Tag: Email tools

Data

Fill the gap

3 minute read
Mel Jewell Mel Jewell

Through our extensive travels around multiple email platforms we have noticed that whilst they all do the basics really well, sometimes there is just that missing bit of key functionality that you long for, or it just doesn’t quite work how you want. So, you find yourself doing things the hard way and dreaming of a day where all you need to do is push a button and it all magically happens. But how can you fill the gap?

Well, we thought “why not do something about it?” and came up with our own solutions that anybody can take advantage of. Fortunately, most email platforms provide their own API integrations so these solutions, where required, should be adjustable to suit each platform.

Fill the gap scenario 1: list splitting

You may have a list held in your platform and for whatever reason you need to split it into 2 or more chunks. In theory this is possible with A/B testing but not if you need it for some other purpose.

The hard way: download the data, stick it into a database, run some SQL on it to output however many chunks you want, reimport.

The easy way: use a tool which lets you enter a list identifier, what you want to call the new lists and how many splits you want and it will run the downloading, SQL and reimporting for you whilst you eat that biscuit.

List Splitting

Demo

Here’s a demo of how a tool to split files could work (since it’s a demo we’re restricting to a 1 column file, txt or csv only, and we’ll only split out 100 records):

File to Upload:

No Splits:
Random:

Fill the gap scenario 2: list limiting

It could be possible that you have a list held in your platform, but for now you only need to send a small amount from it.

The hard way: you download your list, recreate it to the size you want and reimport.

The easy way: use a tool which lets you enter a list identifier, what you want to call it and how many rows and it will run the downloading, limiting and reimporting whilst you sit back with that cup of tea.

List Limiting

Fill the gap scenario 3: campaign send going slow?

It could be that something seems to be going slightly awry with a campaign send and it’s being very slow or stopped delivering entirely.

The hard way: you download all that should be sent and check the send status, then run some group counts on the domains of the unsent emails using Excel or SQL.

The easy way: use a tool that lets you identify a campaign send by its ID that will download all the unsent emails and run the count for you before displaying the results to you so you can see where the roadblock is whilst you get some darts practice in.

Queued Domains

Fill the gap scenario 4: campaign send delivered poorly?

If your campaign didn’t perform as well as you hoped and you suffered a lot of soft bounces, and you want to try a resend down different IPs for example then you will want to pull them into a new list.

The hard way: you may have to go into the campaign send, download all the soft bounces and reimport into a new list. Not so bad…assuming it’s just the one campaign…

The easy way: use a tool that can let you input one or more, campaign ID that will identify just the soft bounced records and reimport that into a new list for you whilst you put your feet up and think about your next holiday.

SB Resends

I’m sure there are countless other niggling little things that a simple solution using API can be found for that will save you time and frustration – we’re always looking to innovate where we can, so why not ask us if you have a problem, and let’s see if we can come up with a solution. You can always check out some more information on ways we’ve tried to solve other development problems here.

Data

Generate a PDF on the fly

4 minute read
Mel Jewell Mel Jewell

What do you do if you need to send a document to a bulk mailing list (let’s say 5,000 for argument’s sake) that is unique to each person? For example, confirmation of a booking, a pre-populated form to be sent back, a quote, an invoice, a printable document…the list goes on. You can’t jolly well sit down and make one for each person, host them, and send everyone an individual link. That would be a colossal waste of time and resources. But what you can do is create auto-generated PDFs (the ideal format to be accessible across a multitude of systems and devices) that you can simply drop in the personalised details for each recipient and let the tool do its magic.

 

How does a PDF generator work?

As long as everything required for the PDF is stored for all recipients in your mailing platform, this will get passed along to the PDF generator URL held within your email template. When the link is clicked, the tool generates and redirects your customer to their own auto-generated PDF. It will get regenerated with each new click, so if space is an issue you can remove the PDFs. The only real design consideration for the PDF is how many characters could the personalised information be. Will it fit in any gaps you have provided in your document? The tool will allow for automatic line and page breaks so with a thoughtful design this should be an easily avoidable issue. It basically creates everything on a grid system, and you tell it what each cell should contain to give you total freedom across a page.

