Campaigner User Guide

(1)

(2)

While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information in this document is accurate and complete, some typographical errors or technical inaccuracies may exist.

j2 Global Canada, Inc. does not accept responsibility for any kind of loss resulting from the use of information contained in this document.

This document shows the publication date. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. Any improvements or changes to either the product or the document will be documented in subsequent editions.

This software/documentation contains proprietary information of j2 Global Canada, Inc. All rights are reserved. Reverse engineering of this software is prohibited. No part of this software/documentation may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, or translated into another language without the prior written consent of j2 Global Canada, Inc. The document may be printed for use of j2 Global Canada, Inc. customers only.

Campaigner and the Protus logo are registered marks of j2 Global Communications, Inc. and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

(3)

Welcome

Welcome to Campaigner, a powerful email marketing tool for building relationships with your clients and interest in your products or services.

An email campaign is a message that you send to a target audience at an appropriate time. There are many reasons to run an email campaign, and it's important to think about what you want it to accomplish. Generally, email campaigns are for either informational purposes (such as a newsletter that describes upcoming events) or promotional purposes (such as coupons for discounts on purchases). Email campaigns may also be run to inspire users, such as success stories about your services.

Whatever the reason for running an email campaign, set specific goals that contribute to your overall marketing strategy. For example, do you want to promote a new service or do you want to expand your market share? Once the email campaign has been run, you can use metrics to measure whether its goals were met. Specific metrics depend on the goals, but may include the number of prospects that became customers in your store, the percentage increase in use of your services, or the percentage increase in readership for a newsletter. Campaigner helps you communicate with your clients using personalized and relevant email campaigns. It's easy to get started by completing these three tasks:

If you're new to Campaigner, take the time to look at the available learning resources to understand the variety of features available and how to use them to benefit your email marking efforts.

(10)

(11)

Where to Get Assistance

Use and Print this Guide

If you're new to Campaigner, this guide provides content to get you started quickly, as well as detailed information about how to get the most out of Campaigner.

Take a look at these sections first:

• About Email Campaigns describes the elements that comprise email campaigns and the process for creating them. This section also provides great information about how to ensure you're following lawful email marketing practices, as well as how to run successful email campaigns by following established best practices.

• The Get Started section shows you how to work with Campaigner: accessing the primary areas in which you want to work (such as contacts and email campaigns), using wizards, and checking your current status. This section also describes some important

considerations for planning your email campaigns.

Access Help from the Action Bar

To quickly search for topics in the Help, click the Help icon in the navigation bar, click the Search tab in the help window, and then type keywords in the Search box provided. For example, type "reports" and press Enter to display all topics that include the word reports.

Video Tutorials

Some topics include video tutorials, which show you effective ways to work with Campaigner, especially if you are a new user. Video tutorials are available for learning how to use the

(12)

Smart Email Builder, send email campaigns, work with mailing lists to manage contacts, and create sign up forms to obtain new subscribers.

In this help, when a video tutorial is available, you start the video by clicking the Play button or the video title, as shown in the following example.

Note: These links are shown only as an example. The links aren't active.

Want to see this? Watch the Sending Email Campaigns video tutorial.

Online Resources

In addition to this help, Campaigner provides provide several valuable online resources for learning how to use the application and sharing experiences with other users.

Product Feedback Forum

Easily accessible from anywhere inside Campaigner, the Product Feedback forum lets you submit and vote on product enhancements to help improve Campaigner. You will need to log into your Campaigner account in order to use this resource.

Campaigner Community

Campaigner users discuss and share experiences in the online forum. As well, you can provide feedback or questions about Campaigner. We monitor this site so that we can collaborate with you and other users on an ongoing basis. For more urgent issues, contact Customer Support.

Campaigner Blog -- Inside Campaigner

This online resource provides information about email marketing trends and best practices. This resource isn't specifically about Campaigner, but provides regularly updated content, such as tips for creating effective email campaigns. To enhance your understanding of email marketing, you'll find podcasts, current news, and upcoming events, as well as customer spotlights to see how other users are being successful using email marketing.

Video Tutorials

Video tutorials show you effective ways to work with Campaigner, especially if you are a new user. Among the many video tutorials available, you can watch demonstrations of how to send email campaigns, work with mailing lists to manage contacts, and create sign up forms to obtain new subscribers.

Video tutorials are available from this location:

http://www.campaigner.com/resource-center/education-and-training/product-support/csb.aspx

(13)

Video tutorials are also available from YouTube, along with customer testimonials, shared discussions, and valuable marketing tips for successful email marketing:

http://www.youtube.com/campaigneremail

We add and update video tutorials on an ongoing basis, so check back occasionally to see if there's a new video of interest to you.

Customer Support

If you have specific questions about how to use Campaigner or if an issue occurs for which you need help immediately, contact Customer Support. This free service is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

You can contact Customer Support using any of the following methods: Email: [email protected]

Toll Free: 1-888-845-4544 International: 1-613-216-7422

(14)

(15)

About Email Campaigns

Three Tasks to Complete an Email Campaign

Want to see this? Watch the Sending Your First Email Campaign video tutorial.

Use Campaigner to communicate with your clients using personalized and relevant email campaigns. It's easy to get started by completing these three tasks:

1. Create an email that conveys your message.

The email is the design that conveys your message, as well as addressing information and a subject line. When creating the email, keep in mind the goal of the email campaign. For example, what action do you want the recipients of the email to take as a result of the email?

