Setting up your first mailing list
Oempro offers an easy way to create and manage mailing lists. In this chapter we will take a look at creating your first mailing list.
Before we proceed to create our first mailing list we need to understand two key concepts.
Key Concepts
Single Opt-in Mailing List
- Email addresses on a (single) opt-in list are not confirmed.
- Anybody can submit anybody’s address to the list, and it will be there until it is unsubscribed
Double Opt-in Mailing List
- On a double opt-in list, all email addresses must be confirmed before they are added.
- A request for confirmation is sent to the submitted address and the address owner must take necessary action to confirm that he/she is the owner of the email address, the address is working and he/she indeed wants to subscribe.
- Most often, the confirmation action is as simple as replying to the confirmation request or clicking on a link.
We strongly recommend that whenever you are creating a mailing list – use double opt-in list, this will save you a big hassle with managing the unwanted subscribers.
Creating a new mailing list
- To create a new mailing list click on the “Lists” tab.
- On the right side click the button “Create New List”
This will bring up the list creation wizard
- Enter the name of your list
- Select the subscription type [whether you want to have single or double opt-in mailing list or not – for this example we have selected double opt-in]
- You can tick the option to hide the mailing list from subscriber area
- Now click on the “Create List and Edit confirmation email”
Now that we have configured the basic list options – we must create the opt-in confirmation emails. These confirmation emails will be activated and sent to the user who is subscribing to our double opt-in mailing list.
Oempro allows you to configure your opt-in confirmation emails using 4 different methods, please remember that in any of the method used to create the necessary confirmation emails must include opt-in confirm and opt-in reject links. These links will allow the subscriber to confirm or reject the subscription.
From Scratch
This option will allow you to compose your email using an HTML editor. You can also paste your own HTML code and create an opt-in confirmation email.
Template Gallery
This option allows you to select a built in template for creating an opt-in confirmation email. Oempro offers a wide variety of templates which can be used to create stunning confirmation emails.
Copy from another list
If you have already created a nicely formatted confirmation email for another list within your account then you can easily copy the same using this option, this method can help you reduce the time in creating a new set of confirmation email(s).
Fetch URL
You can use this to fetch a URL which will have a formatted content for the confirmation email. Please be sure that this content will have to have the opt-in confirmation and opt-in reject links within the content.
For this example we will be using the first option “From Scratch” .
Once you select this option you will be provided a screen which can allow you to define the settings of your email such as Sender Name, Sender Email address, Reply to name and Reply to email address.
- Enter the sender name
- Enter the sender email address
- You can tick the last option to keep the same reply-top information or un-check the option to add a different reply-to information
Now we need to go to the content part of the confirmation email by hitting the “Next” button.
Content Settings
You can choose the “Embed images to email content” option to embed any images within your content to the email. This will increase the email size although all the images will be seen by the end-user even if the email client is set to hide all the images.
Content Type
You can set the content type as html, text or both.
Subject
Define the subject line of your confirmation email.
Content
Please add the content as shown in the example below.
Attachments
If you wish to send some other document or attachment with your email you can do so by adding your attachments using this tool.
Now we need to review our confirmation email by hitting the “Next” button.
Example HTML content for your confirmation email
Dear Subscriber
This is to inform you that your email address %Subscriber:EmailAddress% has been added to our mailing list.
I order to confirm your subscription please click on the below link. %Link:Confirm%
In case if you think that someone else subscribed your email id or you subscribed to our mailing list by mistake – you can reject the subscription by clicking on the Subscription Reject Link below.
%Link:Reject%
Thanks and best regards XYZ Corporation
When you are done with the content part of the confirmation you need to go to the next step where you can review your email. The last step will allow you to preview your confirmation by sending a preview email or on browsers. It will also allow you to get the detailed content and spam analysis.
This is the final step to finalize your confirmation email and save it.
After you are satisfied with the preview you can save it by click on the “Next” button.
Segments
This topic will cover everything related to the data segmentation from your mailing lists. Learn how relevancy drives response and the various different ways you can split up your email lists to ensure you hit the target more often.
Segmentation of your address database is widely regarded as a proven way to improve responses and results.
- To create and manage segments go to “Lists”
- Click on the mailing list you wish to create segments for
- Now click on the “Segments” link under the List Options
- After you click “Create Segment” link you should see the above screen.
- Enter the name of your segment [example: Subscribers having gmail addresses]
- Select whether the all rules you create should match or any one of them
- The segment rules is the most important part. You can create a rule based on subscribers information or based on subscribers activity such as opening emails, clicking on the links etc.
You can add multiple rules to the segment such as the person should have gmail.com email id and should be between 18-25 age group.
For this user manual we will use the rule for gmail.com users. Once we populate the necessary fields and also add the rule where in the subscribers email id contains gmail.com we have to click on the “create segment” button. This will create a segment with the options we selected.
The screenshot above shows us our newly created segment which consists 3 subscribers having gmail.com email ids.
Custom Fields
This topic will cover everything related to the Custom fields. For effective email marketing custom fields play a very important part. This can help you not only to personalize the content of your newsletter but also can help you gather vital and important information about your subscribers.
There are two types of custom fields offered by Oempro * Local custom fields [added specifically for a particular list] * Global custom fields [added globally and available for all the lists]
Please be aware that global custom fields once added can not be changed to local custom fields.
