample Template Editing
The action of editing a sample template is a quick and easy way to get your campaign up and running in the simplest manner. This section will describe how to take sample templates provided by Go Campaigns, and make them into your personalized letter and envelope templates. It is recommended that you read through the Overview section above, to familiarize yourself with the Template Editor before you try this yourself.
We will start with the envelope template provided in the CRM.
With the CRM window open, as also explained in the CRM chapter, you will need to select the Edit Templates button, as highlighted in the screen below.
The following window will appear:
Select the Envelopes button and Press OK.
When there are no envelopes yet defined, you will see the following screen:
Click OK to continue and edit the basic sample envelope provided.
On the screen above, type a unique name and press OK.
The Editor will open with the sample envelope, which is a basic example of how most envelopes are addressed. The highlighted fields below are all that is printed on the envelope.
The Return Address field is the address you have previously filled in for the Return Address template. The "MailTo" fields are the fields that represent your leads, so it is not necessary to alter these fields. The blank stamp image highlighted below must be left exactly as it appears if, and only if, you intend to use Go Campaign's Print and Mail Services. Otherwise you can remove or change it as needed.
You can modify the text in this sample envelope template, or save it as it is to the name that you have entered above. In the next example, the user has decided to add a logo above the Return Address field.
User positions the cursor above the Return Address Field, and will select the icon for "Insert an image at blinking cursor", which is the camera like icon (highlighted) near the top of the editor.
The file image selection box will pop up. Navigate to the location where the desired images are located. In this example, the folder is called "Images 2", but yours may differ. Select an image file and click Open.
This will open the image editor with the image inside. Click Save when done with any desired editing and the picture will be inserted into the template.
You may also add text, etc, but here is an example of how your finished envelope template might look with the original image antiqued (using Sepiatone) as shown above:
Use the Preview button to view your new template. This finished envelope template would appear as follows:
Updating a Letter Template would be your next step toward creating your campaign media.
With the CRM window open, as also explained in the CRM chapter, you will need to select the Edit Templates button, as highlighted in the screen below.
The following window will appear:
Select the Letters button and Press OK.
Using this template, you would be in the process of creating a template for a "Retirees" type of Real Estate campaign. Let's say that you like the overall theme of the letter, but some of the wording seems inappropriate to the message you would like to convey.
In this case, you can simply highlight the text you wish to change:
With the text highlighted as shown above, you can press the Backspace key to delete the old text that you want to remove, and add your own words. Your new template might look something like this when done:
This template can be saved, and you are now ready to move forward with your campaign in a matter of minutes. In some cases, a fabricated name or company may be replaced with your name or company name and you are on your way to mining your leads in practically no time at all! All the data matching and calculations are left to the Lead Miner application, and you can achieve results almost effortlessly!
For those who would rather customize their templates further or create one from scratch, the next section is for you. It deals with more detailed information about the Template Editor.
The Template Editor in Detail
The Template Editor is a powerful tool, as you may have surmised from the previous sections. The simplest editor actions have been described above. This section is for users who are either making a Template from scratch or making a myriad of changes to an existing template. Many behaviors of the template editor may seem unusual or unexpected so some of these disparities are addressed here. These differences and some recommendations are discussed in this section, as well as other things that you should be aware of regarding the editor.
The Template editor is an HTML editor, so it may not always do things the way an ordinary word processor would. Behind the scenes it is dynamically creating an HTML document for you. This makes it easy for your letters to be transformed into PDF formatted files for printing.
The View Menu (located in the upper left corner of the editor) controls access to the Toolbox, the Vertical Measure, and the Horizontal Measure. When these options are checked, (the default), they will be visible. When they are unchecked, the features are hidden.
Using the View menu, (Source edit option), a user can also look at the Source Edit for the HTML file. Although it is possible, it is strongly recommended that the text NOT be edited from this window. Unless you are an HTML expert and have a thorough understanding of how HTML pertains to Lead Miner, please do not modify any content from this editor! Naturally, it is fine to just view the content in this window, and that is the main reason the feature is provided. The HTML window is shown below.
Icons and Text modifying Tools:
The icons and tools that are not inside either the red lined box on the top right, or the blue lined box on the top left are the tools that are used for editing text. These are all directly under the Red lined box on the top left corner. These tools are for changing font size, color, style, etc. as well as other standard text editor types of operations.
Many of the Text related buttons or icons including the Bold, Italic and Underline, Cut, Copy, Paste and Alignment tools do work as they do in a regular word processor, but it is necessary to discuss a few key differences to ensure your editing experiences go smoothly.
Here are a few tips and tricks…
Center-Left-Right Alignment Icons:
To use the alignment icons, select the text or area to be aligned before clicking on the icons. Once the area is highlighted, then use the alignment tools as you normally would in most editing programs.
New Paragraphs:
For a new paragraph, use the Shift-Enter key combination (Holding down both keys simultaneously).
We recommend the use of this method for a section that you would like to have corresponding alignment. The use of the paragraph groups text or images together until a new paragraph is started.
Enter key:
The Enter key inserts only a break, rather than a new paragraph. When you are entering text which does not require a new paragraph grouping, you will want to use the Enter key alone.
Note: If the Enter key was used, and unexpected editor behavior occurs near this place, try changing this to Shift-Enter to insert the new paragraph character instead.
Space Bar:
Use the Space bar in text between words and sentences as you normally would. Using the Space bar to add more than one space will not be effective, however. It will at first appear to put spaces where you have inserted them, but if you save the template and then use the Preview button, you will notice that the spaces have disappeared. Due to the nature of the Template editor, you must use the tab key instead of spaces for the purpose of adding additional spaces. The tab is set to insert four spaces (that will not collapse on each other.) To get the required number of spaces, users should use the Tab key, and then the Backspace key to delete up to three unwanted spaces.
