Direct Import allows you to post (or send) a file over http without having to interact manually with the contact import forms in the Bronto web application. Why is this so great? Well, without having to do any API programming or much of any setup at all, you can create a system that automatically sends a file with your contacts’ email addresses and any additional information you have, to Bronto.

Using a scheduling utility, such as cron on unix based systems, and an http posting library, such as curl, you can setup a scheduled process to keep your contact data fresh. These are tools that are familiar to most system administrators, so you should be up and running relatively quickly.

Do you have the ability to automatically create exports of your contact data from your local database, but have been logging into Bronto to keep your contact data up to date? Let Direct Import take care of that for you. You’ll always have the most up to date information about your contacts and you’ll only have to set it up once.

So, head on over to the help topics in the application for all of the information and setup options that you’ll need. Less manual work, and fresher data. We hope you’ll like it.

Alex Durzy
Support Engineer at Bronto

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For quite some time, Bronto users have had the ability to add dynamic content to their messages. In the Spring 2010 Bronto release, we added the ability to add dynamic subject lines to your messages. This can be a very useful tool in your marketing arsenal, as you can choose to send messages with subject lines based on lists, segments, or particular pieces of field information.

Adding Your Subjects

The dynamic subject lines that you add work independently of your content. You can send the same content with different subject lines, or have the subject lines coincide with the content that is also being compiled dynamically. In this example, we will once again be using an email that is being sent to a group of contacts, some of whom appear on a list in my account named “Winners”.  To add dynamic subject lines, you must be on the “Editing Message” screen.  Underneath the input area where you would normally add your subject line, you will find a button called Edit Dynamic Subject.

Click Edit Dynamic Subject.  Once you click the Edit Dynamic Subject button, a light box will pop up and ask you to select who will receive each subject line. In this case, we are sending the subject line Today Is Your Lucky Day to all of the contacts that are being sent this email that also reside on the Winners list in my account. All other contacts will receive an email with the subject line Some Days Are Better Than Others.

Click to enlarge

Checking Your Subjects

Checking your dynamic subject line is the same as the process that we discussed in our earlier post, Previewing Your Dynamic Content. Make sure that you have a contact that is representative of each group that you are sending to and pick them from the default preview drop-down box on the “Show Preview” screen. You will see the subject line, as well as the content that the particular contact will receive.

Click to enlarge

The Dynamic Conclusion

That’s all there is to it. You should now be able to add dynamic subject lines to your Bronto messages and preview them in the application. As usual, if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below or contact a representative on the Bronto Client Services team.

Frank Chapman
Bronto Client Services

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Have you ever had a Microsoft Word document that you would like to send as an email?  If you’re like a lot of our clients, then you probably have.  You have probably also noticed that when you copy and paste the Word document into an email, it probably doesn’t look the same as it did in Word.  Why?  What happened?!?

I would like to take this opportunity to explain why this happens, as well as show you the proper way to bring content from Microsoft Word into Bronto.

The initial display problems stem from the HTML code that Microsoft inserts into a Word formatted document.  Much of this HTML code is proprietary to Microsoft and is only rendered correctly in a Microsoft product.  Most email clients (even Outlook) do not know how to render this HTML correctly, and will either ignore it completely, or make their best effort to display it.  Either way, it usually comes out broken and is not displayed correctly.

Original Word Document (click to enlarge)

Word Document Pasted Directly into Bronto (click to enlarge)

Bronto has a tool in the WYSIWYG editor that allows you to paste information from a Word document.

The Paste From Word button is located on the top row of the WYSIWYG toolbar:

How to use the Paste From Word tool:

1. Click the Paste From Word button. A pop-up window will appear.
2. Copy the text you wish to paste from Mircosoft Word into the WYSIWYG editor by highlighting the text and hitting CTRL + C on your keyboard.
3. Paste the copied text into the text box in the Paste from Word pop-up window by placing your cursor in the text box and hitting CTRL + V.
4. Click Insert to add the text into WYSIWYG Editor.

