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Mailing List
Version 5.4 saw the introduction of the mailing list / newsletter feature. This allows your customers to sign up for the mailing list through their client login account or on checkout and have their email details stored for later use. It is also possible to place a sign-up box on each of your pages with the mini css widget.
Managing the mailing list
The first screen you will see when clicking on the Mailing List link in the admin home page should look like this:
From this screen you can list or search for members, add new entries and send out your newsletter. From Version 6 you can send mails to groups based on product ordered, product category of product ordered, geographical location, wholesale / non-wholesale attributes or manufacturer of product purchased.
Click on "List Results" to see all the emails from customers who have signed up.
You will see a "Confirm" button if the client hasn't confirmed their email address yet and when you send out the newsletter, they will not receive the email. To send out your newsletter, click on "Send Email to List".
The screen explained
Send To:
- Admin email - this is to test your mailing before sending it out to the world. The email address entered in your main admin settings will be the only recipient.
- Selected emails - this will send out the newsletter to the emails returned on a previous search of the database.
- Entire mailing list - this will send an email to all the confirmed addresses in the mailing list.
- Entire affiliate list (Version 5.7.0 required) - this will send an email to your affiliates.
Email Format
- Text - this will send out the newsletter in plain text format
- HTML - This allows you to add HTML to the format the text. You will also need this setting in vsadmin/includes.asp or vsadmin/includes.php
Send in batches of
- Some hosts will place a limit on the number of email sent at one time. If that is the case you can select the number of emails you want sent in each batch. Copy the newsletter text into the main field as normal and click on send, that will send the number of emails defined in the batch field. Hit the back button to repeat until all the emails have been sent to your list. When you are finished, click on the button labeled "Clear Sent List".
From email - the email address you want the newsletter sent from
Email Subject - the subject line of the email.
Unsubscribe Link - this will add the URL of the unsubscribe link to the email. If the customer follows the link in the email, they will automatically be deleted from the mailing list.
Note: from version 5.7.0 it is possible to address the recipient by name, by beginning the email with something like Dear %name%
Mailing list / newsletter set up video tutorial
Exporting the mailing list
In Version 6.0.5 we added the ability to export the mailing list to a csv file. This allows you to collect email subscribers through your store and then import them into your favorite email marketing suite such as ActiveCampaign, ContactContactor iContact
You can choose to export the complete mailing list or selected emails to a csv file. This can then be uploaded to your email marketing system where you can match the fields included in the export; email address, full name, ip address and date of subscription.
If you are not familiar with email marketing programs we have selected some of the top players here, which offer free trial versions.
ActiveCampaign includes all the features you need to send and track your store newsletter. They provide email templates to get you started with the design and allow you to track the success of the newsletter in real time as well as providing social media integration
KEY FEATURES
Design engaging emails
Social media integration
Segmentation of subscribers
Detailed reporting and analytics
Set up automated emails
Visit ActiveCampaign to sign up for a free trial
Create and send eye-catching HTML email campaigns in minutes with ConstantContact
KEY FEATURES
Import in-house permission-based names
Includes 50 professional templates
Use templates as is or easily customize to match your brand
Add a "forward to friend" to every email
Manages and hosts your subscriber list
Visit ConstantContact to sign up for your free trial
iContact provides a robust array of tools to create, send and track your email marketing campaigns.
KEY FEATURES
500+ templates and tools for all experience levels
99% deliverability rate
Integration with Facebook and twitter
Free version available
30 day trial version
Visit iContact to sign up for your free trial
Tweaks
By default the customer will receive an email to confirm / verify their newsletter sign up. This will contain a link to follow to complete confirmation. If you prefer the customer not to receive this mail then you will need this addition to vsadmin/includes.asp or vsadmin/includes.php
The text informing the customer of the arriving confirmation email can be edited in vsadmin/inc/languagefile.asp or languagefile.php