Why campaigns are important.

The Newsletter Module helps you to create email marketing campaigns quickly and effectively, then monitor campaign results. This module is a powerful sales tool.

You can choose from a selection of pre-made newsletter templates or have a customised template built especially for you.

You can manage email subscribers as they subscribe to your newsletter, create a newsletter campaign and send it to any number of recipients across any number of subscriber groups (for targeted campaigns).

A great advantage of the module is its reporting feature. You can view statistics for every sent newsletter including which recipients viewed the newsletter and clicked through to your website.

Getting Started: Entering Default Newsletter Settings

The newsletter settings tab helps you to speed up the process of creating a newsletter by saving default values for the newsletter details fields. It is a good idea to complete this tab first so that when you create a newsletter draft most of the newsletter details will be filled. If required, you can easily overwrite the settings by typing over them in your draft.

1. Choose Modules > Newsletters > Settings navigation tab.
2. Complete each field as follows:

• Email Subject : Although this will change for each newsletter you send, this allows you to create generic words or phrases that may feature in each newsletter’s subject line.
• From Name : Mask the email address that appears in the recipient's inbox by entering a name into this field. It can be a good idea to enter your company name, e.g. “Fantastic Flowers Australasia”.
• From Email Address : Enter an email address that you want your newsletter to appear to be from. It does not need to be a real email address although a valid address is recommended.
• Reply-to Email Address : Enter a valid email address that your recipients can reply to. If you would prefer not to receive replies, leave this field blank.
• Default newsletter footer content : This information will appear at the bottom of your newsletter and should contain your company name, copyright information and contact details such, etc.
• Click Save.

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Creating a Subscriber List

Subscriber lists enable you to group subscribers into categories so that you can send separate campaigns to different segments of your target market. You can use groups repeatedly and edit them at any time.

1. Choose Modules > Newsletters > Subscribers navigation tab.
2. Click the + Create New List button.
3. List Name:  Enter a name for your Subscriber List.  This name is only for your reference. You should create a short name that clearly describes the type of addresses you have in this list, e.g. “NSW Customers”, “Our Resellers”, “Website Form Subscribers”, etc.
4. List Description:  Enter a broader description for this list, e.g. “NSW customers who purchased widgets in 2012”, etc. 
5. Click Save.

• Create subscriber lists before sending your first campaign.

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Adding Subscribers Manually

Once a subscriber list is created add subscribers to the list so that newsletters can be sent to many contacts at once.

1. Choose Modules > Newsletters > Subscribers navigation tab.
2. Click on the Link Name of the subscriber list you wish to add subscribers to. Click the  Create New Subscriber button.
3. Enter details into the fields important to you 

• Email (required): Enter the subscriber's email address. Check that you have entered a valid email address into this field, i.e. make certain that there aren't commas or spaces within the address.
• Subscriber List : Place a tick in the box next to each subscriber list that you wish to add this subscriber to. You must choose at least one list.

1. Click Save.

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Create a Campaign

These steps describe how to create a newsletter draft, ready for sending to your subscribers.

Step 1: Newsletter Details

Enter the details that will be associated with this newsletter. 

These details control how the newsletter will appear in the recipient's email inbox.

1. Choose Modules > Newsletters > + Create a new campaign (see What would you like to do? ).
2. Enter the following information into each field:

• Campaign Name:  This will not be displayed on the newsletter or be visible to recipients. Choose a name that will help you identify one newsletter campaign from another, e.g. “Autumn Campaign 2012”.
• Email Subject:  This will appear in the recipient's inbox as the 'subject' of the email newsletter. Create a subject that will entice the recipient to view the newsletter.
• From Name:  Mask the email address that appears in recipients' inbox by entering a name into this field. .
• From email address:  Enter an address that you want your newsletter to appear to be from. It does not need to be a valid email address although using a valid address is recommended.
• Reply-to Email Address:  Enter a valid email address that you would like recipients to be able to reply to from the newsletter communication. If you would prefer not to receive replies, leave this field blank.  

1. Click Next Step.

Step 2: Design

You can choose to use your own custom-built newsletter design or you can choose to use one of the standard newsletter templates provided. The standard templates automatically include your company name and website URL as part of the header so ensure your preferences are correct.

1. Click the Preview button to view a large version of each newsletter design. Decide which layout will best suit your content.
2. Click Select to choose your preferred layout for your newsletter.

Step 3: Content

Your selected newsletter template appears. Use the content boxes to fill the layout with your content.

1. Click on the Pencil icon in the top right corner of the first content box. An editing window will appear.
2. Enter a Title for the content item. Make this short and snappy to catch readers' attention quickly.
3. Click Make link if you need to create a link to a web page that contains the full story and more images of the content item (optional). You could also add in a direct link to the product details page of a product that you are promoting. You must enter the absolute URL of the web page you link to.
4. Some content boxes allow you to add an Image to represent the news item (optional). Click the Browse button next to the Image field. Select an image from those already in your Image Manager and click Use Image.

