| User's Guide |
| Who Receives Your
Newsletter - Subscribers |
| Overview:
Build and manage subscriber lists, import, export, and delivery. |
Features of Subscriber Management
Main Table of Contents
Overview of the Subscription
System
What is a subscriber?
Generally speaking, a subscriber is an individual or organization that has
given you permission to send them information. They have some interest in the material you
are providing, and given you personal contact information as a means of getting that
information to them.
Opt In? Opt Out?
The most powerful tool available to anyone trying to get his or her
message out via the Internet is permission. An
individual who has "opted in" and been confirmed via email has given you
permission to send your message directly to them. It
is that permission that allows your message to be welcomed and read, while dozens of other
so-called "spam" messages are ignored and deleted. If an individual revokes that permission, or
"opts out", they are exercising their right of refusal with regard to the
information being sent to them.
Synchronizing Your Data Vs. Acquiring New
Subscribers
When you synchronize your data,
you are basically making sure that you are working with the same information across every
platform on which it is utilized. For example, if your list of subscribers is also your
customer list, you will want to be sure that the information for both lists is the same.
Acquiring new subscribers is the way in which you expand your subscription list to reach a
broader audience. There are many ways to do this, but one of the easiest ways to collect
this information is through a Subscription Box that is tied to your account. This
Subscription Box is designed and administered through the Subscription Builder.
Subscriber Sub-Lists - What they are
and how to use them
Your account can store a virtually
unlimited number of subscriber records. This is known as your subscriber database or your
master list. These records can then be segmented and grouped together into particular
subscriber lists called sub-lists. Each sub-list can be configured as either an
opt-in/opt-out list (for mailings) or as an interest list (for personalized and dynamic
content).
Accessing the Subscriber Menu
The subscriber management area is used to import subscriber lists, to add and
edit individual records, and to move subscribers between sub-lists. To get to the
Subscriber Menu, click the "There are X subscribers" link under the "Send As Email" button
on the Main Menu. Or, select Subscriber Overview from the pull down menu at the top of the
window. The page that appears will look something like this:
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Understanding
Subscriber Records and Sub-Lists
All of the information you collect and
maintain for a particular subscriber is stored in your account as a subscriber record. By
default, only one subscriber record exists for every email address. Therefore, if you
import data or fill in a subscription form for an email address that already exists, the
subscriber record pertaining to that email address will be updated and no additional
record will be created.
Sub-lists, Parents and Children
In addition to information such as email address, first name, last name,
city, state, etc., a subscriber record can be assigned to one or more sub-lists. Sub-lists
allow you to group subscribers together that share something in common. For example,
subscribers that are customers could be in one list and subscribers that are employees
could be on another list. A subscriber can be a member of more than one sub-list at the
same time.
Sub-lists can also be arranged so that lists that are
related to each other are grouped together as the children of a single parent list. A
parent list can have one or more children. Each child list can in turn be a parent list
with child lists of its own. Many levels of child lists can be defined. The number of
levels is limited only by the number of lists you can define.
NOTE: Subscribers can be assigned to
both parent and child lists at the same time or at the parent or child level only. In
other words, a subscriber can be in the parent list but not any of its children or the
subscriber can appear in a child list but not in its parent list.
List Types: Opt-in/Opt-out Lists vs. Interest Lists
A sub-list can be defined as either an opt-in/opt-out list or an interest
list. The list type you select is determined by how the sub-list is to be used.
Opt-in/opt-out lists are used primarily for email delivery
and subscription management. Subscribers can automatically remove themselves from
opt-in/opt-out lists, and the system will remember those who have opted out from
particular sub-lists and will prevent the subscriber from being added again to that list.
Only opt-in/opt-out lists are available when emails are sent. NOTE: To take full
advantage of separate opt-in/opt-out lists, make sure the Advanced List Management option
is selected within the Subscription Builder.
Interest lists are used to classify subscribers into
various categories based upon interests they have selected or that have been selected for
them based on your own analysis. Interest lists are also ideally suited for use with
dynamic display rules.
Active vs. Removed
The subscribers within a sub-list can either be active members of the list
or removed members. An active list member is included in all operations done on the list
and will receive an email when mailings are sent to the list. A removed member is someone
who has either chosen to opt-out from the list, was removed through the Bounce Manager, or
was removed explicitly by the administrator.
There are two types of remove operations available through
the Subscription Management functions: 'remove and remember' and 'remove and forget'. When
a subscriber is 'removed and remembered', the status of their subscriber record is changed
from Active to Removed and the subscriber will be counted as a removed member. In this
way, the system remembers removals and can prevent a subscriber who has removed themselves
from a sub-list from being re-added inadvertently at a later date.
Defining New
Sub-lists
By default, 10 opt-in/opt-out lists are defined for every new account.
These lists are labeled List 1 through List 10 respectively. You can use these lists as
is, or you can edit them, changing their name, description, and/or list type. In addition,
you can add new lists (up to the number allowed in your service plan) or delete existing
lists.
