NextAgency offers a wide variety of integrations to help you do more, more quickly, with automation. This includes making available to you our API and integration through the Zapier platform. This article describes how to connect NextAgency with other software platforms through Zapier.

Zapier makes it easy to move data between two software applications. We use workflows ("zaps") to help automatically move data between NextAgency and other software programs. For example, you can connect NextAgency to Calendly and automatically create a lead when someone sets-up an appointment with you.

There are literally hundreds of software platforms in the Zapier community. By automating repetitive tasks, we help you gain greater value from both NextAgency and other software you use. The result: you save time and money.

Here's how to automate your daily tasks in NextAgency with Zapier:

1. Create a Zapier account if you don't already have one. (https://zapier.com/home).
2. Request an invite to our Zapier integration. Simply click on the Help button at the bottom right of any page in NextAgency or send an email to support@nextagency.com stating your interest in integrating with Zapier. This must be done by an Administrative Broker or their designee. Our support team will send you the invitation.
3. Use this invitation in Zapier to confirm your authority to link with NextAgency
4. Go to My Apps in Zapier and select NextAgency.

3. Zapier will ask you to provide a NextAgency API key so the app can connect to your NextAgency account.

4. To get the API key, in the blue navigation pane select Fast Access and then click on the Settings link. On the Agency Settings > Profile page copy the key from the Zapier API Key fiel.

5. Paste the key in the API Key field in Zapier and click Yes, Continue.

6. NextAgency will appear under My Apps. You can test the integration as well as reconnect or disconnect it.

Connect NextAgency to Another Software Application

Now you can create workflow that connect NextAgency with other software platforms. Let's say you want to create a lead in NextAgency each time someone uses Calendly to schedule an appointment with you. Follow these steps:

1. In your Zapier account, open the navigation pane and click Make a Zap.

2. In the upper-left corner of the page, type a name for your zap (for example, "Calendly Leads").

3. Under When this happens... > Choose App & Event, search for Calendly and choose the app from the search results.

4. Under Choose Trigger Event, select Invitee Created, and then click Continue.

5. Sign in to your Calendly account.

6. Under Do this..., select NextAgency for Choose App, Create Lead for Choose Action Event, and then click Continue.

7. Under Choose Account, sign in to your NextAgency account or select the account if you're already signed in, and then click Continue.

8. Customize the lead and click Continue.

9. Zapier will check the data and then test the connection.

 

 

Update : You can now view a video tutorial describing NextText here.

You can use NextText to send direct messages to your prospects or clients in real-time. Before you start, you should set up the text message format as follows:

1. Go to Settings.

2. On the Settings page, go to the Integration tab.

3. On the Integration page, go to the NextText tab.

4. On the NextText Accounts page, you can customize the message format with various tokens. Click Edit to select the token fields, such as User First/Last Name, Agency Owner First/Last Name, and/or Agency Name, to be automatically added to your messages.

 

5. When ready, click Save.

To exchange direct messages, follow these steps:

1. On the home page, open the case record of the prospect or client that you want to text.
2. All phone numbers on the Contacts page will be automatically listed on the NextText page.

3. On the NextText page, you can exchange direct messages with the prospect's or client's contacts.

4. When you type your message, the settings will be applied to the message body. For example, if you have selected User First Name + User Last Name, the name is Malcolm Henney, and the message body is Test, then the message will look like this:

5. When your prospects or clients reply to your text messages, you will see a notification at the top of the page.

6. Click the notification to open the text message module where you can see all of your pending new messages.

7. Click the contact's name to display the associated cases, phone number, and basic contact information.

 

NextAgency now allows you to reach your clients with email campaigns. This article explains how to use our email campaigns with your agency’s CRM data to target your clients, improve customer retention, drive sales, and achieve effective marketing results.

Introduction to Setting Up Email Campaigns with NextMail Integration  

1. In the navigation pane, click Fast Access >Email Campaigns.

2. At the top of the Email Campaigns page, you can view some Quick Statistics about your previous email campaigns, such as the number of sent emails, spam emails, and bounces both for all the time and today.

Linking Your Email to Email Campaigns

1. To link an email account, below the Quick Statistics section on the right, click Manage Emails.

2. The Campaign Emails page opens. In the upper-right corner of the page, click New.
3. In the Add Email popup that opens, enter your email account, and then click Add.

4. You will receive a verification email to the address that you have just entered. Go to that email’s inbox, open the verification email, and then verify your address. Note: If you do not see the verification email, please check your Spam or Trash folders.

Creating Your Email Campaign 

1. Having set up and verified your email, you can add a new email campaign. Below the Quick Statistics section on the right, click Add Email Campaign.

2. It is now a three-step process to edit, manage, and schedule your campaign. First, choose a name for your email campaign, describe it, and then click Continue.

