Download: [HSC] Newsletters

[Jinkler]

I've got 57000 members, so I don't want to send it out to all of them, I'll have a massive amount of bounced emails. I want people to "opt-in" rather than be opted-in automatically. How can I change this? There are certain laws regarding email marketing, and by automatically "opting-in" people, this is breaching that law.

Secondly, how do I play around with the templates of the newsletter? Is it under "Look and Feel"?

Thanks

[HeadStand]

I've got 57000 members, so I don't want to send it out to all of them, I'll have a massive amount of bounced emails. I want people to "opt-in" rather than be opted-in automatically. How can I change this? There are certain laws regarding email marketing, and by automatically "opting-in" people, this is breaching that law.

I guess you could opt-in only the Administrators, and then let your members know via forum? I'm not sure how you envision this working. Tell me what behavior you'd like to see, and I'll see if I can work that in.

Secondly, how do I play around with the templates of the newsletter? Is it under "Look and Feel"?

Thanks [img]

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Yes. All the templates are under Look & Feel -> Skin -> skin_newsletter.
It's very important to keep in mind that the distributed newsletter knows nothing about IPB CSS classes (at least not in this version, though that may change in a future release). This means that you'd need to work with inline styles to get the look you want.

[Jinkler]

I guess you could opt-in only the Administrators, and then let your members know via forum? I'm not sure how you envision this working. Tell me what behavior you'd like to see, and I'll see if I can work that in.

If I could somehow select which groups to send it (which it currently does), but ONLY send to those who have opted-in to the newsletter via their UCP, then that covers it. At the moment, if I understand correctly, then it automatically opts-in everyone within that usergroup, which technically speaking, is against the law, and is classed as spam, and could also get your IP address of your server blacklisted! :(

[HeadStand]

If I could somehow select which groups to send it (which it currently does), but ONLY send to those who have opted-in to the newsletter via their UCP, then that covers it. At the moment, if I understand correctly, then it automatically opts-in everyone within that usergroup, which technically speaking, is against the law, and is classed as spam, and could also get your IP address of your server blacklisted! [img]

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OK, I see what you're saying.

Yes, I can change that. So, here's how I imagine it would work:
Please confirm that the above makes sense.

1. [*]The current "Default Groups" option would be used to auto-subscribe certain groups. This can be left blank. [*]A new setting "Permissions" would determine which groups are allowed to subscribe to the Newsletter (currently all groups can subscribe to all newsletters) [*]When the newsletter goes out, it would first check if anyone was auto-subscribed. If so, it would use the current functionality. If not, it would skip the default list and only send to those that are subscribed.
   
   
   

[Jinkler]

The above sounds good :)

A couple of feature suggestions for you if you're interested as well?

1) A hook, which allows members to subscribe/unsubscribe via a simple button in the global sidebar would also be pretty handy :) Maximum exposure (and ease of sign-up) would be generated for all your users.

2) At the bottom of all newsletters, to comply with anti-spam laws, must be an "unsubscribe" link. I'll be adding this myself manually via look and feel, but if it could be added into the software that'd make it that much more professional.

[HeadStand]

The above sounds good [img]

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Great, thanks. I'll include it in the next version. Please note that the next version will be upgraded for 3.2. Will that be an issue for you? Do you specifically need this for 3.1.4?

A couple of feature suggestions for you if you're interested as well?

Always! :)

1) A hook, which allows members to subscribe/unsubscribe via a simple button in the global sidebar would also be pretty handy [img]

' alt='' class='ipsImage' >[/img] Maximum exposure (and ease of sign-up) would be generated for all your users.

So... a sidebar block with a list of all newsletters? Good idea. The link, however, would just be a link to the UCP instead of direct subscription. This way I can cache the content instead of having to run queries on every page hit.

2) At the bottom of all newsletters, to comply with anti-spam laws, must be an "unsubscribe" link. I'll be adding this myself manually via look and feel, but if it could be added into the software that'd make it that much more professional.

Yes, the next version will have a standard header and footer (both optional) for each newsletter. The footer will default to an unsubscribe link, but can of course be modified.

[Jinkler]

A sidebar link to the newsletter section of the UCP would work just as well, as many people don't really ever explore the UCP.

I've no plans to upgrade to 3.2 though :( (I've a lot of custom stuff which would need redoing, and the upgrade to 3.2 doesn't justify it for me just yet, so sticking with 3.1.4 for, well, probably the next 12 months).

[HeadStand]

I've no plans to upgrade to 3.2 though [img]

[/img] (I've a lot of custom stuff which would need redoing, and the upgrade to 3.2 doesn't justify it for me just yet, so sticking with 3.1.4 for, well, probably the next 12 months).

That's fine. I haven't even started upgrading this mod to 3.2 yet, so I can do the new features first, release an interim version, and then release the 3.2 version after that.

[RichardA]

To comply with UK laws, I do belive you have to have your mailing address sent out somewhere in the email as well.

[Jinkler]

That's fine. I haven't even started upgrading this mod to 3.2 yet, so I can do the new features first, release an interim version, and then release the 3.2 version after that. [img]

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Brill, Thanks :)

[HeadStand]

To comply with UK laws, I do belive you have to have your mailing address sent out somewhere in the email as well.

You'll be able to put anything you want in the header and footer, so that should take care of it.

[markopolo2002]

To comply with UK laws, I do belive you have to have your mailing address sent out somewhere in the email as well.

From my experience of sending mass mailings, the best thing you could do is put the 'unsubscribe' option right at the top, make it obvious otherwise people will just mark unwanted mail as junk!

[markopolo2002]

Any ETA on a 3.2 version?

[HeadStand]

Any ETA on a 3.2 version?

I'm hoping within the next week.

I'm wrapping up a fairly big project for a client, so that's been taking most of my time. Keep watching this topic for updates.

[markopolo2002]

Sounds good, thanks :)

[Jinkler]

Hi Esther,

I've set it to send myself an email once per day, I haven't received anything yet though (been waiting about a week, lol). Where should I start looking?

[HeadStand]

Hi Esther,

I've set it to send myself an email once per day, I haven't received anything yet though (been waiting about a week, lol). Where should I start looking?

PM coming your way.

[surinp3]

Any news on 3.2?

Not trying to stress you out, just curious. :)

[markopolo2002]

Any news on 3.2?

Not trying to stress you out, just curious. :smile:

Yeh, I'd kinda forgotten about this one too :poke:

[HeadStand]

Here's what's happening: I had promised an interim release with some additional features - that will still be compatible with 3.1.x. I currently have someone testing that version.

As soon as I get the OK on that, I will release BOTH versions to the Marketplace.

[ToeJam]

Nothing yet?

[DoorMadeEasy]

can i inesrt email address to send them mail ?

[JaguarForum]

ohhhh any news? :)

[markopolo2002]

Think the introduction of HTML emails will be contributing to the delay of this one now :frantics:

[vitoreis]

One more waiting for 3.2 version!