Getting started with Relenta

Welcome to Relenta, the first and only email-based contact and task manager that gets things done. Allow us to show you how.

Auto-forward your existing emails

To begin receiving email in Relenta, set up automatic forwarding of your existing email account(s) to your you@relenta.net address. Consult your email provider to find out how to set up automatic email forwarding. You can forward as many email accounts as you’d like to you@relenta.net. Our system automatically keeps tracks of what came from where so that there’s no confusion. You’ll find that managing all of your mail through one single interface saves time, and keeps whatever information you need right at your fingertips.

POP and IMAP access

You can receive email from your existing POP or IMAP servers by adding them in Settings > Email accounts > Add incoming email account.

Inbox features

There are two types of email messages in your Inbox: those that are associated with existing contacts, and those that aren’t (we call them ‘unassigned’). When you receive an unassigned message, you can associate it with an existing contact, or add the sender as a new contact.

You can preview, reply to, and forward an email directly from your Inbox or any other email folder. Keep in mind that if an email you replied to isn’t associated with a contact, your reply won’t be either.

Archiving a message removes it from the Inbox, but keeps it forever in the contact’s email history. You can view all messages, archived and unarchived, sent and received, in the All mail folder.

Compose email

Relenta has two general email views:

• Common email folders, such as Inbox, display incoming emails from all senders.
• Contact view displays messages sent to and received from a particular contact.

Accordingly, when you click on the Compose button in Inbox, you will need to select the recipient (you will be given suggestions as you type). When you click Compose in the Contact view, the message will be automatically addressed to that contact.

Sending email to groups of contacts

To send a mass email to a group of contacts, click on the vertical Groups tab in the left column, select the group, and click on the Mail to group button. Each recipient will see his/her own name/email address (and nobody else’s) in the To: line of your email. You can personalize the message text with contact’s name, company name, email and other fields using mail merge macros.

Email identities

When you create an account, Relenta automatically sets up a default From identity for you, using the name and email you provided during sign up. If you send/receive email from multiple accounts, you can configure separate identities for each in Settings > Email identities. You can also create identities for different staff members or departments within your organization. When you reply to a message that was address to Identity A (sales@your-company.com, let’s say), Relenta automatically uses that identity as your “from” address — which you can change if you wish.

Outgoing mail servers (SMTP)

Each Relenta account comes with a built-in SMTP account mail.relenta.net so you can start sending messages right away. You can send up to 250 emails per day.

If you’d rather use your own SMTP server, you can add it in Settings > Email accounts > Add outgoing email account.

Keep in mind that many email providers allow SMTP access only from within their own network. Because Relenta isn’t on their network, it is possible that it won’t be allowed to send emails via their SMTP, even though you may have provided the correct login and password. Contact your ISP or email provider if you have trouble with their SMTP servers. We provide support only for mail.relenta.net SMTP issues.

Import contacts

You can import address books from other programs and services, such as Outlook, Gmail, Facebook, etc. into your Relenta account. Importing your contacts takes two steps.

1. Format your contacts as a CSV file. Address books exported from other services or applications are often already formatted as CSV files. You can also create and edit our own CSV file using a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.
2. Import the CSV file into Relenta. Go to Contacts > Import. During the import process, you will be prompted to map the fields (columns) in your CSV file to contact fields in Relenta.

You can also assign imported contacts to groups during import. To do so, click on Assign to groups button.

Create contact from email

If an email is received from an existing contact, you don’t have to do a thing! Relenta will automatically link it to that contact.

If an incoming message isn’t associated with a contact, you have two options: assign it to an existing contact, or add the sender as a new contact. Click on the appropriate link that will appear above the message preview pane.

You can also set up an email filter to create contacts from incoming email or use our email API.

Add contact manually

If you’d like to add contacts you’ve met by phone or in person, go to Contacts > Add new contact, enter the information, and click Save.

Categorize and group contacts

Relenta allows you to create custom contact groups combined into categories. Each category can contain any number of contact groups. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Level of interest

• Hot
• Warm
• Cold

Contact source

• Website contact form
• Trade show
• Phone inquiry
• Cold calling
• Direct mail
• Print ads
• Referral

Preferred contact

• Email
• Phone

Status

• Potential Client
• Current Client
• Occassional Client
• Previous Client

You can also categorize contacts using custom contact fields.

Email filters

Email filters allow you to do any number of things with incoming email messages based on the criteria you define. For example, Relenta can…

• Automatically create new contacts from message senders who aren’t already in your database.
• Move messages from your favorite customers into an “Urgent” folder.
• Move contacts who’ve requested product literature into a “Hot Prospects” group — and set up an email campaign that automatically follows up every two weeks.
• Have any message sent to certain address trigger a “I’m out of the office this week” autoresponder.

The possibilities — and time saving opportunities — are endless. See for yourself at Settings > Filters > Add new filter. Define the criteria, choose the actions, and click Save.

Calendar tasks

Relenta associates tasks with contacts, so that when it’s time to write a proposal or get on a conference call, you’ll sound well-prepared and feel in control with a complete history of past interactions on one single screen.

To add a task, go to Contact record, click on Calendar tab, enter the description, time and date, and click Save. You can view calendar tasks for all contacts at once by clicking on the top-level green Calendar tab.

Canned responses

Canned responses are standard, pre-written text that you can add to an email you’re composing. They can contain mail-merge macros, such as contact’s name, email address, and so on. If you find yourself answering the same questions over and over again, set them up as reusable templates. It’s a lot faster than typing from scratch, or copy and pasting from previous emails.

Go to Settings > Canned responses > Add new canned response, enter subject and body, and click Save. When composing an email, click on the Canned responses link to choose the appropriate template.

Lead capture

Automating lead capturing from your website forms or incoming email saves time and ensures that there are no missed opportunities or email list management headaches. One of Relenta clients says he singlehandedly stays on top of 500 new leads per day without much effort.

You can populate any contact database field, send an autoresponder, and automatically assign new contacts to series of email follow-up messages spaced our at predefined time intervals.

The detailed instructions can be found in the documentation.

Email campaigns

Also referred to as sequential email follow-ups, email campaigns allow you to send a series of personalized email templates to assigned contacts. Email campaigns can be associated with any contact group.

The email campaign templates are scheduled to be sent in specified intervals of time, for example:

• Template 1 - sent right after the contact is assigned to group (delay 0)
• Template 2 - sent 7 days after template 1 (delay 7)
• Template 3 - sent 14 days after template 2 (delay 14)
• Template 4 - sent 30 days after template 3 (delay 30)

A delay is expressed in the number of days elapsed since the previous template.

When a new contact is added to a group that has email campaign templates associated with it, he or she will start receiving scheduled emails, starting with the first template.

Mail-merge and personalization

You can use mail-merge macros to personalize email campaign messages, mass emails to groups, and canned responses. For example, [FIRST_NAME] [LAST_NAME] will be replaced with the person’s first and last name. These macros can be used in the body of the message as well as subject line.