Targeted Messaging 2.1

This document will guide you through using the Targeted Messaging tool to contact targeted groups of people at SUNY Cortland. This tool works by starting with an entire population (Students, Employees, etc) and uses filters to reduce the target audience to exactly the people you wish to Targeted Messaging to/with. While any particular type of filter can only be used once (i.e. Major), you will be able to build and save filters that will allow you to send the same message multiple times to each group you need to reach. All messages sent, filters used for a particular message, and recipients of each message sent are stored in your Messages Sent and can be referred to at any time. You reach the tool by logging in to MyRedDragon, clicking on the Faculy/Staff tab and clicking on the Launch Targeted Messaging 2.1 link found in the Targeted Messaging channel.

Selecting a Target Population

Targeted Messaging offers several target populations to send messages to. The most commonly used are Students and Employees. By default Targeted Messaging is set to send to the Student population as this is the most used population. To select different target populations you can choose from the drop down list labeled Filter For under Filter Settings:

Several populations depend on a selected Term. By default, if a population depends on a term, the selected term will be the current term. If a population does not depend on a term, then the Term drop down lists will be disabled.

Some populations allow you to send to the entire population (Students, Employees), while others you must provide at least one filter before you can send a message.

You must confirm if you are sending to a large population:

This population requires you to provide at least one filter:

Building Filters

Filters in Targeted Messaging 2.1 consist of many types where each type has specific values you can choose from. For example, you can filter the Student population by using the Buildings filter, where in turn you can select the specific building you want to filter by:

Filters of the same type cannot be stacked, ie. only one Buildings filter can be used at a time. However, you can use multiple filters per message:

To remove a previously added filter you can simply click on the 'X' button next to the filter you want to remove or to remove all currently added filters you can click on the 'Reset Filters' button.

Several filters may require user input. An example of a filter that requires user input would be the Age filter for the Students population:

Most filters which require user input will have you select a mathematical operation (greater than, less than, equal to, etc.) which represents how you want to use this filter and will then prompt you for input. In the case of the Age filter you have the ability to select students with an Age greater than, less than, equal to, etc. your specified input:

Saving Filters

You may find that you are frequently building the same filters for messages. It may be helpful to save your filters for later use so that you won't need to build them every time you wish to use them. To save a commonly used set of filters simply build the filters you wish to save, give this saved filter a name and click on Save Filter:

Once you have saved this filter, you can reference it and apply it by selecting it from the Saved Filters drop down list and clicking on Apply Filter:

Sending a Message

Once you've built your filters and are satisfied with your results you can create your message to send. Creating a message in Targeted Messaging is as easy as sending an email. Each message is composed of a Subject, a Body, and an optional attachment:

Use the text editor to format your messages accordingly, or design your message in Microsoft Word and paste with formatting using the Paste from MS Word button.

Once your message is composed, you can click on the Send Email button and your message will be put into our message queue and you will receive a receipt email sent to your Cortland email account. Our message queue pushes out emails in batches of about 250-500 emails every 5 minutes, so if you are sending to a rather large population it may take some time to send your message to all recipients.

Luckily, you can view all messages which have been sent or are pending in your Messages Sent section.

Messages Sent

All messages sent using Targeted Messaging are recorded and tracked. You can view all messages that you've sent, as well as all of the recipients that each message was sent to by going to the Messages Sent section:

Each message sent will have a Pending, Sent, and Total number. Pending will be the number of messages that are still in the queue waiting to be emailed. Sent is the number of emails that have been successfully emailed to the recipient. To view more details about a particular message you can click on the Open button. Message details will include all filters used to send the message, the message body itself, and a list of all recipients that this message was sent to:

Message recipients are displayed 15 results at a time and can be navigated by using the controls at the bottom of the list. You can also search through recipients to view whether or not a message has been sent to them yet or if they have actually read the message.