Tab key:
The Tab key is hard-coded to move forward four spaces. It can be used, for one, as a separator between images or text where extra spaces (or padding) is desired. Important: If images are placed on a page with only spaces between them, the spaces will be collapsed in the final output of the letter (or other campaign media), forcing them to be right next to eachother, no matter how many spaces have been used. When using the tab key, the backspace key should then be used to remove the number of spaces that are not needed, (up to three spaces.)
Template Rulers:
The rulers are provided for estimates only and do not reflect exact measurements. Use these as a guide for positioning and centering, but not as an exact reference for sizing.
Placeholder and Static Images:
Placeholder Images are special dynamic images included in your templates that will be replaced by the static images that you have stored in your existing libraries. For example, these may be houses for a Real Estate campaign, or vehicles for an Auto campaign, depending upon your chosen industry. Only the static images from your library (that have replaced the Placeholder Images) will appear when your actual campaign letters are processed. The selections that are applied from your library to each of your prospects determine which images are shown in the letter.
Static images are normally inserted for logos or other stationary pictures, often associated with a letterhead, footer, header, envelope, or any other place a static image is needed. For these types of images, it is always appropriate to use the “Image Actions” found outlined in the blue box, in the upper right hand corner of the editor window under the “Right Mouse Actions Assignment” area. With the exception of the Resize button, it is usually not appropriate or necessary to use the Image Action buttons for Placeholder image manipulation, unless it involves replacing placeholder images with static images, which is usually not necessary.
More Extensive Use Of Tables
The Table Tool icons are located in the top right blue lined box. These are Right-Mouse Action assigned Table Actions, and they control various aspects of cells, rows and/or columns in a table.
When it is necessary to insert a new table into your template, position the cursor where the table is to be placed, and press the Insert Table Icon 
located to the left of the Blue lined box.
The Table Definition pop up window will appear.
As shown above, the table can be defined with the desired number of rows and columns (up to 10 x 10), Border may be set on or off, Alignment set as Left, Right or Center, Background Colors in any or all cells, and Full or Dynamic Width, or a Specific Size width. If you know in advance the exact width size, (either in pixels or as a percentage of the template width), that the table needs to be, then you may want to press the Specific Size button and enter a number follwed by px for Pixels or % for a percentage of the entire width of the template.
Note: If you only specify a number in the Specify Size box, then you will receive an error that states: "Specific Width must end in '%' or 'px'.
If the table is defined with Dynamic width, then only the width that is needed will be used for each cell defined, but the columns will always line up with the widest cell in that column. If the table is defined to use Full width, then it will cover the width of the page, whether or not the contents of a cell is going to occupy that full space or not. We recommend using Dynamic width for many of your tables, (unless you know the Specific size to indicate for the table width.) The placeholder images fit extremely well in a dynamic table that has 3 columns. If you peruse the sample templates provided, you will notice that the 3 column dynamic tables are used consistently in many of our letter templates. Ultimately, you will use the style that works best for you. This is merely a suggestion, but here is an example of the disparate table width assignments to illustrate the difference.
Below is an example of a letter template containing a 2 row table in which the width is set up as a Dynamic Width Table:
Below is the same table with the Width property set to Full:
The Table below was specified to have a width of 200 pixels. Two Special Tags and one placeholder image were added, and the template appears as below:
Note the difference in the size of the Tables using each option.
In the third example directly above, the column widths will expand to fit the contents of the cell, even if you have specified only a particular number of pixels. This can be seen if the Preview button is used to View the letter, but it may be slightly deceptive when looking at only the template. (The text replacing the tag Vehicle ID#2 will be spaced correctly.)
As you can also see, the table in the second example above is taking up the full screen with only two images in the table. The placeholder images in this example do not change size, but the table width is stretched out to accomodate the full screen width choice. All the cells in the columns underneath the images are equally wide.
In the first dynamic table, the table has allocated only enough space to accomodate the images or other contents placed in its cells in either column. Since the images are the widest item in the columns, the table has sized to accomodate them.
When adding images such as placeholder images or even information that is going to be presented in column or row form to your template, we recommend that your first add a table that will accomodate the number of items that will be added to each row and column you intend to insert. Even if you do not have images to place, you may need to place your Field Tags, Special Tags and/or Symbols, etc. in tables to keep them aligned and organized.
In the following Mortgage Template sample letter, a table is used to show the various loan opprtunities for each of your prospects:
The table on the left is a 4 x 4 Dynamic Width Table. The top row contains centered text for your Table Heading. Each subsequent row contains Loan information that has been added with the Special Tags (explained previously in this document).
On the right side of this page is another table. This table is a Dynamic width table that was created with 3 Rows X 1 Column. Each of the cells has been given a different background color, (Blue, Green, Yellow), as you can see in the above screen.
The cells on this right side table have a mix of text with Special Tags. No static or placeholder images were needed in this sample letter template, since it refers to a mortgage type campaign. Within cells of the table, you can select (highlight) the text, tags or image and use the Alignment Tools (Left, Right, Center) to adjust placement within the cells.
Tables are very useful to your template letters or postcards. It is important to understand how they work so that they can be used to your full advantage. As you study the above table examples, you will recognize that once a table is added, you can then add placeholder images or other important tags with the “Field Tags, Special Tags & Symbols” controls, or regular images may be added with the Replace button in “Image Actions” selected, and a right mouse click action in the desired cell. This can be complimented with the appropriate text, (in or out of a table), in order to form the perfect media for your campaign, no matter which industry you are seeking to promote.