2. Choose the recipients you want to send the email to.

Recipients are the people that you send the email to. You choose recipients from contacts you've defined in Campaigner. To reach as many potential customers as possible, add contacts you already have to Campaigner and use sign up forms to obtain new contacts.

3. Send the email campaign at an appropriate time.

You can send an email as soon as you finish designing it and selecting recipients. However, consider when the best time is for recipients to receive the message. For example, if a product will be in high-demand at a certain time of year, you may want to promote the product in advance, reminding your customers not to leave their purchase to the last minute. Because it's important that recipients receive emails at the right time, you can choose to schedule them to be sent at a later time.

(16)

Support for Email Marketing Best Practices

It's a good idea to ensure that you are familiar with regulations related to CAN-SPAM as you are responsible for ensuring that you are compliant with this policy. Several of Campaigner's features support permission-based email marketing practices.

Addressing Information

CAN-SPAM requires that emails identify to recipients who is sending it. Campaigner displays your organization's name and email address in the "From Name" and "From Address" of the email header. Campaigner also displays your mailing address in the email footer. You provide this information when registering, and you have the option of updating it each time you create an email.

If you are preparing email campaigns on behalf of another business, ensure you provide the addressing information for the business you're representing.

Unsubscribe Option

CAN-SPAM requires that emails include an unsubscribe option that lets recipients opt-out of all future email campaigns or make changes to the types of email communications they receive from you. Campaigner automatically includes this option in the email footer message, and you can't make changes to this message without contacting Customer Support.

If a recipient uses the unsubscribe option, the contact will immediately be opted-out of all future email campaigns and the contact's status will be changed to Unsubscribed.

If the contact updates their subscription management preferences, they can opt-in/opt-out of any mailing lists you determine should be available. The contact’s status will remain

Subscribed regardless of what mailing lists they choose to subscribe to.

Note: If recipients communicate their wish to opt-out in other ways (for example, by telephone), you must manually unsubscribe them.

Account and Contact Activities

Campaigner monitors all activity based on its Anti-SPAM policy. To help maintain the reputation of your business, we will investigate activity that doesn't seem to support lawful email marketing practices.

Two types of activity are monitored:

• Account-level activity. This activity is primarily related to delivery of email campaigns, such as a higher than usual number of hard bounces for an email campaign. There are many reasons that deliverability issues may occur, including an ISP who has identified you as a sender of SPAM. For issues related to deliverability, contact our Postmaster team ([email protected]).

• Contact-level activity. This activity is primarily related to ensuring that you are using appropriate contact sources with Campaigner. The following are examples of inappropriate contact sources:

(17)

• Email address lists that have been purchased, regardless of the source from which the purchase was made.

• Email address lists or individual email addresses obtained from web or other listings (for example, a printed business directory or association listing) without the address owner’s consent.

• Email addresses belonging to a distribution or mailing list (for example, a distribution list that represents more than one email address).

• Email addresses provided by an “e-pending” service. These third-party services provide email addresses for businesses to complete their customer records.

However, because address owner did not provide the email address to the business, use of the address is considered to be SPAM.

Our Postmaster team will work with you to help resolve activity under investigation. Some investigations may require that we lock your account or contact list. You may not be able to • add contacts

• work with the contact list on the Contacts tab • schedule or send email campaigns

If your account or contact list is locked and will remain locked for some time, Campaigner notifies you with an email message, a notification in the Message Center, and a message on the Dashboard. For issues related to account or contact list locking, as well as ongoing investigations, contact Customer Support.

Ten Tips for Successful Email Marketing

Successful email campaigns promote your business by increasing revenue, generating leads, strengthening customer relationships, increasing website traffic, and building brand

awareness.

The following ten tips summarize best practices that you should keep in mind when planning, designing, and executing email campaigns.

1. Choose the Appropriate Way to Convey Your Message

Any message can be conveyed in several ways. Choosing an appropriate method depends on the information that you want to convey and the needs of the customers you're

communicating with.

You’ll need to experiment with options and test your messages to learn which formats work best for your customers. Generally, email messages distributed using email marketing can be grouped as follows:

• Promotional emails are useful for sales and discounts. You can also leverage holidays – Valentine's Day, Presidents Day, and Halloween – and create specific promotions around them.

• Informational emails usually offer advice about how to get more out of a product or service, which can help you extend its life. Information emails also provide a way to

(18)

deliver superior value, showing customers that you aren't just pushing a sale. For example, a clothing store might send customers tips for updating wardrobes using the latest fashion accessories.

• Inspirational emails weave support and information together. For example, a dietitian could send messages to clients to help keep them on track. You can also use this type of email to communicate success stories to build motivation.

2. Keep Your Subject Line Interesting and Honest

The subject line should entice your customers, giving them a compelling reason to open the email. People take less than one second to decide whether to open or delete an email, so avoid vague content like "Our September Newsletter". Instead, use an interesting topic or headline from the newsletter, such as "Best Practices for Email Marketing" or "Inside: Exclusive Interview with Our Favorite Designers".

While the subject line needs to be interesting enough to capture your customers’ attention, make sure that it clearly reflects the purpose and content of the email. Honesty in the subject line not only builds trust with your customers, but also, increases the likelihood that they’ll open, read, and act on the email.

Avoid using all capital letters and terms such as “Free”. These practices may cause delivery problems because they are often associated with SPAM.

