The structure of BACKCLICK stipulates every subscriber belonging to at least one (or multiple) mailing list(s). By means of this belonging it is possible to send a newsletter or campaign to specified lists. Only after at least one mailing list is available, subscribers will be able to use the web-interface to subscribe, unsubscribe and change their profile. You as a user will also only be able to create or import subscribers after a mailing list was configured.
If your administrator has already created the list(s) neccessary, you will be able to see it/those under Campaign - Management --> Create new Campaign and you may use it/those to compose a newsletter.
You do not have to create a new mailing list in this case and you may switch to the chapter Create the first subscribers.
Fig. 6.2.1 - Create new Campaign (example with mailing lists already created)
If there is no list available, you will have to create a mailing list first. In order to do so, go to Mailing list - Management --> Create Mailing list.
Your first mailing will receive the ID "1", the second will receive ID "2", and so on. Amongst others, those IDs will be important for import and creation of HTML templates for subscription and unsubscription.
After clicking on Create Mailing list you will see the following screen:
Fig. 6.2.1.1 - Create Mailing list (empty fields)
Before you can get started, you will need the following information:
- Email address to be shown as sender
- Alternative sender to be shown instead of the sending address
- Administrator's email address who will receive any returned emails that BACKCLICK was not able to sort automatically
- Optional: email address of the assistant administrator who will receive that BACKCLICK was not able to sort automatically as well
- POP3 login credentials for the sending email address (username, password, host, port)
- SMTP server that is in charge of sending emails (host, port, if applicable user and password as well)
All possible entries will be described in detail below:
Abb. 6.2.1.2 - Verteilerliste anlegen (Beispieleingaben, Abschnitt 1)
Mailing list - ID
You may enter an ID (number) yourself, if this is useful for sorting purposes. Leaving this field blank leads to BACKCLICK generating IDs in ascending order automatically for each mailing list. In this case, the ID is based on the time the mailing list is saved.
Name
This is the name shown in the administrative interface. You may change it at any point.
Description (optional)
You may enter a short description for your mailing list. It will only show when editing the list though.
Administrator's E-mail
Enter the mailing list administrator's email address here. The administrator will receive any emails returned from subscribers, that BACKCLICK was not able to sort automatically.
CC - E-mail (optional)
You may define an additional email address receiving a copy of emails sent to the administrator.
Mailing list E-Mail account (From)
Define the sending email address to be used as sender for this mailing list here, for example "newsletter@domain.com". This will show as sender for subscribers of this mailing list. PLEASE NOTE: This address cannot be identical to the administrator's.
Activate (optional) advanced sender options
If advanced sender options are activated, you may define an additional mailing list E-mail account address (Reply To).
- Reply-To is the email address receiving answers to your newsletters.
Displayed E-Mail address
You may enter an alternative senders name for this mailing list. This will be displayed for your recipients (subscribers) instead of the sending email address (Mailing list E-Mail account (From)).
SMTP server #01 - #20
Enter one (or more) dedicated SMTP server for this mailing list. If you do not specify a server, BACKCLICK will try to use the local computer (“localhost”) to send newsletters. Additionally, enter the login credentials for the SMTP server(s) here, if applicable. BACKCLICK supports AMTP, used by web.de amongst others.
SMTP-Server timeout
Define a timeout period for access to your SMTP server. If a problem occurs while connecting, BACKCLICK will stop trying after this period of time. Possible values are between 1 and 30 seconds.
Priority
You may define this mailing list's newsletter priority. This will not affect rate of sending, but the display in mail clients.
Personalization
Activating personalization creates an individual email for every subscriber using subscriber data from the database. Possible variables are: $$TITLE$$, $$LASTNAME$$, etc.. You may create your own placeholders in BACKCLICK, for example $$SIZEOFSHOE$$. Sending rate of a personalized newsletter is between 100,000 and 1,500,000 emails per hour. This is just an approximate value and depends on hardware used, your connection, number of dedicated SMTP servers and size of your newsletter.
