| Go to the SALES page
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Go to the VIDEOS page |
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| Typical
tasks |
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Short-cut keystroke combinations in are shown in < > angle brackets.
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There are two types of 'Project' that you can use, simultaneously and independently, for each web site that you operate:
- An AUTOMATIC e‑mail campaign, which starts with a form on a web page that captures your visitor's name and e‑mail address. These campaigns run themselves without any intervention from you. You can have a form on more than one web page on more than one web site without limit.
- A BROADCAST e‑mail campaign. No form is used. You just select the recipients from your lists and send them an ad-hoc e‑mail message at any time and as often as you want.
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| Below is a detailed version of how to create an e-mail campaign on the "sales funnel" principle. For a summary, see "The Five Steps to Create an E-mail Campaign". To get an idea of what to write in an email campaign, see the "Sales Funnel DEMO". |
| Because the Auto-Mail software is evolving constantly, the software screen-shots here may look different from the current version. |
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HOW TO CREATE AN E-MAIL CAMPAIGN |
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| Stage 1: (watch video) |
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Create an AutoEmailer -- An "AutoEmailer" defines the common data of an e-mail campaign. |
| Step 1 |
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Set the local folder |
| A. (see image) |
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Click the 'Local folder' button <Alt>+<C>, to open a form where you can type or paste the path to your web site files on your computer. |
| B. (see image) |
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If you leave the form blank, you can use the 'Browse For Folder' dialogue to navigate to the folder where your web site files are located. |
Note: |
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The next two actions create a new folder for a new Project. Once the Project exists, just select the Project folder in future. (There can be one AUTOMATIC and one BROADCAST Project for each web site.)
A Project can contain an unlimited number of e‑mail campaigns, and each campaign can contain up to 999 Messages. |
| C. (see image) |
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Click the 'Make New Folder' button <Alt>+<M>, to create a new folder inside your web site folder. |
| D. (see image) |
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Click the "New Folder", to put it into 'Edit' mode, and change its name to "autoemailer" (for an AUTOMATIC Project) or "broadcast" (for a BROADCAST Project). Then click the 'OK' button. |
Note: |
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Although the folder for an AUTOMATIC Project can have any name of your choice, it is better to be consistent, and name it "autoemailer". A BROADCAST Project, however, MUST be in a folder named "broadcast". This is how the AutoEmailer software recognizes that it is a BROADCAST Project. |
| Result |
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You've set the Project folder for this web site. All email campaigns will be stored automatically in their own folders inside this Project folder. |
| Step 2 |
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Add a new campaign |
| A. (see image) |
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Type the name of the new email campaign in the 'New' textbox, and click the 'Add new campaign' button. |
| Result (see
image) |
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You've created a new, empty email campaign. |
Note: |
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Once an email campaign has been created, it can be selected from the drop-down list in future <Alt>+<.>, <Arrow keys>. (There can be many email campaigns for each Project.) |
| Step 3 |
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Configure a campaign |
| A. (see image) |
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Type the name of the email sender in the 'Sender's name' textbox <Alt>+<'>. This name appears in the 'From' field of the Messages. |
Note: |
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Do NOT use any apostrophes in this field. The system files use the apostrophe character (') to run the program, and extra ones would cause it to fail. |
| B. (see image) |
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Type the sender's email address in the 'Sender's e-mail' textbox <Alt>+<->. This address appears in the 'From' field of the Messages. |
Note: |
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This e-mail address is for show only. It's not used to send the Messages. If you don't want your Subscribers to contact you directly, leave it blank. If you do not show your e‑mail address, however, some spam filters may dump your message in the recipient's "junk" folder. |
| C. (see image) |
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Type in the 'Redirect ... URL' textbox the address of the web page where you want your visitors to go to as soon as they've filled in your form and clicked the “Subscribe” button. |
| D. |
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Leave the 'Unsubscribe link' checkbox marked, to conform to anti-spam laws. Unmark it <Alt>+<K>, to remove the 'Unsubscribe' link from Subscribers' Messages. |
Note: |
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You'd unmark this checkbox when using the AutoEmailer for purposes other than for creating a sales funnel list: For example, if you want to send your customers an ad-hoc broadcast message. |
| E. |
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Leave the 'Send report' checkbox marked, so that you receive daily reports of Subscriber activity and Messages sent. Unmark it, if you don't want to receive reports. |
| F. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Save settings' button <Alt>+<V>. |
| Result (see
image) |
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You've configured this campaign. |
Note: |
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When you click 'Delete AutoEmailer', all the files for the campaign are deleted (after warnings) from your computer. You are then given the choice whether or not to delete the campaign files from the remote server also. |
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| Stage 2: (watch video) |
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Write a series of Messages -- A "Message" is sent to all the Subscribers on a list as an e‑mail. |
| Step 1 |
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Add a new Message |
| A. (see image) |
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Type the subject of the email in the 'Subject' textbox <Alt>+<J>. |
| B. (see image) |
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Type the message of the email in the 'Body' textbox <Alt>+<Y>. |
Tip: |
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The "place-holder" buttons insert a place-holder at the caret position in the 'Subject' or 'Body' textbox, whichever had the focus last. |
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| Click the... |
