Question

Automation for adding emails to client timelines

  • 3 March 2023
  • 6 replies
  • 191 views

When we finish a year-end, for example, we send the communication via HubSpot email template. We then have to manually go into the Karbon ‘sent’ items and add that email to the client workpiece and timeline. Is there a way to automate this that anyone has uncovered? It seems like in Zapier the only available options are: 

  1. Trigger for when a new contact is created
  2. Trigger for when a contact is updated
  3. Trigger for when a new organization is created
  4. Trigger for when an organization contact is updated

Basically, the end state we are searching for is:

  1. Email is sent from HubSpot to client X
  2. email X is associated with client X  + organization X, and is added to the organization timeline. 

We don’t mind if it isn’t added to the specific workpiece, but that would be an added bonus! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Are there any product updates in the works for email templates within Karbon, or some tracking so we can tell if task lists have been opened? 

Cheers,
Sean


6 replies

Userlevel 7
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@Sean Martin, CPA email templates in Karbon is a HUGELY requested feature - if you haven’t voted, please add a vote, and maybe a comment about why this feature is important to you.

It’s so hotly requested, hopefully it makes it’s way onto Karbon’s roadmap!

 

If the email address you’re sending to is connected to a contact in Karbon, and you have email sharing turned on, it should at least add the contact timeline, but it won’t to the organization timeline.

 

@max any work around suggestions using Zapier/API?

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@Sean Martin, CPA Hi Sean, we like to send an email to a client at the end of a process, just confirming all is done, thanking them for their continued business etc. 

I have requested the ability to have a client email within a work template that does NOT require a client task (so similar to the above ‘email templates’ request) but our work around is to add a client task to the end of the process that automatically gets issued.

So we have a standard ‘sign off’ email (per work template) and a client task that says:

  • I acknowledge receipt of this email

Not pretty; highly unnecessary client step, but one that allows us to send that final email automatically. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

Hmm, that’s an interesting issue. I assume that HubSpot is sending the email through its own servers, which means Karbon (via outlook connection) won’t see the email. @Sean Martin, CPA, are you able to see the sent HubSpot emails in your sent folder in outlook?

There are a few options you have here, I think:

  • Have HubSpot send emails through your outlook/MS365/Google account. I’m not sure if this is possible. If it is, this is probably the easiest way to keep things synced up in Karbon.
  • Add a BCC to the HubSpot mail send. If you can add a unique BCC to each HubSpot contact, it could be a way to add the emails straight to the client’s timeline. If you can add just one BCC for all emails sent from HubSpot, then someone would have to add the emails to the proper timeline as they come in. There’s a bit of setup for this, so if it’s possible to add BCC, I’ll discuss further in the comments.

@Rebecca Williams I don’t believe there are any email-related api integrations from the Karbon side.

Userlevel 7
Badge +15

Hmm, that’s an interesting issue. I assume that HubSpot is sending the email through its own servers, which means Karbon (via outlook connection) won’t see the email. @Sean Martin, CPA, are you able to see the sent HubSpot emails in your sent folder in outlook?

@max It sounds like HubSpot is integrated to Outlook and sending it from Outlook 🙂

When we finish a year-end, for example, we send the communication via HubSpot email template. We then have to manually go into the Karbon ‘sent’ items and add that email to the client workpiece and timeline

 

Thanks for your answers everybody! It’s great to have such dynamic feedback from the community. Yes, as Sam suspects, HubSpot integrates with Outlook and not Karbon directly. This seems to be what is posing the challenge. 

I think for now our it just has to stay as a manual process - so be it! Although I do think that bcc idea could have some legs… i’ll give that a shot thanks Max!

Rebecca - I have definitely gone and voted for that email template feature because that would be a huge improvement. 

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@Sean Martin, CPA Hi Sean, we like to send an email to a client at the end of a process, just confirming all is done, thanking them for their continued business etc. 

I have requested the ability to have a client email within a work template that does NOT require a client task (so similar to the above ‘email templates’ request) but our work around is to add a client task to the end of the process that automatically gets issued.

So we have a standard ‘sign off’ email (per work template) and a client task that says:

  • I acknowledge receipt of this email

Not pretty; highly unnecessary client step, but one that allows us to send that final email automatically. 

This is similar to how we handle it. We have a client task to deliver monthly financial statements to the client, and the description includes something like “Please leave a comment if you have any questions about your statements. If everything looks good, please mark this task as complete once you’ve downloaded copies for your records.”

 

The one benefit to this is we previously had clients who wouldn’t look at their statements for several months, and then come to us with a few months worth of questions or adjustments they wanted made. This method makes it easy for our client success team to follow up with clients who haven’t responded to their statements. It does also mean if someone is away, the statements can be prepared and delivered on their behalf and the client doesn’t need to be introduced to someone new.

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