Getting Started with icontact

Transcription

1 Getting Started with icontact Copyright 2011 icontact Corp.

2 Table of Contents Getting Started with icontact... 2 Getting to Know the Application... 2 Setting Up Your Account... 2 Completing Your Contact Information... 3 Creating a Campaign... 3 Adding Contacts... 3 Creating a List... 3 Creating a Custom Field... 4 Uploading a List... 4 Adding Contacts One at a Time... 4 Creating Messages... 5 MessageBuilder or MessageCoder: Which to Use... 5 Using MessageBuilder... 5 Using MessageCoder... 6 Tracking Your Results... 6 Tracking a Single Message... 6 Getting Started with icontact 1

3 Getting Started with icontact Welcome, and thank you for your decision to use icontact. Whether you want to grow your business or just keep in touch with your current customers, icontact provides you easy tools to reach your contacts by and social media, some of the most costeffective marketing channels. This guide is designed to get you up and running quickly. It covers the basic steps of setting up your account, creating and populating a contact list, and sending your first . For more resources on how to use some of our more advanced tools, including surveys, autoresponders, and social media, please visit our help system by using the help button in the upper right of the application. Getting to Know the Application When you first log in to the application, you will see the navigation header. The header displays the following sections: Home The home section provides a snapshot of your account activity. Contacts The contacts section allows you to manage your contacts. Included are the ability to add and browse contacts, create and browse lists, and create and browse segments. Create The create section allows you to create messages. Use this section to create an using MessageBuilder or MessageCoder, or to create surveys or autoresponders. Also included is our image library, which allows you to manage your images for all of your messages. Send The send section allows you to schedule or immediately send out a draft message. You can also view any message currently scheduled to be sent. Track The track section lets you view the results of all of your message sends. These include messages, autoresponders, and surveys. Help Click Help whenever you re stuck, for specific step-by-step assistance. Upgrade When you need to send to more subscribers, click Upgrade. Account Dropdown The account dropdown gives you the ability to change various settings for your account. Use this dropdown to manage your campaigns, custom fields, and billing and contact information. Setting Up Your Account Right after signing up, you can just jump directly into adding contacts. However, there are a few quick housekeeping steps that will make your experience much smoother. 2 Getting Started with icontact

4 Completing Your Contact Information Before you can send your first , you must add a physical address to your contact information. According to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, every bulk must include the sender s physical address. Therefore, you will be unable to send your s until you have added your physical address. To add a physical address: 1. Click the account dropdown in the upper right of the application. The dropdown expands to display several settings options. 2. Click Contact Information. 3. Complete the form and click Save. Creating a Campaign Campaigns allow you to change the from information and the physical address for your s. This is useful if you have multiple physical locations or multiple departments. To add a campaign: 1. Click the account dropdown in the upper right of the application. The dropdown expands to display several settings options. 2. Click Campaigns. 3. Click the Create a New Campaign button. 4. Fill out the form and click Save. Adding Contacts Before you start sending, you will need to create and populate lists of contacts. Creating a List 1. Click Contacts in the main navigation. 2. Click Create a List. 3. Enter your list information. a. The list name is used for organizational purposes and will only be seen by users of your account. b. The public list label is public and can be seen by your contacts. Therefore, please be careful to label this appropriately. 4. Click Save. Once you ve created a list, you will need to add contacts. There are several methods of adding contacts. This guide will cover two methods: uploading a group of contacts and adding contacts one at a time. Getting Started with icontact 3

5 Creating a Custom Field Note: This is an optional, but highly recommended step. We recommend that you set up your custom fields before adding contacts. icontact allows you to store standard information on your subscribers such as their names, addresses, and physical addresses. However, you can also create custom fields to store information that icontact doesn t already allow you to store. To create a custom field: 1. Click the account dropdown in the upper right of the application. The dropdown expands to display several settings options. 2. Click Custom Fields. 3. Click the Create a New Custom Field button at the bottom of the page. 4. Select the custom field type. A checkbox requires a yes/no answer by checking the box. A text field allows a free-form answer that a user can provide. 5. Enter the field name and the public name. 6. Click Save. Uploading a List If you are transferring a list of contacts from another system, the easiest way to bring them into icontact is to upload them. You can upload contacts in either CSV or XLS (Excel spreadsheet) format. Most programs will allow you to export your contact list into either of these formats. Once you have the file: 1. Click Contacts in the main navigation. 2. Click Upload From File in the Add Contacts section. 3. Select one or more lists to add the contacts to. 4. Click Browse and select your upload file. 5. Click Upload Contacts. Adding Contacts One at a Time If you do not have a large list from another system or you want to add contacts after collecting business cards, you can manually add a contact one at a time. To add a single contact: 1. Click Contacts in the main navigation. 2. Click One at a Time. 3. Enter the contact s and choose one or more lists to add the contact to. 4. If you have more information, enter the information into the optional fields. 5. Click Add Contact. 4 Getting Started with icontact

6 Creating Messages There are several tools for creating messages within icontact. However, our two main tools are MessageBuilder and MessageCoder. MessageBuilder or MessageCoder: Which to Use MessageBuilder and MessageCoder allow you to accomplish all of your marketing goals the way you want to. o o Use MessageBuilder to easily create and customize a message using a drag and drop message editor. You don t need to know any HTML to create your messages. Use MessageCoder to create your message entirely from scratch using HTML. This is ideal if you have a message template that you created using an external editor such as Dreamweaver, or if you are an HTML/CSS expert. Using MessageBuilder MessageBuilder lets you create and send a message using our professionally designed message templates. To use MessageBuilder: 1. Click Create in the main navigation. 2. Click Create a Message in the Messages section. 3. Click Use MessageBuilder in the banner. 4. Select a template by clicking Use Template for your chosen template. 5. Enter an subject. 6. Edit your message using the toolbar and editor controls. a. MessageBuilder s are created using individual blocks of content. You can easily move, add, or delete blocks by hovering over an individual block of content. 7. Click Copy Text. This automatically creates a text version of your message. Text versions are required so that they can still be read in clients that do not support HTML. 8. Click Proceed to Send. 9. Select one or more lists or segments to send to. 10. Click Proceed to Send. 11. Enter your initials to certify that your message is not spam. 12. Either click Delivery Immediately or select a date and time and click Schedule Delivery. Getting Started with icontact 5

7 Using MessageCoder To use MessageCoder: 1. Click Create in the main navigation. 2. Click Create a Message in the Messages section. 3. Click Use MessageCoder in the banner. 4. Enter an subject. 5. Edit your message using the toolbar and editor. 6. Click Copy Text. This automatically creates a text version of your message. Text versions are required so that they can still be read in clients that do not support HTML. 7. Click Proceed to Send. 8. Select one or more lists or segments to send to. 9. Click Proceed to Send. 10. Enter your initials to certify that your message is not spam. 11. Either click Delivery Immediately or select a date and time and click Schedule Delivery. MessageCoder includes two editor styles: design view and code view. The design view allows you to edit text and images using a what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor. The code view allows you to edit the HTML code of the message. You can switch between styles under the Message section of the toolbar. Tracking Your Results Tracking a Single Message To track the results of your message: 1. Click Track in the main navigation. 2. Click on the title of the message that you want to track. Note: If you want to track an older message, click View All Sent Messages. The track report displays information for your message across all channels. 6 Getting Started with icontact