to insert the... |
| 'First name' button <Alt>+<F> |
Recipient's first name |
| 'Full name' button <Alt>+<N> |
Recipient's full name |
| 'E-mail address' button <Alt>+<E> |
Recipient's e-mail address |
| 'Current date' button <Alt>+<D> |
Current date |
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Tip: |
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To maximize the possibility that hyperlinks are added automatically to web addresses in a plain-text message, ensure that:
(a) The web address has the prefix "http://" or "www." or both of these;
(b) The web address is flanked by white space, e.g., the 'space' character or a new paragraph. Do not follow a web address immediately by any punctuation;
(c) No more than one web address appears in the same paragraph. |
| C. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Add message' button <Alt>+<M>. |
Note: |
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To add a new Message in HTML format, mark the 'HTML' checkbox before clicking the 'Add message' button. An 'HTML Preview' window appears, showing how the Message will look to recipients who opt to receive emails in HTML format. (v.5.1.1.0) |
Note: |
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To add a new Message with a maximum line length, mark the 'Wrap' checkbox before clicking the 'Add message' button. A 'Message Text Wrap' window appears, showing how the Message will look to recipients. (v.5.0.0.0) |
| Result (see
image) |
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You've added a new Message. The new Message number appears in the 'Message #' drop-down list <Alt>+<#>, where any Message can be displayed by selecting its number. |
| Step 2 |
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Add more Messages, edit, rearrange, delete Messages, etc. |
| A. (see image) |
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Add several more Messages, as in Step 1. |
Tip: |
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Add a series of Messages for your Subscribers, following the advice in the hands-on Internet Marketing training course used and recommended by Abacus Data Systems. |
| B. (see image) |
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Edit a Message: After editing a Message Subject or Body text, or its number of days' delay after the previous Message, click the 'Save message' button <Alt>+<S> to save it to your computer. |
Note: |
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To save a Message in HTML format, mark the 'HTML' checkbox before clicking the 'Save message' button. An 'HTML Preview' window appears, showing how the Message will look to recipients who opt to receive emails in HTML format. (v.5.1.1.0) |
Note: |
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To save a Message with a maximum line length, mark the 'Wrap' checkbox before clicking the 'Save message' button. A 'Message Text Wrap' window appears, showing how the Message will look to recipients. (v.5.0.0.0) |
| Ca. (see image) |
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Rearrange Messages: To change the order of Messages, click the 'View all messages' button to open the 'All Messages' table. |
| Cb. (see image) |
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Select a Message by clicking the leftmost column or pressing the <F4> key, and click the 'Move Up' <Alt>+<U> or 'Move Down' <Alt>+<D> button, to move the Message up or down respectively. |
Note: |
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The number of days' delay between Messages is unaffected when the order is changed. In the example given, Message #5 has been moved up to position #3, but the 2 days' delay for the third Message still applies. |
| Cc. (see image) |
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Click the 'OK' button <Alt>+<O> to save all the changes and return to the main interface. |
| Result (see
image) |
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The order of the Messages has been rearranged. |
| Da. (see image) |
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Delete a Message: Select the Message to be deleted, and click the 'Delete message' button <Alt>+<L>. |
Result (see
image 1)
(see
image 2) |
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The selected Message has been removed from your computer. |
| Db. (see image) |
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Renumber Messages: After a Message has been deleted, you can renumber the remaining Messages, to close up the gap in the sequence, by clicking the '1...' button <Alt>+<1>. |
| Result (see
image) |
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The Messages have been renumbered in sequence from 1. |
Note: |
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Renumbering the Messages is for cosmetic purposes only, in that an unbroken sequence may be easier to work with. Operationally, the Messages do not need to be renumbered in this way, because they are renumbered automatically before the campaign upload process. (See next Stage). |
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| Stage 3: (watch video) |
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Upload an E-mail campaign -- Files are uploaded to a web site, whence the Messages are sent to Subscribers. |
| Step 1 |
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Define the remote settings for your web host |
| A. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Remote settings' button <Alt>+<R>, to open the 'Project Remote Settings' form. |
| B. (see image) |
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Fill in the fields in the 'Project Remote Settings' form according to the requirements of your web host, and click the 'Save to file' button <Alt>+<S>. A detailed explanation of how to fill in the fields is given below in the 'Project Remote Settings' section. |
Note: |
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Once the data in the form have been saved, they can be retrieved in future by clicking the 'Load from file' button <Alt>+<L>. |
Note: |
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The next action needs to be done only once for a new Project. Thereafter, just click the 'OK' button to store the data in memory and close the form. |
| C. (see image) |
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Click the 'Upload' button <Alt>+<D>. |
Result (see
image 1)
(see
image 2) |
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The AutoEmailer system files that process the sending of the Messages and the reports are uploaded to your web site, and an attempt is made to configure them automatically, by changing their file permissions. |
Note: |
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If the files are not uploaded or the file permissions are not changed successfully at the first attempt, see the 'Some Upload Errors' section below. |
| Step 2 |
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Upload the e-mail campaign files to your web host |
| A. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Upload' button <Alt>+<P> |
| Result (see
image) |
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The Messages and other necessary files are uploaded to your web site, ready for sending to the Subscribers on your email list. |
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| Stage 4: (watch video) |
