Create contact lists automatically using groups

The Newsletter application allows you to synchronize several pieces of information from your Yapla contacts, including groups, i.e. the relationship of your contacts with your organization (member, donor, participant, etc.).

This feature greatly facilitates communication and contact management by creating mailing lists that update automatically.

List of groups available in Yapla's back office

Group	Synchronization	Example of use
Active Members	This group updates itself automatically each time a member joins or their membership expires.	Identify only active members, regardless of membership type
Membership Types	Each type of membership has its own dedicated group. If a member changes their membership type, they change groups.	Target and communicate with members with a certain membership.
Donors	Anyone who has already made a donation to your organization via Yapla.	Communicate with all donors.
Donors per campaign (name of the campaign)	A group is automatically created per campaign. This group is updated each time a new donation is made to the relevant campaign.	Communicate with the donors of a specific campaign.
Event Participants (name of the event)	Validated participants are automatically added to the group corresponding to the event.	Communicate with the participants of a specific event.
People who filled out a Data application form (subject name)	Anyone who filled out a Data application form where the email address was provided.	Contact individuals who have completed a specific form.
All your custom groups	All groups that you have manually added to your contacts.	Communicate with a specific group, for example, your Board members.

Updating groups

If you don't see the Active Members group, the Groups menu, or members don't appear, go to the Yapla "Members" application and click the Settings/Settings menu.

Then choose the Synchronization tab.

Make sure the "Automatically synchronize members with the contact repository" checkbox is checked so that your members are updated in the contact repository.

Then click on the "Start a manual Synchronization" button to make sure that all members are up to date. Go back to the Newsletter application and synchronize your contacts again.

 

Synchronization of Groups in the Newsletter application.

To manually retrieve your contacts' information, in the Newsletter application, click on the Contacts/Import Contacts menu.

Click the Synchronize button in the Yapla section. You can also activate the Synchronize before sending feature so that your contacts are automatically updated before each newsletter is sent. By default, this function is enabled.

Once your contacts are synchronized, you will have access to the Group menu, with the list of imported groups.

If you have members, the Active members group will be present by default.

A contact group cannot be empty. For example, a group by type of membership is created, only if active members are registered to this type of membership. 

Also, if you have validated participants to your events, one group per event will be present. This group will have the name of your event.

Create a sending filter with groups

Once synchronization is complete, you can create a filter to communicate, for example, with your active members. From the Contacts menu, click the Basic Filters submenu. Click the "Add Basic Filter" button. Enter the name of your filter and a description if applicable.

In the "Field to apply the filter to", select "Yapla Groups". Then select Equal, then select the "Active Members" value. Save your filter. In this example, you will have created a mailing list that includes only members with a valid membership. This filter will update itself automatically, adding and removing members.

Combine options to create simple custom filters. For example, you can get a list of all your contacts who are not active members by selecting the "Different" comparator instead of "Equal" and choosing the "Active Members" Value.

If you want to make groups that combine multiple criteria, such as active members who attended the AGM or donors whose language is English, see our guide to complex filters.