We have already discussed on our blog how a well thought-out and well-designed footer on your email can ensure that your email complies with the law and avoids being marked as spam. The footer is a good place to include your contact information, invite recipients to visit your social media links, remind them why you are receiving the email, and include links to other important places (for example, your privacy policy or other news items on your website). In this short post, we remind you how to add a personalised footer to your emails when using Simplelists.

Email customisation

Personalising your Simplelists emails is quick and easy and including a personalised footer makes your emails look professional. You can include a logo, links to your website, a phone number and more. A personalised footer also saves you time and gives your emails consistency.

To add a personalised footer, simply log in and go to 'List settings’ in the left hand menu. Then, select the 'Email customisation’ tab on the main screen.

Scroll down to the 'Message footer’ box and then type your email signature into it.

Unsubscribe link

To include a link to allow your recipients to unsubscibe from your emails, add a '$’ sign follwed by the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE’, being sure to use capital letters. So, your example signature might look something like this:

Best wishes,

Your name

Unsubscribe from this list here: $UNSUBSCRIBE

When a list member then receives an email from you, they will see your signature and a clickable 'unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of the email.

Style your footer

You also have the option to style your footer using HTML. You can do this in the next box down on the 'Email customisation’ page, called 'HMTL footer message’ (optional). You can include CSS to add colour, preferred fonts and other styles that match your website and/or brand. Make sure that you use inline styles as these are recognised by email clients such as Gmail and Hotmail. You can also include links to your website and/or other important pages. Simply copy and paste your HTML into the box.

 

You can watch a short video with these instructions in an earlier post on our blog.

Sometimes, you need more than one email list. You may need separate lists for different businesses, groups or organisations, or different lists for groups within your organisation. For example, one list for employees and another for managers, or individual lists for different topics, such as one list for marketing and another for discussion. In this short post, we tell you how to set up multiple lists using Simplelists (or watch a short video if you prefer).

Getting started

It is very straightforward to set up multiple lists. Simply go to simplelists.com, navigate to Products, select the blue 'Sign up free for a multiple list’ arrow and fill in your details. You’ll have the option to choose a subdomain for your list (if you own your own domain, you’ll be able to add this later). There is a free, one-month trial for multiple lists so that you can try before you buy.

Managing the lists

To manage your multiple lists, simply log in using your simplelists username and password and select your multiple lists account from the 'Account’ drop-down menu on the top right of the screen. On the next screen, verifying your account enables you to add members to your lists without needing them to confirm their email address (although you can still use the confirmation functionality to check that emails are valid). Simply enter the details of your organisation, what your list is used for, and how you obtained the emails (you can read another post about the rules around how people can opt-in to receiving your emails). Once you have done this, you can create a list by navigating to 'manage lists’ in the left-hand menu, type in the name of the list, and click 'Create’. This is where you could create a number of lists for your different groups (e.g. managers, employees and customers).

Adding members to your lists

Once you have created the lists, you can add some members. Select the address book from the left-hand navigation and choose to add members individually, in bulk, or by uploading a .csv file. If you choose to add them individually, you can enter their details and their email address and then select which list they will belong to. You can also add notes about the members if you wish. 

To view the members of your list, select 'list members’ from the left-hand menu. The email address for your list can be seen at the top of this page. It is possible to use your own domain name for this email address and we will show you how to do this in an upcoming blog post, or you can view a short video that explains what to do).

Before delving into writing HTML code for your bespoke design email, it’s a good idea to spend a few minutes doing some planning first. Don’t think of this stage as wasted time - it is more likely to be the opposite - saving you time in the long run as you will know exactly what you are aiming for before starting. A well-planned email is also likely to be a success, especially if you are using the email for marketing purposes.

Some questions to consider

Before you start writing the code, ask yourself some or all of the following questions:

• Who will the email be sent to?
• What is the aim of the email?
• What is the ideal outcome?
• What are other positive outcomes?

To answer those questions, let’s think of an example scenario. The email might be going to existing customers of a particular company (let’s call it 'My Company’). The aim of the email could be to share the latest news about an exciting new product. The ideal outcome might be that people reading your email click through to your website and buy the new product. Other positive outcomes might include following the company on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc.), or that they remember the company and what it does. At a later date they then may decide to buy the product or look for other similar products, and they may return to the site.

What to include in the email

The answers to the above questions will also help you to decide what you want to include in the email. For the above 'My Company’ scenario, it would be wise to include:

• A customer name
• Text with the news and information about the product
• A strong 'call-to-action’ for the recipient to click through to the company website news page (read more about 'calls-to-action’ in our earlier post on email marketing tips)
• A logo and social media buttons

Now that you have decided on the content of the email, you can go ahead and sketch a design. You might like to use a pen and paper to do this, or use a simple graphics program that you are familiar with.