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Design a Subscription form -- Web site visitors fill in a form which adds them to the e‑mail list automatically. |
| Step 1 |
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Design the form |
| A. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Design form' button <Alt>+<O>, to open the 'Subscription Form' form. |
| B. (see image) |
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Fill in the design fields in the 'Subscription Form' form according to your taste. |
| C. (see image) |
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Click the 'Refresh' button <Alt>+<R>, to display the form with the current design data. |
| D. (see image) |
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Click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>, to copy the form to the Clipboard, paste the form into your web page's source (HTML) code at the desired location, and save the web page. |
| E. (see image) |
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Click the 'Close' button <Alt>+<O>. |
| Result |
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Your web page contains a form that will add visitors to your e‑mail list automatically. |
Tip: |
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The 'Text' textbox and the 'Privacy' textbox (v.4.1.0.0) accept HTML code. |
Note: |
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If you close this form with the 'X' button in the top-right corner, the Subscription Form will not be stored, and the previously stored version will still be used when you 'Test the form' (see below). To prepare a 'Subscription Form' for testing (see below), you must store it by clicking the 'Close' button. |
Note: |
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Regardless of how the the 'Subscription Form' form is closed, it is 'Refreshed' whenever it is reopened, and displays a Form according to the data in the textboxes. Therefore, if you wish to keep a Form design, click the 'Save' button <Alt>+<V>. This saves the last refreshed, loaded or manually HTML-edited version to a file called "form.txt" in the Project folder on your computer. Then you can click the 'Load' button <Alt>+<L> to display the saved Form at any time. (If you want to keep more than one Form design, rename previous versions of the file manually to "form-01.txt", "form-02.txt", etc.) |
Note: |
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Clicking the 'HTML' tab <Ctrl>+<H> exposes the form's HTML code, which can be edited directly, if you want to customize the form with more than the basic attributes. For example, you may wish to add an image to the form. If you edit the code directly, click the 'Preview' tab <Ctrl>+<P> to see how it looks. When you're satisfied, click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>, and paste the code into your web page. |
Tip: |
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If your form contains images, and they do not appear in the 'Subscription Form' form's 'Preview' tab, it is because the paths to the images are incorrect. To fix this, ensure that the HTML code contains the full paths to the images on your web site, e.g., "http://www.domain.com/images/image.jpg". |
Note: |
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There's no need to specify text fonts (unless you want something special), because the text will conform to the default font of your web page, <div>, <td>, etc., where the form is pasted. |
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Using a custom form (optional) |
| F. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Custom' button <Alt>+<M>, to open the 'Custom Form' form. |
| G. (see
image) |
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Paste or type the code for your form into the textbox, and click the 'Replace <form> code' button <Alt>+<R>. |
| Result (see
image) |
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The original "<form>" line is replaced by special code lines to make your custom form work with the AutoEmailer. |
H. (see
image)
IMPORTANT |
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Ensure that the 'Name' and 'Email' input fields are present in your custom form, and that they have the 'name' attribute set to "user" and "email" respectively. YOU WILL NEED TO DO THIS MANUALLY. Click the 'Close' button <Alt>+<O>. |
| IF YOUR CUSTOM FORM DOES NOT WORK, CHECK THIS! |
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Your form MUST contain fields for the visitor's name and email address.
They MUST be named "user" and "email", or the form won't work; e.g.
<input type="text" name="user">
<input type="text" name="email"> |
Note: |
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If you close this form with the 'X' button in the top-right corner, the Custom Form will not be transferred to the 'Subscription Form' form. It does, however, remain intact in the 'Custom Form' form. |
I. (see
image)
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Your custom form is ready to work with the AutoEmailer. Click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>, to copy the form to the Clipboard, paste the form into your web page's source (HTML) code at the desired location, and save the web page. |
| J. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Close' button <Alt>+<O> in the 'Subscription Form' form. |
| Result |
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Your web page contains your own custom form that will add visitors to your e‑mail list automatically. |
Note: |
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If you close the 'Subscription Form' form with the 'Close' button and then test the form (see next Step), the custom form will appear in the test web page and behave like the default form design. If the 'Subscription Form' form is reopened, the custom form is no longer present and is replaced by the form design according to the data in the textboxes. Reopen the 'Custom Form' form to see its HTML code again, and then click the 'Close' button to redisplay it in the 'Subscription Form' form. If you want to keep the custom form design, click the 'Save' button <Alt>+<V>. This saves the custom form to a file called "form.txt" in the Project folder on your computer. Then you can click the 'Load' button <Alt>+<L> to display the saved Form at any time. (If you want to keep more than one Form design, rename previous versions of the file manually to "form-01.txt", "form-02.txt", etc.) |
Tip: |
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If your custom form contains images, and they do not appear in the 'Subscription Form' form, it is because the paths to the images are incorrect. To fix this, ensure that your custom form code contains the full paths to the images on your web site, e.g., "http://www.domain.com/images/image.jpg". |
Tip: |
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Marketing tests have shown that simple forms have the best results. |
| Step 2 (optional) |
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Add an anti-spam robot check |
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Unprotected web forms are subject to abuse by automated form-filling programs called "spam-bots". If you do not protect the 'Subscription Form' form, you may get unwanted "subscribers" on your email list, such as "Name: fj8eFY8dkRm" and "Email: pH82jdN0dW@gmail.com". (If there's a reason why people make such seemingly pointless programs, we'd like to know what it is.)