3. Provide Valuable and Relevant Content

To keep customers subscribed to your communications, you must provide quality content. Readers will quickly tire of emails that aren’t relevant to their needs. For example, offer something that your customers would see as valuable, such as a free newsletter or seminar about your products or services. This value-added content extends the benefits of your products or services to your customers.

4. Personalize Your Message

Convey a personal and casual tone using your own voice. A nice, conversational tone lets you reach out on an individual level. It also builds rapport with your customers by

encouraging two-way communication.

Another way to personalize messages is to refer to recipients by name. Users have come to expect personalization, such seeing their name in a salutation (such as “Hi Allison”), rather than a more generic greeting.

5. Reinforce Brand Recognition

The look and feel of your message will help boost responses through brand loyalty. Ensure that your email template reflects your brand by including your company name at the top of the message. If you have a company logo or colors, be sure to use them in the message as well. Consistency builds recognition.

(19)

6. Go Beyond Your Competitors’ Standards

You need to do things better than your competitors and you need to do things differently. Stay on top of what your competitors do by subscribing to their newsletters. Give your customers valuable content that they aren’t getting from the competition to give them a reason to continue doing business with you.

7. Leverage Loyal Readers

Loyal customers generate the word-of-mouth recommendations that contribute to your success. When customers forward your message, they are endorsing your product or service. This word-of-mouth messaging helps overcome cynicism among potential customers.

Reward customers who let you email them with discounts and other offers. Make them VIPs, and let them know they get this info because they’re loyal customers. People enjoy feeling special, and that they’re getting something extra.

8. Direct Messages Based on Interest

When subscribing to your email communications, many customers may fill out a sign up form (or questionnaire). The information provided by customers can help you design email

campaigns based on customer interests, product preferences, or purchase history. For example, send an email campaign to women when you introduce a new line of women’s clothing.

When possible, customize messages based on topics of interest to subscribers. Mailing lists provide an effective way to group subscribers based on common characteristics (such as gender) or interests (such as new products or promotions). You can send email campaigns to specific groups of contacts based on a mailing list.

9. Refine Messages Based on Past Activity

Use reports and customer information to build more targeted email campaigns. For example, reward customers who open an email. Similarly, send a more aggressive pitch to the people who haven’t opened the email in three months.

You can also target email campaigns based on product preferences or purchase history. Including coupons in your email, either in the form of a coupon code or a printable coupon, will resonate with your customers. As well, you can track coupon redemption, which helps you keep tabs on your campaign effectiveness. If you email a coupon and someone makes a purchase, you know from that one email that people want what you are offering.

10. Find Out What Your Customers Need

Many of the tips provided in this section rely on knowing how to meet a customer need, such as providing relevant content, writing an enticing subject line, and including offers that are valuable.

Talk to all your customers, both those who act on your email campaigns and those who don’t. Asking customers what they need on a regular basis creates an open-door policy, and customers will be more likely to tell you how you can improve your communications to

(20)

provide more value to them. You can ask recipients to reply to your email campaigns. Campaigner will forward replies to you.

There are many ways to communicate in an effective way to build your success through email marketing. Focus on meeting your customers’ needs and you’ll quickly find out what methods work best in your market space.

(21)

Get Started

Find Your Way Around Campaigner

Most of the pages you'll use in Campaigner are comprised of the main elements identified here:

The Contact panel includes links for contacting us and logging out.

The Navigation bar includes tabs for accessing the primary areas in which you work, as well as the Help. For example, the Email Campaigns tab lists your email campaigns. If you need help using Campaigner, click the Help icon.

The Action bar provides buttons for tasks associated with the current tab. For example, on the Email Campaigns tab, the Action bar shows buttons for selecting recipients for email campaigns, sending email campaigns, editing email campaigns, and so on. You must select an email campaign in the email campaigns list before the Edit button is available on the Action bar.

(22)

The workspace displays content for the current tab. For example, on the Email Campaigns tab, the workspace lists your email campaigns, along with options for managing them. The total number of entries is shown at the bottom of the workspace.

In the workspace, if more entries are available than can be shown on one page, you can browse additional pages. You may also be able to set the number of entries shown on each page.

Log Out

When you signed into Campaigner, you provided a username and password. These credentials identify you to Campaigner as an authorized user. For security, ensure that you log out of your account when you aren't using Campaigner.

Campaigner automatically logs you out after a certain period of idle time. Campaigner displays a notice 15 minutes before automatically logging you out.

Step

• Click the Logout link in the Contact panel.

About Campaigner Wizards

Campaigner provides several wizards to guide you through tasks:

• Use the Email Campaign wizard to create the email for an email campaign using the Full Email Editor.

• Use the Import Contacts wizard to define contacts in Campaigner.

• Use the Sign Up Form wizard to create a sign up form (and related elements) for inviting users to subscribe to your email communications.

For convenience, several methods are available for starting wizards. For example, start the Import Contacts wizard using the Add Contacts button on the Dashboard or the Contacts tab.

(23)

Here is a page from the Import Contacts wizard, which identifies common elements for most wizard pages.

View the Current Status on the Dashboard

The Dashboard tab gives you a summary of recent activity and important content, as shown in this example:

Quick Links access commonly-used features: creating email campaigns, adding contacts, and creating sign up forms.

(24)

The Account status shows usage based on your plan.

Three panels show important information for an at-a-glance summary:

• The Recently Modified Campaigns panel shows the last several email campaigns that have been created or modified. This panel is useful when you want a quick summary of an email campaign's name, status, or date and time that the most recent modifications were made. If you need more information about a particular email campaign, you can view an email summary.

