How to send a newsletter from your CRM

Sending a newsletter from your CRM means the recipients come from records you already keep, and every open and click lands back on the person. In the Bell it takes eight steps: verify your domain, set your sender, add your design, build the newsletter, send a test, choose recipients, send or schedule, and read the results. Most of the setup time is waiting for DNS. After that, each newsletter takes as long as it takes to write.

You need three things: access to wherever your domain is managed (your registrar or web host), your company name and postal address for the email footer, and your logo if you have one. The Bell asks for the company details because every newsletter and marketing email has to say who it comes from.

1. Verify your domain. In Email templates, open the Newsletters tab and add your domain. The Bell shows a few DNS records. Add them where your domain is managed, then press Verify. Each record is explained in plain language, whoever hosts your domain.
2. Set your sender. Choose a sender name and an address on your domain, for example news@yourcompany.com, and a reply-to address that someone actually reads.
3. Add your design. In Settings, add your company name and address, upload your logo and pick your font and colors. Every newsletter and marketing email uses them, and you can adjust a single email when you need to.
4. Build the newsletter. Create a newsletter and add blocks: headings, text, images, a full-width banner, buttons and two-column layouts. Check the desktop and mobile preview as you go.
5. Send a test. Send yourself a test and read it on your phone and your computer before anyone else does.
6. Choose recipients. Send to all subscribers, or filter by tags, Lead or Customer, AIDA stage, owner, industry or company size. The recipient count updates as you filter, so you know exactly how many people you will reach.
7. Send or schedule. Send now, or pick a date and time.
8. Read the results. See delivered, opened, clicked, bounced and unsubscribed for the send. Opens, clicks, unsubscribes and replies also show on each person's timeline, next to their deals.

Only people who opted in receive newsletters and marketing emails. Every email carries your company details and an unsubscribe link, and Gmail's and Outlook's own unsubscribe buttons work. One unsubscribe stops both newsletters and marketing emails, and addresses that bounce or report spam are removed automatically.

A newsletter doesn't count as personal contact. It won't change a person's "last activity" or hide them from your follow-up suggestions.

A newsletter goes out once, to a list, at a time you pick. For emails that should follow each person's own timeline (a webinar invite, a reminder five days later, the recording a week after that), use marketing emails.

Build them in the same editor under Marketing emails, then add them as steps in a sequence. Each person moves through the sequence from the moment you enroll them or they fill in one of your forms. Marketing emails come from your company's address with your logo and styling. Your personal 1:1 emails keep going from your own mailbox.

Every plan includes up to 5,000 newsletter and marketing emails per workspace per month, at no extra cost (250 on a trial). Your 1:1 emails don't count. The Newsletters tab shows how much you have used, and the Bell warns you before a newsletter or an enrollment would take you over the limit.

A separate newsletter tool knows who opened. Your CRM knows who is about to buy. For why that matters, read Your newsletter should know your pipeline.