Probably you might want to know if your e-mail marketing campaigns are reaching the result you are expecting.

So, what happens after your recipients click on a link on your e-mail? Google Analytics is a completely free web analisys tool that can track your recipient’s actions when they reach your website and give you the answers you need.

Tracking your e-mail campaign effectiveness is easy, because Google Analytics is fully integrated with SendBlaster 2 interface!

You can determine basic statistics as the number of your website visitors, their geographical provenience or how long they stayed on, and much more useful informations to deal with.

But one of the most interesting functions in Google Analytics is its ability to define and track conversions or goals.

You can define goals that can be represented by sales, specific web page visits, newsletter subscriptions or a particular file download.

Another interesting data to analyze is represented by traffic sources. This can help you to determine how many visitors landed on your website after clicking on banner ads or, what’s most important to you, on a link on your newsletter.

To get started with Google Analytics you only have to include a special Javascript code each page you want to track.

Sign up to start using Google Analytics

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Nowadays most mail servers have built-in antispam filters; they are quite smart, but sometimes they fail and delete (or mark as spam and redirect to some “spam” folder) perfectly legal messages; this is a common problem with Hotmail and other very popular free mail services.

If you feel a lot of your messages are filtered out and not delivered, here are some basic rules to avoid being named a spammer by mistake:
 

• Always include plain text: “personal” e-mail messages, even if written using HTML format, always include a plain text part. If a plain text part is missing, most antispam filters become suspicious. When you finish composing your message, use SendBlaster’s “Text from HTML” button to automatically create a plain text part from HTML.
• Most of your message must be text;; avoid including large images. Once again, antispam filters become suspicious when the image / text ratio is too high.
• Don’t over-attach: attachments should only be used in small, personal lists; if you are publishing a newsletter, upload files on your website and use links instead (your subscribers will be happier too).
• Avoid risky words that are commonly used by spammers and constantly flooding your mailbox.
• Switch to Smtp: While Direct Send mode is very useful in many situations, unfortunately nowadays a lot of mail server refuse direct delivery in order to prevent spam. You should better use Smtp when you are mailing a large amount of recipients.
• Try our featured Free Spam Check Score Software, use it on your email before sending to get a spam rate and understand if the mailservers will tag as SPAM blocking your email.

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Two Email Send settings are available: ‘Use SMTP server’ and ‘Direct send’.
 

• Use SMTP server: e-mail sending will take place just like in a standard e-mail client (Windows Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird).
  It is necessary to specify the name of the SMTP server and the port number (usually it’s 25).
  The SSL checkbox enables SSL communication, which may be needed by some SMTP servers (a typical example is Gmail’s SMTP server).
  In case a user authentication is required, select ‘Authentication required’ and specify Username and Password.
  These parameters are the ones used in your e-mail client software, therefore all you’ll need to do is “copy” them from a working e-mail account.
  To make sure the SMTP server is reachable just click on the Connection test button.
  By enabling the ‘Retry with direct send’ in case of error, in case the message won’t be accepted by the SMTP server, the software will try to deliver the message directly to the recipient’s e-mail server, by using the Direct send settings.
   
• Direct send: the software will look for each recipient’s e-mail server and will automatically connect to it, therefore “skipping” the SMTP server that won’t then be needed in the send settings. To perform such search SendBlaster will use the currently selected default connection DNS, but it is also possible (and sometimes needed) to manually set a different DNS, by enabling the option Manually set DNS server and by typing the correct IP address. Keep in mind that certain e-mail domains (for instance, Hotmail) won’t allow direct sends: the message gets rejected if it was originated from a desktop system as opposed to a public SMTP server.
  By enabling the Retry with SMTP in case of error, in case the message won’t be accepted by the recipient’s e-mail server, the software will try to deliver the message to the SMTP server, by using the Use SMTP server settings.

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The email reading and opening rate can be maximized if your customer sees his name or surname in the subject line. The global impact of your email can be even higher if your use all the email field merge function in our software. You will never send again anonymous mailing lists, you will use your stored customers data to compose a very appealing and personalized email.
It’s easy to put a different customer’s name in every email (just 2 steps!)

This is how your personalized email will show in your customer’s inbox

Notice that every email can be automatically customized with your customers details, like name, surname, company… and even the special offer you reserve to them. The body of the email supports tagging. The subject of the email can contain your recipient’s name and surname, as well as all the other customizable fields.

Use the tags to choose where in the email you want the final information written

It’s well known in the email marketing field the importance of writing and sending personalized emails, based on your customer’s behaviors. You have gathered many usefull informations about your customers, what they buy, where they live… etc. Since you can use all the information of your customers, why don’t use them to provide a really usefull mailing list? The evidence is that every one opens just the emails that are important in their life context.

Yes, you can personalize each field and tag

This is the main mailing list view

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SendBlaster can automatically manage subscriptions (and unsubscriptions) to distribution lists. Each list can be associated with an e-mail address:

• when a e-mail message with Subscribe in the subject line is sent to managing e-mail address the sender gets added to the list
• if the subject is Unsubscribe instead, the sender gets deleted (if case he/she was previously subscribed). SendBlaster downloads new messages from the POP3 account, verifies the subject and updates the related distribution list

Warning: The email address chosen for maniging subscriptions must allow POP3 messages downloading (the same protocol used by standard e-mail clients). It’s not possible to use addresses that can be only managed via web (for instance the Hotmail services).
Normally each list will be assigned a dedicated e-mail address. However, it is possible to assign the same e-mail address to more than one list. In this case, when a list is updated, all other lists that use the same Subscribe/Unsubscribe address will also be updated.

