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Customer communication

Queries of revocation, GTC etc.

The dispatch of brochures etc. is no longer as simple as before the time of GDPR, revocation, GTC and … .
For all these topics onOffice has the suitable tools and text suggestions, but you always have to adapt them to your company.

We cannot guarantee legal certainty for the use of the template / sample texts. We ask for your understanding that we as a company cannot give binding legal advice.

After configuration, we recommend that you always send a test email with a link and check the email / queries from the customer’s point of view. Only in this way can you also check activity entries and confirmation email / information email.

For explanation we roughly divide this into 3 areas:

  1. Registration of a new contact / confirmation for newsletter callback and Co? GDPR and contact completion form a team when it comes to the registration of a new contact or information about the stored data.
  2. Sending a link to an existing contact / Large file attachments? Then the macro downloadLink is the right one.
  3. Brochure dispatch, revocation or queries in general? Then the macro agreementLink is the appropriate tool to capture all queries etc..

A compact overview of the parameters and options of the macros can be found in the macro list ( Help >> Macro list ). 

Notice: The macro _Widerrufslink link does not meet the requirements as of 12/23/2020 for brokerage agreements. Please replace it with the _agreementLink macro. The previous _PDFLink macros continue to work, but are no longer maintained and should therefore be replaced.
A short explanation of these macros can be found at the end of this article. 

General information

A link to a website is sent by email, except for the macro downloadLink. On the website, queries / consents are recorded and entered in the contact and activities. If set, an email is sent to the broker about the query that has been carried out.

The activities can then be used to start processes automatically , for example.

GDPR and contact completion are always without download option for files.

With these macros _downloadLink and _agreementLink, all files attached to an email are not sent as attachments but are offered as downloads via a link. Exceptions are files for appointments and contact data. These will still be sent as attachments so that you can import the appointment directly or create an contact.

The download links are valid for 30 days or 14 days in the case of “_downloadLink”.

When using groups, the settings from the groups are evaluated first. Only if nothing is entered there, the basic settings are used.

1. Registration of a new contact / confirmation for newsletter callback and Co

With the contact completion you can have the general terms and conditions or the newsletter confirmed for a new contact in addition to the contact data.

You can find a detailed explanation with all options in the help for the address module in the GDPR and address completionchapters.

2. Sending an brochure link to an existing contact / Large file attachments

The _downloadLink(Text) macro can be used in general to make the email attachments available for download.
You can also use the Text parameter to directly specify the text of the link in the email.

A download link has the advantage that the email itself is not so large, is loaded faster and that the retrieval of the file is documented via activity entries.

The download link is valid for 14 days instead of 30 days.

All activities / agent’s log entries have of course linked the corresponding contact / property.

The sending of the email is noted as usual in the activities / agent’s log.

After clicking on the link in the email, an activity with type of action “Download” and kind of action “Download” is stored. The name of the file provided is noted.

3. Brochure dispatch, revocation or queries in general

The macro “_agreementLink” can be used very flexibly for queries and their documentation. One possibility would be to revoke or start early as was done by the previous macro _Widerrufslink link for Germany. For other requirements/countries you can adapt this accordingly with the _agreementLink macro.

The text for the link in the email and the texts on the website can be configured (Tools >> Settings >> Basic Settings >> TAB Revocation). The texts of the cancellation policy are based on the model wording of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection.

A confirmation email can be sent to the user. The confirmation email lists which text modules the customer has accepted and their contents in detail. This email can also be sent to customers who have confirmed the agreements from the web form.

An explanation of how individual queries are created and the individual configuration options can be found in the basic settings (Tools >> Settings >> Basic Settings >> TAB Revocation).

The _agreementLink macro is intended for individual purposes, in the email templates there are preconfigured templates for some purposes in Germany. Please remember to check and adapt the texts of the text modules beforehand.