Customizing and Editing Your Email’s Details

3. Second, set up your email message. Specify the sender and the recipient in the From and To fields, accordingly. Note: For email recipients, you can choose either a Primary Contact, Administrator Contact, or Lead.

Personalizing Your Email 

4. Now enter the email subject. In the body of the email, we have integrated some simple Receiver Fields so that you can make your emails seem more personalized and unique. For example, you can add such personalized fields as First Name, Last Name, Broker of Record, and more. Having entered the email’s text body and edited it to best reflect your agency, click Continue.

Sending Your Email with Time-Driven Precision

5. The last step of setting up your campaign is scheduling. On this page, you will be able to schedule your email to be sent at a specific time.

Customizing Your Email Campaign for Optimal Results

6. Finally, filter your campaign so that it will reach only the specific cases or clients. We have built robust filtering tools so you can make decisions and send emails to your clients at a granular level. You can filter by client name, date of birth, renewal date,  specific product type, and more.

Reviewing Your Campaign 

7. Having set up all of your filters, in the upper-right corner of the Filters pane, click Calculate Case Count to see how many cases will be affected/emails will be sent out.

Finalizing Your Campaign

8. Now, scroll to the very bottom of the screen and click either Publish Live or Save as Draft. If you decide to save your campaign as a draft, you can easily come back to the Email Campaigns page, click the Actions button next to the draft campaign, and then select Set to Active.

Viewing Your Campaign’s Performance

At the top of the Email Campaigns page, you can view some quick statistics about your previous campaigns, such as the number of sent emails, spam emails, and bounces both for all the time and today.

On January 1, 2020, Google will be enforcing new security enhancements aimed at increasing transparency when data is synced between Gmail (or G Suite) and third-party applications. NextMail is a third-party application. This means, if you're using NextMail to link to your Gmail or G Suite account, you need to take certain steps to assure continued connectivity.

Specifically, you need to opt-in to sharing emails with NextMail by identifying us as a Trusted application. This lets Google know it's OK to continue sharing the emails. To continue syncing emails between Gmail and NextMail you need to opt-in by January 1, 2020.

Important Note: We highly suggest the super admin who set up your agency's Gmail/G Suite complete the steps below.

1. Administrators should sign in to their Google Admin Console; from the Google Admin dashboard. Go to “Security” and click on the “Settings” in the drop down menu.

2. Go to API Permissions and click on “Trusted Apps”. 

3. From the Trusted Apps dashboard, click on the + button at the bottom right.

4. Select “Web Application”

5. Copy the following Google Client ID into the field: 

910265067732-n72qf5urbpgqqn97387b612i9qnhf7ip.apps.googleusercontent.com

6. Click on "ADD." This identifies NextMail as a Trusted App. Your emails will continue to sync between Gmail and NextMail.

And that's all folks! Contact us at anytime by clicking the green Help button (bottom right of this page) should you require further assistance.

To start managing email templates in NextBroker, follow these steps:

1. In the upper-right corner of any NextBroker page, click your profile icon and choose Settings.
2. On the Settings page that opens, go to the Sales Settings tab.
3. Go to the Email Templates subtab.

        

On the Email Templates page, you can see a list of all email templates that have been created in NextBroker, with their names, descriptions, and available actions.

Adding an Email Template

To add a new email template, follow these steps:

1. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Add Email Template.
2. On the Add Email Template page that opens, fill in the fields for the email template, just as you would do when composing a new email in NextMail.
3. Under Select Field, choose the variables that you will use in the email body: the contact's first name and last name as well as the related company name and case name.

      

4. When ready, click Save. The template will appear in the list from where you can edit, view, or delete it via Actions.

Using Email Templates

You can use the email templates when creating new case-specific tasks in NextBroker (via Actions or on the Tasks tab of the client/prospect card). Just select the template under Assign Email Template, and then click Generate Email.

This will instantly generate an email with the body variables replaced by the corresponding names related to the case.

It is also possible to generate emails based on templates when creating tasks that are associated with workflow triggers.

For more information on workflows, see NextBroker: Adding and Managing Workflows.

Similar to workflows, checklists are groups of tasks that are triggered by specific actions. The difference is that a checklist is triggered when it is assigned to a case, e.g. review the applications for completeness > send to carrier > put in accounting software > contact the group 3 months later.

To start managing the checklists, follow these steps:

1. In the upper-right corner of any NextBroker page, click your profile icon and choose Settings.
2. On the Settings page that opens, go to the Sales Settings tab.
3. Go to the Checklists subtab.

        

On the Manage Checklists page, you can see a list of all checklists that have been created in NextBroker, with their names, descriptions, authors, creation dates, and available actions.