Sub-lists are changed, added, or removed through the List
Manager which is accessed through the Subscriber Menu page. The List Manager lets you add
sub-lists as children of existing lists and create a hierarchy of lists.
Selecting Sub-lists
One or more sub-lists can be specified for use in various operations by using the
pop-up List Selector. The List Selector shows all applicable sub-lists as an expandable
tree. Each sub-list is represented as a folder, and if that sub-list has any children, the
folder will be displayed with a '+' sign to its left. Clicking to expand a folder will
reveal its children.
The List Selector allows
two or more sub-lists to be checked and selected at the same time. It also allows you to
select records that are not actually assigned to any sub-list at all.
When multiple lists are selected, you can specify in the
List Selector how the logical comparison will work. The choices are either: any
of the selected lists OR all of the selected lists. For example, if
you want to include subscribers that are either in List 1 or List 2, you would select the
'any' option. If you want to include subscribers that are in both List 1 and List 2 at the
same time, you would select the 'all' option.
What it means to be 'Not in Any List'
Each unique subscriber has only one physical record within your account.
When a new subscriber record is entered, you have the option of assigning this record to
one or more sub-lists. If no sub-list is assigned to a subscriber record, then this
subscriber is not a member of any sub-list. Subscribers who are not in a sub-list can be
manipulated and used in operations just as well as any other subscriber. In many ways,
'Not in Any List' is like a sub-list itself - the default one. However, if you plan to use
sub-lists actively to manage and categorize your subscribers, it is better to keep all of
your records assigned to at least one sub-list.
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Importing and
Synchronizing a Subscriber List
When starting your subscription list, the
first thing you will want to do is to add information for subscribers you may already
have. To do this, start from the Subscriber Menu, and click IMPORT SUBSCRIBER LIST. The Import Subscriber List page provides
two import methods: 'Upload a File' or 'Copy and Paste'.
Before adding subscribers -- review the Important
Note, which indicates that any email list you enter must be an opt-in list. This means the
subscribers have indicated an interest to receive communications from you. You can read
more about it in the Terms of Service agreement. A purchased list is almost never an
opt-in list. You should never upload a list obtained from a third party without consulting
the support team first.
Uploading a File (Step 1)
The first method to add names to your
subscriber list is to upload a tab delimited text file containing email addresses and any
additional information. To select the file to
upload on your computer, click the Browse button. Find the location of
the file on your computer and click Open. Once the file is selected,
click Continue.
Note:
The file itself should be a tab-delimited file. This
simply means that a tab separates the elements of data within an entry. You can do this
simply in Microsoft Excel by selecting the “Save As…” option under
“File”. Then, under “Save As Type”, select “Tab Delimited”.
In Step 2, after the file is uploaded, the contents
will be evaluated to determine what the field names represent.
Field Mapping (Step 2)
Under
the Field
Mapping: prompt
a small sample of the data you have uploaded is displayed with the field names, and below,
it will show a series of drop down lists labeled by column number.
These drop-down lists provide a mapping between the data in the import file and the fields
in the subscriber database. If the first row of the import file includes fieldnames that
can be automatically identified, some or all of the column mappings may be correctly
configured by default.
If the software has correctly established all of the column
names, then nothing more need be done. If
there is a column that is unknown or incorrectly labeled, then select from the drop-down
list what kind of data is in that column. There
are several default values provided. However,
if the data in a column doesn’t match any of the defaults, select one of the numbered
“Custom” options provided (we’ll talk about how to name these properly in a
moment). If you would like to exclude data in a particular column from being imported,
select the "Unknown" field mapping option.
Import Options
Next, review the Import Options. This will determine how the data being uploaded
is handled. If this is the first attempt to
import any data to the system, then any option will suffice. If you have previously uploaded or collected data
in your account, you will need to decide how to handle the information already present.
Add new
subscribers, update existing subscribers.
This option, in addition to creating any new entries from the data you
are uploading, will also update any already existing entries with the data in this
file. This is a helpful option when not only adding new subscribers, but if your
organization has new or updated information about existing subscribers that you wish to
include in your list. Existing fields will be updated. Any field not present in the import
file will remain unchanged in the database. With this option, it is also possible to have
subscribers in your online account that are not present in your local database.
Add new
subscribers, update existing subscribers, remove subscribers not in the imported file.
This option will update existing subscribers, just like in the first option,
however subscribers that do not appear in the import file will be removed from your
account. This is an advanced option that should only be used if your local database is
considered the Master. Your account will then be synchronized to contain the exact
information in the import file. WARNING: Existing subscriber records
in your account that are not present in the import file will be removed and remembered. To
make this option work effectively, the entire subscriber list must be able to fit within a
single import file.
Add new
subscribers, do not update existing subscribers.
This option will only add entries not already present in the file you are
uploading. Information for entries already
present will be ignored. This can be useful if you have to add new subscribers for upload,
but do not want to change information for existing subscribers.
Import List and Source Code
Assignment
Finally, you can decide which sub-list will contain the imported
subscribers and/or what source code you would like to assign. A source code is any text
(up to 20 characters) that you decide to use to label subscriber records in a way that
allows them to be distinguished from other records in your account.
