This functionality was introduced in Release 24 [August 2012] and the following guide is taken from the original Release Notes. Pricing and setup information is here.
We’ve upgraded our integrated email service to give you even more features, such as a nifty drag and drop email creation tool, a full template library, advanced split campaign testing, better spam checking features and more social media options.
If you already use the Pure 360 email integration, we’ll be moving your templates across for you. These templates will work in much the same way as they did in Pure, only with an easier to use editor. You can choose to make new templates using dotdigital’s drag and drop email editor or pay a one-off fee to dotdigital to have a branded drag and drop email template created.
Don’t worry about your previous campaigns; all the stats from your Pure 360 campaigns will all still be working. Plus you’ll still get all the benefits from having a single database of customers and the ability to segment based on people’s responses to your email campaigns.
If you are not on the integrated email solution already and would like information about joining up, please just call the support consultants.
How to Use It
Proceed as normal with creating a segmentation and select Use in Integrated Email from the drop down list, and on the mailing screen fill in the boxes as required. The Email Templates dropdown will show you all the email messages that have been edited in the last week. You can either select one that you are ready to send, select one and click Edit or click New to make a new email.
If you click Edit or New, dotdigital will pop up in front of Spektrix. Log in with your details (Support will supply these after contacting you to talk you through the switchover); you can log into dotdigital.com with the same details if you wish to prepare a template in advance.
You will see a list of your own templates. (If you were previously using Pure 360, Support will have brought a copy of your most used templates across to this screen.) You can also choose to select a template used in a previous campaign or choose one from dotdigital’s free template library.
Give the campaign a name and click OK.
On the next screen you can set your subject line and the name from which the email should appear to be sent from. You can use the “@” button above the subject line to insert merge fields such as your customer’s “First Name” and “Last Name” etc.
Split Tests
You can set up split test campaigns from this screen by clicking the Edit Split Test button. Select what you would like to split test on and click Apply:
- Subject Lines: Send different subject lines to a small section of your mailing list and dotdigital will choose the most successful subject line for the rest of the mailing
- Creative: Send different email messages and dotdigital will choose the most successful
- Friendly From Name: Send emails with a different From Name and dotdigital will choose the most successful
- From Address: This option will not be available unless you choose to set up multiple email addresses to send from
You can choose one, all or some of the above and dotdigital will automatically make the best email out of the chosen options and send it to the remaining people on your mailing list. When you choose to do a split test, you will see Version Tabs at the top of the Subject Line screen. These tabs let you set each version of the subject line/friendly from name that you wish to test. If you ticked Creative you will also get version tabs on your email content.
Click Save and Continue.
Templates
The next screen lets you edit your message, using the template you chose in the first screen as a basis
If you are using an imported template:
You will see your email ready for editing with dotdigital’s advanced text editor. We’ll have replaced the unsubscribe links with new dotdigital links for you but if you wish to add more then you can click the Insert Action button to choose from a list of options
If you are building a new campaign using the drag and drop editor or using a drag and drop compatible branded template:
You will see the dotdigital drag and drop email editor which allows you to drop elements from the left hand menu into your email by dragging them across. You can drop Social Media Share options from the element menu as well. Once you drop a box onto the email, click it to edit it’s content.
You can use the images section to manage images and the styles tab to manage colours
Click Save and Continue.
You will be asked to create a plain text version of your email in case your customer’s email programs cannot read full HTML emails, just click Generate Plain Text Email to have dotdigital do this for you automatically.
Click Save and Continue.
Test Emails & Reports
On the next page you can choose to send a test email by clicking the send test button. This will ask you to create a test email address book so that you can easily send test emails to the appropriate people each time.
Its is at stage 3 of 5 that must now click the close button rather than continuing with dotdigital; the pop up will close and you will be returned to Spektrix. (If you have logged directly into dotdigital, rather than through Spektrix, you would just save the campaign at stage 3)
Select the campaign you’ve just made in the drop down list of email templates. Add your target events by clicking the add button. You can now finish the mail out as usual and your emails will send immediately
ROI reports can be found by searching for your mailing and clicking the Run ROI Report button at the bottom of the basic details page.
Important Information
dotdigital has a number of advanced features – far too many to detail here. If you’re using the email system already a member of the support team will be in touch to do some phone training with you. We’ll also cover the system in any upcoming support visits that you may have booked in for your venue, so that we can help you get the most out of the system.