 

How complex can the PDF designs be?

You have control over the major elements of any design so it should be possible to create professional looking documents or replicate any existing document to a high degree using this auto-generator.


Fonts

Besides the standard font families you would expect, you can include your own fonts based upon .ttf, .otf or .pfb files. You just need a font definition file link. You can choose whatever size you need your copy to be, variable across the document sections, and style your text how you want with usual modifiers like bold, underlined and italics. There is no reason you cannot stay on brand.

 


Images

You simply need to link to a hosted image, set your dimensions and you can drop them in wherever you like. JPG, PNG and GIF are the currently supported image types.

 


Colours

You can change the colour of text, borders and the background using the whole array of RGB values. You can even change colour mid-sentence if you like, which is useful for example for highlighting a link.

 

 


Links

You can add hyperlinks to the document encapsulating both text and images.

 

See it in action

Want to see a PDF document generated on the fly? Filling out this form will replace the action of pre-selected information sent to the PDF generator inside an email, just to show how quick and painless the process is. There may even be a reward in it for you…

 

Design your email







Through this demonstration you can see the control you have over fonts (font sizing, colour and decoration), images, page orientation, borders, links, page and line breaks. You can find the full range of functions available here.

Just get in contact if this project is of interest on +44 (0)131 557 7780, via our online form or email us directly and we’ll be happy to help.

Data

Subject Line Analysis at your fingertips

3 minute read
Mel Jewell Mel Jewell

Subject Line Analysis Tool

In some ways, a subject line can be the most important part of your email. If you don’t entice people to open your email, then they won’t click through to your website, which is pretty much the point of an email marketing campaign!

It can sometimes be tricky though to come up with the perfect subject line, and this is where A/B testing can come in – testing different types of subject lines against each other and picking the winner.

But are companies just stopping there, and not absorbing each newly gleaned bit of information about their subject line performance to trickle down to the next one? There is a wealth of information at your fingertips from historical campaigns if you just know where to look.

Well, we know where to look! Our subject line analysis tool lets you compare a planned subject line with your previously used subject lines to gauge how well it may perform.

We also have the ability, for non-clients, to compare subject lines against our entire database, which we can share the results of, whilst keeping everything anonymous.

And if that’s not enough, we can also take subject lines from your ESP campaigns and slot them into your own version of the tool.

How does it work?

All you have to do it enter your subject line (and if you are planning on using personalised fields add those inside {{ }} so they are flagged). Your proposed subject line will then be analysed by our algorithm for its component parts, including:

  • Length
  • Use of emojis
  • Use of personalisation like first names
  • Characters like exclamation marks or question marks
  • Capitalised words
  • Social media hash tags

This will then be compared against your database, and against the benchmarks set by all available data we have, so you can see how your data compares against the masses.

Then you can make an educated guess about just how successful your subject line may be.

Results and Insights

Looks like emojis are a good idea…

Emoji results

Social media too…

Social Media results

Maybe lay back on the exclamation marks…

Exclamation Mark Results

Let’s see how the top matches did…

Top Matching

Of course the more data you have, the more insight you can extract. If you’ve only ever sent one campaign with, say, an emoji it can unfairly skew the results. You need to build up a big enough pool to make tangible comparisons from to help guide your subject line building processes. Speaking of guides, we have a great one for the best way to conduct A/B testing.

Generic Insights

Maybe you haven’t started yet and just want to get a feel for what generally does or doesn’t work for subject lines. We have pulled together some more generic stats:

Generic Comparison

True, this one is a bit obvious, but we have many more where this came from – we can’t give away all the goodies for free!

If this tool piques your interest, why not contact Mike, mike@displayblock.com, or Tony, tony@displayblock.com for more information, or call 0131 557 7780.

Email coding

Tips from a Junior Email Developer

4 minute read
Gareth McCabe Gareth McCabe

As a fresh media graduate looking to make a start in my career, I did not expect to join the email development industry. I was familiar with web development, but had little knowledge of how an email developer works.