You can select any of the sub-lists provided, and enter a source
in the input field. If the Make unique to this list checkbox is selected, any
subscribers that already exist in other lists will be removed from those lists and only
appear in the sub-list you specify.
When everything is in order, click
on Continue to submit all the information.
The system will then begin processing the import file. A new screen will appear
stating "Your subscriber file has been submitted for processing. This may take a few
minutes depending on the size of the file. You will be notified through the Message
Center. To access the Message Center click the Messages icon on the main menu." Click
Continue to return to the Main Menu.
| October 5,
2003 5:37:58 PM |
|
Results for Import Request on
10/5/2002 5:37:58 PM
Import process succeeded
The Import request you submitted has been
completed successfully. The import results are: New Subscriber Records: 353
Updated Subscriber Records: 3869
Invalid Email Addresses: 78
Subscriber records Found but not updated (Previously removed): 2089
Duplicate Subscriber records found in your file: 90
To download the list of addresses that were bad or
duplicates or not updated, click here
If you have any additional questions, please
do not hesitate to contact our support team.
|
|
When the import process
is complete, a message will be posted to the Message Center (like the one shown above)
indicating the result of the import operation. This message provides a summary of how the
subscriber records were imported. It tells you how many new records were added, how many
existing records were found and updated, the number of invalid email addresses that do not
conform to the standard email format, and the number of subscribers that were not added
because they had previously opted-out or were duplicates.
Copy and Paste
It is also possible to import a subscriber list by simply copying the list of email
addresses and pasting them into the input box on the import page. Simply enter the email
address you would like added to your subscriber list in the space provided, one per line.
In this method, you can also specify the preferred email format for the subscriber, HTML
or text. At the end of the address, without any spaces simply put a comma, and
either a “txt” for text, or “htm” for HTML. If you do not wish
to specify the format, or want to do it later, just enter the address by itself.
Example:
john.doe@noplace.com
peter@sample.com,htm
jane@example.net,txt
mary@email.org
When you have entered all of the addresses, click Continue to add them
to your subscriber list. You will be presented with the same import options as in the file
upload outlined above.
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Collecting New
Subscribers - The Subscription Builder
The
Subscription Builder lets you specify how new subscribers are collected and stored. It
lets you design a Subscription Box, which is a user input form that can be placed within
your newsletter, or on any web site. The subscription box can be configured to collect as
much or as little information as you need (an email address at a minimum). To use the
Subscription Builder, simply click on the Subscription Builder link on the Main Menu page.
The
Subscription Builder options fall into 3 categories:
- Layout
and Data Collection
- Add
/ Remove / Update Operations
- Notifications
Layout
and Data Collection
There are two
options available to you for the layout of your Subscription Box: standard and custom. The Standard option is a basic and efficient box
that collects only the individual’s email address, and if desired, their preferred
email format. The message displayed in the box
can be changed in the text entry field provided.
Custom
Subscription Box
The other option is for a Custom Subscription Box.
This option allows for much more data to be collected from new subscribers. If
using the custom option, the box is edited using the on-line HTML editor accessed via the
Open Editor... button. You can use this
editor to add additional fields. You can add
any of the fields of data that are stored for a subscriber, including any of the 10 custom
fields you can configure.
On the right side
of the screen is a preview of what the subscription box will look like on the site. You can use this to confirm that the layout is
correct.
Add/Remove/Update
Operations
This area is
where you determine how the Subscription System handles changes initiated by subscribers.
Use these options to determine the actions to be taken with new subscribers, methods for
subscribers to update their information, and methods for subscribers to remove themselves.
Sub-list And
Source Code Assignment
When a
subscriber signs up via the Subscription Box they can be automatically added to a specific
sub-list. You can also assign a specific source code to individuals adding themselves in
this manner. This is a useful tool in tracking who has joined your subscriber list, and
from what place.
Subscription
Confirmation
This option, when selected, is an excellent way to confirm the validity of email
addresses being added to your subscriber list, and it will make sure that every new
subscriber is positively identified as someone who wants to receive email from you. When an individual enters an email address to sign
up, a confirmation email will be immediately sent to that address containing a link
to click on to confirm that they wish to be added to the list. The text of the
confirmation message can be changed as desired by clicking on the Edit
button to the right.
Add/Remove Via Email
This option will determine if subscribers have the ability to add or remove
themselves by sending an email to a particular email address. The email addresses used for
your account are shown below this option on the Subscription Builder page.
Update
Operation
This option, when set to "Yes", will allow subscribers to update their own
subscriber information via a link placed at the bottom of each message. The link will
appear at the bottom of these emails next to the removal link. This can be very useful in
keeping your subscriber information up to date.
Removal
Operation
This will determine how individuals who unsubscribe via the Subscription Box
are handled. The first option removes the ability to unsubscribe via the Subscription Box. The subscriber will still be able to unsubscribe
via other methods. The next option, which is the default, will remember the individual as
having opted out.