For instance, if you create 2 lists named List 1 and List 2 and they are both linked to the same managing e-mail address, by downloading the messages to update List 1, List 2 would also get updated. Each list’s managing address is set by typing the correct parameters to access the POP3 account, just like in an e-mail client software: besides the address (E-mail) you need to specify the receiving server (POP3 Server), which if needed, may include port number in the “server:port” format, the Username and the Password. The SSL checkbox enables SSL communication, which may be needed by some pop3 servers (a typical example is Gmail’s server). In the Timeout field you can type the number of seconds of inactivity after which the connection will be closed. To verify the parameters just click on Test connection button (no message will be downloaded). By checking Keep a copy of the messages on the server, SendBlaster will download new email messages without deleting them from the server. The email messages will then be available for future uses. New email messages will be ignored. Update all fields: when checked the whole email message body will be processed; if email message body contains fieldname: value the SendBlaster Fields will be updated accordingly, as well as the contact record’s email address will be added. The email messages downloading and processing will be significantly slower; therefore it is strongly suggested that Update all fields is only checked when really needed, which means when your website generates subscription mails containing not only addresses but other fields too. By clicking on the Download button, the new email messages will be downloaded and the selected distribution list will be updated (as well as all other lists that use the same managing e-mail address).

Which address should I use?

It is advisable to dedicate a different subscribe/unsubscribe e-mail address for each ditribution list, that is, an address that is not used for any standard e-mail sending and receiving. This will minimize the risk of receiving spam (that will be ignored) and will make it easy to manage the lists. In an environment of this kind it won’t be necessary to enable the Keep a copy of the messages on the server option since the mails won’t have to be read by other softwares. This way, message downloading will be faster and, most of all, the account space will be preserved.

Some services have a limit on the total amount of space that the messages can occupy, and if the given space gets filled, no more messages are delivered. It is also possible, but not advisable, to use a “standard” address, also used on another e-mail client to send and receive messages. This way, it is absolutely necessary to enable the Keep a copy of the messages on the server option (or else, once the messages are downloaded they get removed from server). And even more important is that even the standard e-mail client is set accordingly, in order to allow SendBlaster to read the messages (in Outlook Express after selecting an account choose Properties / Advanced settings / Keep a copy of the messages on the server).

Warning: if the download of new messages appears to be rather slow, this might indicate that on the e-mail server many messages have piled up: disable the Keep a copy of the messages on the server option and click on Download (or execute downloading on your standard e-mail client). The messages, once downloaded, will be removed form the server and the following downloads will be faster.

How does “Update all fields” work

While “normal” processing makes SendBlaster download and process email subjects only, Update all fields option will let SendBlaster download and process whole email bodies, search for lines in the fieldname: value format inside message body, and update fields accordingly.

Suppose you have two fields named “Surname” and “City”; if a message is received from “aaa@aaa.com” with “Subscribe” as subject and the following body (please note that each line contains a different field):

Surname: Smith City: New York

a new contact aaa@aaa.com is added to the list, having Smith as Surname and New York as City.

Some other syntax formats, using the same Tags as in message composing, are allowed too:

#tag#: value
#fieldnumber#: value

as in the following examples:

#surname#: Smith
#city#: New York
#2#: Smith
#3#: New York

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SendBlaster Bulk emailer directly imports your mailing list email addresses and contacts from Outlook Express. You can import email addresses lists from Outlook, Excel, Access and any other source that can export mailing list contacts into CSV file format.

• How to Import Windows Live / Hotmail contacts into SendBlaster
• How to import Yahoo! Mail contacts into SendBlaster
• How to import Gmail contacts into SendBlaster

You will have to export your mailing list to .csv/.txt format (one record on each row, fields separated by comma, semicolon or tab). When you have the CSV file with your mailing list inside your computer:

• Open SendBlaster
• Go to Import section
• Select the mailing list destination for new addresses
• Click Import Button

You will have to tell SendBlaster where in on your computer the CSV file that you want to import.

• Hit the “…” button
• Select the CSV or TXT file in your hard disk
• Set the format, the field delimiter (usually its comma , )
• Set first row contains field names (the default option on many softwares)
• Click next

Now you will have to tell SendBlaster the correct origin fields that will be imported into SendBlaster fields. Only Email Field is mandatory for importing the contact list, if your mailing list is full of your contacts details you can set optional fields as well (for example: first name will be very useful for email merge when you will send your mailings)

• Hit Next button

Importing CSV and TXT files is complete, you will find the imported email addresses and contacts in your Manage Lists section. In the bulk email software, this is the final importing window with subscription summary.

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You can create forms to let people subscribe and unsubscribe to your newsletters and use SendBlaster to manage them.
These form send an email with data gathered from all the fields to your mailing list management email address. Data may be processed from our mailing software Sendblaster.
After each customer subsctiption in your Website you will find their information right inside your Sendblaster database.
You will create a permission based mailing list, whom you will send your newsletter and special offers.

You can manage three kinds of forms:

• single opt-in form
• double opt-in form
• single opt-out form

Opt-in forms are subscriptions forms. If the double opt-in is selected, than user will receive a confirmation mail he’s required to answer. Opt-out form is a simple unsubscription form.

A brief note about US and European Spam law

The actual approved US CAN-SPAM Act requires an opt-out solution in your emails, this can be enough for American law. Please consider that the European Directive 2002/58/EC is more restrictive and requires mandatory “opt-in” modules to gather the customer emails for email marketing and newsletter subscription. The double optin subscription management is the best way to respect your customer’s privacy.

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