• The Last Email Campaign Activity panel shows activity for the most recently sent email campaign, with a bar chart that graphically represents email campaign statistics. The name, color, and numeric data for each status appear beside the chart. A more detailed version of this email campaign activity is available in an email campaign report.

• The Contact Trends panel shows the status of contacts for the current month and the previous two months. This panel also shows you changes in growth over this time period. Ideally, you want to see this value increase over time, which would indicate that your email campaigns are providing value to existing customers and are bringing in new customers. A more detailed breakdown of the contacts statuses is available in the All Contacts report.

If you're new to Campaigner, these panels may not provide much information, but will be updated with relevant information as you start defining email campaigns and adding contacts.

Prepare to Use Campaigner

If you want to get started using Campaigner right away, you can create emails or define contacts, providing information at the time it's required. However, doing some advance preparation may streamline processes and help you complete tasks more efficiently. In particular, we recommend that you consider the following:

• email addresses used in email headers, including the From and Reply-to addresses • images used in email designs, such as your company logo

• contact information, such as the data that you want to track for contacts and whether you have existing contact information that you want to use with Campaigner

From and Reply-to Email Addresses

What email addresses in email headers will your contacts recognize? Email headers include the sender's email address. Some email headers also include an email address to which replies to your email from recipients will be sent (referred to as the "reply-to address"). Email addresses must be verified before you can use them in email headers. The email address you provided when registering is verified by default. If you plan to use other email addresses, you may want to verify them before starting to create emails. Although you can verify them when creating emails, you'll need to wait for Campaigner to complete the verification process before you can continue working.

(25)

When you submit an email address for verification, the following activities occur:

1. Campaigner automatically sends an email to the email address. This email includes a confirmation link.

2. The recipient of the email clicks the confirmation link.

3. Campaigner receives a response that the confirmation link has been clicked.

4. Campaigner accepts the email address as legitimate, and makes it available for selection when defining email headers.

If you discontinue use of an email address, remove it to ensure that it is not inadvertently selected when defining future email headers. Removed email addresses are used only if they have already been selected for scheduled email campaigns.

Steps to verify an email address

1. From the Account menu, click Settings. 2. Click Manage email addresses.

3. Type the email address and click Submit. 4. Click Close.

Campaigner sends a confirmation email to the address you submitted. 5. Click Confirm.

This button is available only after the recipient has clicked the confirmation link in the confirmation email.

6. Verify that the email address is available for selection in email headers. Steps to remove verified email addresses

1. From the Account menu, click Settings. 2. Click Remove email addresses.

3. Select the email addresses you want to remove. 4. Click Delete.

5. Click Close.

Images

What images are you going to use frequently in your email campaigns? If you plan to include your corporate logo in email designs, you may want to ensure that it meets guidelines for images. For example, images must be in web-compatible formats.

Campaigner provides a Library where you can store images for email campaigns. Because the Campaigner Library is available from Campaigner servers, you don't need to store images in a separate, possibly less accessible, online location.

(26)

Contact Information

What information do you want to track about your contacts? Campaigner requires that each contact has an email address, but you may want to capture additional information, such as names and birthdays. Each type of information is referred to as a contact field. We

recommend that you review the default contact fields and create custom fields that you plan to use before defining any contact in Campaigner. Information about contact fields is provided in Overview of Contact Fields.

Is contact information already defined in another resource? If so, you can easily add them to Campaigner. Several methods of adding contacts are available, so review each method to determine the one that's best for you. Information about defining contacts is provided in Overview of Defining Contacts.

(27)

Create and Edit Emails

Overview of Creating and Editing Emails

An email conveys your message. The message may be conveyed using a newsletter, promotion, invitation, and so on. Typically, creating the email is the first step in preparing an email campaign.

Creating an email involves defining the

• email design, which is the content that presents the message you want to convey to recipients.

• email header that defines the addressing information that identifies you as the sender of the email and the subject line describing the email content.

• email footer that contains an unsubscribe option and the mailing address of your business. These options are required by CAN-SPAM.

• reply-to options used when recipients choose to reply to your email, including the address where the replies will be sent and, optionally, a message acknowledging the reply. When you create an email, you also define the name of the email campaign. This name is used only to help you associate this email with an email campaign within Campaigner, and is never displayed to recipients.

Best Practices for Emails

Users have a need, whether it is to save time, money, effort, or improve productivity and success, and your message should be presented such that a need is met. A message can be presented many ways. An effective message provides value to its recipients and helps them focus on the important information you want to convey.

(28)

Keep the following best practices in mind to present your message in a clear, concise, compelling, customer-centric way:

• Make sure that the content is relevant to message recipients. Readers will quickly tire of emails that don’t provide them any value.

• Content in an area referred to as “the magic triangle” is the first to register with readers. Put the most important content (such as an action you'd like recipients to take) in this area:

• Use images at the top of the email sparingly. Large image headers or logos consume space, pushing your message too far down the page. A better use of space is to display a table of contents or your offer with small logo underneath. Placing the message at the top of the email is sometimes referred to as keeping it “above the fold”.

• Use simple language and a personal, conversational tone. Using your own voice lets you reach out on an individual level and build rapport with your customers.

• Personalize emails, such as greeting the recipient by name.

• Be clear about the action you want the customer to take and ask for only one action per email. For example, do you want customers to visit the store or call a sales

representative for a quote on services?

• Ensure that important or key information isn't provided in an image. Users may have email interfaces configured such that images aren't displayed. As well, images won't be available at all to users who receive plain text only versions of a message.