So what exactly does the Paste From Word button do?  Let’s take a look at some examples of the HTML code before and after using the button.  If you try and copy and paste content directly from Word into the WYSIWYG editor, the HTML code in the background will look similar to this:

As you can see, this HTML code is full of unnecessary tags that are specific to Microsoft.  Email clients will simply have fits trying to render this the way it is supposed to look.  Now lets take a look at the HTML code of the same Word document after we paste it using the Paste From Word button:

There is now a dramatic difference in the structure and cleanliness of the HTML code.  This message should have no issues rendering correctly in an email client.

**One thing you may notice when you insert your Word document into the WYSIWYG editor using the Paste From Word button is that some of the text formatting will be removed.  This is because of the removal of the Word HTML that formatted that text.  You can use the WYSIWYG editor to quickly re-format that text into the correct size, font, style, etc. to make the message appear as it did in Word.  Using the WYSIWYG editor to format the message will help to ensure that email clients render it correctly.

Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments, and any related issues that you have experienced in the comments section below.

Rob Slade
Client Support Specialist at Bronto

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Alright, first don’t panic. We can still salvage this delivery and get you back on track. Some of your contacts may have already received the email, but we will focus on them later on in the post. Right now, the first priority is to stop that delivery from going to anyone else.

Stopping A Delivery

To stop a delivery:

1. Return to the Messages Dashboard by clicking the Messages tab. On the left side of the dashboard, click the Outgoing link to take you to your current outgoing messages.

2. Once you are on the Outgoing Messages page, check the message you wish to stop and press the Stop Delivery button. Click OK to confirm the stop. The delivery will cease and no further messages will be sent to your lists.

3. You can now go back into your message and make the necessary corrections. Once the changes are made, you are probably going to want to send a message to the remainder of the list that didn’t receive the correct version of the email. Here’s how to do it.

Re-Mailing The Corrected Message

First we need to determine which contacts have already received the message and only resend to the remaining contacts on your list. We can do this using a segment.

To access the segment builder:

1. Click the Contacts tab, and then the Segments link.

2. Once in the Segment area, click the Create Segment button.

3. Choose a name for your segment that you will recognize when you go to send your message again. In this example, I have named my segment, “May 2009 Newsletter Resend.”

Now you will want to create the rules that will pull the correct contacts from your original send list.

1. In the first rule you will want to select the list that you sent the message to. Select “On List” from the first drop down menu and select the list name from the second drop down menu.

2. Now click the Create New Rule button located below the first rule.

3. In the second rule, chose “Wasn’t Sent” from the first drop down menu and select the message name from the second drop down menu. This separates the contacts that weren’t sent the message from those who have already received it.

4. In plain English, the entire segment logic should now read, “Select the contacts who are on the list Main Newsletter List and weren’t sent the May 2009 Newsletter”.

5. Click the Save Segment button to save the changes.

Now that the segment has been created, you can choose it when you send the newly revised version of your original message. The contacts that have not yet received a copy of the message will get the correct version.

Reaching Out To Contacts Who Received The Incorrect Email

One decision you will need to make is how to handle the contacts that did receive the incorrect email. If the email contained incorrect information, you may want to send an apology email with the correct information. If it was a spelling error, you may not feel the need to resend the message, as many people may not even notice it. If you are thinking of sending an apology email, I would recommend reading Mistakes Happen. Are You Prepared? on the best practices of sending an apology email.

You can use Bronto to build a segment just like you did for the contacts who didn’t receive the original email. This time, instead of selecting those who weren’t sent the message, select “Was Sent” to grab those contacts. Use this segment as the recipient of your follow up message.

Even though a mistake was made and incorrect emails were sent out, you do have options in Bronto to help put out the fire. However, as the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, so keep sending out those test messages and double check them before sending the final message.

Rob Slade
Client Support Specialist at Bronto

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