Creating and Sending Emails

Important Messaging Update
Customers have been trying the new Messaging and sharing their feedback with us. We’ve decided that while we look into improving the Messaging module, we’ll no longer be turning off the Email and SMS modules, and you can continue to use them.

When sending emails from IRIS ParentMail, you always choose the student(s) as the recipient. The email is then sent to their associated IRIS ParentMail contacts.

Recipients cannot reply to emails sent through IRIS ParentMail. If a reply is required, you can add a link to the reply email address.

Creating and Sending an Email

When creating the email, you can choose whether to use an existing email template or create the email from scratch. Do the following:

  1. If creating an email from scratch, go to Email > Compose.

    If using an existing email template, go to Email > Templates.

    1. Highlight the relevant template then select Use.

      For a detailed description of how to managed your templates, go to Managing Email Templates.

  2. In the Compose an Email page, select Contact Recipients.

  1. If the student or staff member name is known, use the search bar to locate them immediately.

    When sending emails to parents or carers, you always choose the student as the recipient.

    If the name is not known, use the Categories tree to drill down to the required user.

    To choose all members of a category, select the relevant category.

    IRIS ParentMail - Select Recipients for Email 

  2. Select all required contacts, then select Confirm.
  1. Enter the email Subject.
  2. Select when you want to send the email (Do you want to send this message immediately?):
    • Yes — Send the email immediately
    • No — Send the email at a scheduled date and time
      • Select the Schedule date and time field and select the required delivery information.
  3. If emailing student contacts, choose the intended recipient:
    • Send to Primary Contacts only — Send the email to the person selected as the primary contact for the student
    • Send Per Student — Send a copy of the email to every contact for that student
    • Send Per Family — If multiple students are linked to the same contact, for example, siblings in the same school, select this option to have the contact receive a single copy of this email
  4. Enter the email message body —note that this is automatically saved as a draft email.

    Use the provided options to format the text and insert personalised fields placeholders — these are replaced with the recipient's information when the email is sent.

    IRIS ParentMail - Email Placeholders

    If Send Per Family is selected, you cannot insert the Student First Name and Student Last Name placeholders.

    Due to the variation of devices used to read emails, we recommend sending graphics and images as attachments rather than as part of the message body as we cannot guarantee that these will render properly.

  5. Select Upload Attachment to send a file or image with the email. Note the following:
    • Up to six attachments can be added with a maximum combined size of 10MB. If your attachment is large, convert it to a PDF file to reduce the size.
    • If uploading an attachment to an email being sent to more than one recipient for multiple students, ensure the attachment does not contain personal information.
  6. Recipients who do not have an email address listed are sent a paper copy in the post (extra steps required).

    Select Preview Paper Copy to view the layout.

  7. When you are happy with the email contents, select Send to send the email or save the scheduled message for later delivery.
  8. Confirm the email delivery method.

Creating Response Emails

Recipients cannot reply to emails sent through IRIS ParentMail. If a reply is required, you must add a link in the email body to a dummy email response. Do the following:

  1. In the email body, enter the text of the link you want recipients to open.

    For example, select here.

  2. Highlight the word or words that form the link and select Link.

    IRIS ParentMail - Email Reply Link

  3. Choose the required response from Link Type:
    • URL — Opens the provided website in a browser
    • Link to anchor in the text — Links to a section (bookmark / anchor) in the email
    • E-mail — If this email is read on a phone, the default email app is opened with the provided email details (see image above)
    • Phone — If this email is read on a phone, the default phone call function is opened with the provided phone number
  4. Fill in the details required by the chosen Link Type.
  5. Select OK.