Advanced
List Management
By default, when a subscriber clicks the remove link at the bottom of the
email they receive, the subscriber will be opted-out (removed and remembered) from all
sub-lists. To allow a subscriber to opt in and out from specific sub-lists separately,
turn on the Advanced List Management feature. This will change the behavior of the removal
link. In this case, before removing an email address, the subscriber will first be shown a
list of the opt-in/opt-out lists that they are allowed to see and for which they are
currently members. They can then select one or more lists from which to be removed.
Notifications
In this area, you
can configure a message that subscribers receive when they opt-in to your newsletter. You
can also specify email addresses to receive automatic notifications every time a
subscriber record is added, removed, or updated.
Thank
You Message
The Thank You message is displayed on the Web after the subscription form is
submitted. To determine the contents of this message, edit the text in the Thank You
Message box. At the bottom of the Thank You message, a Done button will
appear. Clicking this button will return the subscriber to the newsletter cover page. To
change the destination of this button, specify the web address in the input box under the
"Thank You" page prompt and select the radio button next to it.
Welcome
Message
The Welcome Message is an automatic email that is sent to a subscriber upon
the successful submission of the Subscription Box. The first option lets you determine the
contents of this message. You can select the
current issue of your newsletter, any previous issue of your newsletter, or a default text
message that can be modified via the Edit... button that will appear when
that option is selected. Below that, there is
a text input field where you can enter the subject line of the outgoing email.
Administrative
Alerts
Here
you can configure the email addresses to be notified when a subscriber record is added,
removed, or updated. To turn on the notification, simply enter one or more addresses in
the appropriate field (separated by commas). The
alert will contain a summary of the information collected. If you do not wish to receive
notifications for the specified event, leave the field blank.
Adding
the Subscription Box to Your Web Site
The Subscription Box, generated by the Subscription Builder, can be added to any web
site to collect new subscribers from anywhere. When you have configured your subscription
box to your satisfaction, click the View Current Source button to get the
HTML code for the box.
Once
you have this code, insert it where desired into the HTML of any other web page. With this code in place, you will have another
copy of your subscription box on a different web site that works exactly the same as the
one on your newsletter.
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Searching and
Manipulating Subscriber Lists
To search your
subscriber list for entries with specific commonalties, click SEARCH AND MANAGE SUBSCRIBER LIST from the Subscription Manager page. You will be brought to a page where you can
establish a number of search criteria, and determine what action to take with the results.
Selection Criteria
In the area labeled Select subscribers that: you can set the search criteria. The first option is to select
what sub-lists you wish to search, either one in particular, all lists, or no lists (which
will give only results of entries that are not placed in any list, and appear on the main
Subscription Manager page as “Not In Any List”). The next option is to select
what selected format will be searched (Formatted HTML, Plain Text, or [ANY]). Next is a series of options headed by “where:” that can set a number of search criteria based on any
information known about this subscriber, from the standard fields such as “First
Name”, to any of the custom fields.
Actions
Next, in the area labeled And then... you can set (via radio buttons) what
the system will do with the results.
Further information about each action item is shown below:
| View them |
|
Simply view the results and determine a set of sorting
criteria - the order in which they will be viewed.
|
| Copy them
to: |
|
Copy resulting entries to any of your sub-lists while keeping
them in any lists they may already be in.
|
| Move them
exclusively to: |
|
Move
subscribers to any of your sub-lists while removing them from any and all other lists they
are currently in.
|
| Remove them from:
|
|
Removes the resulting entries from any or all of your
sub-lists. This option changes the sub-list designation and
is not the same as opting-out, which removes and remembers the subscriber record (no
matter what sub-list
the subscriber is on).
|
| Change source
code to: |
|
Changes the
source code of all resulting entries to the value entered here.
|
| Change format
preference to: |
|
Changes the
preferred email format for the selected subscribers.
|
| Change [FIELD] to: |
|
Changes the contents of a particular field value to the one
specified in the input box for all
of the selected subscribers.
|
| Permanently
delete, but remember as opted-out from: |
Removes the selected subscriber records from the selected
sub-lists and remembers them as opted out.
|
| Permanently
delete from all lists, but remember as opted-out. |
Removes the selected subscriber records from all lists and
remembers them as opted out.
|
| Permanently
delete them from all lists. (Remove and Forget) |
The resulting
entries are completely removed from the system. Be careful when using this option
because you will lose all record of those subscribers who have asked to be taken off your
list and risk violating
our email policies. |
When you are ready, click Submit
to execute the search operation you have specified. If you have made a mistake in
setting up the search and need to start over, click on Reset. Otherwise,
click Cancel to do nothing and exit.
Saved Searches
The search criteria you specify can be saved for later use. This is done by selecting the Save
the Search Criteria check box and providing a unique name for the criteria in the
search name box. Once saved, the search criteria can be used in the Search and Manage page
later. The Saved Search criteria can be loaded and modified or they can be included as the
basis for additional searches.