• Don’t think of your email as paper letterhead. An email message is much more flexible than paper, so be creative about your messaging.

• Don’t match your email design to your website design. People want to see something different, not a repetition of what they already know.

(29)

• Keep the message to an appropriate frequency and length. A good rule of thumb is the more frequent your emails, the shorter they should be. People will open a short "Tip of the Day", but almost no one wants to get something longer on a daily basis.

• Use easy-to-scan, bulleted text.

• Use white space so that the content doesn’t look heavy on the screen. As well, white space lets the reader scan for the information they want.

• Avoid columns on the right-hand side of the message. People don’t see them. • Use your own name to sign off at the end of the message. People respond best to

messages written by one particular person at a company who they can get to know over time.

Test Your Email

The time you invest in putting the content together is valuable to ensure that people can understand the message you're trying to convey. Before sending an email, preview it to see how it will appear to recipients. You can also ask coworkers or friends for their opinion of it. Does the subject line reflect the message content? Does the content look professional? Is it clear what action the customer is being asked to take? Feedback often leads to

improvements that make the presentation more effective.

Choose the Smart Email Builder or the Full Email Editor

When you want to create an email for a new email campaign, use the Smart Email Builder or the Full Email Editor. Both tools produce professional results when designing emails.

However, each tool offers different benefits, depending on the type of email you plan to create and features you need to present your message.

When you start a new email campaign, you're prompted to choose which tool you want to use:

(30)

Smart Email Builder

The Smart Email Builder produces professional looking results with minimal options when creating newsletter emails. You simply choose a predefined smart template for your email design and add the text and images that convey your message.

A smart template is comprised of a layout and a theme. A layout organizes the newsletter, such as the number of columns and the locations of the header and footer. A theme determines the appearance of content, such as its graphic elements and colors.

After choosing the smart template, you use its content blocks to define your message. As you work, you may find that the selected layout or theme isn't suitable for the content. You can change layouts and themes at any time before sending an email.

When creating your email, the Smart Email Builder displays a preview of your work. Any changes you make to the smart template or your content are displayed immediately in the preview.

The Smart Email Builder creates emails in both the HTML and plain text email formats. If you choose to create the email in both email formats, the Smart Email Builder gives you access to a design editor for each email format.

After creating an email design using the Smart Email Builder, you may want to convert it for use in the Full Email Editor. Once you convert an email, you can't edit in the Smart Email Builder.

Full Email Editor

The Full Email Editor creates many types of email designs, including newsletters, invitations, and promotions. This tool provides more features than the Smart Email Builder, such as tables and personalization options. These features are not available in the Smart Email Builder because they require a more advanced knowledge of web design and HTML concepts and codes. The Full Email Editor creates emails in both the HTML and plain text email formats.

The Full Email Editor uses the Email Campaign wizard to guide you through the steps for creating an email. If you choose to create the email in both email formats, the wizard gives you access to a design editor for each email format. For information about design editors and choosing email formats, see Design Editors for Different Email Formats.

About Email Formats

Two formats are available for email designs:

• The HTML email format is referred to as "content-rich". Emails in this format can include text, links, images, tables, and text formatting (such as font styles, colors, bold face, and so on).

• The plain text email format contains only text and links without any formatting or images. You may be able to simulate simple tabular formats using spaces, but no table options are available for using columns or rows.

(31)

Today, most users prefer to view content in the HTML email format, and you may notice higher response rates with this format. However, some users prefer the plain text email format, primarily for performance reasons related to the user’s device or email interface. Users with visual impairments may also prefer the plain text email format.

You can create HTML and plain text emails using the Smart Email Builder and the Full Email Editor. All of the templates provided by these tools use the HTML email format.

When you send an email that was produced in both the HTML and plain text formats using the using the Smart Email Builder or the Full Email Editor, Campaigner sends a multi-part message comprised of both versions. The email interface for each recipient determines which version to display. For any contact, you can override the email interface by specifying a preferred email format before sending an email campaign.

Use the Smart Email Builder

What is the Smart Email Builder?

Want to see this? Watch the Smart Email Builder video tutorial.

The Smart Email Builder produces professional looking results when creating newsletter emails. The Smart Email Builder creates emails in both the HTML and plain text email formats.

The Smart Email Builder has three steps:

1. Choose a smart template for your email design.

A smart template is comprised of a predefined layout and theme. A layout organizes the newsletter, such as the number of columns and the placement of the header and footer. A theme determines the appearance of the newsletter, such as its graphic elements and colors.

At this stage you can choose whether or not to create a plain text version of your email. 2. Add the content that conveys your message.

The template includes content blocks for adding your text and images. As you work, you can change the smart template if you find that another layout or theme is more suitable for your content. The Smart Email Builder displays a preview of the email design on the same page where you define content, and displays changes immediately in this preview. Plain text email design takes place after you complete your template content.

3. Provide email details (such as your email address and the subject line).

Although you don't need to do any advance preparation before using the Smart Email Builder, doing so may help you work more efficiently. For information, see Prepare to Use

Campaigner.

After creating an email using the Smart Email Builder, you can convert it for use in the Full Email Editor. Do this if you want to use features that are not available in the Smart Email

(32)

Builder, such as editing the HTML code. However, after converting an email, you can no longer open it in the Smart Email Builder.

Create Emails

Start the Smart Email Builder

You create an email using the Smart Email Builder by starting a new email campaign. For convenience, you can start the Smart Email Builder from several locations in

Campaigner. Because the Dashboard is displayed each time you log in to Campaigner, you may find it most convenient to start from this location.

