OT - email template design/sending software

DonDaddyD

My Chief Exec wants to send out more complex designed e-bulletin (email bulletin's) to our clientel.

What software is available to purchase that can allow you to:

Easily design an e-mail template
Send said template out - mail merged or not.
Is reputable and allows you to survey/monitor stats from the emails (such as who has opened it, who hasn't etc).

Thanks in advanced.

il_principe

Not sure abot software, but there are numerous companies that will do this for you, or provide you with an online tool so you can do it yourself. We use Datadial Probably better than trying to purchase software.

cee

DonDaddyD wrote:

My Chief Exec wants to send out more complex designed e-bulletin (email bulletin's) to our clientel.

What software is available to purchase that can allow you to:

Easily design an e-mail template
Send said template out - mail merged or not.
Is reputable and allows you to survey/monitor stats from the emails (such as who has opened it, who hasn't etc).

Thanks in advanced.

DDD....for me...HTML is what you want here...just use any of the free web page editors. Some are better than others, but personal preference is king. Loads of templates are already available and adding pictures, flash movies, etc is easy......

Then just send through your normal mail system, maybe with a new email account for e-bulletins@yourcompany.com.uk.org.etc...

As far as stats on the delivery receipts are concerned, this is probably a waste of time as the stats will never be a true representation of whether the person opened it or not, for the following reasons...

In a client like outlook, where you can preview the mail, opening the client with your mail as the newest one will force the user to be asked if they want to send the read receipt.

Some individuals will say yes even if they don't read the mail, other individuals will say no even if they read the mail.

It is possible to set most mail clients up to ignore the read receipt....

This may be done on the corporate network at the mail server level, so users may not even be given the choice.

A better way of monitoring the interest is to include links in the mail to further information, and use google analytics etc to measure this actual traffic.

Buckled_Rims

DonDaddyD wrote:

My Chief Exec wants to send out more complex designed e-bulletin (email bulletin's) to our clientel.

What software is available to purchase that can allow you to:

Easily design an e-mail template
Send said template out - mail merged or not.
Is reputable and allows you to survey/monitor stats from the emails (such as who has opened it, who hasn't etc).

Thanks in advanced.

You could just use MS Office (yuk).

The main problem I see is how you can see if someone has received it or opened it. I don't know who your clientèle are, but the MS exchange servers I used to work on would have blocked the "read receipt" from a security perspective, only internal emails were allowed to have read receipts on.

Aidy

Buckled_Rims wrote:

The main problem I see is how you can see if someone has received it or opened it. I don't know who your clientèle are, but the MS exchange servers I used to work on would have blocked the "read receipt" from a security perspective, only internal emails were allowed to have read receipts on.

Isn't the normal way to do this to embed a hyperlinked image, with some sort of tracking argument? (So you have a webserver "counting" when images are loaded, with tracking information to tell you who).

That said, it's fairly immoral. Often email clients don't load remote images by default for this reason.

amnezia

Aidy wrote:

Buckled_Rims wrote:

The main problem I see is how you can see if someone has received it or opened it. I don't know who your clientèle are, but the MS exchange servers I used to work on would have blocked the "read receipt" from a security perspective, only internal emails were allowed to have read receipts on.

Isn't the normal way to do this to embed a hyperlinked image, with some sort of tracking argument? (So you have a webserver "counting" when images are loaded, with tracking information to tell you who).

That said, it's fairly immoral. Often email clients don't load remote images by default for this reason.

yes

rupertm1

You could try...

http://www.verticalresponse.com/

Its a web based application..you can build emails from ready made templates or upload you own. It puts out an HTML and a plain text alternative option and includes metrics and list management.

Kieran_Burns

On top of the stated reason, most (savvy) corporate clients only accept Text Only emails, to stop embedded code being run. We do, which would stuff the idea of embedded images being used.

Simple security measures like this would stymie any coded attempt to garner information.

Buckled_Rims

Aidy wrote:

Isn't the normal way to do this to embed a hyperlinked image, with some sort of tracking argument? (So you have a webserver "counting" when images are loaded, with tracking information to tell you who).

