Folk provides an efficient way to streamline communication with your contacts using message templates. This feature allows you to create pre-defined messages that can be quickly customized and sent, saving time and ensuring consistency in your communications. Whether sending an establishing intro or trying to progress a deal, save time without skimping on the personal touch using variables. Templates can be used in your folk account when creating a message, as well as in LinkedIn conversations and Gmail.
Create a new template
From your Message dashboard
Go to Messages, select the Templates tab, and click 'New Template' on the top right.
To create a new template, you have to assign this template to one of your groups. This way, you can use the custom fields in this group as variables in your template. Opt to give the template a name for quick access, which is useful if you have many templates in your library. When you start creating your new template, it'll automatically save and appear in your library under the Templates tab in your Messages.
Please see below for tips on creating an email that will form your template.
Add a subject - we recommend a short, punchy subject line that quickly grabs the recipient's attention.
Curate your email:
Custom variables to personalise the message can be added by typing "/" or selecting the option in the toolbar. For example, using the variable /First name when addressing your recipients will automatically address everyone by their first name in the email. Custom variables are dynamic data such as first name, last name, job title, company, URLs, or any custom text field from which group you selected your recipients. This means the custom variables are unique to the group.
Enhance your writing by using bold, italic, underline, blockquote, and ordered and bulleted lists.
Create hyperlinks by highlighting the text, selecting the link icon in the toolbar, or directly pasting the link onto the highlighter text with
cmd/ctrl+v. Links can only be inserted into text, not images.Add a signature - you can create it directly in the message and save it as a template. For the moment, you can't embed an external signature. If you want one in your email, you can save your signature as an image externally and insert it into the message.
Add images - you can add you logo or any image to your template
From an email
Once you've finished writing your email content, select 'Templates' and then 'New template' in the bottom left of the toolbar in the email. You'll be asked to name your template, which will automatically be assigned to the group with which the original email was used.
Update an existing template
If you'd like to change an existing template, go to Messages > Templates tab and select it from your library. You can also search for the template within the search bar. This will open up the template for you to edit and folk will automatically save the updates in real time.
Templates on LinkedIn
Once you've installed the folkX extension on your Chrome browser, you can access your message templates directly on LinkedIn.
You can access your templates from the Messaging tab in LinkedIn, or from the message pop-up. Open one of your conversations in your LinkedIn inbox (or as a pop-up), select the folk icon to access your list of templates, and use them in your LinkedIn conversations.
You can use an existing template or create a new one from your LinkedIn message. To create a new template, please name it and select the relevant group you want to use it with. It will then appear in your folk workspace within your template library.
Using variables
Similar to setting up templates in Gmail, using variables will enable you to send personalised messages.
For existing folk contacts
If the template includes variables, it'll pull data from folk and apply it to your LinkedIn message.
For nonexistent folk contacts
If there's no corresponding contact in folk, we look for data on the LinkedIn page, such as Name, Email, and URL. If we find the data, we will automatically apply it if the variable exists within the template applied. If there are any variables for fields we don't have the info for, we leave them blank.
Templates on Gmail
Open an existing email or new email in Gmail and select the folk icon to access and use your templates. When you open a new email, please ensure you fully expand the email to see the folk icon. Otherwise, it'll likely remain hidden from view.
You can use an existing template or create a new one from here. To create a new template, please name it and select the relevant group you want to use it with. It will then appear in your folk workspace within your template library.
Using variables
Similar to when you set up templates in LinkedIn, using variables will enable you to send personalised messages.
For existing folk contacts
If the template already has variables, it'll pull the data across from folk and apply it to your message in Gmail.
For nonexistent folk contacts
If there's no corresponding contact in folk, we look for data in the email, such as Name, Email, and URL. If we find the data, we will automatically apply it if the variable exists within the template applied. If there are any variables for fields we don't have the info for, we leave them blank.
Duplicating & deleting templates
You can duplicate and delete templates by opening one in your library and selecting the three dots at the far top-right corner.
When you duplicate the template, it will automatically duplicate it for you in your library, and the group will remain the same as it was initially. If you want to duplicate the same template but assign it to a new group, we recommend creating a new template in the relevant group by copying and pasting the content.
Considerations:
You can use multiple templates in one message.
You can only have one group per template.
💬 Do you have any questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you! You can find the folk team via:
Live chat from your account (the ? button in the bottom right-hand corner)
Or send us an email