For information about opening an existing email in the Smart Email Builder for editing, see Open an Exiting Email Design for Editing.

Steps

1. On the Dashboard or the Email Campaigns tab, click the following button:

2. Click Start now! Using the Smart Email Builder.

Update Your Information

In your email designs, some information about your company may automatically be included. For example, the mailing address you provided when registering is automatically included in the footer of all emails. Depending on the selected template, other types of information may include links to your company's website or Facebook page.

It's a good idea to verify your information each time you start an email, making any changes necessary. Updates are applied only to the current email and any emails in email campaigns that have not been sent. Campaigner cannot update this information for email campaigns that you've already sent. After making changes, test them by previewing the email. For example, click social media links to ensure they display the appropriate page for your business. Here is the page where you'll make changes to your information:

(33)

Steps

1. On the page where you select the template for your email design, click Update Your Information.

2. Review the values and make any necessary changes.

You can remove information by deleting the existing value from the field. 3. Click Save.

Step 1: Choose the Smart Template

After starting the Smart Email Builder, you choose a smart template for your email design. A smart template is comprised of a layout and theme:

• A layout organizes the newsletter, such as the number of columns and the locations of the header and footer. Placeholders are provided for your text and images.

If you don't want to use placeholders to define your message, a Sample Gallery provides many newsletters for different occasions and events. You can use these samples as-is or customize the content for your message.

• A theme determines the appearance of the newsletter, such as its graphic elements and colors. Several theme designs are available, each providing a default set of theme colors which you can change.

Here are two smart templates. Both templates use the one-column layout, but each uses a different theme.

You can change the smart template at any time before sending the email campaign. For example, when you add content, you may find that a different layout provides a more suitable presentation.

(34)

Tip: Try to finalize your template selection before adding images, particularly if you plan to edit images. Images that are resized, for example, based on a specific template may not appear as intended in a different layout.

To help choose a layout and theme, the Smart Email Builder shows a preview of your selections from the layout, theme design, and theme colors selection panels. The preview shows any changes to the selections immediately. Here is the Smart Template page:

Step to choose the layout and theme

• On the Smart Template page, from each selection panel, click the layout, theme design, and theme color.

The layout selection panel displays either newsletters or samples. For example, if you don't see the samples, click Sample Gallery to close the list of newsletters list and open the list of samples.

If more options are available than can be displayed in a selection panel, arrows appear at the top or bottom of the panel for scrolling the view.

Create a plain text version

If you want to create a plain text version of your email, select the Create a plain text version checkbox at the bottom right. You will be able to design the plain text content after you've designed the smart template content.

(35)

Step 2: Add and Arrange Your Content

After choosing the smart template for the email design, add the content that conveys your message and arrange the content in the smart template. Content includes text and images. You can also define links to related content using text or images.

You add and arrange content on the Content Blocks page. The Smart Email Builder shows a preview of the smart template in the left panel. The smart template includes different types of "content blocks" for adding text and images. When you select a content block in the preview, a form for defining it is displayed in the right panel. As you define the content block, the preview shows the updates:

The form options depend on the type of content block that's selected in the preview. In this example, the Header content block is selected and, among other options, its form includes a subtitle option that can be used to identify the issue date of the newsletter. Other content block types don't include this option. For information about each type of content block and its form, see Types of Content Blocks.

As you work, you can change the smart template, arrange content blocks, and add or remove content blocks. For example, you may find that another layout is more suitable when you see your content in the preview.

You will be able to design the plain text version of your email (if you chose to include it) after you've designed the smart template content.

Step to open the Content Blocks page

• If you have not already done so, click Continue from the top, right-hand corner of the Smart Template page.

(36)

Types of Content Blocks

You add text, links, and images to your email design using content blocks in the smart template. The types and number of content blocks available depend on the selected smart template. Here is an example of a template that includes all the content block types:

When you select a content block, the Smart Email Builder displays a form for adding your content. Form options depend on the content block type. For example, the Header form includes a subtitle option that can be used to identify the issue date of the newsletter. Forms for other content block types don't include this option.

(37)

Header Form Options

When you select a content block in a smart template on the Content Blocks page, the Smart Email Builder displays its form for defining content. Here is the form for a Header content block:

An email design can include only one Header content block. This content block can't be deleted.

Only one image can be added to a Header content block. If you've selected a smart template in which an image has been predefined in the header and you add another image, preview the email to ensure the image you've added is displayed as intended.

(38)

Article Form Options

When you select a content block in a smart template on the Content Blocks page, the Smart Email Builder displays its form for defining content. Here is the form for an Article content block:

An email design can include as many Article content blocks as you want. Only one image can be added to each Article content block.

Article Sidebar and Social Media Sidebar Form Options

When you select a content block in a smart template on the Content Blocks page, the Smart Email Builder displays a form for defining content. In sidebars, two types of content blocks may be available: Article Sidebar content blocks and Social Media Sidebar content blocks. In this Help, references to Article Sidebar content blocks also include Social Media Sidebar content blocks unless stated otherwise.

(39)

Article Sidebar Form Options

Here is the form for an Article Sidebar content block:

An email design can include as many Article Sidebar content blocks as you want. Only one image can be added to each Article Sidebar content block.

Social Media Sidebar Form Options

Here is the form for a Social Media Sidebar content block:

A smart template can include only one Social Media Sidebar content block. You can delete this content block and then (if necessary) add it again. However, you can add it only to a sidebar.