Link - Redirect
This feature enables you to analyze responses. By activating this feature, all hyperlinks in your newsletter will automatically be replaced and redirected to the server BACKCLICK is installed on, in order to record openings and clicks in the statistics database. If you do not want your links to be changed, simply deactivate Link-Redirect. PLEASE NOTE: You will NOT be able to see any response statistics without this feature.
If “Personalization” is deactivated, “Link redirect” and “mailto - Redirect” are disabled and grayed out.
Individualization
Define whether each subscriber is supposed to receive individual newsletter content. By activating this feature, content of a newsletter is calculated by means of predefined logic. PLEASE NOTE: Do not activate this feature, if you do not intend to use it. Computing time while sending a newsletter will increase massively. Sending rate of an individualized newsletter is between 50,000 and 100,000 newsletters per hour.
Inline-Images
This feature allows to create so called offline HTML emails. When linking images in your newsletter (like http://www.domain.com/images/image.jpg), BACKCLICK will automatically download these images an embed them in your email. The advantage lies in email clients like AOL 9.0 and Outlook displaying the newsletter formatted correctly without further action of a subscriber. You may use gif or jpg files for this inline procedure (meaning within the newsletter itself). Please bare in mind that your newsletter will grow in size massively. You may deactivate this feature individually for each newsletter you send, even with an active Inline images feature.
Default format/custom format
The following default formats are available:
If your desired format is not available, you may add a custom format yourself. Syntax to be used can be found by clicking the -symbol.
Activate IVW evaluation
In order to receive an IVW-conformable count of HTML newsletters opened, activate this feature. You will need a so called SZM link, which you may obtain from IVW. IVW charges a fee for this service (at the time this documentation was written). Please refer to the descriptions on their website.
Activate BACKCLICK-internal evaluation
As an alternative to IVW evaluation, BACKCLICK offers a similar evaluation free of charge. Activate this feature in order to use it. Please note, evaluation is only possible for HTML newsletters. Percentages may be influenced by factors like automatic preview, HTML proxy server or deactivation of loading external content.
Activate responsetracking and personalized analyzation for market research
Using BACKCLICK, you are able to connect response data of your subscribers with their profile in order to analyze it individual-related. This data may be exported as well.
Send last Newsletter
When activating this feature, a new subscriber will automatically receive the last newsletter you sent.
Available Mailing-Lists
Other mailing lists, if already configured, may be allocated to this mailing list.
Welcome message/Goodbye message
Activating this feature triggers an email confirmation when subscribing to or unsubscribing from this mailing list. These procedures are calle "confirmed-opt-in" and "confirmed-opt-out" respectively. When using the "double-opt-in" procedure, activating this feature is NOT neccessary.
Welcome subject
This is the subject of your welcome mails.
Welcome message
The subscriber will receive this message as a welcome mail after subscribing.
Goodbye-subject
This is the subject of your goodbye mails.
Goodbye message
The subscriber will receive this message as a goodbye mail after unsubscribing.
Subject
This is your default subject for each newsletter. You may stil change it for each newsletter individually.
E-Mail On Demand
This feature enables you to send an automated reply to subscribers, who sent an answer to your newsletter, that could not be sorted automatcally by BACKCLICK. Please refer to chaper "Email on demand" in order to learn how to compose this message. You may choose previously defined email on damands though.
Template
The autoremove template allows your subscribers to unsubscribe from your newsletter easily. Some example templates are predefined in delivery status. You may edit those or create your own template yourself. Refer to chapter "WebInterface-Templates" for further information. This select box contains all templates already created.
External databases
You may choose an external database (if previously defined) in order to store HTML/text part (without images!) of newsletters sent using this list. Refer to chapter "External Databases" in System - Administration for further information.
Charset/Language
Charset and language used for newsletters influence display of special characters.
After you entered all information neccessary click the "save"-button. Once all data is verified and the SMTP server is reachable, you will see the following confirmation screen:
Fig. 6.2.1.9 - Create mailing list (example input)
If an error message is displayed, please follow the instructions provided.
After resolving all issues that might have occured you are now able to create your fist subscriber and assign him to this mailing list.