Emailing Multiple Applicants in Slate

Emailing multiple applicants at once in Slate is possible; however, it is more complicated and could potentially cause issues if executed incorrectly. Therefore, the ability to email multiple applicants at once in Slate is currently something that can only be done out of central admissions.

We understand this is a change from Applicant Review, where it wasn't too difficult to email multiple applicants at once. Unfortunately, that just is not the case in Slate. The Slate Project team continues to look for ways to figure out ways to mitigate the amount of emailing coordinators need to do and provide alternative methods of communication.

A Workaround: Using Homepage Queries with Outlook

If learning a new CRM mailing system is overwhelming — or perhaps you are already a master at using mail merges or UW-Madison's preferred email vendor Oracle Eloqua Marketing Automation — then making use of the Homepage Queries is probably the best way to quickly get a list of your applicants' email addresses so you can send emails in bulk.

Every Homepage Query available includes applicants' first name, last name, and email address. Depending on the type of email you are sending and the intended audience, some lists may be more useful than others. Below are some examples of Homepage Queries that may be useful when creating an email campaign outside of Slate:

• All applications: This query will pull every prospective student's info, no matter where they are in the application process (even those who have been denied admission).
  Example emails:
  • You want to give all of your prospective students an important update before the deadline to apply.
  • You have extended the deadline to apply and wish to inform all applicants and potential applicants.
    
    
• All submitted applications: This query will pull a list of all of the submitted applications your programs has received (even those who have been denied admission).
  Example emails:
  
  • You want to provide a general review timeline to all of those students who submitted applications.
  • You want to inform all of your applicants that they should reach out to a faculty member for a prospective student interview.
    
    
• All recommended applications that have not been withdrawn: This query will pull a list of your students that your programs have recommended for admission minus the students who have withdrawn their application (if you are familiar with G-codes, any student who has a G60 or G61 code that did not also have a G57, G58, or G59 on their record).
  Example emails:
  
  • You want to let all recommended applicants know about the April 15th Resolution deadline.
  • You want to invite all recommended applicants who have not withdrawn to a prospective student visit.
    
    
• All admitted applications (G11, G12, G13): This query will pull a list of each of your applicants that has been through the review process and admitted to the Graduate School, even those applicants who have withdrawn their application.
  Example emails:
  • You want to email all of the admitted students information about your program's orientation schedule.
  • You want a list of your admitted applicants so you can send these admitted students funding information.
    
    

An Example: Sending Personalized Emails Using a Homepage Query and Mail Merge

Mail merge lets you create a batch of emails that are personalized for each recipient. For example, you can use mail merge to send a bunch of emails that address your various recipients by their name and includes their campus ID, without sending out the emails one by one.

There are a lot of programs that allow you to build a mail merge. In the following example, we will use a Homepage Query with Microsoft Word's Mail Merge Wizard to email all of our admitted applicants about registering for an upcoming Zoom meet-and-greet. Please note that the process below follows the steps for a Windows user in Microsoft Word 365, so if you use an Apple/Mac or have a different version of Microsoft Word, the mail merge process will work differently.

In this example, we want to send the following message with the recipients Name, Plan-Subplan, and Campus ID (highlighted below) to be personalized for each recipient:

Step 1: Select a Homepage Query and export results to an Excel Spreadsheet

1. Go to the Homepage in Slate and select the best query for your situation. In this example, we will use the All admitted applications (G11, G12, G13) query.
2. Click Run Query, which will populate the results.
   • Note: it is a good idea to review the query results just to make sure you are pulling the list of applicants you expected with the desired fields you need. In this case, we want to make sure the Excel Spreadsheet includes the applicant's email, name, Campus ID, and the name of the Plan-Subplan to which the student has been admitted. The "All admitted applications (G11, G12, G13)" query includes all of these fields.
3. From the output dropdown, select Excel Spreadsheet
4. Click the Export button, which will download an Excel Spreadsheet, which in our case looks like the Spreadsheet in the screenshot below
5. Save the Excel Spreadsheet as something memorable that you will be able to locate in your files.
   
   

Step 2: Set up the Excel Spreadsheet with the information you need

1. Open your saved spreadsheet and review the data.
2. You may wish to delete recipients from this list who should not receive this email. For example, because this query includes re-entry applicants who are returning to the program, you may want to delete all applicants with a G12 re-entry code.
3. If you know you won't use columns of your data, you can delete them from your spreadsheet. In this example, I will delete all of the columns except for the four columns of information I will need: applicant's email, name, Campus ID, and the name of the Plan-Subplan to which the student has been admitted. You do not need to do this, but it may be helpful later when setting up the email.
4. Check if there are any blank cells in your data. If a cell of data you wish to include in the email is blank, the email will have nothing to pull in, which may make the email read oddly for that recipient. You can either fill in the cell with the needed information, or you can delete the applicant from the email and send them a different email if necessary.
5. If so desired, you could also add columns of data to this Excel Spreadsheet that could be later pulled into an email. In this example, we won't do that.
6. Once you have an Excel Spreadsheet that looks ready for your email, select save and exit out of Excel. The screenshot below is the Excel Spreadsheet I created, saved as Example_Mail_Merge.xlsx.
   
   

Step 3: Open Microsoft Word and compose your email

• Open up a blank document Microsoft Word
• Write the email you wish you send (see above)
• Once composed, navigate to the Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard following these steps (see screenshot below)
  1. Select Mailings in the top menu
  2. Click on Start Mail Merge
  3. Select Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard (see screenshot below)
     
     

Step 4: Follow the 6 steps of the Mail Merge Wizard

• Step 1 - Select document type: Select E-mail messages
• Step 2 - How do you want to set up your E-mail messages: Select Use the current document
• Step 3 - Select recipients: Select Use an existing list and then select Browse and find the Excel Spreadsheet document you saved earlier (in my example Example_Mail_Merge.xlsx)
• Step 4 - Write your e-mail message: Insert the merge fields you wish to include in your message, following steps in the screenshot below, which shows how to insert the Name field:
  1. Place your cursor in the message where you'd like to place the merge field
  2. Select the Insert Merge Field button in the menu above
  3. Select the merge field you want and then select Insert
     
     
     
     
• Step 5 - Preview your e-mail messages: use this opportunity to see that your fields are populating correctly into your email template. In the example shown in the screenshot below, the merge fields have correctly populated to show the right information for an example applicant.
  
  
  
  
• Step 6 - Complete the merge: first, select the Electronic Mail link, and then in window that appears, provide a subject for the mailing and then select OK. This will then send off your email through to these applicants.