The Mass Mailing module enables your
web site to send promotional or informational e-mails (such as coupons or
newsletters) to customers that have elected to receive promotional material. The
module is fully integrated with the store database and complies with latest
consumer privacy recommendations regarding 'spamming'.
E-mails can either be sent to all users or only to users residing in a specific country
or state/province for precise market-targeting.
Please note that it is always better to send e-mails in smaller groups as this
will result in better server performance. Sending an e-mail to all users in the
database should be the exception rather than the rule. The system targeting
capabilities by country and/or state (or range thereof in Platinum
version) should be used for optimal results.
| Field Name | Description |
| Date Range |
Enter the last customer activity date range. 'Last activity' may be the date of the last sale but also may be the last time the customer has updated their account information. |
| Customer
Type (B2B version only) |
Select
the customer type(s) you want to send marketing e-mail to. Hold the 'Ctrl'
key to select more than one item from the list. You must select at least one customer type. The system defaults to 'retail' customers. |
| Country | Select country of target customers from the list. |
| State/Province | Select
state or
province of target customers. Platinum (B2B) only: Hold the 'Ctrl' key to select more than one item from the list. |
| E-Mail From | Enter the
'from' e-mail account: Example: marketing@yourcompany.com |
| E-Mail Subject | Enter the
e-mail subject. Example: Newsletter |
| HTML Template File Name | In order to speed up processing, you might want to specify a template page for the system to use when sending large HTML files. The template file(s) must be located in a sub-folder of your WWW folder named EZStore123Export. Do not specify anything else than the file name in this field. The '[USER_NAME]' and other placeholders (see below) can also be used in template files to allow the e-mailer to substitute customer names at run-time. |
| E-Mail Text/HTML | Enter the
e-mail message. The message may contain links to web pages or HTML code
and graphics (remember to provide the full URL for the graphics to be
displayed). Attachments are not supported at this time. There is no limit
to the size of the text you can send but remember that excessive traffic
may disturb your e-mail server. Be brief, everyone will appreciate you for
that ;-) For better performance, we recommend using the HTML template method rather than 'dumping' large amounts of HTML code in the e-mail text window. |
| Command Button | Action |
| Test | Send the e-mail to the 'E-Mail from' address. This feature allows you to perform a 'dry run' for proof-reading before actually sending your e-mails. If your 'E-Mail from' address is not an actual e-mail address, provide a valid e-mail address for testing. |
| Send | Send the e-mail to all customers active within the date range and having elected to receive marketing material. Make sure you test your e-mail first so that you don't send erroneous information to thousands of your customers. |
| Cancel | Exit the screen and return to main menu. |
Formatting Your e-mails:
Placeholders:
Placeholders are special variables that will automatically be replaced by
dynamic data at run-time. Placeholders can be inserted in both HTML and text
e-mails.
The system also supports the following placeholders:
- [USER_NAME] The customer's name will be substituted at run-time.
- [EMAIL_ADDRESS] The customer's e-mail address will be substituted at
run-time.
Placeholders (tags) must be entered exactly as shown above (including square
brackets).
1. Plain Text:
When you supply plain text and want the customer first/last name to appear in the
e-mail, you must include a '[USER_NAME]' tag in the text as shown below.
|
Plain text 'as sent' |
Plain text 'as received' |
|---|---|
| Dear
[USER_NAME], Please check out our special prices! |
Dear John
Doe, Please check out our special prices! |
2. HTML:
The system automatically detects HTML code and sends the e-mail accordingly.
When you supply HTML code and want the customer first/last name to appear in the
e-mail, you must include a '[USER_NAME]' tag in the HTML code as shown below.
|
HTML 'as sent' |
HTML 'as received' |
|---|---|
| <html> <body bgcolor=white> Dear [USER_NAME], <br> Please check out our <b>special prices!</b> <br><br> <img src=http://www.digithings.com/images/helpLogo.gif border=1> </body> </html> |
Dear
John Doe, Please check out our special prices!  |
Note:
You can use the text or HTML code in the examples above to test the e-mailer.
Sending Coupons via
e-mail:
You may create and
send coupons (see Marketing->Coupon section) via e-mail.
The system provides a mechanism allowing direct transmission of the coupon when
the customer accesses the web site from the e-mail message.
Example:
The e-mails we are sending contain a hyperlink to a specific product and we
want customers to benefit from a discount coupon.
- Create the coupon, a unique coupon code will be generated, let's say 'XYZ123'.
- Specify the coupon code in the hyperlink contained in the e-mail such as:
http://www.mySite.com/ezStore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=999&TXCOUPONID=XYZ123
When customers follow the link from the e-mail and purchase from the site, the
coupon code will automatically appear at check-out and be credited on the order.
Of course, all restrictions from the coupon definition (minimum order amount,
specific products in the order, etc...) will be enforced.
Notes:
- All shopping cart pages are equipped to recognize coupon referral.
- It is not necessary to point the customer to a shopping cart to transmit the
coupon as long as the target page includes the _ezs123Init.asp library.
Tracking Referrals
via e-mail:
This mechanism
allows you to track purchases triggered by an e-mail campaign and/or to credit
associates with the appropriate commission when they advertise on your behalf.
Example:
The e-mails we
are sending contain a hyperlink to a specific product and we want to track
customers purchasing from the mail-out.
- Create a referrer for the e-mail campaign, a referrer code will be created,
let's say 'XYZ123'.
- Specify the referrer code in the hyperlink contained in the e-mail such as:
http://www.mySite.com/ezStore123/DTProductZoom.asp?productID=999&TXREFID=XYZ123
When customers follow the link from the e-mail a purchase from the site, the
order will automatically be tracked as originating from the referrer you
created. This allows you to know how successful your e-mail campaign was.
Notes:
- You can specify both a referrer code and a coupon code if needed.
- If an associate uses an e-mail campaign to promote your products and uses the
same method but provides their associate code, sales commission will be
calculated when customer purchase from the site. In this case, however, you will
not be able to distinguish between several e-mail campaigns as all orders will
be mapped to the associate regardless of origin.
Customer Privacy Rights:
//digital things firmly believes in the customers' right to privacy and has
taken an 'anti-spam' position in the design of this software. The mass-mailing
module does not allow e-mails to be sent to customers having elected not to
receive promotional material.
Mail-out Batch Limits:
In order to protect the
server (and other customers in case of co-located accounts) from excessive
loads, mail-out batches are limited to 1,000 for Silver accounts and 3,000 for
Gold accounts. Platinum accounts have no batch limit.
IMPORTANT:
Batch size limitation does not prevent Silver or Gold customers to send more
e-mails than specified in their respective batch size allocation. If you need to
send more e-mails than allowed by your baseline, you can easily do it by sending
multiple batches in succession.
Breaking down mail-outs in multiple batches:
To break down your mail-outs in multiple batches, use the customer activity
date range or other available selection criteria. Every time you send a test
e-mail, the system will count and report the number of e-mails in the batch.
Ideally, you need the reported number to be less than your batch size limit.
E-mail batches are sent in real-time and you will have to wait until a batch is
completed to send another one.
Advanced E-Mailer:
If you need advanced e-mailing capabilities, such as unlimited number of e-mails
per batch, automatic queuing & scheduling, automatic clean-up and opt-out of
rejected e-mails, etc..., please contact //digital things or your Service
Provider about our Advanced E-Mailer.
This section applies to Silver (with Mass-Mailer upgrade), Gold and Platinum
customers. Mass-mailing capabilities are not available for Bronze accounts.