Quick Guide to Bulk

Transcription

1 Quick Guide to Bulk Preparing a Bulk involves two processes building the list of client s and building the -merge Template. Once these processes are complete the will be ready to send: 1) Paste your list of s into the field below. 2) Click the Parse button. Your s will be checked for errors correct s will be checked ready to send, invalid s will be unchecked. 3) Click the Template button. Enter your Subject and Server details. 4) Click the Body HTML tab. Choose the Sample you want, then edit the HTML to show the text and links you want to appear. 5) Click the Groups Tab. Set the limits to be well below your server provider's limits. 6) Click the Test button to send an to yourself to verify its accuracy. 7) Click the Send button to send a copy of the to all your checked recipients. Bulk Clients The text field below is where you enter your s. Once entered, these s will be examined and filtered (called parsing) into the table on the next tab. Bulk will remember the contents of this list, even after quitting the application. Type or paste your space-delimited (or tab-delimited) addresses into the text box above, one per line, in one of the following formats: 1) Address only 2) Address<space or tab>firstname 3) Address<space or tab>firstname<space or tab>lastname 4) Address<space or tab>salutation<space or tab>firstname<space or tab>lastname While you can keep all your addresses in Bulk , you may prefer to keep your lists in separate spreadsheets, pasting in the details each time. Most spreadsheet paste in rows in tab-delimited format Bulk can handle this, but please check your client data for errors before sending your s. You may decide to paste in only the addresses (e.g. [email protected]) or both an address and the person's name (e.g. [email protected] Mrs Marie Smith). Once you have pasted in your addresses (and optionally their names) then click the Parse button. This will attempt to extract the four main fields from what you have entered (the address, salutation, first name and last name). If there was any problems with any of the fields the row will remain unchecked and an explanation placed in the Comments column. You may decide to send your to the valid contacts, or fix the problem and Parse the text box again. Note that the Parsing operation will attempt to correct any issues with the text such as setting the address to lower case, filling in the Salutation (if it is missing) and setting the name fields to Title case. Just because you may have a field, such as Salutation, doesn't mean you have to include that data in your s you may ignore all field data except the address itself. Page 1 of 11

2 Once the s have been parsed, it is a good time to see if any addresses are unchecked. Fix the error in your original list then click the Parse button again. You may need to repeat this a number of times until all errors have been resolved. You may choose to disregard the error message and check that 's checkbox anyway, but this is not advised! Set On (and Set Off) Highlight a range of addresses then click the Set On (or Set Off) button to change their checkbox setting. This may be useful where many s pass the parsing test, but you only want to send to a subset of s. If an is unchecked, even if it is error-free, then it will not be sent an . Export to XLS/CSV/Tab-delimited Click on the Options button to export the data in the currently visible list this may be useful to keep a permanent record of the list. Note that the headings are exported as well as the list data itself. 1) Choosing XLS/XML will export the list as an XML format file, but with an XLS extension so that it will be opened within Excel Excel may give a warning message on opening the file. Alternatively, you may rename the file extension to.xml and open the file in another application. 2) Choosing CSV will export the list as a comma-separated-value file. Each field is separated from one another with a comma (,). Normal text will be surrounded with double-quotation marks, but numbers will not have any quotation marks. CSV files are easily imported into spreadsheets and databases. 3) Choosing Tab-delimited will export the list with each field separated with a tabcharacter. Tab-delimited files are easily imported into spreadsheets and wordprocessing tables, plus they take up the least space. Limits Within the Limits tab you are able to control whether an will be unchecked based on a set of simple criteria: 1) You can set the address to be unchecked if it exceeds the number of s sent within a given time frame. Since Bulk keeps a record of any s sent to each address, when you parse your s, Bulk counts the number of s it has sent within the set number of days and will uncheck the if the sending rate exceeds the specified number. This is useful so you stop yourself accidentally sending s to your contacts too frequently. If you legitimately need to send s to these contact then either manually check their checkboxes in the list or click the Previous button and delete the record of their previous s (not preferred). 2) Ignore you can set Bulk to uncheck all s that contain any of the specified text within the address (it does not check the salutation, firstname or lastname fields). Click the Option button to add, remove or export your search text. This may be used to stop ing non-personally identifiable addresses such as info@, noreply@, sales@ or server@. If you make a change, you will need to click the Parse button again for this to take effect. 3) Include you can set Bulk to uncheck all s that do not include the specified text in their address (it does not check the salutation, Page 2 of 11

