How to Create a Campaign Using Quick Guides and Web Parler

Transcription

1 Quick Guide to: Creating a Campaign About this Guide Web Parler is marketing made easy developed as the antithesis to all of the unnecessarily complicated and confusing alternatives out there. We ve found many of our competitors guides to be longwinded and boring and so to compliment our streamlined service, we ve developed a series of Quick Guides to help you to get the most out of your account without feeling like you need to read an academic degree s worth of material first! But don t worry if you like the longer, more detailed guides, we have those too! You can find them, along with many other helpful bits and pieces, in the Resources section of the website. Helpful Hint: Save time the intro is the same for all of the Quick Guides. Skip it next time! Creating a Campaign The Create-a-Campaign process couldn t be simpler, and in no time you ll be creating attractive, compelling s like a pro! Log-in to your Web Parler account and click the CAMPAIGNS tab followed by Create a Campaign from the Quick Links Menu. Note: Depending upon your choice of template in the first step of the Create-a-Campaign process, the process may consist of either seven OR eight steps (i.e. if you opt to use a new prebuilt template, a Choose a prebuilt template step will be added). Pay attention to the section titles within this guide, which each correspond to the subject of a step (which can be viewed by hovering the mouse cursor over a step in the pink navigation bar in the website) and not necessarily the number. 1. Choose a Campaign Name and an Template Be sure to choose a Campaign Name that will help you to easily identify it later. This name WILL NOT be displayed to recipients (i.e. it is not the s subject). Each campaign must be given a unique Campaign Name. Page 1

2 Select a template option from the dropdown list: No Template (enter HTML) You will be able to paste the HTML code for your own predesigned in the next step [The name of a custom template or a saved prebuilt template] From the TEMPLATES tab, you can upload your own templates or save a prebuilt template to your list of My Templates (check the Resources section of the website for the full guide to Creating a Campaign) Choose a Prebuilt Template Click this to browse Web Parler s selection of fully customizable prebuilt templates. Helpful Hint: Click Save and Continue whenever you are satisfied with your work and ready to proceed to the next step. You can revisit a previously completed step by clicking the Back button or a specific step in the pink navigation bar (i.e. don t use your browser s back button otherwise your work might not be saved!) 2. Choose a Prebuilt Template Note: If in the first step you selected any option other than Choose a Prebuilt Template from the dropdown list, this step will not appear and you should proceed to 3. Enter HTML / Populate the s Editable Content of this guide. When you find the template that you would like to use, click on it to highlight it and then click Save and Continue. Helpful Hint: You can also double-click a template to select it and immediately proceed to the next step. 3. Enter HTML / Populate the s Editable Content The first thing to do is to give your an enticing Subject Line this will be the first thing that recipients see before they open the . If you selected No Template (enter HTML) in the first step, this will be your opportunity to type the s text or paste your pre-prepared HTML code. If you selected a custom template, a saved template, or a prebuilt template, this will be your opportunity to populate the s editable content. You can enter the HTML / populate the editable content in either Standard Mode (add content to grouped sections of images, text, and links) or Display Mode (add content in situ, i.e. click an editable area within the design to edit it). For images, you can upload them as is (i.e. Don t resize ), have them resized with no cropping (images will be resized to fit exactly in the space provided but may have borders at the top and bottom or on both sides), or have them resized with auto cropping (images will be resized to fit exactly but may have portions of the top and bottom or both sides cut off to fit the images to scale). Page 2

3 Helpful Hint: Web Parler s WYSIWYG ( What You See Is What You Get ) text editor lets you change your text s font, add color, add tables, and more right from within your web browser! Note: It is required by law that your postal address is included in each that you send through Web Parler, and we will automatically attach the address from your My Accounts page to the bottom of any prebuilt template that you select. For custom-built templates and HTML entered during the campaign creation process, it is your responsibility to ensure that your postal address is displayed. 4. Preview Your In this step, you will be presented with a visual representation of your current design. From here, you can: Send a Test Sometimes your might be displayed differently in a recipient s inbox, so it s a good idea to send yourself a test to as many different clients/services as possible. You should play around with the links and such to make sure that everything works as they should, before finalizing your send. Preview in Clients With Web Parler, you can generate graphical previews of how your will look in the most popular clients and services. Just check the boxes for the previews you d like, and we ll handle the rest! No need for multiple usernames and passwords! Spam Check Click to run an automated spam test in seconds you will be presented with a spam score and details to help you improve your s deliverability. Helpful Hint: Avoid these poor design tactics that spam filters target: Using generic, spammy phrases such as Click Here! and Act Now! USING ALL CAPS, particularly in the subject line Excessive use of exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!! Using bright red or green fonts Creating an HTML that consists solely of one large image and little or no text (because spam filters cannot read images, they assume that these s are from spammers trying to trick them) Check the Knowledge Bank to learn more about spam. You can also visit and search can-spam to read up on The CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business. Page 3

4 5. Choose the Campaign s Recipients Check the appropriate boxes to send your campaign to All Active Customers, to any of your Customer Lists, and/or to individually selected customers. Note that even though some customers might be represented on multiple Customer Lists, Web Parler will automatically filter your list of campaign recipients to ensure that each unique address receives only one per campaign send. 6. Delivery Options Select a Sender s from the dropdown list and type a Sender s Name these WILL be displayed in recipients inboxes as from whom the appears to have been sent. You can type any Sender s Name that you like, but the Sender s , to which any replies will be forwarded, must be selected from a list containing s that you have set up on the Senders page (accessed by clicking View Senders Addresses from the Quick Links menu on the My Account page). You can either send your s through Web Parler s servers or through your own. If you choose to send through your own server, make sure that it allows connections from external IP addresses. Helpful Hint: You can set up a default SMTP server from the My Account page Click Change Account Details from the Quick Links menu and the option is about half-way down the page. 7. Schedule When to Send the Campaign Choose when you would like to initiate the campaign-send and how many s to send per batch. 8. Confirm Campaign Details and Send Take a few minutes to confirm that your campaign s details are correct, send a few test s, and maybe run a final spam check. Remember that you can revisit a previously completed step by clicking the step in the pink navigation bar. When you re happy with everything, click Confirm and Send. Helpful Hint: You can locate your confirmed campaign by clicking the CAMPAIGNS tab from the top of the page. On the Campaigns page, campaigns are separated into four groups: Draft Campaigns Unconfirmed campaigns (i.e. campaigns of various stages in the design process; the campaign-send has not been confirmed) Scheduled Campaigns Campaigns that have been confirmed for a future date Active Campaigns Campaigns that have launched, with some but not all s having been sent (i.e. these campaigns would have been arranged as batchsends ) Finished Campaigns All s sent Don t forget to check the Resources section of the website for the full guide to Creating a Campaign. Page 4

5 Resources Resources Section Search our comprehensive Knowledge Bank, download additional guides, and more! Help Desk (must be logged-in) Search our Knowledge Bank, download additional guides, submit a support ticket, and more! Contact Us Our office hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. Page 5