Manage newsletters

Overview

Mailing groups can be used to manage different newsletter series (e.g. an advertising newsletter series, a newsletter for practical tips, etc). These groups do not represent one mail, but bundle thematically similar mails in one area. These are important, since a recipient should always be able to unsubscribe from a newsletter group - this way you can prevent sending messages to already unsubscribed persons without losing the ability to track who received one of the newsletter mails before.

Name
The name of the newsletter group is mainly of internal importance. An exception to this is the newsletter subscription form, where it can be displayed which newsletter is subscribed to.

Last action
The last action tells you when a newsletter was last sent.

Functions
Show mailings
Show receiver blacklist for this group
Edit mailing group entry
Delete mailing group entry

The mailings of a group indicate which newsletter mails of a mailing group exist and represent the control center for the newsletter dispatch.

Mailing subject
The subject of the mailing as it appears in the subject line of the newsletter mail at the recipient.

Language
Shows the language of the mailing.

Sent/Receiver count
the first value indicates how many recipients of the newsletter have already been written to, the second value how many there are in the recipient list at all. If a recipient has unsubscribed from the list, this is indicated by the addition "Blacklist entries: xyz".

Functions
Mailing content
manage receiver requests
Receiver
Mailing to test receiver
Send mailing
Duplicate mailing
Export mailing
Edit mailing
Delete mailing

Here you can write the newsletter you want to send.
You will receive a preliminary preview on the right.

IMPORTANT: This is a browser preview that does not necessarily have to match the view in a mail program or web mailing solution! ALWAYS test the newsletter mails in your mail program or, if possible, in the expected mail programs of the recipients.

The preview is based on the selected template for your mail and the defined mailing content and is a live preview as you know it from the FrontEnd.

Mail template
Here you can select the template file for your mailing and thus change the visual appearance of your newsletter.

Mailing content
Use FastEdit to define the content of your mailing. The functions of FastEdit are limited here in order to ensure that your mailings run as smoothly as possible, since e-mails only offer a small part of the possibilities offered by a real browser.

Please note the two buttons "Insert attachment" and "Insert person field", which you will not find in the normal FastEdit on the page:

• Insert attachment:
  Add one or more attachments to your email here. Please note that oversized attachments can delay sending and receiving or even completely interfere with reception, as many servers have an internal mail size limit. A common value here is a maximum email size of 8 MB. However, we recommend not to exceed 2 MB - especially if you are dealing with mobile recipients, you should keep your e-mails as small as possible.
• Insert person field:
  You can use these fields to personalize your e-mails. This gives you access to the various fields in your recipient list. Please note that these fields may be empty if your recipient list does not contain any information in these places.
  

In Germany it is now necessary to verify a newsletter recipient with a so-called "double opt-in" procedure. This means that the user must register once for a newsletter (1st opt-in) and then confirm this registration again e.g. by e-mail (2nd opt-in).

In order to take this problem into account, recipient enquiries were introduced.
These are registered and administered by the special element "newsletter signup form".

After successful verification, you can have the recipient’s enquiries converted into a real recipient in the respective mailing list. If new, verified requests exist, you will be informed in the overview of the mailings.

Name
Represents the surname and first name of the inquirer.

Saluation
Represents the speech of the requester ("Mr", "Mrs", etc.).

E-mail
Represents the e-mail address of the requester.

IP address
Represents the IP address of the requester.

Confirmed
Indicates whether the request has already been confirmed. Only when this is the case can you accept the request as the recipient.

Assigned
Shows whether or not this requester has already been added to the address list of this mailing.

Functions
Add to mailing recipient list: Only available if already confirmed and the entry has not yet been stored as a recipient) > this button accepts the corresponding entry directly.
Delete this request

Confirm the query to delete the request or deny it to not do so.

Name
Last name and first name of the recipient.

Salutation
Shows the recipient’s address. Often also "Dear Sir" (etc.).

E-mail
Displays the recipient’s email address.

Sent status
Indicates whether the e-mail has already been sent and, if so, when, whether an error occurred or whether it has not yet been sent.

Functions
Edit receiver
Edit receiver

If you want to reset the shipping status, e.g. to try to resend faulty shipments, please confirm this query.

By default, you can only do this for recipients who have not yet received an e-mail.

Info: However, it is also possible to reset the value for all recipients via a separate right. This only makes sense in a few cases, as you are legally obliged to prove when you sent a newsletter and to whom!

To export the recipient list as a CSV file (Excel or OpenOffice-Calc compatible), click this button.

With this option you can import a recipient list that you have as a CSV file (can be output by Excel, OpenOffice Calc and similar programs). Note that the file must correspond to a certain structure.

To do this, download the sample file that you will find under "Recipient file" and adopt its structure. (do not change the heading, the number or the order of the columns)

Receiver file
Enter the CSV import file here.

Separator
A CSV file is an Excel file that is saved as a text file whose fields are separated by a separator. The delimiter is variable, but Excel exports by default with the ";" delimiter. (semicolon). In cases where the ";" has been entered in the actual data, this character may change (example: "$").

In such cases, please enter the alternative separator yourself by hand. If you are unsure which delimiter is used, you can find out for yourself using a text editor (e.g. Notepad / Editor). Simply open the file in this editor and check which character is used there between the actual data.

