Sending your first email campaign is a simple task
but requires some initial setup before we can
proceed. Follow the simple steps below and you'll
be sending your first email campaign in no time.
Step 1. Create your mailing list
A mailing list is a collection of your subscribers
details. It includes their email address and any
optional fields such as Name, Age and Sex which
you can create. When sending out an email
newsletter, you send it to a mailing list which
means everyone on that list will receive the
email.
To create a mailing list, click the "Create
Mailing List" option under the "Mailing Lists"
tab.
Step 2. Create custom fields (optional)
Custom fields allow you to collect extra
information about your subscribers, such as Name,
Age, Sex, Country, etc. You can create as many
custom fields as you like and you can use them in
the content of your newsletter.
Custom fields need to be created before you create
your subscription form as they are included as
fields that can be filled in by your web site
visitors along with their email address. More on
this later.
To create a custom field, click the "Manage
Custom Fields" option under the "Mailing Lists"
tab.
Step 3. Add/import subscribers
Before you can send a newsletter you need someone
to send it to. In step 1 we created a mailing
list. In this step we will look at 3 different
ways you can add subscribers to your mailing list:
Import subscribers from a file
If you already have a list of subscribers
in a file on your computer, you can upload
that file into the system and add the
subscribers to your new mailing list. To
start, you will need to export your subscriber
list from your other mailing program. You
should export your subscriber list into a CSV
(comma separated value) file. A CSV file will
contain a list of your subscribers details in
a line-by-line format, such as:
Move your mouse over the "Subscribers" tab and
click the "Import Subscribers" option, as
shown below:
To import subscribers from a file, click the
"Import Subscribers" option under the
"Subscribers" tab.
This will start the "Import Subscribers"
wizard. Choose the mailing list you want to
import subscribers to and click the "Next >>"
button.
The example import file above includes three
records, and each record is separated with a
new line. Each record contains four fields,
and each field is separated with a comma. The
CSV file will typically have a .CSV or .TXT
file extension. Start by clicking on the
"Browse..." button in the form to select your
CSV file from your hard drive:
To import subscribers from a file, click the
"Browse..." button to choose the file.
If your import file contains a line of headers
like this:
... make sure you tick the "Yes, this file
contains headers" checkbox. Click the "Next
>>" button to proceed to the next step.
You will now be asked to map the fields from
the imported file to the fields in the system.
Simply click the dropdown box next to each
field that was found in the file and match it
up to the field in the system. Here's an
example for an import file that included "Sex"
and "Age" custom fields:
Click the dropdown next to each imported
field to map it to the appropriate field in
the system.
Click the "Next >>" button when you are done.
Finally, click the "Start Import" button. Your
subscribers will be imported one by one and
the popup window that appears will show you
how many subscribers have been imported and
how many remain. You will see a final report
when all subscribers have been imported:
The final screen will tell you how many
subscribers were imported. It will also tell
you if your subscriber file contained bad
data.
Type in subscribers manually
If you only have a handful of subscribers to add
to your list, you can use the "Add Subscriber"
form to add them in manually. Move your mouse
over the "Subscribers" tab and click the "Add
Subscriber" menu option:
To add subscribers by typing them in, click
the "Add Subscriber" option under the
"Subscribers" menu.
Choose a mailing list to add subscribers to and
click the "Next >>" button. Fill out the form by
typing in their email address and values for any
custom fields you've created for the mailing
list.
Complete the form to add a subscriber to the
selected mailing list.
When you're done, click "Save" to save the
subscriber to the mailing list and add another
subscriber. Clic "Save And Exit" to add the
subscriber and return to the main page of the
system.
Create a subscription form for your web
site
If you want to offer visitors to your web site a
way to sigup to your mailing list, you can
create a subscription form in the system to add
to your site. You will need to have a little
experience with HTML to add the form to your web
site.
To get started, click the "Website Forms" link
shown in the top right-hand corner of the
system. This will take you to the "Manage
Website Forms" page. Website forms are special
forms that you can create. You can create
website forms to accept subscribers, for someone
to unsubscribe, modify their subscription
details or send an email campaign to their
friends.