Use to Filter Reports
Saved Searches can also be used as filters in Activity Reports. By selecting
a Saved Search at the top of the reporting page, you can apply the search criteria to the
resulting report. Only usage data that pertains to the subscribers selected by the search
will be used in the reports. For example, to see an activity report for only AOL
subscribers, you would first create a new Saved Search that finds subscribers whose email
address ends with 'AOL.COM'. Then you would go to the activity report, find the AOL search
from the Filter with Saved Search drop-down list, and then click the Select
button to re-run the report.
Use when you send a mailing
Another use for a Saved Search is to select it when you send your email. By
selecting a Saved Search instead of a particular sub-list, the selection of subscriber
records will occur at the time the email is actually sent. So if any new subscriber
records that meet the search criteria are added at the last minute, these subscribers will
be included in the mailing. The key thing to remember, however, is that unless specified
in the saved search, the subscribers included by the search criteria can come from any
sub-list.
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Defining the Email Job
Once articles have been entered, and the template
has been published (using Post to the Web), you are ready to send your newsletter to your
subscriber list. To do this, click Send as Email from the Main Menu
or the Subscriber Menu. This will display the Send as Email page.
This is where you define an Email Job - which is
the collection of information needed to compose and deliver the email. The information
requested by this page is similar to the information you specify when creating a message
in any other email program. This includes the FROM address, the TO address, the Subject,
the body of the message, and any attachments.
The FROM Address
First you are prompted to specify the FROM address. This is the person who is sending the
message and who will receive any reply. The FROM address consists of two things, a valid
email address (e.g., myname@example.com) and the
Full Name (or pretty name) for that address (e.g., Bill Smith). By default, the FROM
address is obtained form the publisher's email address. You can change this address to a
different email box if you would like to collect responses to your mailing elsewhere.
NOTE: You must use a valid
email address that points to a working email box that a person checks regularly. If you do
not do so, you may be violating anti-spam laws in several states and you will be violating
our email policy.
When using Bounce Management, it is also important
to know that the email portion of the FROM address (not the pretty name) will be changed
to be a special email address that is used to collect bounced emails. And, the REPLY TO
header will be set to the email address in the FROM address. This will allow emails that
are returned due to failed delivery to be processed automatically by the system while
allowing personal responses made by subscribers to be sent back to you. In some email
programs, the special bounce email address may be revealed. In these cases, the pretty
name is usually displayed as well, so the identity of the publisher who is sending this
email is not lost.
Advanced Topic: Personalizing the FROM
Address
If personalization features are available to your account, the FROM address can
be personalized so that it changes depending upon the subscriber. This is most commonly
used when delivering a single mailing to a customer base that is segmented and managed by
a sales organization. Subscribers in each sales territory can be assigned to a specific
salesperson and the personally addressed email that is delivered can appear as if it came
from that person - instead of a global sales address. To add personalization tokens to the
FROM address, click the Personalization Helper icon to the right of either edit box.
The TO Address
Under the Email To section, you will find several options which determine who will be the
recipient of your newsletter. These include:
Subscriber List
Select this radio button to send your newsletter to all your subscribers or to
only subscribers that appear in one or more sub-lists. You can also filter the subscribers
by source code, including only those subscribers that match the source code text you
specify. By default the List Selector is set to All Lists. This setting will include all
of your subscribers. To select subscribers that appear on specific lists, click the Up
arrow on the List Selector to choose the appropriate sub-list(s).
If you select two or more sub-lists at the same time (to be
part of the same mailing), the subscribers will receive only one email message, regardless
of how many selected sub-lists they are on. In other words, if a subscriber is both in
List 1 and List 5 and you select both List 1 and List 5 in the List Selector, this
subscriber will receive only one copy of the email.
NOTE: The Subscriber List setting can also
be used for sending test mailings. This is done by creating a sub-list for this purpose,
and then selecting this list through the List Selector. To send a test message for review,
without making it available for others to see online, set the Status of this issue to
'Pending' in the Issue Properties area accessible through the Main Menu.
Test Message
A single test message can be quickly sent to the publisher's email address using this
setting. This is a quick and easy way to see how the newsletter will look in your email
program.
Note: This method does not include
information derived from the subscriber database within the message. This means,
personalization and display rules will operate as if the subscriber information is blank.
To test personalization and display rules, you will need to create a sub-list containing
your email address or any other test addresses.
Use one or more test addresses specified below:
This option operates identically to the option above it, only you can specify any
arbitrary email addresses in the box provided. If there is more than one email address,
list the email addresses with a comma between each one.
The SUBJECT Line
This is a single line of text which appears in the summary line of an email
program. This text should be kept short, and should provide a quick overview of what the
email contains.
Personalization tokens can be added to the subject line to
address the subscriber in a more personal manner (e.g., "Hi Janelle, here is this
month's newsletter"). To add these tokens, click the Personalization Helper icon to
the right of the subject line box.
The Message Body
The information contained in the body of your message is determined by the
settings you select in this section. There are several ways in which the body information
is generated and you can optionally specify any text that will be inserted at the very top
of the email or at the very bottom.
Starting Text
Use this box to enter text that will appear above the newsletter border (in
the HTML version) and above the Title (in the Text version). For example, in a message
sent to a special "in-house" list for review, you might include this text:
"This is a DRAFT. Please submit your feedback to youremail@example.com by
(date)." Or, when sending your mailing, you might use this space to include a special
message from the Editor, or the President, etc.