3 firstname or lastname fields). Click the Option button to add, remove or export your search text. This may be used where you want to target only a select range of contact such as.org, rollsroyce,.edu or.co.uk. If you make a change, you will need to click the Parse button again for this to take effect. Opt-Out With the Opt-Out list you can place here any contacts who have said they no longer want to receive any s from you. Type or paste in any s into this list, one per line. When you parse your addresses it will uncheck any addresses that exactly match those in the Opt-Out list. If this list becomes excessively long then click on the Sort button. This will not only sort the list of addresses alphabetically, but will remove any duplicate entries. If a person wants to result receiving your s, then simply delete their entry from this list and click the Parse button again. Previous The Previous tab show you two reports: 1) By default, it shows you a summarised and sorted list of all addresses that you have ever sent s to (not just those if your current list). For each address it summarises the total number of s ever sent to this address, the name of that latest Bulk , the date of that last Bulk and the number of days since the last . 2) Alternatively, you can click on the Options button and get a report listing all Bulk s sent to every contact. You may want to export this list periodically as a permanent record of all your sent s. If the list gets very large you can use the search box above to filter the list. Type any text you want in the field then click the OK button. Only those rows containing that text in one of its fields will remain, the rest will be removed. You can perform multiple searches this way. To restore the original list, either choose the report under the Options button or click the OK button with the search field empty. Extract The Extract tab contains an editable field above and a read-only field below. You can paste any text you want into the field above such as from a Word document, a spreadsheet, a PDF or a web page. When you click on the Extract button all addresses will be extracted from the list, sorted, de-duplicated and displayed in the list below. Click on the Clipboard button to copy the new list of s to your computer's clipboard, ready for pasting into your list. Bounced The Bounced tab contains an editable field above and a table below. If you receive a bounced and are not sure what it is telling you then paste the full contents into the text field above. Click on the Explain button to attempt to decipher the meaning of the rejection from the body text. It will attempt to show you the level of seriousness of the error i.e. if the will not be allowed to be passed on or not, a guess of the cause of the bounce, and explanation of what you can do to remedy the situation for this and finally a list of any s extracted from the error message. Note that it is possible to paste in the error messages from multiple s at once. Page 3 of 11

4 By far the largest causes of s bouncing are: 1) The address has been removed, maybe due to the person leaving the company 2) You have been sending too many s at one time and all s (even legitimate ones) are being rejected from your 'From' address. You may need to wait 24 hours before you can send your s again. Check your setting and ensure you are sending s well below the limit of your mail service provider (say half), change your From address or call your mail service provider and tell them what you are trying to do. Bulk Template When your client list is ready, click the Template button to open the - Merge template window. The window is divided in two: the tabbed settings on the left and a preview of the template on the right. As you change the settings, often the template preview also changes. If you quit Bulk , all your changes will be automatically saved. If you wish to manually save you will need to click the Options button. Personalisation A number of template fields can contain personalised values and usually have a popup menu adjacent to the field where you can add your choices. Ensure your cursor is positioned where you want the template field to be inserted, then choose the field value from the popup menu that popup menu item will be added to your field. There are four personalisation fields: «Salutation», «FirstName», «LastName» and «Client ». Please don't change the text within a merge field, otherwise the data will not be able to be merged. Note that not all fields support personalisation for instance there is no point inserting «FirstName» into an address field. Also, personalisation is only relevant when sending Individual s. You will receive a warning if you try to send group s while your template contains merge field values. Variables In addition to supporting name and address merging, Bulk supports the merging of up to ten variables of data. They are designed to allow templates to be designed with complex HTML by experts, with novice users only having to change the plain text in the variable field to complete the layout. Any text within these fields will be merged when sent as Individual s. Settings The Settings tab is where we change the underlying components so it is able to be sent. It comprises: 1) An ID field showing a popup list of the names of any previously saved Bulk templates. You can revisit previous Bulk s by changing the value of this popup list. This may be useful to reload some old template settings. Note that it only loads template data and has no affect on your client s. It doesn't save your current settings, so if you want to save any latest changes to your current template then ensure you save the template first (via the Options button) before you reload a template. It is also advised that you create a duplicate template for each new Bulk sent. Page 4 of 11