We recommend to always send a test email with a link after configuration / changes and to check the email / queries from the customer’s point of view. Only in this way can you also check activity entries and confirmation email / information email.

You send an email to the interested party with the macro _agreementLink. The email then contains a link to a web page where the corresponding queries are made. The display on the website can be configured. Buttons for downloading the completed declaration or saving the completed declaration are always displayed.

If attachments (with the exception of contact data and appointment data) / links are available, these will only be made available to the interested party after the approval of the mandatory queries.

When “saving” the queries, the predefined values are set in the contact or property records and an activity entry with all queries and decisions of the customer is stored.

Unless otherwise configured, the interested party receives an email with the confirmed queries, provided that a confirmation template (email template) has been included using the _agreementLinkConfirmations macro.

An information email is sent to the original senders of the email about the completion of the queries. The recipient can be customized, possible are the sender of the email, the contact manager, the property manager, any mailbox or no mail. If the immediate start (if the query is included) was not agreed to, the subject will change from “PDF Brochure Download” to “No PDF Brochure Download”.

If the revocation is also queried, the corresponding functions (premature start, dispatch of revocation declaration and sample revocation as well as resubmission) are also carried out.

An example of revocation is given below.

Detailed instructions on the queries and their settings can be found in the basic settings – only a brief overview is given here.

The text that can be displayed for the link in the email, the queries that should appear whether it is mandatory, the position of the confirmations, etc. can be specified via parameters in the _agreementLink() macro. The details can be found in the macro list. All options that are not explicitly specified are taken over with the settings from the basic settings.

In the individual queries, you can use “Set values” to specify which values are to be set in the assigned contact or property data records – for Agree and for Disagree.

In addition to the standard queries that are available in the basic settings, further individual queries can be specified. The name of the text module – not the “Title for the customer” – is entered as a parameter in the macro. Please ask your administrator if you do not have access to Tools >> Settings >> Basic Settings >> Revoke tab .

If the macro is used without parameters, the settings specified in the basic settings and the active queries are displayed.

If you use the group module and/or multi-language module , you can create your own texts and queries. The order is valid: Texts in the language of the contact, otherwise the German texts and information from the group before the information from the basic settings. If specifications have been stored in a group for a text module, all other specifications are also taken from the group.

All activity / agent’s log entries have of course linked the corresponding contact / property. 

The sending of the email with the macro _agreementLink is noted as usual in the activities / agent’s log.

After clicking on the link in the email, an activity with type of action “Download” and kind of action “Download” and the action feature “Provision download” is stored. The name of the file provided is noted.

If the customer carries out the query (completes the queries with “Save data”), an activity/agent’s log entry with action type “Confirmation” and kind of action “Receipt” is noted. The basic setting Save IP information in Agreementlink activities can be used to specify whether the IP address, email address and date should be written to the activity.

If the prospective customer opens / downloads available files, an activity with the type of action “Download” and the kind of action “Download” as well as the action features “First download” and “First brochure download” is stored. If the file is downloaded again, an activity entry is created again, this time with the action feature “Repeated download”. The name of the file is noted in each case and the original email in which the attachment is stored can be viewed in the activity / agent’s log entry in the tab Email including attachment.

Actions such as confirmation of the GTC, contract acceptance, contract rejection, consent to immediate commencement, etc. are also documented as activities.

Here is a declaration, for the query of the revocation with early start.

You can use the macro “_agreementLink(contract, instruction, sample revocation, start, contact, mail)” for this purpose. 

The settings from the basic settings are used for the position of the confirmation texts and checkboxes.
If desired, you can add further text modules to the query.

Compose email

For example, here is an email with an brochure and a revocation query with the macro _agreementLink(introduction, contract, instruction, sample revocation, start, contact, noteconfirmation button, mail, pileupconfirm).

Link a property / contact in the email dialogue and select Brochure / Attachments. The preview then looks like this:

Email display with PDFLink

Email at the recipient / Web Dialog

When the email is read by the interested party, he can click on the link for the brochure / download and the following dialog will be displayed.