Social Media Sidebar content blocks include text. Text for social media options represents the links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Each social media link will be represented using the standard image for that social media type.

(40)

Footer Form Options

When you select a content block in a smart template on the Content Blocks page, the Smart Email Builder displays its form for defining content. Here is the form for a Footer content block:

An email design can include only one Footer content block. This content block can't be deleted.

Footer content blocks include text. Text for social media options represents the links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Each social media link that you define will be represented using the standard image for that social media type.

Add Text

Add text to your email design using content blocks in the smart template.

These content blocks are available on the Content Blocks page. When you select a content block, the Smart Email Builder displays a form for adding your content. Form options depend on the content block type. For example, the Header form includes a subtitle option that can be used to identify the issue date of the newsletter. Forms for other content block types don't include this option. For information about each type of content block and its form, see Types of Content Blocks.

All types of content blocks let you type text or paste text that you've previously copied from another source.

When designing the HTML version of your email, the following text and paragraph options are available from the formatting bar:

(41)

Options:

Font size Align left

Bold Align center

Italic Align right

Underline Justify

Font color Bullet list Erase formatting Numbered list

Link tool Outdent

Unlink tool Indent

Insert symbol Merge Field tool

When designing the plain text version of your email, the following text and paragraph options are available from the formatting bar:

Options:

Undo

Link tool

Redo

Unlink tool

Insert symbol

Merge Field tool

Note: If you are typing text that represents a social media link (in Social Media Sidebar or Footer content blocks), no formatting can be applied.

Step to define text for a content block

1. On the Content Blocks page, in the preview, click the content block.

The Smart Email Builder displays the form for the content block in the right panel. 2. Do one of the following:

• To add text, click in the form option and type the text.

• To paste text you've copied from another source, place the cursor in the form option and press Ctrl-V to paste. Pasted text maintains the source structure and format, if

(42)

supported in the Smart Email Builder. For example, text bolding and paragraph justification are maintained when text is pasted into a form option, but tables are removed.

3. If you want to format text, select it and click an option in the formatting bar.

For example, select text that you want to emphasize and click the Bold button on the formatting bar.

4. If you want to change the justification of a paragraph or insert a symbol, click the cursor anywhere in the paragraph and click the justification button in the formatting bar.

5. If you want to insert a symbol, click the cursor at the position where you want the symbol to appear and click the arrow in the Insert Symbol button on the formatting bar, followed by the symbol you want to insert.

Add or Remove Images

Images add visual interest to your message. Images can also be used for branding purposes, such as displaying your corporate logo or products.

Add images to your email design using content blocks in the smart template. These content blocks are available on the Content Blocks page. When you select a content block, the Smart Email Builder displays a form for adding content. You can add one image to each Header, Article, or Article Sidebar content block.

When adding an image, its width and height may be scaled down proportionately if these dimensions are too large for the content block. When an image is automatically scaled down, a warning symbol appears in the content block form:

Tip: If this symbol appears, try to reduce the file size of the image to avoid sending bloated emails.

You add images from these source locations: • the Campaigner Library

Because the Campaigner Library is available from Campaigner servers, you don't need to store images in a separate, possibly less accessible, online location. If the image you want to add isn't already in the Library, you can add it.

• a publicly accessible online location, such as your website. These images are referred to as "external images".

Note: To customize an image for an email design, including resizing it, you can edit it. When working with images, it's a good idea to preview the email design. For example, for Header content blocks, if you've selected a theme in which an image has been predefined and you add another image, preview the email to ensure that both images are displayed appropriately. For more tips on working with images, see the image guidelines.

You can delete images from an email design or from the Library to free up space for new images. Before deleting images from the Library, ensure they aren't being used in any active

(43)

email campaign or recipients will see broken links (or some other representation) for the missing images.

Steps to add or replace a Library image

1. On the Content Blocks page, in the preview, click a Header, Article, or Article Sidebar content block.

2. In the content block form, click the Insert Image button. Insert Image

3. On the Upload New Image tab, click Browse. 4. Locate the image and double-click it.

5. If the image already exists in the Library and you want to replace it with a new version, select Update if image already exists.

6. Click Upload to the Library. 7. Click Cancel.

Steps to add an image to a content block (one image per content block) 1. Ensure the image is an appropriate size (or resolution) for email designs. 2. On the Content Blocks page, in the preview, click the content block. 3. In the content block form, click the Insert Image button.

Insert Image button

4. Do one of the following and then click Insert:

• To add an image from the Library, on the Image Source tab, click Choose an Image from the Library and click the image name.

• To add an external image, on the Image Source tab, click Enter an external image location and specify the location and filename (or URL) of the image, as shown in these examples:

http://www.campaigner.com/logo.gif http://www.mycompany.com/jeans.jpg

An easy way to specify the URL is to copy it from the source location and paste it in this box. Alternatively, you can type the URL.

To select from recently specified URLs, click the arrow on the right-hand side of the text box.

(44)

5. If the image is not positioned in the content block where you want it to appear, click the appropriate button in the Style area of the content block form.

For example, click this button to position the image in the top-right corner of the content block:

Tip: Quickly resize the image by dragging the marker in the Size option to increase or

decrease the image dimensions. However, be aware that changing the width and height does not change the image file size.