5 2) A Description field where you can describe why this Bulk was sent and to whom. This description does not appear anywhere on the itself. 3) The 's Subject field. Note that this field can contain all personalisation fields using the adjacent popup menu. When an individual is sent the merge field will be replaced with the value for that address, name and variables. 4) The Host Name is an optional field showing a list of sample providers and ISPs. If you change this popup menu the Server fields below (but not the Password) will change to those deemed suitable for that service provider's published needs you are encouraged to update these settings. It also shows the sending limitations for that service provider under the Groups tab. It is recommended that you change this setting once then leave it alone. 5) The SMTP Server field contains the internet address of your service provider's SMTP server. This will usually be smtp.ispname.com, mail.ispname.com or similar. Do not use the pop.ispname.com variation since the POP server is only for receiving messages while the SMTP address is used for sending s. Note that even though you may receive your s through a certain provider (e.g. icloud) this doesn't stop you using a different service provider, such as your ISP, as your SMTP server. 6) The Port number was traditionally 25, as this supported unencrypted s. More commonly today all is encrypted when it is sent, and the port numbers supporting encrypted s may be 446, 465 or 587 depending on the mail provider. If you are having trouble sending your s, then try one of these numbers, or contact your mail provider. 7) The Secure SSL check box and popup allow you to determine if your is to be sent as a secure or not, and if so, what protocol it will use. It is advised to keep the checkbox checked and the popup menu set to 'Default' as this is the most compatible, but feel free to change the settings if advised by your mail provider. 8) The Username and Password fields match the settings for the SMTP server. This can get complex if your is on icloud, but you are sending your via your ISP's SMTP server, then you either need to put your ISP's username and password details in here or leave these two fields blank (some ISP's don't require a username and password since they know who you are anyway). If you are sending via your mail provider's SMTP server then you will need to enter your mail provider's username and password here. Note that most mail providers require you to enter your full address as your username (e.g. [email protected], and not JoeBloggs123). For security reasons the password field shows up as bullets. 9) The Recipient, CC and BCC fields allow us to set how the will be addressed to the recipient. Recipient is the main receiver of the . The CC Recipient is a Carbon-Copy recipient, meaning that they are not the main recipient, but are receiving a copy of the for their information. All recipients can see who are the Recipients and CC Recipients. The BCC Recipient is a Blind-Carbon-Copy recipient, meaning that they still receive a copy of the for their information, but none of the other recipients can see that the BCC Recipient details. In previous years it was best to send bulk s using the BCC Recipient field out of courtesy, but often BCC s are seen as conduits of spam s, so use Individuals s in preference to BCC Recipients where possible. Page 5 of 11