Creating a Checklist

To create a new checklist, follow these steps:

1. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Create Checklist.
2. On the Create Checklist page that opens, enter a name and description of the checklist.
3. Click Add Task to create a task for the checklist.
4. In the Checklist Task form that opens, fill in the fields as you would do when creating a new task. However, please note the additional, checklist-specific field group - Task Creation Date. Here you should select one of the following options:

   

• Upon assigning to Case: Select this option to create a task when this checklist is assigned to a case.
• Upon completion of Task: Select this option to create a task when the stage of the associated task changes to Completed.

5. When ready, click Save. The checklist will appear in the table.

Managing Checklists

The following checklist management options are available:

• Viewing the checklists: Click the name of the checklist in the table.

• Editing the checklists: Click Actions > Edit.

       

• Deleting the checklists: Click Actions > Delete.

        

• Duplicating the checklists: Click Actions > Duplicate.

        

• Assigning the checklists: Click Actions > Assign to Case(s). In the popup that opens, select the prospect or client case(s) to which you are going to assign the checklist, and then click Save.

       

       

You can view the assigned checklists at the bottom of the Summary page of the Prospect/Client card under Assigned Checklist(s) as well as assign new workflows. From here you can also open the Manage Checklists page.

 

In NextBroker, you can add and manage workflows - groups of tasks that are triggered by specific actions, e.g. contact any client five months, three months, two months and one month before they turn 65.

To start managing the workflows, follow these steps:

1. In the upper-right corner of any NextBroker page, click your profile icon and choose Settings.
2. On the Settings page that opens, go to the Sales Settings tab.
3. Go to the Workflows subtab.
4. For a quicker access, you can also click Fast Access > Workflows.

        

On the Workflows page, you can see a list of all workflows that have been created in NextBroker, with their names, descriptions, triggers, and available actions.

Adding a Workflow

To add a new workflow, follow these steps:

1. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Add Workflow.
2. On the Add New Worfklow page that opens, enter a name and description of the workflow.
3. Add a trigger to activate the workflow.
4. Specify a trigger type, which is typically a reminder of a specific date, a created task, or an accepted NextHR invite.
5. Add a task setting for the trigger.
6. Specify the task creation date, such as Before 2 Weeks. If needed, add more triggers or remove those that you no longer need.
7. When ready, click Save.

 

Managing Workflows

The following workflow management options are available in the workflows list:

• Viewing the workflow triggers: Click View under Triggers.

       

• Editing the workflows: Click Actions > Edit.

       

• Assigning the workflows: Click Actions > Assign to Case(s). In the popup that opens, select the prospect or client case(s) to which you are going to assign the workflow, and then click Save.

       

• Deleting the workflows: Click Actions > Delete.

        

You can view the assigned workflows at the bottom of the Summary page of the Prospect/Client card under Assigned Workflow(s) as well as assign new workflows. From here you can also open the Workflows page.

 

 

Important Update (12/10/2019): If you're currently using a Gmail/G Suite email account, you'll need to Whitelist your agency's accounts after 12/31/2019. Please view this article to learn more.

NextBroker provides an internal mailing system that you can synchronize with your Gmail or Outlook account and use it to exchange emails within your agency. You can import emails, contacts, calendar events and notes from your existing email account. Any actions that you take in Office 365/Outlook or Gmail are also mirrored in NextMail. To open NextMail, click NextMail in the navigation bar.

Associating Emails with Cases

To associate the emails in NextMail with NextBroker cases, follow these steps:

1. Select the email that you want to associate.
2. In the upper-right corner of the NextMail page, click Actions > Associate to Cases.

3. In the popup that appears, click in the Groups/Individuals field or start typing the name of the case and then select it from the drop-down.

        

4. Click Copy Email. After that, the system will notify you that the email(s) was or were successfully assigned to cases.

        

        

Composing New Mails

To compose a mail in NextMail, follow these steps:

1. In the upper-left corner of the NextMail page, click Compose.
2. Fill in the standard email fields and click Send.

       

Replying To Emails

To reply to an email, click either Reply or Reply All at the bottom of the email.

Please note that all of these actions will be mirrored in your Gmail or Outlook account.

Setting Up NextMail

Under NextMail settings, you can add or delete email accounts, adjust the contact lists for those accounts, and adjust the folders that you want or don't want to see. To open NextMail settings, follow these steps:

1. Hover over your profile icon and choose Settings.
2. On the Settings page that opens, go to the Integration tab.
3. On the NextMail subtab that opens, you can see a list of linked email accounts and actions that are available for them.

 

• View: Open the NextMail inbox for this account. 
• Show/Hide: Select the email folders that you want to show or hide in NextMail for this account.

• Re-Sync: Re-synchronize the account with the linked Gmail or Outlook account.
• Settings: Select folders that you would like to sync, and then click Synchronize.