• To use an image that has not been uploaded to your Image Manager yet, click Browse. Locate the image file on your computer and click Open. The name of the image file will populate the Upload field. Click the Upload button. The image will appear in the list of available images. Select the image and click Use Image.

1. Click Save when you are satisfied with each content box. Each content box is saved and appears in the preview of your newsletter.
2. Repeat steps 4-5 for all of the content boxes that you require. Click Add Item to insert another content box. Click on the Trash can icon to delete a content box completely.
3. When you have added all of the necessary content, click Next Step.

Step 4: Recipients

Select or add the subscribers that you would like to receive your newsletter.

1. Place a tick in the box next to the list name to send your newsletter to that list of subscribers. You can send to multiple lists.
2. Manually enter new subscribers: Enter email addresses of any additional subscribers to send your newsletter to. These may include colleagues or affiliates. If you have more than 20 addresses to add, consider creating another subscriber list (be sure to add a comma between each email address). Please note that addresses entered into this field will not become permanent subscribers.
3. Click Next Step.

Step 5: Check and Test Newsletter

• Spot mistakes! Have a break for at least 15 minutes before you proof-read your newsletter so that you can identify possible mistakes.

This step is important. Check all of the details, content and recipients of your newsletter before you send it out. If you see any spelling, layout or recipient errors, now is the time to ensure that they are fixed. Click edit next to each section to make any necessary changes.

1. Newsletter Details: Check that the newsletter name, email subject,from name, from email address and reply-to email address were entered correctly.
2. Content:  Click view a preview to review the design template you chose at Step 2: Design. You will also be able to preview the content boxes of your newsletter and edit those if necessary.

• What is a 'Plain text version'? A 'plain text version' of your newsletter is created for recipients who do not have an email program that reads HTML (HyperText Markup Language) or CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). HTML and CSS are coding languages that are used to create and embed design elements in a newsletter (such as colours, pictures or different font sizes). Therefore a plain text version ONLY contains the text content you have entered. It does not contain hyperlinks, images or image descriptions.
  The benefit of a plain text version is that recipients who use a non-HTML email program will see your content as legible text rather than illegible code.
• The newsletter module automatically creates a plain text version of your newsletter (see the tip box opposite for a full explanation). Click view a preview to see how this will appear for non-HTML email inboxes. You might like to change any headings to capitals and separate sections with lines of dashes so that recipients can scan the content easily. Any changes that you make to this version will not affect the HTML version of your newsletter.

1. Recipients: Check that the subscriber groups listed are correct. If you have entered any Manual Addition email addresses, click Edit to make sure that they are all valid.
2. Test your Newsletter: It is strongly advised that you always test a newsletter before you send it. This gives you the opportunity to view the newsletter at your inbox in exactly the same way as your recipients will view it.  

• Enter your email address into the Email Address field.
• Click the Send Test Email button.

1. Wait for your newsletter to be received into your inbox. This could take a few minutes depending on the current newsletter server queue.
2. Review your newsletter. If there is anything to be changed, click edit next to the appropriate section as instructed above.
3. When you are satisfied with the review of your newsletter draft click Next Step.

Step 6: Send It!

Once your newsletter is complete, you can either choose to send the newsletter immediately, schedule a time that you would like it to be sent or leave the newsletter in your drafts folder to be sent at a different time.

• SAVE - Do not send, save this for later: Choose this option if you still need to add content or make alterations to your newsletter before you send it out. Click Save and Exit. Your newsletter is listed under the Drafts tab and can be edited and sent at any time.
• SEND - Send the newsletter out now: Choose this option to send out your newsletter as soon as the newsletter server is available. Click Finish - Send It Now! to send your campaign.
• SCHEDULE - Schedule the newsletter to be sent at a later time: Choose this option to send your completed newsletter at a specific time (e.g. this could be beneficial if your newsletter content coincides with other marketing or promotions that you are running).

Click on the calendar icon to select the date that you would like the newsletter to be sent. You can also type the date in yourself. Make sure that you use the correct date format YYYY-MM-DD, e.g. Enter 2009-10-07 to send the newsletter on the seventh of October 2009.

Click Save Scheduled Date. Your newsletter is listed under the Scheduled tab to be sent when the date arrives.

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Copying a Newsletter

Newsletters that you send regularly are often very similar to each other. The copy function helps you to work efficiently by copying the settings, design, content and recipients from one newsletter into a new newsletter. 

Within the new newsletter you can quickly make edits to the parts of the newsletter campaign that need to be updated before you send it.

1. Choose Modules > Newsletters.
2. Click the Newsletters navigation tab. Locate the newsletter you need to copy in the Drafts,  Scheduled or Sent tab.
3. Click the Copy button.
4. Enter a new Campaign Name for the new newsletter. Adjust the Email Subject or any other details as necessary.
5. Make any other alterations to the newsletter then save, schedule or send the newsletter.

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Reports Summary

Reporting provides information about how your subscribers have interacted with your newsletter. Interest shown in provided links to products should be followed up with the respective customers/recipients.

1. Choose Modules > Newsletters > Reports navigation tab.
2. Click on the relevant campaign name. The reports summary results are displayed 
3. Review the results. Below is an explanation of the terms you'll find on the reporting page.