6 10) The From and ReplyTo addresses inform the recipient who sent the and to whom the will be addressed if the user attempts to reply to your . Most times you will want to leave the ReplyTo field blank, so reply s will be sent to the From address, but larger organisations may want to direct all replies to a common Sales or Help Desk account. It is recommended that you do NOT use your normal account to send bulk s if your Bulk address becomes blacklisted then you will not be able to send or receive your normal s! Create a separate account for sending and receiving Bulk s and for receiving opt-out requests. 11) The Created and Modified fields inform you the date and time this Bulk was created and last modified. You cannot change these dates. Body HTML The Body HTML tab shows us the raw HTML text that produces the template on the righthand side of the window. Most modern readers will view the Body HTML, if available, in preference to the Body Plain. Only if there is no Body HTML will it display the Body Plain text. You must describe the page in one page of HTML alone. To change the HTML code just click in the window and type. You can remove all the sample HTML and replace it with your own HTML if you want. As you quit Bulk your HTML will automatically save, but if you want to manually save your HTML then click on the Options button below. If you make a major change and don't want to save it, and performing an Undo is not sufficient then click on the Settings tab and re-choose the ID for this Bulk this will reload your template from when it was last saved. Attachments Please note that any attachments added are inaccessible to your HTML code. It is possible to embed an attachment into HTML as a Base64 in-line attachment, but many systems mark in-line attachments as spam. If you need to access a secondary file then it is best to keep your as small as possible and link to this file (see below) on an external server. Links All the images displayed within the Bulk sample documents are stored on the Holy Mackerel Software file servers. Adding links to an is preferable to attaching the actual file because: 1) It speeds up the sending of your s, especially if you are sending Individual s to hundreds of users (attachments in Group s are sent only on per ) 2) Mobile phones and ipads are commonly used for retrieving today and large attachments will not only slow down the receiving of their s, but take up more of their limited storage, eat into their data plans and may even be rejected outright. 3) Linking to an attachment lets the recipient choose whether they will download the file or not they are in control. 4) It allows you to link to many files and larger files without a proportionate load on the user. 5) If your bounces, a smaller is easier to receive and decipher the Page 6 of 11

7 cause 6) If a recipient re-opens the file many times, most systems will cache the graphic or file for later retrieval. 7) It allows you to count the number of times your s have been opened by the number of times an image was accessed, plus most host servers can tell you the IP Address that accessed the file. It is advised that you duplicate and link to at least one picture per Bulk sent (e.g. mybanner0001.jpg), even if it is identical, so that you can see that the readership of each separate Bulk . If you don't have access to your own file server to store these files then please contact HMS. The most common links are to display images and web page links. For display images search the HTML for 'img' and you will find a link something like <img src=" logo.png">. Change the URL to point to your image and the preview should change automatically. For web page links search the HTML for 'href' and you will find a link something like <a href='#'>link to event</a>. In this case, change the '#' to point to your web site (e.g. ' or (e.g. 'mailto:[email protected]') and the preview should change automatically. The fields within the Body HTML include: 1) The Samples popup menu lets you choose the HTML code from among over 130 sample -merge templates freely downloadable from the internet. Note that it will remove your current HTML code and replace it will the sample HTML code, so it is recommended that you create a new Bulk before trying the samples. Many of the samples will have embedded buttons (e.g. to Twitter, FaceBook, etc), tables, links to download files and links to images. Before you send your Bulk you will need to find these links (usually by searching for 'href' or 'http') and either removing them or changing them to link to your own services. Note that you can remove all the HTML text and type normal text as per a word-processor, but you will need to type in the <BR> or <P> command at the end of each paragraph. 2) The Find field, Special button and Prev/Next buttons allow you to search for text within your HTML text. Type the text you want to look for (e.g. Lorem ipsum) then click the Next button. The next occurrence of that text after the cursor position should now he highlighted. You can keep clicking the Next button until you hear a beep indicating you have come to the end of the occurrences. Clicking the Prev button will highlight the occurrence previous to the current cursor position. Click on the Special button to allow searching for invisible characters such as carriage returns and tab characters. It will insert a representation of that invisible character into the Find field at the position of the cursor. 3) The Insert popup menu allows you to add an -merge value into the HTML text at the position of the cursor. The merge value is normal text and can be deleted if required. The purpose is to allow personalisation of your s anywhere within the itself. Note that you can merge any of the ten variables into either Individual or Group s, but that you can only merge the Salutation, First Name, Last Name and Clients addresses into Individual s you will get an error if you try to merge these into a Page 7 of 11

