Matching a property to applicants
The below process shows how to manually match a property to applicants.
To do the opposite and match an applicant to properties please see this guide.
Or for information on how to enable automatic matching please see this guide.
When in a property record there is an 'Actions' panel on the right hand side.
The first option in this 'Actions' panel will be 'View Matching Applicants':
This allows you to enter a step-by-step wizard where you'll be returned a list of any matching applicants. You'll be able to select the applicants that you wish to include in the email alert, then customise and send the email.
The matching applicants
After clicking the 'View Matching Applicants' button the first thing you'll be shown is a list of applicants whose requirements match those of the property in question:
In this list you'll be shown the applicant's name, their contact details and their requirements. Hot applicants (selectable on the contact record) will be flagged accordingly in red and put to the top of the list.
Note that for an applicant to come back in this list they need to meet a few criteria:
- To have matching requirements entered on their record
- For the 'Send Matching Properties' checkbox to be ticked on their record
- To have not had this property marked as 'Not Suitable' in the past
It's worth paying attention to the 'Notes' section of the applicants' requirements to ensure you aren't sending them properties they won't be interested in.
For example, in the above screenshot it states the first applicant needs an easy to maintain garden. If you know the property in question has a 1,000 square foot garden with lots of plants, that's probably not right going to work for them.
The 'Actions' columns allows you to select how to proceed with sending the property to this applicant:
If you have the SMS add on active you'll also have the option of 'SMS Property To Applicant' here.
If the applicant has a valid email address(es) and doesn't have 'Do not contact via email' selected on their contact record, you'll be able to tick 'Email property to applicant' (ticked by default).
If you know the property isn't a good match or isn't suitable you can tick 'Property not suitable' to ignore it from this match and any future matches.
Once you've gone down the list of matching applicants and selected the relevant actions click 'Continue'.
Customising the email contents
Prior to the email being sent you'll be able to see a list of the recipients and have the ability to customise various aspects of it:
From name - Defaults to the 'Site Title' entered in WordPress under 'Settings > General'.
From email address - Defaults to the email address of the user performing the match.
Subject - The subject of the email. The default subject can be customised under 'Property Hive > Settings > Emails'.
The only tag supported in the email subject is [property_count] .
Email body - The body of the email. The default body can be customised under 'Property Hive > Settings > Emails'.
The following tags are supported in the email body:
[contact_name]
[contact_dear]
[property_count]
[properties]
[office_name]
[office_email_address]
[negotiator_name]
[negotiator_email_address]
From there you'll the be able to preview the email first by clicking the 'Preview email' button to see how it's going to look for the recipients.
The colours and branding of the generated email can be customised under 'Property Hive > Settings > Emails'.
And finally, you can click the 'Send matches' button to actually send the emails.
The email queue and why emails are sent out in batches
When a mailout is performed and emails are sent, we don't send them there and then that second. You might notice under the 'History & Notes' tab that it reads something like so:
This is because they go into an email queue and get processed in batches.
You can get to the email queue and find out more by navigating to 'Property Hive > Settings > Emails > Email Queue'.
Viewing sent mailouts
Aside from the email queue (mentioned above) where we log all email mailouts sent, you can also see any sent mailouts on the property record.,
Under the 'History & Notes' tab we'll show any mailouts that included this property, including the date and time that the mailout was sent, who sent it when applicable, as well as the ability to view the email to see exactly what they were sent:
Important: Using an SMTP plugin
If you're sending any kind of email from your website such as property enquiries, email alerts or booking confirmations, we highly recommend that you use an SMTP plugin to send emails via an SMTP server.
Without this, emails will be sent via the server which could decrease deliverability and increase the chances of emails getting missed because they're going into users junk folders.