Design tips

It is a good idea to use a simple white background for your email - you can choose another colour if you like but white is preferable for ease of reading and a subtle, professional design. When choosing a font, remember that HTML emails are restricted to 'websafe’ fonts so it is quite a simple choice: Georgis, Palatino Linotype, Times New Roman, Arial, Comic Sans, Impact, Lucida Sans Unicode, Tahoma, Trebuchet or Verdana (we don’t recommend using Comic Sans or Impact as they are unlikely to look good and/or be easy to read). Our preference is Trebuchet as it looks modern and is less common that well-used fonts like Arial and Lucida Sans Unicode.

A subtle grey colour works well for text and you might like to choose an 'accent’ colour to go with it. Make sure your text is large enough to read easily. You can use headings anc columns to guide the reader through your text. Keeping a lot of white space in the email is a good idea as it makes the email clean and easy to read. Make sure the 'call-to action’ is very visible. Include a signature, logo and your social media buttons as well.

Step-by-step guide

You can view a short video about designing HTML emails using Simplelists here. This video takes you through the design process step-by-step and is based on the questions we started with in this blog post.

You may also like to browse the short series of six videos about HTML emails that include tips and guidance on: designing emails; writing code for responsive emails; and testing and sending emails.

If you take part in email marketing it’s worth taking a few minutes to familiarise yourself with the law on spam. The law in the UK (the US will be covered in the next post) regarding spam emails is relatively straightforward and spending a few minutes making sure that you understand what you can and can’t do will keep you on the right side of the tracks and help you avoid fines of up to £5000!

Before starting though it is worth noting that email spamming is bad marketing - bad as an wrong, bad as in ineffective and bad as in counter-productive. Not only is it annoying for the receivers of spam emails to get their inbox filled with junk mail, it can also be detrimental to the sender. The image of a company that sends spam emails can be ruined, potential customers can be scared away and loyal customers can become annoyed and leave.

Don’t worry though - it is easy to use good email marketing practice by simply following a few simple guidelines. These will keep you on the right side of the law and enable you to build a thriving email campaign which improves your brand image and increases your customer base...

What is Spam Email?

To put it simply spam emails are emails that are sent without consent - the person who receives the emails didn’t ask for them.

It may sound strange that people must ask to receive emails before you can send them and although true, there are many ways that people can opt in to receive emails. The simplest way that consent can be given is for the person to tick a box that asks: ’would you like to receive periodic emails from us’. However, this is not the only way...

Soft Opt-Ins

When people opt-in to receiving emails by taking an action other than specifically asking to receive emails it is known as a soft opt-in. There are a few well-tested and valid soft opt-ins that can be used with confidence:

• The most common soft opt-in is when a customer has bought something from you they are considered to have opted in to receive emails. If someone enters negotiations or expresses an interest in buying something from you they are also considered to have opted in. It’s worth noting that this is not carte-blanche to email the customer about anything you like - your emails must only contain information about products and services that are similar to those which they purchased or expressed an interest.
• Another case where it is considered that a person has opted in is if they have been given the option to refuse the right to use their contact details but they don’t. It’s worth noting that the right to refuse must not be hidden from them or be difficult to find - it should be prominent and easy to refuse.

Unsubscribe

When you send marketing emails there are several things that must be included in order to comply with the law:

• You must include a valid email address to unsubscribe or opt-out of future emails.
• You must make the identity of the sender clear

These are very easy to do and come as default when sending email to a list through Simplelists.

Businesses vs Individuals

A lot has been made of the fact that the law is different when marketing to businesses as opposed to individuals. It is not illegal to send unsolicited email to businesses, so in theory email could be sent without businesses opting-in. However, this is not recommended for a number of reasons:

• When an person is emailed at their company address the email is considered to be to an individual NOT a business: e.g. anne.other@company.co.uk is an email to an individual.
• When the business is a sole trader or partnership (as opposed to a limited company or organisation) the email will be considered to be to an individual.
• If the content of the email is not related to the business but has subject matter related to an individual it is considered to be an email to an individual.

UK Law - EU Directive

Because Simplelists servers are based in the UK we’ve based this information on UK law. It’s worth noting that this is the UKs implementation of an EU directive and therefore the law throughout Europe is similar, although it might vary slightly from country to country. In the next post we’ll look at spam law in the US - if you’re sending marketing emails from the US this will be important for you.