- To add a new custom field go to the “Lists” tab
- Select the mailing list you wish to add new custom fields to.
- Click on the “Custom Fields” link as highlighted in the above screen from the List Options
- Click on the “Create new custom field” tab.
Every custom field has a unique numeric id associated to it – this numeric ID will help you at the time when you want to personalize your email newsletter content.
Name
Name of your custom field
Type
You can select the field type you want to use – this will determine the html form element type and can also limit the data that can be saved under this field.
You can use the following types of the fields.
- Single Line
- Paragraph text
- Multiple Choice
- Drop Down
- Checkboxes
- Date Field
- Time Field
- Hidden Field
Default Value
In some of the field types you can define the default value for the field so that it will be displayed to the user.
Validation
Validation can help you validate the input and ensure that the user is not entering or populating the random value.
You can either disable the validation for the field or choose from 6 validation methods built into Oempro.
- Numbers
- Letters
- Numbers and Letters
- Email Address
- URL
- Custom
Visibility
You can also define the field visibility – whether the field is available for the subscribers under thier subscriber area or it is only visible by the List Admin.
Make this field mandatory
Use this option to make the field mandatory to fill in.
Force unique value entry
Tick this option to force a unique value entry, unless the field is populated by the end user with a unique value it will not allow the user to go further.
Make this custom field available across all your lists
Using this option you can make the custom field globally available for all your lists.
Please be aware that global custom fields once added can not be changed to local custom fields.
List Settings
In the previous topics we went through the steps for creating new mailing list, the creation process is simple although the mailing lists have their own intricate settings which can be fine tuned to achieve greater capabilities and sophistication.
Oempro allows you to configure your mailing lists in a highly sophisticated manner with the subscription behaviors, un-subscription behaviors, web services integration and other related options.
List Name
You can update your list name to any other name which is suitable for the list
Subscription Type
You can make the list single opt-in or double opt-in by selecting the correct option from the drop down menu.
Edit Confirmation Emails
You can hit this button and edit the confirmation email in case your subscription type is double opt-in.
Delete Confirmation Email
If you have already created a confirmation email and want to create another one from scratch, delete existing confirmation by clicking on this button and then use “Create Confirmation Email” button to create a new one.
Hide the List
Use this option to hide the list under the subscriber area.
Send Notifications
Use this option to send notifications of the subscriptions and unsubscriptions
Subscription Behaviors
You can activate several behaviors when the subscription event occurs. The behaviors are listed below.
- Subscribe him/her to a specific list
If you enable this option you can subscribe the subscriber to a specific list of your choice. - Unsubscribe him/her from a specific list
If you enable this option you can unsubscribe the subscriber from some previous mailing list he/she is subscribed to already. - Display my own confirmation pending page
You can choose this option to display your own subscription confirmation pending page. - Display my own subscription confirmed page
You can choose this option to display your own subscription confirmed page when the subscriber clicks on the confirmation link. - Display my own subscription error page
You can choose this option to display your own subscription error page.
Unsubscription Behavior
- Subscribe him/her to a specific list
Choose this option to subscribe the subscriber to a specific list after he unsubscribes from the current list. - Unsubscribe him/her from a specific list
choose this option to unsubscribe the subscriber from other lists when he processes the unsubscription for this particular list - Unsubscribe him/her from all lists
Use this option to unsubscribe the subscriber from all the lists across your account when the unsubscription behavior happens. - Add unsubscribed email addresses into suppression list
You can choose this option to add the unsubscribed email to the suppress list - Add unsubscribed email addresses into global suppression list
You can choose this option to add the subscribed email to the global suppression list – global suppression list will ensure that no further communication is sent to the unsubscribed email. - Display my own unsubscription confirmed page
you can choose this option to display your own customized unsubscription confirmation page. - Display my own unsubscription error page
choose this option to display your own customized unsubscription error page.
Web Services integration
Oempro provides you an easy to use web service integration method to pass on the subscription and un-subscription data to the url you specify. This way you can keep your own database synchronized with the subscriber lists under your Oempro account.
- New Service URL
Define the web services url which must start with http:// or https:// - Event Type
You can select the event type – there are two types of events happening – subscription or unsubscription.
Request by Email Settings
If you are using the subscription and unsubscription through emails [i.e. subscribers can send an email with a designated subject line either to subscribe to a mailing list or unsubscribe from a mailing list to a particular email id provided by Oempro
- Email Address
Specify the email address which will be bound to the mailing list - Subscription Command
Enter the command to trigger subscription. Example: subscribe, The subscriber will have to use “subscribe” as their subject line without double quotes. - Un-Subscription Command
Enter the command to trigger unsubscription. Example: unsubscribe
The subscriber will have to use “unsubscribe” as their subject line without double quotes.
About Oempro
In order to get more information about the installed oempro version, database and file integrity you need to navigate through Settings > About after logging on to admin area.
Software Information
This tab provides detailed information about the oempro version, license information and the copyright information.
System Information
This gives you an overview of whether your server is compatible with oempro or not and whether there are any issues with the php, apache or any other required modules for oempro which are necessary for the smooth functioning of the software.
Database Check
This tab will allow you to get more information on the database and also allow you to run the functions such as optimizing tables, repair tables and even export the database.
File Integrity
This can help you run the integrity test on the application files – if at all there are files which have changed for some reason this procedure can allow you check it out.