As you read through this comprehensive list of system Alerts that we had added I wanted to point out that these notifications can be delivered by email.

I.  Task Notifications

Would you like to know when a task that you assigned to one of your team members has been completed?  Or, have you ever wondered if a task you have assigned is overdue and needs immediate attention?

Now, every time you assign a task you have a variety of options as to how and when you are notified about the status of a task.  You can choose exactly who gets notified when a task is assigned, completed or has become overdue. You can also choose how you would like to be notified by email.  No more wondering about the status of a task. You do not even have to log into your BigContacts account to know the moment a task has been completed or has become overdue!

II.  Meeting Reminders

In addition to the meeting notifications that have been available in the system for some time, we have now added a Meeting Reminder. With meeting reminders you have a number of options as to WHO you notify, WHEN you notify them and HOW you notify them. You can even choose to have reminders sent directly to the contact that you have scheduled a meeting for!

III. Email Notifications

Have you ever sent an email and wondered if your customer or prospect actually read it?  Maybe you included some links in the email and you would like to go a step further and in addition to knowing whether they read the email you would like to know what if any links were clicked and read. And finally, what if you sent an email to a prospect, how do you know if they unsubscribed to receiving any further emails from you?

Well, as you may have guessed all of these questions have now been turned into real answers.   You may already know that you can send an email directly from any contact record in your BigContacts account simply by clicking on the email address in the record itself.  Doing this opens the email window you see below and you now have (with just the click of your mouse) the option to track everything that was just listed above. BigContacts now gives you real visibility into how engaged your contacts are with the emails you send them on a day-to-day basis.

IV.  Contact "Follow"

The Contact "Follow" feature is modeled after the Twitter follow function that allows you to keep track of all activity as it occurs for your most important customers and prospects.  You can choose to either receive a daily summary of activity for your most important contacts or you can choose to get notifications via email as activity happens. This is truly real-time insight about the activity for your most important contacts!  

There are two key components of the Contact Follow feature.  But first things first...on each contact record you will find a "Follow" button that you can select as shown below.

When you click on this button a menu opens up and gives you all sorts of options for how and what you want to be notified of as it occurs for this contact.

Contact Activity       

Simply choose from a list of activity that you would like to be notified about.  Then choose how you would like to be notified.  You can choose to be notified as activity happens or receive a daily summary at the end of each day.

Contact Inactivity

So, what if there is NO activity for one of your important customers and prospects during a given period of time? How can you easily be notified of this inactivity so that you can take action?

For the contacts that you "Follow" you can also set an "Inactivity Alert" to notify you via email after that contact reaches a certain time threshold in which there has been no activity in their record. This is a great way to ensure that you are saying in touch with your most important contacts and ensures that no relationship ever slips through the cracks.

V.  Sales Alerts

If you are using your BigContacts Sales Module to track and manage your opportunities, you just gained a lot better visibility into your sales pipeline!  You can now tell the system that you would like to receive instant email alerts when any one of these updates regarding your opportunities occurs. These optional alerts will help you and others within your team stay on top of the latest movements within your sales pipeline.

NEW Opportunities

You can choose to notify any number of team members via email when a new opportunity is created.

UPDATE Opportunities

You can choose to notify any number of team members via email when an opportunity is updated.

CLOSED Opportunities

You can choose to notify any number of team members via email when an opportunity is closed.