Click the "Create Form" button to create a form.
Type in a form name and make sure you choose the
"Subscription" option from the "Form Type"
dropdown. If you aren't sure what any of the
fields are, just move your mouse over the help
icon next to that field:
Creating a form to accept subscribers from
your web site is easy.
Click the "Next >>" button. Depending on which
form options you chose, you may or may not be
required to enter more details. Again, if you
are unsure of anything just move your mouse over
the help icon next to the field and read the
help text.
Once you've created your form you'll be taken
back to the "Manage Website Forms" page. Simply
click the "Get HTML" link next to your new form
and paste that code into your website to add the
subscription form to your site.
Step 4. Create your email campaign
The most important part of your campaign is the
email you will send to your mailing list. Let's
now look at how to create a simple email campaign
by choose a professionally pre-designed email
template from those included in the system.
Move your mouse over the "Email Campaigns" tab and
click the "Create Email Campaign" menu option:
Creating a simple email campaign in the system.
Complete the "Create Email Campaign form". Choose
"HTML" for the format. In this example we will
create a basic HTML-only newsletter with graphics
and formatted text. Finally, choose one of the
professionally pre-designed email templates from
the "Email Template" box. Use the preview link to
view all of the templates. Click the "Next >>"
button when you're done.
Creating an email campaign using one of the many
included professionally designed email templates
in the system.
When the next page loads, type in a subject line
for your email campaign. This is the text
subscribers will see when they look at the emails
in their inbox, so make it short and to the point.
Scroll down the page and you will see the email
editor. You can type in text content for your
email here. In this example we'll just copy and
paste a few paragraphs of text from Microsoft Word
using the editor's "Paste From Word" function:
Creating the content of your email using the
built-in WYSIWYG editor.
Under the email editor you will see two links:
Insert Custom Fields and Insert Unsubscribe Link.
You should always include an unsubscribe link in
your email, and if you don't the system will warn
you when it saves.
To insert the value of a custom field in your
newsletter just click the "Insert Custom Fields"
link:
Inserting a custom field into your email
campaign's content.
Choose the custom field you want to add and click
the "Insert" button next to it. The custom field
will be added to your content and will be
represented by a placeholder varaible, such as
%%Email%% or %%First Name%%. When the email is
sent, these values will be replaced with real
values from your subscriber mailing list. For
example, %%Email%% might be replaced with user1@somesite.com
and %%First Name%% might be replaced with John.
Complete the "Attachments" section of the form if
you want to include file attachments with your
email campaign. Before clicking the "Save And
Exit" button to move on, send a preview of your
email using the "Send Preview" section of the
form.
Congratulations, you've just created your first
email campaign! Let's now move on to send it to
your mailing list of subscribers.
Congratulations, you've just created your first
email campaign!
Step 5. Send your email campaign
Sending your email campaign in the system is easy.
Let's look at how to send a campaign straight away
using the build in popup window sending system. If
your administrator has setup scheduled sending for
SendStudio you can also use that too.
To send your campaign click the "Send Email
Campaign" link under the "Email Campaigns" menu:
Sending an email campaign using the popup window
method
When the page loads choose the mailing list you
want to send your campaign to. For this example,
uncheck the "Yes, show filtering options on the
next page" checkbox. That's an advanced option and
isn't needed when you're just getting started.
Click "Next >>" to continue.
On the next step choose the email campaign you
want to send from the dropdown list and leave all
pre-selected options as they are and click "Next
>>". The default options of tracking links and
notifying the owner by email are fine. You can
change any form options if you like.
Getting ready to send an email campaign using
the popup window method
Finally, click the "Start Sending" button to send
the email campaign to your subscribers.
Sending an email campaign using the popup window
method
When the window closes, the email has been sent to
all subscribers in the mailing list. Check your
inbox too, because as the owner of the list you
will receive a notification that the campaign has
just finished sending.
Congratulations, you've just created and sent your
first email campaign!