Content Type: Text vs. HTML
When generating your message, two versions of the message are usually
created: a plain text version and a richly-formatted HTML version. Then, when the mailing
is delivered, the mailer determines what email type to send to each subscriber based upon
their format preference. Subscribers that have asked to receive only text, will receive
the plain text version only. Subscribers that have selected to receive HTML, will receive
the HTML version only. Subscribers who have not specified their format preference will be
sent both (unless they are using AOL version 5.0 or earlier), allowing their email program
(or in some cases the email server) choose the appropriate format. In most cases,
subscribers with unknown preferences will see the HTML version. AOL version 5.0 users will
always be sent a slightly modified version of the plain text message.
Under each content type, there are several options. These options
determine what content will be included in the messages that are generated and will allow
a plain text message to be sent without delivering an HTML version.
Text Version
There are up to three Text Version options that can appear:
Use Previous Text
This option only appears after the newsletter has been sent at least once by email. When
selected, the plain text version of the newsletter will not be generated again. The prior
version that was created and edited will be used again. This is helpful for preserving
last minute edits that may have been made on the text version in the Preview area. Note,
however, that any changes made to your content (in the Article Entry area) will not be
reflected in the plain text of your newsletter unless these changes are manually entered
at preview time, or the text is re-generated using one of the other two text version
options.
New from Template
This will generate the text version of the newsletter using the plain text template. This
template can be modified using the Layout Editor. Edit the text version template to change
the format of the text, the characters used to in separator lines, heading text, bullet
characters, and more. You can also change the order of the various layout elements and add
new ones to create specific sections for advertising or special content.
New from Content Settings
Select this option to generate a new text version using a simple default template and
settings that can be configured by clicking the Content Settings button.
This button will appear when this radio button option is selected. The Content Settings
window allows you to select what information will be included in the text of the
newsletter and in what order. This option is less flexible than the "New from
Template" option, but it can be faster for making minor adjustments. These settings
will also be used by the HTML Version if the "Formatted Paragraphs" option is
selected.
HTML Version
The are three options that can be selected under the HTML Version:
Cover Page
This is the default and most common HTML option. Select this radio button to use
the Cover Page of the newsletter as it has been designed through the layout editor and as
it appears on the companion micro-site. The system will convert the page slightly to
operate as HTML embedded within an email message - however it will look pretty much the
same.
Formatted Paragraphs
This option is less frequently used, but it can be useful for deriving a simple
HTML layout from your content without using or modifying any of the layout templates. For
example, if you would like to create a mailing with completely custom HTML, you can place
this HTML in one or more articles and then configure the Content Settings to include these
articles. The resulting message will include the HTML as you have designed it and the
layout template will not be used.
Text Only
Choose this option to send only a text version of your newsletter. All users will then
receive the plain text message, no matter what their format preference.
Ending Text
Use this box to enter text that will appear below the border at the bottom
of the newsletter in the HTML version and below all of the text in the Text version. This
is a good place to put final thoughts, disclaimers, and/or subscription information.
Attachments
One or more files can be attached to the email you deliver. To attach a file, it
must first be uploaded to your account using the File Manager. All available files are
then displayed in the list box shown next to the "Attachments" prompt on the
Send As Email page. To select a file to attach, click on its name to highlight it. To
choose more than one attachment, press and hold the CTRL key while clicking on the
filename.
NOTE: Be careful about how you use this
feature. Many subscribers will be wary about receiving an email with attachments unless
they have requested it, or feel comfortable with you as the provider of this information.
Do not attach large files.
Bounce Management
Select this option to have the system adjust the FROM address of the outgoing
email so that email messages that cannot be delivered get returned to the system and not
to your own email box. This will allow these messages to be processed and classified
automatically by the Bounce Management system and eventually used to clean your list. If
you do not select this option, all bounced emails will be returned to you and the system
will be unable to process the bounces or provide any statistics.
External Links
Select the Track External Links option to
have the system analyze the message that is generated and replace links to Web sites and
other locations that are not within your companion microsite, with special tracking URLs
that allows clicks on that link to be measured before the destination of that link is
reached.
When you're satisfied with the options and settings selected on
the Send as Email page, click the Continue button. You will then be able to preview
the email you are about to send.
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Previewing and Sending Your
Message
Before sending the email, you get a chance to preview it in
three versions: Text, AOL, and HTML. Here you can see how the Text
version will look for the first time and modify it, if necessary, to make changes or
additions. A text version is always created because not every email program supports
richly formatted HTML email and users often request to receive the more compact text only
version of the newsletter. The only circumstance where the text version can be ignored is
when all of the subscribers have their format preference set to HTML.
When the mailing is delivered, the system will use
subscriber format preferences to determine which version of the email is sent. AOL users
that are using an older version of the AOL software will be classified separately so that
they receive the special AOL format version of the newsletter. When format preference is
unknown, both the plain text and HTML versions of the email will be sent together as one
email message. The email program is then allowed to chose the format it is best able to
display.