If you add anti-spam robot checking code to the Form, your visitors must click a certain picture before submitting the Form, otherwise their details will not be sent. This defeats automatic form-submitting programs, because they cannot know which picture to click on, or even that this safeguard exists. |
| A. (see
image) |
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Mark the 'Robot check' checkbox <Alt>+<K>. |
| B. (see
image) |
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Choose a picture number from the 'Picture' drop-down list <Alt>+<I>, <1> or <2> or <3> or <Arrow> keys. |
| C. (see
image) |
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Edit the instruction to the visitor in the 'Caption' textbox <Alt>+<A>, according to the picture that you have chosen. |
Tip: |
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The 'Caption' textbox accepts HTML code. |
Tip: |
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The instruction in the 'Caption' textbox will appear above the pictures, and the pictures will appear above the form. If you prefer the form's "call to action" text to be above the pictures, and instruction to be below the pictures, just reverse the contents of the 'Text' and 'Caption' textboxes. |
| D. (see image) |
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Click the 'Upload' button <Alt>+<D>, to upload the robot check files to the root folder of your web site. |
Note: |
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All the AutoEmailer files uploaded to the root folder begin with the prefix "AE-", so that you can locate them quickly and easily, in case you want to edit them. |
| E. (see image) |
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Click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>, to copy the form to the Clipboard, paste the form into your web page's source (HTML) code at the desired location, and save the web page. |
| F. (see image) |
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Click the 'Close' button <Alt>+<O>. |
| Result |
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Although the robot check does not appear in the 'Subscription Form' form 'Preview' or 'HTML' tab, you will see it in the web page where you pasted the HTML code and in the web page created by the 'Test form' process (next step). |
| Step 3 (optional) |
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Test the form |
| A. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Test form' button <Alt>+<T>. |
| B. (see
image) |
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Click the 'OK' button <Enter>, to dispense with the confirmatory message. |
| Result |
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A test web page, containing the form, is created, uploaded and displayed in a browser window. |
C. (see
image 1)
(see
image 2) |
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Test the form's operation by entering a name and email address, and clicking the button.
(image 1 is of a test page with a standard Form without an anti-spam robot check; image 2 shows a Custom Form with an anti-spam robot check.) |
| Result |
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You, as a prospect, should be directed to the web site specified in the campaign settings, and receive the first Message you wrote as the administrator; and you, as the administrator, should receive a report that you, as a prospect, have just signed up. |
Note: |
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The test web page file is uploaded to the root folder of your web site. The file name begins with the prefix "AE-", so that you can locate it quickly and easily, in case you want to edit it, rename it and use it as your visitor sign-up page. |
Note: |
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Because the form in the 'Subscription Form' form is a fully working form, you can also test that it works from there. |
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| Stage 5: (watch video) |
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Pull the Trigger! -- The "Trigger" is a line of HTML code that fires the entire AutoEmailer "sales funnel" process daily. |
| Step 1 |
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Copy and paste the Trigger |
| A. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Show trigger' button <Alt>+<G>, to open the 'Trigger' form. |
| B. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>, to copy the line of HTML code to the Clipboard. |
| C. (see
image) |
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Paste the line of HTML code into your web page(s) anywhere between the <body> and </body> tags. |
| Result |
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Whenever the first of any web pages containing the line of HTML code is displayed in a browser each day, the AutoEmailer system software is triggered, and the day's Messages and reports are sent out. |
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The web pages can be on any web site with any domain name. All you're trying to do is maximize the chances that any one of those pages is visited per day. If you don't have any other web sites or pages, this line of code is already inserted automatically into the form that you designed; so, each day when the form is displayed, the process will be triggered. |
Note: |
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Because the form in the 'Subscription Form' form is a fully working form, the process is also triggered from there, when it is opened in the AutoEmailer software. |
Tip: |
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If the form page is not visited daily by regular traffic, just visit it yourself once a day. If you make your form page one of your browser's default home pages, the Message and report sequence will be triggered automatically when you open your browser each day. |
Note: |
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If a day is missed, the process resumes the next time a page containing the trigger code is visited. |
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| Go to the SALES page
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Go to the VIDEOS page |
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Project Remote Settings -- Some Upload Errors -- Web Host Examples |
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The Abacus AutoEmailer software is divided into two parts: the interface installed on your computer, with which you create and manage your e‑mail campaigns, and some system files that reside on your web server, which handle the control and dispatch of the e‑mail messages to your subscribers.
Therefore you need to upload these system files to your web site. This task needs to be done only once per project. Thereafter it must be done only if you change any of the details, such as your FTP password, e-mail address, desired default subscriber name, etc. These files are used by all the AutoEmailer e‑mail campaigns in the project. |
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Filling in the Project Remote Settings fields
Look first at the 'Web Host Examples' section below, to see whether your web host is in the list. If it is not, try the default data (which often work). If the system files still do not upload, or your test e‑mail Messages do not arrive, get the correct data from your web host or web server administrator.
Web address: Type the full web address (URL) of the web site where the project is (to be) located.
Note 1: The protocol prefix ("http://", "https://", "ftp://" or "ftps://") MUST be present.
Note 2: If the URL does not include "www.", the system files will upload, but the file permissions may not be changed automatically, meaning that you'd need to change them manually. Including the "www." in the 'Web address' field, however, allows the files to be uploaded and the file permissions to be changed automatically at some web hosts but not at others. Therefore it is better to include the "www." in the web address. Even with WordPress web site URLs which are not prefixed by "www.", still include the "www." in the 'Web address' field.