8 Group . 4) The Add HTML popup menu allows you to add small portions of HTML into the HTML text at the position of the cursor. Many lines of HTML code in the menu have an ellipsis character. If you have some existing text highlighted and click on the Add HTML popup menu then the new HTML text will 'wrap' around the highlighted text where the ellipsis was. For example you can highlight some text then choose the Bold Style to make that text appear bolded. At the righthand side of each menu choice is a description of the HTML code within round brackets this is for your education only, and will not be pasted into your HTML text. Unsubscribe Link It is a legal requirement in most countries that Bulk contain a link the recipient can use to unsubscribe from your . If you receive unsubscribe requests you must abide by them and add the recipient's into the Opt-Out list. Most antispamming software will raise your 's spam-level if it does not contain an unsubscribe link. The best way to allow recipients to opt-out is to have a PHP script on your file server to receive the address since you can request other information such as the reason they want to opt-out. If you don't have access to these services then please add the following line to the bottom of your Bulk s: <a href="mailto:my @myserver.com?subject=unsubscribe%20me">click here to unsubscribe.</a> Body Plain By default the Body Plain tab shows the same HTML text stripped of its HTML formatting. This means you only need to create one body. While it is possible to uncheck Based on Body HTML and write up the twice, it is an excessive amount of work and risks introducing inconsistencies. If you do decide to allow the editing of the Body Plain text, then the option to insert the personalisation merge fields (such as first name and last name) and variables will become available. Attachments The Attachments tab lets you add files to your . When received, these files will usually show as icon at the bottom of the recipients and can be copied to the user's hard drive. It is not recommended that you add attachments (especially large attachments) to s where the recipient is not expecting the attachment as it may slow down their . Click the Add button to add an attachment. Highlight the file you want to attach then click OK. The attachment will appear in the list above. Don't move or rename the attachment or else it will not be included with the . To remove one or more attachments, highlight the attachment in the list then click the Remove button. You may add as many attachments as you want, but note that most mail servers have a limit of about 10 MB for the total capacity of an attachment and the text. s exceeding the limit will usually be rejected. Please consider instead, placing your files onto a file server and placing a link in your . This will make your s transfer faster and cause less issues with your contacts. Page 8 of 11

9 Groups The Groups tab allows us to configure three areas: 1) Personalising our s per recipient 2) Grouping our s to reduce the total number of s sent 3) Limiting the rate at which our s are sent so they are not flagged as a spam Individual s Choosing the Individual s button will cause all s to be sent with only one recipient each. If you have an existing relationship with your recipients then it is acceptable to personalise your s using the -merge fields in the Subject and the Body HTML. If you don't have an existing relationship with your recipients then it is advised that you not add personalised content you can still send the as an Individual . Personalised s will have their recipient's personal details merged into the at the time of sending. Since only the recipient will see their it is recommended that you place their address in the Recipient field (and not CC or BCC else your be flagged as spam). In general, Individual s are preferred over Group s, even if you are not merging in any personal details. Group s Choosing Group s, whether in lots or all-in-one, will address each to more than one recipient. Sending Group s is useful where your provider has a limit on the number of s that can be sent, but not the total number of recipients unfortunately this is very rare. If you want to limit the number of recipients per Group then click the Group in lots button and set the number of maximum number of recipients to go in each . If you want every recipient to be placed into the one (however many there are) then click on the Group s all-in-one button. This is not recommended in case you try to add hundreds of recipients to one as it will very likely be rejected and your account locked. Send up to Check to Send up to button to control how fast Bulk sends you s. Most providers have a very low limit on the number of s and recipients you can send to per hour and per 24 hour period. The most common limit is about 100 recipients per hour and it doesn't matter if they are sent in 100 separate s or in one . Since these quotas are so low and sending each actual is very quick, it is advised that you send Individual s (whether personalised or not) and set the number of s and recipients per hour to be well within your mail provider's limits. If your limit is 100 s and recipients per hour then set the limit on both s and recipients to about 90 each (so you can still send 10 s per hour from this account with your normal mail program). When Bulk sends your s and reaches this limit it will pause automatically for one hour before sending another batch of 90. This way you can keep well below sending limit. You do not want to risk going over Page 9 of 11