Previewing the Text Version
America Online has unique settings for its customers using
some of its older email software. This makes email messages show up differently than most
text and HTML applications. Click on the AOL tab to see what the message will look
like for these users.
Finally, click on the HTML tab to view how the
newsletter looks for HTML-based email applications. It should be exactly how you see it in
Preview and as it is published on the Web.
Previewing the HTML Version
Starting the Email Job
After previewing your email message and confirming that all of the content is
correct, you can then initiate the email delivery process. This can be run immediately or
it can be scheduled to occur at a date and time in the future.
Send Now
Click this button to send the email job
you have defined to the mailer for immediate delivery. This will place the job in the
queue for pickup at the next available opportunity. Job processing usually begins within
less than 10 minutes after the time the button is clicked.
Send Later
Click this button to select a date and time when this email job should be delivered.
This is ideal for scheduling mailings in the middle of the night when Internet traffic is
slow - or for early morning deliveries that are timed to land on peoples desks no sooner
than 6AM each morning. After clicking this button, you will see the Schedule an Email
page. On this page, use the radio buttons and input boxes to specify the day and the time
when the mailing should be sent.
Saving Your Settings
When you select the Save settings for this issue checkbox, all of the
settings specified for this mailing will be saved for later use. Only one email setting
can be saved per issue. The next time you send an email, you can load these settings by
selecting the issue's name from the drop-down list shown at the top right of the Send as
Email page. If you're sending out a test and don't want to remember the settings, deselect
this option.
The Final Confirmation
When an email job is sent to all subscribers or to a sub-list, a Final Confirmation page
will be shown that indicates how many emails will be sent along with other particulars.
This is your last chance to review the email job before it is sent to the mailer. If all
looks good, click the Send Now button. Otherwise, click Cancel or
use your browser's BACK button. Once the Send Now button is clicked, the
email job is sent directly to the mailer and it cannot be stopped.
Once the mailer has accepted the job, the system
displays a results page that will look something like this:
| 104 email(s) sent to the mailer
for immediate processing.
|
|
NOTE: When you see this results page
it does not mean the email job has finished delivering email. It only means that the
mailer has received the job and that it will start processing it as soon as possible. The
process of delivering the email can take some time, depending upon the size of the email
message and the number being sent.
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Bounce Management and
Cleaning Your List
When an email message does not reach its intended recipient, an email message is
returned to the sender. The email that is returned is called a "bounce" message.
Usually a bounce message occurs when there has been a problem during the delivery of the
email. For instance, the domain name used in the address might be invalid or not presently
functioning, or the user at the destination may no longer have an email box or their email
box might be full. It is also possible that the message has been received, but not read
because the recipient is on vacation or out of the office.
Bounces,
Why Should I Care?
When sending emails to a list, whether it contains a thousand or a hundred
thousand subscribers, you will always encounter bounce messages. Bounces can easily
overwhelm you, however, keeping track of them is important because they let you know how
many of the emails you have sent are actually being delivered. You should also use them to
clean your subscriber database by removing bad addresses and fixing typos. Some ISPs will
even consider you to be a spammer if you repeatedly send email to bad addresses.
The
Bounce Management system eases the entire process of handling bounces by collecting all of
the bounce messages for you and classifying them by the type of bounce. Then using the
Bounce Manager, you should remove subscriber records that are bad or that have
consistently caused bounce messages over a period of time.
NOTE:
Subscribers that have bounce records are not removed automatically by the system. You must
select the "Clear and Remove" action in the Bounce Manager to tell the system
when you are ready to remove them.
How
it Works
In order for the system to be able to process and categorize bounce messages, the
email headers of the emails you send need to be adjusted slightly so that when a bounce is
returned it goes to the Bounce Manager and not your own email box. This is done by
changing the FROM address portion of the header to a special email box on our mail server.
This is where the bounce messages will be sent if delivery fails. Then, a special REPLY TO
header is added and is assigned to the FROM address you supplied when creating the email
job. This header allows recipients of the email to click the REPLY button on their email
program and have your email address appear in the reply (and not the special bounce
address).
Using
the Bounce Management System
The Bounce Management system is accessible from the PROCESS BOUNCES
link in the subscriber overview (or through the Bounce Manager item in the Subscriber pull
down menu).
In the Bounce Report, you will see the number of subscribers with bounce messages in
each of four categories (or bounce types). Next to that, you can choose what action to
take with them. You can select to simply “View” them in list format. You can “Clear” the addresses out of
the Bounce Manager. You can select
“Clear and Remove” which will clear them out of the Bounce Manager and remove
and remember the addresses. Or, you can
download an Excel file containing all of the addresses in the category.
In
addition to the action, you can qualify these actions by limiting them to subscribers who
have received a certain number of bounces. So,
for example, you may wish to remove a subscriber after only one or two “Bad
Address” bounces, but you may wish to wait until five or six vacation messages before
deciding to remove someone who is permanently "out to lunch". Please note that
you can only make one change at a time, so only select one type of bounce to act upon at a
time.