Note 3: Further to Note 2, if your 'Test form' displays the message "Unexpected error", the reason is probably that the "www." is required in your web address and it is currently missing. Including the "www." in the 'Web address' field allows the subscription forms to work, even if the "www." is not required.
FTP host name: This is usually the domain name, prefixed by "ftp.".
Note: An IP address does not work here.
Host folder: This is the directory (folder) where the "home" page is located on your web site. Many web hosts specify this directory as "public_html". Some specify it as "htdocs". If nothing is specified, the "root" directory of the site is assumed to be the location of the "home" page.
If there are several web sites in the same web hosting package, each may be in its own sub-directory (sub-folder) having the name of the domain (without the ".com", etc. extension), e.g., "domainname1", "domainname2". If you have more than one web site in the same web hosting package, therefore, check the file and directory structure with the file management tool in the Control Panel of your web host, or an FTP application such as Filezilla.
Include in upload paths?: Choose "Yes" if the 'CGI folder', usually "cgi‑bin", is physically located in the 'Host folder' in your web space. Choose "No" if it is not.
Note 1: If the systems files do not upload, or the file permissions are not changed automatically, try again, reversing the "Yes" or "No" setting.
Note 2: When uploading the "test form" after you've uploaded the e-mail messages and are ready to test the project, the AutoEmailer software will check for the existence of the 'Host folder'. If it exists, the "test form" will be uploaded there; otherwise it will be uploaded to the "root" directory, regardless of the "Yes" or "No" setting.
CGI folder path: The default "cgi‑bin" value usually finds the directory on your web server where script files are run. If the system files do not upload, it may be that your web host uses a different path or directory for Perl script files. If so, ask them what this is, and type it in this textbox.
Note: Some web hosts do not create a "cgi-bin" directory automatically when the web site is created. In such cases, the AutoEmailer software will attempt to create it for you. If it fails, try again, reversing the "Yes / No" setting of the 'Include in upload paths?' option buttons. If this fails, you must create the "cgi-bin" directory manually, either in the 'Host folder' or in the root directory. At least one of these should work. Use the file management tool in the Control Panel of your web host, or an FTP application such as Filezilla to do this.
User name: This is your FTP user name, which may or may not be the same as your log‑in user name for your web hosting Control Panel.
Password: This is your FTP password, which may or may not be the same as your log‑in password for your web hosting Control Panel.
E-mail address: This is the e-mail address to which the Administrator reports will be sent.
E-mail program: This is the path to the web host's e‑mail server program that physically sends the e‑mails to your list. It is almost always the default "/usr/sbin/sendmail" value. If you find that your messages do not arrive during your testing, but everything else works fine, there's probably an error in this value. Ask your web host or web server administrator for the path to the e‑mail server program, and type it here.
Archive file name: The Project archive file (default name "archive.txt") resides in the "autoemailer" system directory on your web site, and contains the names and e‑mail addresses of every visitor who fills in and submits the subscription forms for every e‑mail campaign in the project. You can name this file to be relevant to the project, if you wish.
Note: The names and e‑mail addresses are never deleted from the Project archive file. There are also two other separate files ("[campaignname].txt" and "users.txt") for each AutoEmailer campaign. They both contain visitors' names and e‑mail addresses for the particular campaign. The "[campaignname].txt" file has the same name as the campaign, and is an archive file only for this campaign. Like the Project archive file, the names and e‑mail addresses are never deleted from it. The 'current users' file ("users.txt"), on the other hand, controls the sending of the Messages. When a subscriber has received all the Messages in the campaign, the name and e-mail address are removed from it. Furthermore, when you or the visitor clicks the "Unsubscribe" link in the report or message respectively, the visitor's details are removed from this campaign 'current users' file immediately.
Default subscriber name: If and when you import or type a list of subscribers into the 'Add subscribers manually' textbox in the main interface, they may or may not have names accompanying the e‑mail addresses. If a name is missing, it will be replaced with the 'Default subscriber name' specified.
| Do you want Abacus to set up the AutoEmailer software for you? |
| As a last resort, in case you cannot get the AutoEmailer to work when you test the system, you can ask Abacus to install it for you. Please, try to do it yourself first. We must make a charge of $20 for this service, refundable if we cannot get it to work on your server. (Must be Linux operating system and run Perl scripts. Check that first.) |
At the right, please provide the web address (URL) where the project will operate and the FTP host name.
Please provide also a FTP user name and password in the 'Instructions to Merchant' textbox by clicking the link "FTP user name and password" on the secure PayPal payment page, so that Abacus can log in to your FTP account. |
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Some Upload Errors
A FTP upload can fail for any one of many reasons at any time. It does not mean that the AutoEmailer software does not work!
A common reason, difficult to detect, is insufficient access rights for a particular user. It is essential that a FTP account exists at the web host for a user name and password, and that it has access rights for creating sub-directories and for uploading files to the root directory and the "cgi-bin" sub-directory (not just downloading, which requires lower-level access permission). The way to accomplish this differs between web hosts. For example, if your web host is Site5, set the "FTP User's Directory" to "Entire Account", not just "public_html". (After much searching for the best web-hosting that we could find, we decided on Site5. Their system provides for unlimited web sites that behave completely independently (very important for multi-site owners), unlimited web space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited e‑mail addresses, all for a fixed price. Their technical support is ever-present, prompt and knowledgeable. We think that the value is unsurpassed.)