10 your sending limits at best your s may begin bouncing back or your account may be locked for 24 hours, at worst your account may be blacklisted so you cannot send any s even if they are below the limits, until you are unblacklisted. Bulk writes into its database what s have been sent immediately after they have been sent. This allows you to keep a record of recipients to ensure you don't send them s too frequently. It also allows you to know who received (or didn't receive) s should the Bulk be accidentally shut down. In this case open the Client s window, click the Previous tab and choose List all s from the Options menu. Delay Setting a number in the Delay field causes a delay of that number of seconds between when each (whether Individual or Group) is sent by Bulk . Some mail providers (such as gmail) try to detect spammers by seeing how frequently the s are separated, even if you are below your quota. If you s are sent with no time delay then these s may be delayed on the servers by a few hours. Since the limit is usually the number of recipients per hour, you could set this value to ten seconds and still not cause an overall delay. Options The Options button holds a number of diverse features that are not as frequently used as other buttons. Duplicate, Save and Delete Choose Duplicate to make a copy of the currently viewed Bulk . There is no limit to the number of Bulk s you can create, so it is recommended that you duplicate the current Bulk after each successful sending so that your current setting won't be accidentally overwritten. Choose Save to force the saving of the current Bulk settings. Your settings are normally only saved when you quit the application. Choose Delete to remove the current Bulk . Please note that this information cannot be retrieved. Ensure you perform an export of your Bulk s which will contain a copy of the text data. Speak Body Plain Text and Cancel Speaking Unfortunately spelling and grammar mistakes are very common in s. Getting Bulk to speak the Body Plain version of your aloud is a good way to find errors in your by speaking the text whereas you might have missed the error visually. Choose Speak Body Plain Text to speak the . If a portion of the Body Plain text is highlighted then it will speak that text. If nothing is highlighted in the Body Plain text then the whole text field will be spoken. Clicking the Cancel Speaking will stop the speaking, if it has not reached the end of the . Wikipedia Web Pages Click the Options button to view expert advice on sending Bulk s. Because of the problem with spamming (almost 70% of all s), sending bulk s can be problematic for the unwary. While we have tried to provide you with as much help as possible to let you send s to your family, friends, colleagues and clients, there is Page 10 of 11

11 more advice and even legal issues you need to be aware of. There are three web pages you can open to learn about Spam: 1) The Wikipedia web page describing what spam is 2) The Wikipedia web page describing what the legal requirements are regarding the sending of unsolicited s e.g. you MUST allow recipients the ability to opt-out. 3) The Spam Assassin web page describing what techniques you should use to reduce the likelihood of your s getting flagged as spam Preview in Mini Browser or Default Browser Click the Options button to preview your Bulk in a different browser. Once your Bulk has been written, it is recommended that you ensure it is viewable in a web browser. You may choose to view your Bulk through the built-in minibrowser or using your computer's default browser. This may allow you to discover size or drawing issues that were not previously apparent. Test Click on the Test button to send your Bulk to a single address. It is highly recommended that you send a test copy of your Bulk to yourself for testing. This will allow you to ensure the Bulk displays in an window correctly and that any links and buttons are operational. There is nothing worse than having to recall an or send a second correct due to errors in the first. Test, test then test again! When you send a test the personalisation -merge values will remain generic, but the ten numbered variables will be fully merged. Send Click on the Send button to begin sending your Bulk to all your checked clients. Once you are confident that the Bulk is fully tested then click Send. Bulk will warn you of any problems with your (e.g. empty variables) or your clients (e.g. sending too frequently) then confirm that you really want to begin sending. Once you click OK the sending will commence. Note that once the sending of your Bulk s begin, you cannot retrieve sent Bulk s. If you are sending Bulk s to many clients then you may be able to click the Cancel button to stop sending any future s. You may then need to view the Previous tab in the Bulk Clients window to see what s have been sent. Page 11 of 11