Mode
The mode specifies what is to be done with the existing recipients in the list. If you select "Add", the new data is added to the recipient file and the existing data is retained. If you select "Add unlabeled recipients", the existing data (of the unlabeled recipients) will first be deleted and then the data from the recipient list will be stored.

Info: With the special right to reset the reception status, all data can also be replaced. However, this is not recommended for legal reasons, as you are legally obliged to be able to prove who you have contacted and when.

First name
Enter the first name of the recipient here.

Last name
Enter the recipient’s last name here.

Address
Enter a salutation for the recipient here. Depending on how you want to structure your e-mail or use the person field, entries such as "Dear Sir" or "Mr." may be useful here.

E-mail
Enter here the e-mail address of the recipient to whom the newsletter should be sent.

[italic]Important: Please be sure to read the legal notice by hovering your mouse over it![/italic]

Sent
Here you can manually set that this recipient has already received an email. This is only useful if you have written to a recipient by other means. This is NOT a blacklist entry. I.e. with the next mailing the user is written to again!

Confirm whether you want to delete the recipient or not.
This is only possible if you have not yet sent an e-mail to the recipient or if you have received special authorization to do so.

Info: For legal reasons, you must be able to track to whom you sent a newsletter and when. Deleting a recipient who has already been contacted is therefore normally not recommended.

Here you can send a test of your mailing to the test mail address specified in the mailing.

You can use this option to send your mailing. Only e-mails to recipients to whom no e-mails have yet been sent will be sent.

By default, e-mails are sent in 25 steps (this number can be changed via the Settings).

After 25 mails the page will be reloaded. The dispatch is continued automatically. You should not close the browser or call another website while sending the mail. If you interrupt the dispatch in this way, you can resume it later. The security that no mail will be sent twice remains.

After completion you will receive a report about the dispatch. If errors occur, you can view them in the dispatch status of the recipient overview.

Info: The most common error reason is an incorrect e-mail address or special characters in the e-mail address. Correct the error, reset the shipping status for the people, and try sending again.

To duplicate a mailing or if you want to create a follow-up mailing, you can use this option to create another mailing with the same settings and optionally with the recipients of the previous mailing.

Transfer recipient list
Select here whether you want to accept the recipients of the other mailing or not.

Confirm the query with "Duplicate".

Mailing subject
Specify which subject the e-mail should display for the recipient.

Sender name
Specify which name to display as the sender.

Sender e-mail address
Specify which e-mail address is to be used as the sender address.

Reply E-mail Address
Specify the e-mail address to which any replies should be sent.
(often the same as the senders and/or the bounce email address

Bounce email address
If there is an error in the delivery of the e-mail (e.g. because the e-mail address no longer exists, is faulty, the recipient’s mailbox is full or a similar error), you will receive a message about it via this e-mail address, depending on the recipient’s server configuration.

Test email address
Specify the e-mail address to which the test shipment is to be sent.

Mailing Comment
The mailing comment is only displayed in the adminarea and is only intended for internal voting.

Language
Specify the language in which you want to create this mailing. This information is important to provide automatic definitions such as the ability to unsubscribe from the newsletter in the appropriate language.

Include images
Specify here whether the images used are to be embedded in the e-mail (i.e. can be displayed directly) or whether they are to be referenced by the server.

Normally it makes sense to embed images directly to allow the display of images without user interaction in many mail software systems.

However, for large images or if you want to track the mail, it may make sense not to use this option.

Info: Mobile users must always confirm the loading of external content.

Mailing tracking
Tracking the mailing allows you to collect information about whether a user has received an email or not, within certain limits.

More precisely, whether or not a user has confirmed the download of externally uploaded images.

In this case, an empty, very small image will be included in the mail that needs to be downloaded from the server. The user receives a request to download the images in his mail software. If he confirms this, the mailing group module knows that the mail has been successfully delivered and retrieved.

You can check this in the recipient list during dispatch status. However, as described above, this information is only of limited informative value.

Info: Whether a combination of "Integrate images" and "Mailing tracking" makes sense is up to you. If the user can already see the (embedded) images, it is no longer likely that she/he confirms the query "Show images".

Provided you have the authorization to delete a mailing that has already been sent or the mailing has not yet been sent, you can remove the mailing with all recipients by confirming this query.

In dieser Liste können Sie die Personen einsehen, die keine E-Mails dieser Mailing-Gruppe zugesendet bekommen. Diese Liste kann entweder manuell von Ihnen gefüllt oder durch Anklicken des "Newsletter abbestellen"-Links und bestätigen der Abmeldung durch den Benutzer eingetragen wurden.

Name
The last name and first name of the blacklist entry.

Salutation
The address of the blacklist entry.

E-mail
The email address of the blacklist entry (this information is used for blacklist enforcement).

Functions
Edit blacklist entry
Delete blacklist entry

Receiver
Select the recipient of the mailing that is to be included in the blacklist with immediate effect.

Confirm this prompt to delete the entry.
As soon as the user is deleted from this list, he will receive e-mails from the mailing group again!

Name
The name of the mailing group can be specified here.

Usable by
Use this setting to define whether the mailing group can only be used by you or also by other Adminarea users.

If no mailing has yet been sent in this mailing group or if you have a special rights assignment, you can delete the mailing group with all associated mailings, recipient lists, etc. by confirming this query. If you do not want this, deny it.

Info: For legal reasons, it is not recommended to delete mailings that have already been sent, as you are legally obliged to provide evidence for the sending of newsletters. You need to know when and to whom a newsletter was sent.