A problem is sometimes caused by too much transmission traffic on the Internet connection at some instant during the upload. This could be due to, for example, e‑mails being transmitted or downloaded, a browser being refreshed or running a video, installing software, updating virus definitions, or any other kind of Internet activity. The activity does not have to be on your computer. If someone is watching an Internet video on TV, or listening to an Internet station on a radio, it is extremely unlikely that the AutoEmailer connection with your web site will work. The solution is usually to switch off the other traffic, and try again.
If uploading a file takes longer than a few seconds and then "times out", or you see an error message, such as "Too many connections from this IP" or "Login error", for example, or any other message that keeps recurring, close the AutoEmailer and restart it. This often clears the errors.
If a problem persists, please report it to Abacus, so that we can fix it.
Web Host Examples
If your web host does not appear below, please e‑mail Abacus with the 'Project Remote Settings' values that work for your web host, and we'll add them to this list of examples.
On many web hosting servers using the Linux operating system (NOT Windows), the default values work. If yours does not work the first time, try again, reversing the "Yes / No" setting of the 'Include in upload paths?' option buttons and/or adding/omitting the "www." in the 'Web address' field. If all attempts fail, ask your web hosting company or administrator for the correct values. Below is a list of web hosting companies and the correct values for the 'Project Remote Settings' fields, either tested by Abacus Data Systems or supplied by AutoEmailer users.
| Web Host |
Host folder |
Include? |
CGI folder |
E-mail program |
| 1&1 |
If for account main web site, leave field blank.
If for web sites in sub-directories, e.g., "domainname1", type sub-directory name. |
If main account web site: irrelevant.
If sub-directory: Yes |
Default: cgi‑bin (not created by host). Create it manually or AutoEmailer will attempt to create it. |
Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail |
| FastHosts |
htdocs |
Yes |
Default: cgi‑bin |
Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail |
| GoDaddy |
If for account main web site, leave field blank.
If for web sites in sub-directories, e.g., "domainname1", type sub-directory name. |
No |
Any folder defined by the user. Create it manually or AutoEmailer will attempt to create it. |
Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail |
| Heart |
Default: public_html |
No |
Default: cgi‑bin |
Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail |
| Site 5 |
Default: public_html (for each domain in multi-site account also);
Set User access to "Entire Account". |
Depending on server: Yes (usually);
No (sometimes) |
Default: cgi‑bin |
Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail |
| UK 2 |
Home page in root directory: leave field blank. |
Irrelevant |
Default: cgi‑bin (not created by host). Create it manually or AutoEmailer will attempt to create it. |
Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail |
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| Go to the SALES page
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Go to the VIDEOS page |
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Changing File Permissions |
Web servers are fickle beasts. Some allow file permissions to be changed programmatically; others do not. Some display a bizarre error message like "The web address 'http://www.domainname1.com' was not found", even though you may have just uploaded the system files successfully to this very web site!
To change manually the permissions of files on a web site, you need to use the file management tool in the Control Panel of your web host, or an FTP application such as Filezilla. The example here shows Filezilla.
Note: The file permissions need to be changed only once, regardless of the number of times the system files are uploaded to your web site. Therefore, although the AutoEmailer's system files upload process always attempts to change the permissions automatically and you may still see a failure message, this part of the process and any failure message are irrelevant. In other words, once the file permissions have been changed, they are changed forever. |
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Navigate to the "autoemailer" or "broadcast" sub-folder of the web site where the Project is located. This is almost always in the "cgi-bin" folder.
Select the three ".cgi" files, "activate.cgi", "ar.cgi" and "config.cgi".
Somewhere in the interface there should be a way to open a "File permissions..." dialog. In Filezilla, you right-click on the selected files to open a context menu.
Choose "File permissions..." to open the dialog. |
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When these files are uploaded to your web space by the AutoEmailer, they have the permissions set to the values you see here:
-- Anybody can read, i.e., see, the files.
-- Only the web site Owner can write to, i.e., edit, the files, or execute, i.e., run, them.
The 'Numeric value' of these settings is "644".
These three ".cgi" files, however, are not files that can be read, or seen, in a browser. They are program, or "executable", files. Therefore they must have their permissions changed so that they can be executed. |
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Either mark the three "Execute" checkboxes, or edit the 'Numeric value' so that it is "755" instead of "644". Both methods have the same effect.
Click the "OK" button to close the dialog.
Reopen the dialog, and just check that the permissions were indeed changed to "755". Although all web servers with the Linux operating system should allow changes to file permissions, it is always wise to check this. (Web servers with the Windows operating system generally do not allow file permissions to be changed. This is one of the reasons why the host operating system must be of a Unix type, such as Linux.)