• Opened:  An estimate of users that have opened this newsletter. When images are downloaded from your newsletter or a user clicks on a link from your newsletter our server registers that the newsletter has been 'opened'. There are no guarantees that the subscriber actually read the newsletter.  There might also be some cases when a user did open/view the newsletter but didn't do any of the above so our server does not know. Click Who to see the email addresses that registered interactivity on our server for your newsletter.
• Unopened:  Users that may or may not have opened this newsletter. The number is calculated by the difference between the number of newsletters that have been registered as opened or bounced and those that have had no interactivity registered at all. For example, this category may contain newsletters that have actually been opened although a user didn't download any images or click on any links. Click Who to see email addresses that have not registered any activity with your newsletter on our server. 
• Bounced:  Users that most likely did not receive the newsletter. The number represents the amount of bounce responses our server received from external servers when it mailed out the newsletter. External servers will send a bounce response when they are unable to deliver email to an email address. Reasons for this might be that the email address has been deleted, is no longer valid, or there is a spelling error in the address. Once our server receives a bounce response it automatically unsubscribes the recipient. Click Who to see which recipients have been unsubscribed.
• Click Rate: ; The number of clicks that were traced from your newsletter to the website links contained within it. Check the list of Most popular links (URL)at the bottom of the page to see which links received the most clicks. Click Who to see a list of email addresses that registered clicks on one or more links in your newsletter.
• Most Popular Links:  The number of clicks that have been registered for the links in your newsletter. Unique clicks refer to the amount of different subscribers that clicked on the link. Click Who to view a list of the subscribers that clicked on the link in your newsletter. Total clicks refer to the total number of times that the link has been clicked, e.g. 20 Unique clicks and 50 Total clicks tells you that some subscribers clicked on the link more than once.
• Total recipients in mailout:  The total amount of subscribers that your newsletter was mailed to. This number is inclusive of opened, unopened and bounced newsletters.
• Total recipients (including forwards):  The total amount of newsletters that were sent to valid email addresses and arrived at an email inbox. This number includes newsletters forwarded via the Forward link in the newsletter but excludes bounced newsletters.
• Times forwarded:  The total number of times that recipients clicked the Forward link in the newsletter, filled out the forward form and sent the newsletter to an extra email address. Forwarded emails do not count toward the 'successful deliveries' tally.
• Forwarded opens:  The number of newsletters forwarded via the Forward link in the newsletter that have registered as opened on our server. Of course, there are no guarantees that the newsletter was read. 
• Recipients who opened:  The number of recipients who clicked on the newsletter email in their inbox. It is most likely that they viewed the newsletter (this number is the same as the Opened tally).
• Total times opened: The number of times a newsletter was opened. This number may be larger than the Recipients who opened tally as one recipient may open and view a newsletter more than once.
• Recipients who clicked:  he number of recipients who clicked links contained within your newsletter 
• Total clicks: The total number of times links contained within your newsletter were clicked. 
  
  This number may be larger than the Recipients who clicked tally as one recipient may click more than one link, and may also click one link multiple times.
• Total unsubscribes: The total number of unsubscribe requests that were received from this newsletter. 

Compare which newsletters resulted in the most unsubcriptions over time to gain insight into the best content tone and format. 

For example, you might notice that newsletters containing pictures, links and informative content have a high opened and click rate whereas newsletters containing “hard sell” text and marketing jargon result in a high unsubscribe rate.

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How to Unsubscribe a Recipient

You can unsubscribe a subscriber in your database at any time.

1. Choose Modules > Newsletters > Subscribers navigation tab.
2. Click on the Subscriber List name that the subscriber belongs to.
3. Enter the name or email address of the subscriber you wish to unsubscribe into the search box.  Click Search.
4. Place a tick in the box to the right of the subscriber’s name.
5. Select Unsubscribed from the Select drop-down menu list. This will take affect for every subscriber list that the subscriber belongs to.
6. Click Move.  The subscriber is moved to the Unsubscribed tab of the subscriber lists. You can change them back to being subscribed at any time.

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There are a lot of clicks through to my website but my sales have not increased. Why not?

There are a lot of reasons why clicks through to your website are not resulting in sales. The list below contains a few suggestions that might help you to isolate some reasons that could be affecting click-through sales.

• Your newsletter does not contain effective links to your website: If you have a special price on a particular product, make sure that the link included in your newsletter takes the user straight to the product details page of that product. If you merely link to the front page of your store, you are relying on a user to sift through your products and find the special - busy people are very unlikely to do this.
• You have not indicated a time frame for a special price: Bear in mind that if you don't have timeframe for a special or discount, users do not feel any urgency to buy immediately. Consider putting a fortnightly or one-month timeframe on the special.
• When users reach the product page there is not enough information: Make sure that your product details page contains specific information about the product. It should have the kind of information you would give a person if they visited your shop front and enquired about a product.
• The image of the product is not very good (or there is no image at all): Most users purchasing on the Internet like to see a picture of what they are purchasing. If you have very poor quality images that do not entice a user to buy the product you should consider updating them.

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