Joining this new and unfamiliar industry was a challenge, there was a lot of information to learn quickly since email development is a fast paced and busy industry.

From my own experience, here are some tips that I can share from my brief time as a junior email developer.

Ask for help

Chances are, you are going to get stuck or confused. It’s always better to ask a quick question to someone with more experience instead of struggling for hours on end because you’re too stubborn to ask for help. It’s also a great learning opportunity to figure out how you can improve in different areas and also learn new skills.

Once you get started building emails and developing campaigns by yourself, it is a good idea to ask your colleagues to check your work and give feedback on what you have been doing well, as well as any mistakes that they have noticed.

Juggling multiple projects at a time can be stressful and you may start to feel overwhelmed sometimes, so it’s more than acceptable to ask a colleague to cover a task you may not have time to complete. There is no shame in admitting you have too much on your plate as a beginner, and overall it will benefit your mental health by not being over-stressed whilst you are still trying to get the hang of things.

Skills to succeed as an email developer

Starting in email development, you need a dynamic set of skills that will help you succeed in your new role. From more obvious skills such as knowledge of HTML and CSS, to more personal skills such as understanding your client’s needs. Being able to pick up new software and learning new skills quickly will benefit you greatly. There are a number of different tools that I have had to learn since starting and I expect to keep learning many more as I carry on my career in email development.

Having a keen eye and attention to detail is integral to producing high quality campaigns for your client, so it is important to take your time and make sure that you double check your work before finalising anything. Yes, you will make mistakes but it’s all part of the learning process and developing your skills as an email developer.

Discovering how to properly format my code was something I had to learn how to do from starting as a junior email developer. It’s definitely something I have not mastered yet, but having a clean HTML file allows not only yourself to notice mistakes more easily, but if a colleague needs to check your work, your code will be legible compared to a jumbled mess.

Understand job priority and manage your time wisely. You may have several briefs come in at once so making sure you know what is important will help you stay on top of deadlines. Once you have been working for a while, you will understand the average time it takes to build certain emails so you can use this knowledge to your advantage.

Working Environment

Making sure you have a work environment that works for you is essential to not only your work efficiency but your physical and mental health. Investing in good quality hardware will ultimately save you time and money, as well as help improve your comfort whilst working. Personally, I use a wireless keyboard and mouse so my workstation can be dynamic.

Additionally, using a secondary monitor can help spread your workload so you don’t feel claustrophobic whilst working with multiple programs. Having a neat and clean desk helps to minimise distractions whilst working, it’s also just nicer to not be working in a cluttered mess for hours a day!

As an email developer, you’re classed as a Display Screen Equipment (DSE) User, so make sure to take breaks every so often to minimise repetitive strain injury. Prolonged activity sitting down and looking at a screen will not be beneficial to your health so it’s recommended to take short breaks every so often.

Additional Tips

When you’re just getting started there is a lot of information to remember, if you struggle at first then you can make physical notes to keep. Having something to refer back to when you are struggling to remember key details will save you time and help you feel less stressed, especially if you have a deadline coming up. You could take notes of shortcuts or tasks you have left to do, anything you feel is necessary that you may struggle to remember.

Take advantage of making checklists, these are extremely useful for when you are finishing up a project so you can go through and make sure you have not missed any crucial information.

If you can find a way, use different tools to help you get simple tasks done faster. Utilising different snippets and shortcuts will save you heaps of time as well as stop you from typing the same blocks of code, when all you really need is a line. However, remember to keep these updated and always check the code is correct after using, you don’t want to end up with outdated elements!

Within reason, take you time with your projects. Sure, you may be able to rush through five email builds but there is a high chance you will make many mistakes compared to taking your time through two. Remember, you’re creating emails that could be seen by thousands of people so you don’t want to make the company you work for and the client you are representing look bad with huge mistakes often.

Be resilient and persevere, it will take some time to learn but once you have the basics of email development down it will be smooth sailing… at least until the holiday seasons come around.