If the file permissions cannot be changed to be executable by the user, ask the web hosting administrator to do it for you. If it cannot be done at all, the AutoEmailer will not work. |
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| Go to the SALES page
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Go to the VIDEOS page |
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Managing Subscribers |
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| 1 (watch video) |
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Add Subscribers manually to an e-mail campaign |
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A. (see
image) |
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Type each Subscriber's name and e-mail address into the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox <Alt>+<B>, separating the name from the e-mail address with either the <Tab> character (<Ctrl>+<Tab> on the keyboard) or the "|" character (vertical bar, commonly called the "pipe" character). You can also paste a list of names and e-mail addresses directly from another source, such as a spreadsheet. The names and e-mail addresses are probably separated automatically by a <Tab> character, if copied from a spreadsheet. |
| B. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Add subscribers' button, to add the new Subscribers to the current email campaign, to the campaign archive file and to the Project Archive file. |
Note: |
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Newly added Subscribers will receive Message #1 by default. If you want them to receive a sequence of emails, starting with a different Message, type its number in the 'Start at Message #' textbox. |
Note: |
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Any e-mail addresses already existing in these three files are not added, so that Subscribers do not receive duplicate Messages. |
Note: |
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Subscribers with e-mail addresses without a name are given the 'Default subscriber name' specified in the 'Project Remote Settings' form. (The default is "Friend".) |
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| 2 (watch video) |
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View Subscribers' details |
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| A. (see
image) |
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With the 'Current' option button selected, click the 'View subscribers' button <Alt>+<I> to display the Subscribers to the current email campaign in the 'Current subscribers' textbox. The data shown are each Subscriber's name, e‑mail address, next Message number and the date they subscribed. |
| B. (see
image) |
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With the 'All' option button selected <Alt>+<A>, click the 'View subscribers' button <Alt>+<I> to display all the Subscribers in the current campaign's archive file in the 'All campaign subscribers' textbox. These are all the Subscribers to the selected email campaign, whether they are current or historical Subscribers. The data shown are each Subscriber's name and e‑mail address. |
| C. (see
image) |
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With the 'Entire Project' option button selected, click the 'View subscribers' button <Alt>+<I> to display all the Subscribers in the Project Archive file in the 'Project subscribers' textbox. These are all the Subscribers to all the email campaigns in the Project, whether they are current or historical Subscribers. The data shown are each Subscriber's name and e‑mail address. |
Note: |
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Clicking the 'View subscribers' button when the 'All' or 'Entire Project' option button is selected also backs up the campaign archive file or Project Archive file, respectively, to your computer. |
Note: |
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As soon as any Subscriber receives the last Message in an email campaign, that Subscriber's data is removed from the 'Current' list, but never from the campaign archive file or Project Archive file. |
Note: |
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You can click the 'Copy' button to copy the data from the 'Current/All AE/Project subscribers' textbox, and paste it directly into a spreadsheet, where the data should be formatted automatically into columns. |
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| Go to the SALES page
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Go to the VIDEOS page |
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HOW TO SEND A GENERAL BROADCAST |
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Sometimes you may wish to send a single message (or more) to some or all Subscribers, perhaps to announce a change of contact, web site redesign, new product line, etc. You can do this by sending a general broadcast. No Subscription Form is needed for this process, because you, as Administrator, add the e‑mail addresses to the broadcast list yourself. |
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| 1 (watch video) |
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Send an e-mail broadcast to all Subscribers in a form-based ("automatic") Project (i.e., all subscribers to a web site) |
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A. (see
image) |
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With the 'Entire Project' option button selected, click the 'View subscribers' button <Alt>+<I> to display all the Subscribers in the Project Archive file in the 'Project subscribers' textbox. These are all the Subscribers to all the email campaigns in the Project, whether they are current or historical Subscribers. The data shown are each Subscriber's name and e‑mail address. |
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Tip:
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Click the '+' ('Enlarge') button <Alt>+<+>, to display the contents of the 'All campaign subscribers' textbox in a separate window. |
| B. (see
image) |
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Click the '>' ('Append') or '>>' ('Replace') button, to transfer the entire contents of the 'Project subscribers' textbox to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, appending to or replacing its contents respectively. (<Tab> characters are converted to "pipe" characters ("|") automatically.) You can add or delete any e‑mail addresses, as you wish. |
| C. (see
image) |
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Ensuring that the 'Keep' checkbox is marked (default), to retain the data:
1. Create a new BROADCAST email campaign, as shown in the "How to Create an E-mail Campaign" section above.
2. Create one Message and upload the new campaign <Alt>+<P>. This is the Message that will be broadcast to all the Subscribers on your list for the form-based Project, i.e., all the subscribers who signed up in all the various campaign forms that have ever appeared on the same web site. |
Tip:
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Because this is a once-only mail-shot, the 'Add Unsubscribe link in messages' checkbox can be unmarked before you 'Save settings'. Clicking such a link in a once-only e‑mail would have no effect, and would mislead the recipients. |
Note:
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You can, if you wish, create more than one Message at this time, and set a suitable period of delay between them, say 7 days or 30 days, depending on whether you already know what the future Messages will say. This is unlikely, however, because it is usual to send a broadcast message as and when the occasion demands, rather than as a planned campaign. |
| D. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Add subscribers' button, to add these Subscribers to this BROADCAST campaign. |
Note: |
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You can add more addresses later from other lists without fear of duplicating addresses. When using the '>' or '>>' button, duplicates are not transferred. Furthermore, addresses added manually to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, if any, will be added to the Project Archive file, the campaign archive file and the campaign current 'users' file, only if they do not exist already, because these three files do not allow duplicate e‑mail addresses to be stored there.
