Brontoversity » Email Marketing Best Practices

I Get By With A Little Help From My App

John Gunther — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:56:22 +0000

In the never ending struggle between software and the people trying to figure out how to use it, many a foul word has been shouted and many a keyboard has been subject to violence. The great peacemaker in this epic battle is often help resources. Here at Bronto, we understand the need to provide our customers with informative help resources that will guide users through our application and help them become better email marketers. This post will highlight all of the available help resources found in the application.

Sidebar Help

As you navigate through the application, you will notice a little question markon the right side of each page in the application. If move your cursor over the question mark and then click the link that pops out, the sidebar help for that page will appear.

The sidebar help contains frequently asked questions that are relevant to the specific page you are viewing. The sidebar help also contains a search box that allows you to search all of the available help resources in the application. Additionally, you may also find links to full help topics and/or video tutorials, depending on the page you are viewing. More on the help search, help topics, and video tutorials below.

Help Topics

As mentioned before, on certain help sidebars, you will notice links to help topics. Help topics are comprehensive guides that cover every aspect and detail of the page you are viewing. If you need step-by-step instructions or detailed overviews of a concept, look no further than the help topic for the page you are viewing. You can also find links to other related topics and useful whitepapers at the bottom of certain help topics.

Video Tutorials

In addition to frequently asked questions and help topics, certain help sidebars also contain links to video tutorials that provide a visual explanation of certain tasks relevant to the page you are viewing. All of the video tutorials currently available in the application can also be found in the video library. You can get to the video library by moving your cursor over the Help tab, and then clicking the Video Library link in the sub-navigation that appears. Once on the Video Library page, you can use our handy video selector to browse through all of the video tutorials currently available.

Help Dashboard And Help Search

The Help Dashboard is the central location for all the text based help resources in the application. You can get to the Help Dashboard by clicking on the Help tab. Once on the Help Dashboard, you can also utilize the help search.
All you need to do to use the help search is type in the feature or concept you want to know more about. The help search works like any common search engine, so the more specific your search query, the more likely you are to find what you are looking for. The results that are returned after clicking the Search button include frequently asked questions at the top, followed by relevant help topics. Frequently asked questions have a “Q” next to them. To view the answer to a frequently asked question, click on the name of the question. Help topics have a small book icon next to them. To view a help topic, click the name of the help topic you wish to view.

So if you ever find yourself having trouble with the WYSIWYG editor or need a little help creating a segment, please refrain from giving your keyboard the KO punch and abstain from shouting off some words that would make George Carlin blush. Rather, sit back, relax, and have a look at a video tutorial, help topic, or frequently asked question. Your keyboard and co-worker’s ears will greatly appreciate it.

John Gunther
Technical Writer/eLearning Specialist at Bronto

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Suppression Lists Make For A Clean Break Up

Frank Chapman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:34:12 +0000

In the winter 2009 release, Bronto introduced suppression lists as a way to continue reinforcing our commitment to opt-in only email marketing. Suppression lists help to insure that contacts who are not interested in your messages will not receive email from your account.

Is My Suppression List The Same As My Inactive List?

People often ask what the difference is between the suppression list in their account and the inactive list. The first thing to remember is that only you as a marketer can place email addresss on your suppression list. There is no way for your contacts or people who are not your contacts to add themselves to this list.

In contrast to this, there are many ways a contact can wind up on the inactive list:

They could unsubscribe using a Bronto unsubscribe link.
The contact may have bounced and was placed in the inactive list per your bounce settings.
If they click the “This Is Spam” link in certain ISPs (such as Yahoo! or Hotmail).
You could choose to upload a group of contacts directly into the inactive list.
A group of contacts could be on the inactive list and have a status of unconfirmed (i.e. they were sent an opt-in invitation but have not yet agreed to receive your messages).

Inactive Contacts Are Eligible For A Second Chance

The most important concept to grasp concerning the inactive list is that a person can re-activate themself and begin receiving messages from you again. All the person has to do is add their email address to one of your web forms and submit it.

The Suppression List Is For Keeps

If a person who is on the suppression list attempts to sign-up to receive message from you via an Add Contacts Webform, they will not be added as a contact in your account and they will not be able to receive messages from you as long as they appear on the suppression list. The only way an email address can be removed from the suppression list is manually by the Bronto account holder (you!).

When an email address is added to the suppression list, you will not be able to send to, import, or add the email address to your account. If the email address belongs to one of your contacts, that contact will be deleted from your account and you will not be able send to, import, or add them to your account.

The Fine Print On Suppression Lists

There are a couple of points to remember concerning suppression lists:

Unlike the inactive list, you cannot import directly into the suppression list.
When you add a contact to your suppression list, it will take 24 hours for them to be removed from all of your lists.
You should be mindful of this if you update your list and send to that audience.

So, if someone indicates to you that they would rather not receive your messages, do them a favor and make it a quick and effective break up. Add them to your suppression list and agree to see other people.

Frank Chapman
Support Associate at Bronto

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A|B Splits: Don’t agree to disagree

Adam Covati — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:35:30 +0000

Ever have an argument with a co-worker about which subject line would be better? I know we have them here at Bronto. Heck, we’ve even had company-wide contests to drum up fresh ideas for subject lines – anything that might take it to the next level.

When you have that many ideas about how to hook people into reading your message it can be hard to know which to use. Even when everyone agrees on which to use, it’s still just a guess. This has been brought to light in a recent post by DJ about first name personalization. Some of our clients have taken DJ to task and are doing the tests themselves (see the comments on the above linked post).

The new A/B split feature that we introduced in the Bronto Fall 2008 Release has come to the rescue. This is just what A/B splits are all about, testing and learning something new. One of the best part about A/B splits is that they are so easy to do.

Almost any time you send a message you should be doing an A/B test. If you always assume that you are doing what’s best for your email marketing program then you aren’t getting any better. Trust me, there’s always room to improve. In Bronto, we make it very easy to send an A/B Split. It is right there (look!) waiting for you to click it.

A/B splits don’t just come in one flavor. You can run A/B/Winner or Champion/Challenger tests.

A/B/Winner

A/B/Winner tests send out emails to two or more test groups with the best performing option being sent out the remainder of your list at some designated point in the future.

Champion/Challenger

Champion/Challenger tests just split up all of your list amongst two groups. The Champion/Challenger tests are great for trying something new with a small percentage of your group.

At Bronto we make this quick and easy, with powerful reports that allow you to see where each version excelled. But if you don’t have that built into your email marketing tool, that doesn’t mean you can’t run A/B splits. Just do two different deliveries and print out the results for each.

A/B splits can be really fun. Place a friendly bet, or maybe just your pride, on your subject line. But don’t bet too much, you may be shocked by the results. Just ask DJ!

Adam Covati
Product Manager at Bronto

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