Bounce
Types
The system categories bounce messages into four basic types: bad email addresses, vacation
notices, mailbox full notices, and unknown.
Bad
Email Address
Bounces of this type have been definitively classified as "bad" and
undeliverable. This type of bounce, also known as a "hard bounce" occurs when
the destination email box does not exist or if the domain portion of the email address is
not valid. This is typically what happens when someone leaves a company or changes to a
different ISP. Addresses that are bad should be cleared from your subscriber database or
fixed to correct any typos. In this case, it is safe to remove subscribers that have had 1
or more bounces. Even a single bounce of this type means that the address is bad and
requires further attention.
Vacation
This type of bounce message is returned when someone is out of the office and has set
their mail server to automatically respond to any incoming email with an "I'm on
Vacation" notice. Usually this notice says that the person is out of the office and
will respond to the message when they return. In this case, the email address is actually
good, but the receipt of the message by the recipient may be delayed. Vacation notices
stemming from older issues that have only been received once or twice, should be
"cleared" from the Bounce Manager. Those subscriber addresses that receive
vacation bounces regularly may indicate people on "permanent" vacation. In this
case, you might decide to "clear and remove" subscribers who have bounced 5 or
more times.
NOTE:
You will notice that some vacation notices will also be sent directly back to you (the
sender of the email) and not to the Bounce Manager. This often happens when vacation
notification is done through an email program and not at the mail server. In this case,
the bounce message is sent as if the Reply button was pressed in an email program. The
response is sent to the "Reply To" address and not the "From" address.
Mailbox
Full
Most email servers and mail hosting providers set limits on the amount of email that will
be stored in an account. For example, free Web-based email hosts like Yahoo and Hotmail
provide a fairly small amount of space to most people. Even AOL sets specific limits on
how much email is allowed in an account. With the proliferation of spam, the problem of
overflowing email boxes continues to grow. Mailbox Full bounces indicate that even
though an email address is good, the email you sent was rejected by the subscriber's mail
server and the message was not received. Like Vacation bounces, you can decide how many
bounces should occur before the subscriber account should be considered dormant and
unworthy of future delivery attempts.
Unknown
While many bounce messages are returned with clear and concise reasons why they have
occurred, there are unfortunately lots of non-standard and unique ways in which email
servers will send bounce messages. In this situation, the email address might or might not
be bad, the email may or may not have been received. Sometimes this type of bounce is due
to a temporary failure on the Internet (e.g., a mail server is down, a connection is lost,
etc.). The only fact known is that an auto-response email was returned for this
subscriber. Due to the nature of Unknown bounces, you can decide to either
"clear" them regularly from the Bounce Manager or to review the subscriber
records individually and determine whether or not to keep or remove them. Since some of
the Unknown bounces might simply be automated acknowledgements or other status indicators,
be careful not to remove good email addresses by mistake. It will take some judgement on
your part to determine what is best to do.
NOTE:
The system will try very hard to get all messages through to the intended recipient. If
the mailer is having trouble connecting with the destination mail server, it will try
repeatedly, every few minutes for several days, before giving up.
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Populating New
Sub-lists From Reports
After
you start to send some newsletters out, you can use the Reports section to see what is of
interest to your subscribers. With this
detailed reporting you can begin to tailor your issues to your subscriber's tastes, and
even send special issues out to groups with particular interests.
When viewing reports in your newsletter activity section that list individual
subscribers, you will see the Sub-List Assignment function at the bottom of the page:
This allows you to easily move all of the identified subscribers in the report that you
are viewing into a particular sub-list. For example, if you are viewing a report of
individuals who have viewed an article page, it is likely all of the individuals have some
interest in the subject of the article. Now
you can move them all into a new sub-list, and use the new list to send them a special
issue exclusively devoted to that topic. This
allows more personalized content to be delivered to your subscribers.
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Exporting Lists
If you need to synchronize your in-house
subscription information with information collected in your account's subscriber database,
click on DOWNLOAD
SUBSCRIBER LIST
from the Subscription Overview page, or select Export & Download from the Subscribers
pull down menu. On the Subscriber List
download page you can download any sub-list or your entire subscriber list:
First,
select which, if any specific sub-list you wish to download. Next, enter the source code, if any, that will be
in the data for the subscribers you wish to download. Then, select which subscriber data
fields you would like to include in the exported file. When you have configured the
options to give you the proper information, click the Continue button. You will then be asked to enter an email address
to which the requested information will be sent. Optionally, specify a personal note to be
in the body of the message to which the data is attached.
One of the most useful applications of this feature is to download any new subscribers
who have signed up via the Subscription Box. Here
is how to do this:
In
the Subscription Builder, assign any new subscriber a source code of “new-web”. Each new subscriber record will now have this
source code. Then, periodically come to this
download area and select to download any individual whose source code is
“web-new” to get any new subscribers that have come to you through the
Subscription Box. Once you have the new data,
go to the “Search and Manage” area to search for all subscribers where source
code equals “web-new” and change the source code to something else so that these
same subscribers will not be part of any future download.
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