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E. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Send' button, to transmit the BROADCAST Message to these Subscribers. |
Note: |
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The 'Send' button becomes enabled only after the 'Add subscribers' button has been clicked. This is a fail-safe, just in case you forget to add the subscribers to the campaign after you've put them in the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox. (If you ever need to enable the 'Send' button without adding any subscribers, delete the contents of the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox and then click the 'Add subscribers' button. As usual, pressing <Ctrl>+<Z> on the keyboard, when the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox has the focus, will restore its previous contents.) |
Note: |
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If you wish, you can create more BROADCAST campaigns for this Project in the same way, but with a different Message or for different subscribers, before clicking 'Send'. Then they will all be sent together. Otherwise, you can send one campaign at a time. |
| Result (see
image) |
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All the Subscribers in this list will be sent your broadcast Message. Moreover, any other Messages due to be sent in other BROADCAST campaigns in this Project will also be sent. |
Note: |
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If you created more than one Message in a BROADCAST campaign, the Messages after the first one are queued. They will be sent in accordance with the delay period that you specified for each subsequent Message, but only when the 'Send' button is clicked. Remember: a BROADCAST campaign is, basically, the same as an AUTOMATIC campaign. The only difference is that you control a BROADCAST campaign manually with the 'Send' button, whereas an AUTOMATIC campaign is triggered by the "trigger" code on a web page. |
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Send an e-mail broadcast to Subscribers in more than one campaign in a Project and/or more than one Project or web site |
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You can broadcast a message (or more than one message) to (a) subscribers to different sign-up forms on one web site, or (b) forms on more than one web site. This functionality gives you maximum flexibility and control over bulk emailing ad‑hoc messages to your subscribers. |
A. (see
image) |
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When you've decided which of your email lists you want to mail-shot, click the 'Local folder' button <Alt>+<C>, and open the Project containing the first list. |
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B. (see
image) |
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1. Select one of the campaign lists on which you've decided.
2. Select the 'All' subscribers option button <Alt>+<A>.
3. Click the 'View subscribers' button <Alt>+<I>.
4. All the subscribers, past and present, to this e‑mail campaign are displayed in the 'All campaign subscribers' textbox. |
Tip: |
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Click the '+' ('Enlarge') button <Alt>+<+>, to display the contents of the 'All campaign subscribers' textbox in a separate window. |
C. (see
image) |
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Click the '>>' ('Replace') button. All the subscribers, past and present, to this e‑mail campaign are transferred to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, replacing the original contents. (<Tab> characters are converted to "pipe" characters ("|") automatically.) |
D. (see
image) |
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Ensuring that the 'Keep' checkbox is marked (default), to retain the data, repeat step B for the next e‑mail list on which you've decided. |
| E. (see
image) |
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Click the '>' ('Append') button. All the subscribers, past and present, to this e‑mail campaign are transferred to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, appended to the current contents. (<Tab> characters are converted to "pipe" characters ("|") automatically.) |
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Repeat Steps D and E for as many other e‑mail campaigns in the same Project or even in other Projects (for other web sites) as you wish. |
F. (see
image) |
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When all the required names and e-mail addresses are in the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, create a new BROADCAST email campaign, as shown in the "How to Create an E-mail Campaign" section above, and create and upload at least one Message <Alt>+<P>. This is the Message that will be broadcast to all the Subscribers whom you have just added to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox. |
Tip:
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Because this is a once-only mail-shot, the 'Add Unsubscribe link in messages' checkbox can be unmarked before you 'Save settings'. Clicking such a link in a once-only e‑mail would have no effect, and would mislead the recipients. |
G. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Add subscribers' button, to add these Subscribers to the new BROADCAST e‑mail campaign. |
Tip:
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Click the '+' ('Enlarge') button <Alt>+<+>, to display the contents of the 'Current subscribers' textbox in a separate window. |
Note: |
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You can add more addresses later from other lists without fear of duplicating addresses. When using the '>' or '>>' button, duplicates are not transferred. Furthermore, addresses added manually to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, if any, will be added to the Project Archive file, the campaign archive file and the campaign current 'users' file, only if they do not exist already, because these three files do not allow duplicate e‑mail addresses to be stored there. |
H. (see
image) |
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Click the 'Send' button, to transmit the BROADCAST Message to these Subscribers. |
Note: |
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The 'Send' button becomes enabled only after the 'Add subscribers' button has been clicked. This is a fail-safe, just in case you forget to add the subscribers to the campaign after you've put them in the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox. (If you ever need to enable the 'Send' button without adding any subscribers, delete the contents of the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox and then click the 'Add subscribers' button. As usual, pressing <Ctrl>+<Z> on the keyboard, when the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox has the focus, will restore its previous contents.) |
Note: |
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If you wish, you can create more BROADCAST campaigns for this Project in the same way, but with a different Message or for different subscribers, before clicking 'Send'. Then they will all be sent together. Otherwise, you can send one campaign at a time. |
| Result (see
image) |
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All the Subscribers in this list will be sent your broadcast Message. Moreover, any other Messages due to be sent in other BROADCAST campaigns in this Project will also be sent. |
Note: |
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If you created more than one Message in a BROADCAST campaign, the Messages after the first one are queued. They will be sent in accordance with the delay period that you specified for each subsequent Message, but only when the 'Send' button is clicked. Remember: a BROADCAST campaign is, basically, the same as an AUTOMATIC campaign. The only difference is that you control a BROADCAST campaign manually with the 'Send' button, whereas an AUTOMATIC campaign is triggered by the "trigger" code on a web page. |
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Go to the VIDEOS page |
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