Many members use third-party mailing list products such as Mail Chimp, Constant Contact and Sign-Up.to in order to create newsletters.

Exporting data to these products from Expert Agent is possible using Expert Agent’s grids and reports.

Here’s an example of how to do this from an applicant grid.

Create a Report Item

You’ll need a report that merges the content. To create this hover over 'Tools' in the top menu, select 'Configuration' and locate 'Templates' under the Output Configuration heading.

You can either set up your own report, or you can see if one of our default reports sounds like it may be suitable (you could even use one of our default reports but make small edits to it - this may still be easier than building a report from scratch).

To locate our default reports:

Click into the 'Expert Agent Default Letters' tab at the top, filter the Template Type column on Report Items and have a look through. If you find one that you would like to use, click 'Clone' next to it and save a copy into your 'Our Letters' tab.

If you were going to build your own report, you'd do this from the 'Our Letters' tab:

To start the process you click on the plus symbol at the bottom of the screen. The following window will open:

1. Choose 'HTML' as the template format.

2. Give the report a name.

3. Ensure the Template Type is set to be Report Items.

4. Click 'Next'.

The window shown on the left in the screen grab above will open first. Click 'Edit Content' at the bottom. This will open the screen on the right.

6. Set the report format up with the fields you want to include – just use the field picker on the right. Put a comma after each merge field and a carriage return at the end (so that format wise it looks as above).

7. Click 'Save' or 'Save & Close'.

Create a header file

If you need to have a header row in your resultant .csv file with the field names in, EA can do this for you by using a header report item. If you don’t need this (if you are happy that the data starts in the first row – skip this section).

If you do need this:

1. Copy and paste the merge fields that you entered into your report into Notepad:

Take the brackets off of each code - so [app_title] becomes app_title.

Now, create another report item – maybe call it “Export Header”, and paste the text in from Notepad:

Save & Close this template. 

Setting Up the Report

Go to your applicant grid and make the required selection.

Right click, hover over Outputs and select 'Create Reports':

On the 'Create a Report' screen click to Create a New Report (2). The 'Edit Report' screen will open:

3. Name your report, choose either our Blank Header or Footer template or your 'Export Header' template as the header, your main report template as the content template (we called our example Mail Chimp Export) and choose the Blank Header or Footer template as the footer.

4. Click on the save icon.

Using the report/exporting your data

To run the report you open the applicant grid, filter the records to display the selection you require, right click and select 'Create Reports' (under Outputs). Select your report from the list. The following window will appear:

Run the report. The results appear in a separate window, like this:

Copy all of the text and paste it into a Notepad document. Save it with a .csv file extension - so 'SeptApplicants.csv', for example. That’s your export file created!

If you need to add extra fields, edit the report item. If you have added a header with the field names, don’t forget to change it too.

The best way to e-mail property details to a casual enquiry is using the Property Presentation tool.

This doesn't just send them the brochure, but the full property details. Once the email has been sent, it is recorded in Expert Agent.  This ensures that you have accurate numbers when looking at how many people have been sent individual properties. If they are in the office with you, you can use the Property Presentation tool to actually go through the properties with them instantly on the screen - selecting in the process which properties you would like to then send.

You get to the Property Presentation tool from the Applicants top menu:

This example assumes that the request for the details has come from somebody who isn't on your applicant list. If in doubt, you can check using the 'Find Applicant' box. The process differs slightly if they are already on your mailing list - see the What is the best way to quickly e-mail property details to existing applicants when they request them? FAQ for this.

1. Select the property you would like to send them. It's likely they'll have given you the property address(es), in which case you'll be able to use the 'Find Property' box to search for the property. Clicking on the properties name when it appears underneath the search box will add it to the list in the 'Selected and Available Properties' section.

2. It is worth asking the applicant if they would like details of any other similar properties - they may not, in which case you would skip this step, however if they do you can edit the requirements on the left hand side of the screen and this will give you other properties in the 'Selected and Available Properties' drop down that you may wish to also tick. It is crucial that before you do this, however, you have ticked the 'Lock Selected Records' option on the right hand side so that you don't lose your manually selected property.

3. Click 'Create a New Applicant' to take their details.

The following window will open:

4. Either complete the whole wizard, or simply the name and e-mail address sections.  

5. Tick 'Create 2 Match Events and Email Now'.

6. Click on the save icon.

Your standard match e-mail template will open for you to add a subject, and send. 

The Property Presentation tool is not only brilliant for quickly sending brochures, but for visually displaying properties in your offices, using for matching and so on. 

Within Expert Agent you are able to set a certain department as default, so that when you open wizards to add applicants, properties etc. they default to your most commonly used department.

This is something that has to be done by a super user as it is set from your configuration.

1. Hover over 'Tools' in the top menu and click on 'Configuration' from the drop down.

2. Click in to 'Departments' in the Business Configuration menu.

3. Click on the department you would like to set as default from your list of departments.

4. Tick the box for 'Default Department'.

5. Click on the save icon.