Steps to delete an image from a content block

1. On the Content Blocks page, in the preview, click the content block that contains the image.

2. Beside the Image box, click the Trash button.

Trash button

Steps to delete a Library image

1. On the Content Blocks page, in the preview, click a Header, Article, or Article Sidebar content block.

2. In the form, click the Insert Image button.

Insert Image

3. On the Image Source tab, click Choose an Image from the Library and click the image name.

4. Click the "x" beside the image name. 5. Click OK.

Guidelines for Images

Images are an important way to add visual interest to HTML email designs. Keep the following guidelines in mind when using images.

Email Interface Configurations

Images are displayed only if the recipient's email interface is configured to show them. You may want to educate your contacts, explaining to them how to configure their email interface to display images. You can also ask contacts to add your email address to their address book or "safe senders" list.

(45)

You can preview how an email design will appear both with and without images to recipients. Image Format

Use web-compatible image formats: JPG, GIF, or PNG. Image Source Location and Filename

When a recipient views an email, Campaigner accesses any images from their source locations. For example, say that you added your corporate logo (named logo.jpg) from the Library to the email design. When a recipient opens the email, the logo.jpg image is retrieved from the Library for display in the email.

If logo.jpg no longer exists in the Library, the image will be missing from the email. Depending on the email interface being used, the image may be represented in the email by a broken link or placeholder. To avoid missing images, ensure that, for the entire life cycle of the email campaign, its images remain available from the source locations and that the filename isn't changed.

Number of Images and SPAM

While images can be used effectively to convey information, ensure they provide visual impact. A good way to do this is to use a few images in the overall message, and locate the most important image in the magic triangle. Emails that contain more images than text may be identified as junk mail or SPAM by some email providers. Similarly, avoid using a single image (with little or no text) to convey your message.

Image Dimensions Relative to the Email Design

Keep the dimensions of images in proportion with the size of the email design. For example, a product image that's 400 pixels high by 300 pixels wide may consume a significant amount of display space in the email design, and may push more important information out of the magic triangle.

Image Dimensions and File Size

There are two reasons to keep the file size of images to a minimum:

• The number of images you can store in the Library depends on how much space they consume. Storing images that are larger than necessary in the Library means that you'll be able to store fewer images.

• Sending unnecessarily large emails can annoy users, who may then choose not view it, or worse, unsubscribe from your email communications. The most effective way to avoid sending bloated emails is to minimize the file size of their images. Whether an email is too large depends on the nature of the email, but as a general guideline, an email of a few hundreds of kilobytes warrants caution. An email of a few thousand kilobytes would be problematic for most users.

(46)

You can reduce the file size of images using the Image Editor when adding or editing images in the email design. For example, in the Image Editor, resize the image to smaller dimensions or crop the image. The file size of the image will be reduced without losing much image clarity.

Note: You can change the dimensions of an image in the email design, without using the Image Editor. However, while the width and height of the image may be reduced, the file size does not change.

Open an Existing Image for Editing

Edit images to customize them for an email design. You may also want to edit images to conserve storage space in the email design or Library. For example, resizing or cropping an image to half its original proportions reduces the file size of an image while maintaining the image clarity.

To edit an image, you open it in the Image editor and then make changes. For information about making changes, see Edit Images.

Tip: You can edit an image at the same time as you add it to a content block. Steps

1. On the Content Blocks page, in the preview, click the content block that contains the image.

The Smart Email Builder displays the form for the content block in the right panel. 2. Below the Image box, click the Edit Image button.

Edit Image

Edit Images

Edit images to customize them for an email design by resizing, cropping, flipping, or rotating them. Editing images can also help to conserve storage space in the email design or Library. For example, resizing or cropping an image to half its original proportions reduces the file size of an image while maintaining the image clarity.

You edit images in the Image Editor. Several methods are available for opening an image in this editor, depending on whether you're using the Smart Email Builder or the Full Email Editor. However, the editor itself is the same once an image is open:

Campaigner User Guide

Table of Contents

Welcome

Where to Get Assistance

Use and Print this Guide

Access Help from the Action Bar

Video Tutorials

Online Resources

Product Feedback Forum

Campaigner Community

Campaigner Blog -- Inside Campaigner

Video Tutorials

Customer Support

About Email Campaigns

Three Tasks to Complete an Email Campaign

Support for Email Marketing Best Practices

Addressing Information

Unsubscribe Option

Account and Contact Activities

Ten Tips for Successful Email Marketing

1. Choose the Appropriate Way to Convey Your Message

2. Keep Your Subject Line Interesting and Honest

3. Provide Valuable and Relevant Content

4. Personalize Your Message

5. Reinforce Brand Recognition

6. Go Beyond Your Competitors’ Standards

7. Leverage Loyal Readers

8. Direct Messages Based on Interest

9. Refine Messages Based on Past Activity

10. Find Out What Your Customers Need

Get Started

Find Your Way Around Campaigner

Log Out

About Campaigner Wizards

View the Current Status on the Dashboard

Prepare to Use Campaigner

From and Reply-to Email Addresses

Images

Contact Information

Create and Edit Emails

Overview of Creating and Editing Emails

Best Practices for Emails

Test Your Email

Choose the Smart Email Builder or the Full Email Editor

Smart Email Builder

Full Email Editor

About Email Formats

Use the Smart Email Builder

What is the Smart Email Builder?

Create Emails

Start the Smart Email Builder

Update Your Information

Step 1: Choose the Smart Template

Step 2: Add and Arrange Your Content

Types of Content Blocks

Add Text

Add or Remove Images

Guidelines for Images

Open an Existing Image for Editing

Edit Images