We often get queries from Gmail users asking something like this:

“When I send a Simplelists email to my list I don’t see it in my Gmail inbox, even though I’m a member of the list – why is this and what should I do?”

Why list emails don’t show in Gmail’s inbox?

The reason for this is that Gmail doesn’t put emails that you send to your own aliases in your inbox.

The official line from Google is:

"To prevent clutter, Gmail doesn’t route messages that you send to your own alias to your inbox. You can find the message in Sent Mail or All Mail. If you need to see messages sent to your alias in the Inbox, you can configure the alias as an alternate 'Send mail as’ address for your account."

You can see Google’s own help page related to this issue here.

What’s the solution?

The solution is simple - you can see your email by looking in either your 'sent mail’ or 'all mail’ folders. Note that if someone replies to your email through the list that the email will appear in your Gmail inbox - so you don’t need to worry about missing a reply.

 

 

 

 

 

Simplelists is designed to be really easy to use with only very basic computer skills needed to manage your email list - if you can click and type you can use Simplelists! However, there are also a range of technical features which open up a world of options for more advanced users. One of these is an API...

What can you do with the API?

The Simplelists API allows you to automatically synchronise your Simplelists members list with the contact list in another website or system. This opens up many options such as:

• automatically adding customers who purchase from your online shop to your Simplelists email list
• integrating website registrations with your Simplelists account so that new registrations are automatically added to your list
• removing members from your list when the paid membership of a service expires
• integrating a company database with your Simplelists account so that new employees are added to the email list and employees that leave are automatically removed

In fact, the possibilities are endless!

In simple terms, how does the API work?

Simplelists provides a computer-friendly interface, which allows another website to make amendments to a Simplelists contact list, without it having to login using the normal web-interface, which is obviously designed for humans.

CiviCRM Plug In

The easiest way to use an API is with a module that has been created for an application. Due to the popularity of CiviCRM we have created a (beta) plug-in that allows contacts to be synchorised both ways.

Features include:

• When a contact is created or updated in Simplelists, it is automatically created or updated in CiviCRM too.
• For multiple lists groups will be created in CiviCRM, reflecting the Simplelists list membership.
• A number of options to help synchronise the 2 systems.

For more details on the functionality of the plug-in and for installation instructions please see this page.

API Specification

If you’re a programmer or have someone who can program for you, it’s possible to create your own plug-in to interface with your own system. The details that you’ll need to get started can be found on the API Specification page. There is also a complete example of code (PHP) used to for a complete API, including the code to: 'Authenticate using User Credentials’, ’Retrieve contacts’, ’Authenticate using Authorization Code’ and ’Obtain a new access token’.

Beta Testing

Note that the API is in beta testing at the minute so the protocol may change in the future.

 

Simplelists has a feature which allows you to insert members’ names into the group emails that you send. We’ll jump straight in and tell you how to do it and then discuss why it’s useful and when it is important to include a person’s name.

How To Add Names To Your Emails

1) First you need to activate this feature for your Simplelists account - just send an email to support@simplelists.com requesting to 'activate the insert names feature’ and we’ll activate the feature for your account. You can also tell us your preferred default option which is used if the member’s name is missing from their details in your address book - for example 'Member’ or 'Customer’ could be chosen as a default.

2) Simply add $FIRSTNAME to your email where you want the members first name to appear and $SURNAME where you want their last name to appear.

That’s all there is to it - each member will receive a personalised version of the email that includes they’re own name.

Here’s an example:

Hi $FIRSTNAME,

As a valued customer we are giving you a 10% discount code for...

What if a member’s name is missing from their details?

Don’t worry - if a member’s name is missing from your address book and you have let us know your preference for a default it will revert to the default setting in place of their name.

In the example above the email that would be received would read:

Hi Member,

As a valued customer we are giving you a 10% discount code for...

When To Use The 'Insert Name’ Feature

Personalisation of emails is becoming increasingly important for email marketing.

Mail clients like Gmail are now showing the first 15-20 words of emails in the inbox before emails are opened. This means that, at a glance, people can see whether an email addresses them in person or not. If you don’t include a person’s name in your email and they don’t instantly recognise you as the sender it’s quite likely that they simply won’t open your email.

Stats from 2012 show that emails with personalised subject lines were opened 22.2% more frequently than those without (email marketing stats) - this is likely to be even higher now.

For these reasons, we’d recommend that you use the 'insert name’ feature in all email marketing emails and in any email where you think that the person receiving it might not instantly recognise the sender.