That said, it's fairly immoral. Often email clients don't load remote images by default for this reason.

Aidy you're absolutely correct.

But as as Kieran_Burns pointed out text only on MS Outlook was in the users profile policies within our company and no link would have been available. Also, 50% of our users did not have internet access, just an Intranet.

I was on 2nd line support for 2 years before I got Internet access!

rupertm1

If you send via most good mass mail apps they will produce a multipart mime alternative which gives a text only version to those who only want text and and HTML version to those that do automatically..

roger_merriman

rupertm1 wrote:

If you send via most good mass mail apps they will produce a multipart mime alternative which gives a text only version to those who only want text and and HTML version to those that do automatically..

yup thats what my wife's work does.

woodford2barbican

cee wrote:

A better way of monitoring the interest is to include links in the mail to further information, and use google analytics etc to measure this actual traffic.

or just program some simple auditing into your website. could give user's unique URLs which will allow you to see who clicked on the link - unless they need to login to your sites then you already should know who is doing what.....

woodford2barbican

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Aidy wrote:

Isn't the normal way to do this to embed a hyperlinked image, with some sort of tracking argument? (So you have a webserver "counting" when images are loaded, with tracking information to tell you who).

That said, it's fairly immoral. Often email clients don't load remote images by default for this reason.

Aidy you're absolutely correct.

But as as Kieran_Burns pointed out text only on MS Outlook was in the users profile policies within our company and no link would have been available. Also, 50% of our users did not have internet access, just an Intranet.

I was on 2nd line support for 2 years before I got Internet access!

and now you abuse it posting on cycling forums!

Cautionary tale......a friend of mine nearly got fired for trying to surf porn on his personal blackberry, he was in the office and 'was feeling horny' :shock: so went to the bogs for a wank.... :shock: forgetting that he was on the company wifi network.......he managed to blag his way out of it......just.

Wallace1492

woodford2barbican wrote:

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Aidy wrote:

Isn't the normal way to do this to embed a hyperlinked image, with some sort of tracking argument? (So you have a webserver "counting" when images are loaded, with tracking information to tell you who).

That said, it's fairly immoral. Often email clients don't load remote images by default for this reason.

Aidy you're absolutely correct.

But as as Kieran_Burns pointed out text only on MS Outlook was in the users profile policies within our company and no link would have been available. Also, 50% of our users did not have internet access, just an Intranet.

I was on 2nd line support for 2 years before I got Internet access!

and now you abuse it posting on cycling forums!

Cautionary tale......a friend of mine nearly got fired for trying to surf porn on his personal blackberry, he was in the office and 'was feeling horny' :shock: so went to the bogs for a wank.... :shock: forgetting that he was on the company wifi network.......he managed to blag his way out of it......just.

A friend eh? It's OK, you are among friends here, you can just admit it....

woodford2barbican

Wallace1492 wrote:

woodford2barbican wrote:

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Aidy wrote:

Isn't the normal way to do this to embed a hyperlinked image, with some sort of tracking argument? (So you have a webserver "counting" when images are loaded, with tracking information to tell you who).

That said, it's fairly immoral. Often email clients don't load remote images by default for this reason.

Aidy you're absolutely correct.

But as as Kieran_Burns pointed out text only on MS Outlook was in the users profile policies within our company and no link would have been available. Also, 50% of our users did not have internet access, just an Intranet.

I was on 2nd line support for 2 years before I got Internet access!

and now you abuse it posting on cycling forums!

Cautionary tale......a friend of mine nearly got fired for trying to surf porn on his personal blackberry, he was in the office and 'was feeling horny' :shock: so went to the bogs for a wank.... :shock: forgetting that he was on the company wifi network.......he managed to blag his way out of it......just.

A friend eh? It's OK, you are among friends here, you can just admit it....

tbh I could not believe he told me. Subsequently I have told every mutual friend so that he gets a good slagging at every possible chance.