Website with revocation instruction and the query

If the interested party confirms the mandatory fields (all except the early start), the link “Continue to download” will become active. Here the confirmation of the mandatory fields without early start.

The customer is informed in a popup that he has not agreed to the early start and that the documents are not yet available for download. To change the selection, he can return or continue without agreement.

Indication that the immediate start has not been agreed

Downloading is not possiblewithout agreement to an early start . The interested party is advised that he must contact the estate agent for this purpose. The broker can then resend an email with a new link to the customer. It is no longer possible to change the early start at this point.

Note, immediate start not agreed, no file available

Irrespective of this, the interested party has accepted the revocation instructions and the customer is automatically sent an email containing the property, the external commission, the text of the revocation instructions and a sample revocation form. The real estate agent also receives an info email about the approval with details of the confirmations, contact and property.
A counter-submission (+14 days) is entered in the contact data record, if a current or future counter-submission has not already been entered.

If you agree to an early start , the brochure(s) will be offered for download or links to will be displayed when you click on “Next”. Without attachments, the data is simply saved.

Agreed to start immediately, file download available

When accepting the revocation instruction, the customer is automatically sent an email containing the property, the external commission, the text of the contractual declaration, the revocation instruction and a sample revocation form. The real estate agent receives an info email about the approval with details of the confirmations, contact and property.

Activities and actions

In the example, the checkboxes for “Callback accepted” are set in the address data record >> Basic data >> Administration category.

Activity / agent’s log entries for the revocation are stored in the address and the property, together with the queries for the contract and contact. The query for immediate start is also listed and whether the interested party has agreed or not. The list of files / links provided is also included.

After accepting the immediate start, the interested party will receive an email with the text of the revocation declaration to which he/she has agreed and the property for which the revocation was requested. This is a sample revocation form as a text attachment. The sending of the email is stored in the activities / agent’s log.

If the interested party opens / downloads available files, an activity with type of action “Download” and kind of action “Download” and the action feature “First download” is stored. If the download is an brochure, “First time brochure download” is also stored as an action feature. If the file is downloaded again, an activity entry is created again, this time with the action feature “Repeated download”. The name of the file is noted in each case and the original email in which the attachment is stored can be viewed in the activity / agent’s log entry in the tab Email including attachment.

The sender of the email with the link to the interested party receives an email with the queried elements and the result as well as the list of the provided files / links. In the email the contact and the property are assigned.

A file or an brochure can be preceded by a query of the GTC. You can use the macro _agreementLink(AGB) for this purpose. Further queries such as the callback can be added _agreementLink(AGB, Kontakt). 

A special case is the macro PDFLinkOhneAGB, which is replaced by the macro _downloadLink.

The sending of the email is noted as usual in the activities / agent’s log. In addition, the action feature “Download link” is set. If an brochure is sent out, the action feature “Brochure dispatch” is added.

After the interested party has agreed to the GTC in an activity with the type of action “GTC confirmed”, the GTC are deposited together with the GTC. The confirmation for the callback is noted and the files provided are listed.

If the interested party opens / downloads available files, an activity with type of action “Download” and kind of action “Download” and the action feature “First download” is stored. If the download is an brochure, “First time brochure download” is also stored as an action feature. If the file is downloaded again, the action feature “Repeated download” is written. The name of the file is noted and the original email in which the attachment is stored can be viewed in the activity / agent’s log entry in the tab Email including attachment.

Previous macros for revocation and queries

ATTENTION: The _Widerrufslink macro does not meet the new brokerage contract requirements as of 12/23/2020.

The macros still work, but are no longer being developed. Their range of functions and configuration options are significantly smaller than with the agreementLink.

We recommend replacing the existing macros with an agreementLink macro (for revocation and PDFLink*) or the _downloadLink macro (replacement of PDFLinkOhneAGB) with the corresponding parameters.