Automatic Email Options
Without Acknowledgement messages, changes
to the mailing list are processed "silently" without any advice
given to the user whether they have successfully joined/left the list.
Enable Acknowledgement so a confirmation is sent by e-mail to the
user when changes are made to the list. View the comparison of automatically sent messages
for a better understanding of acknowledgement and welcome messages.
Acknowledgement messages advise users of the outcome of any mailing list changes they have requested:
Subscribe: When a user tries to add him/herself
Unsubscribe: When a user tries to remove him/herself
Modify: When they request an update of their email address
Vacation: When they temporarily disable or re-enable sending using the Vacation command
These commands
are explained in the Quick
Start Guide.
Customizing Messages for your Groups
The message you specify is the default message for the mailing list, so it is used for any group for which you have not specified a custom message. You can customize the message for a group or disable sending altogether by selecting File > Options, Edit Group, Messages tab
%Result% Field
By default, the message body contains the field %RESULT%. During processing this text will be replaced with a short summary of the process success or failure, e.g.
When subscribing: "The address, jsmith@abc.com, was successfully added to the group, SomeGroup"
When unsubscribing: "There is no record of the e-mail address, jsmith@abc.com, in the group, SomeGroup"
This field is optional (you can leave it out if you prefer). You can change the text that is used for the result field by editing the Localize.txt file (the language can also be modified, see below).
You can also specify the %GROUP% field which will be replaced by the name of the group the user is joining or leaving
Conditional Text
You can specify text in your message that is only displayed when the action is successful or not. For example, offering some advice when an unsubscribe fails because the address cannot be found in the mailing list.
Specify your conditional text between %CONDITION:SUCCESS=TRUE% and %CONDITION:END%
Optionally specify alternative text using %CONDITION:ELSE%
For example:
%CONDITION:SUCCESS=TRUE%We are sad to see you leaving our mailing list!%CONDITION:ELSE%Check that you have specified that address with which you signed up to our mailing list. If you have any problems please email the webmaster.%CONDITION:END%
Note: Vacation messages are a special case, whereby %CONDITION:SUCCESS=TRUE% indicates the user enabled vacation mode and %CONDITION:SUCCESS=FALSE% indicates they disabled it
Options
Send a Copy of Failures
If a user's attempt to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc failed then you can specify an address to CC the acknowledgement message to
Note: You
can also access this information in "Processing Errors" mode,
under History in the
main window
Processing Summary Language
You can select the language that is used for the processing summary by selecting it from the drop-down box (replacing the %Result% field).
The text that is used for the processing summary is stored in the file, Localize.txt. Edit this file to customize the text or add a language
If you specify a foreign language for the processing summary, you can also include an English translation of the text by specifying the %ResultInEnglish% field in your message (in addition to the %Result% field which will be filled with the text in your selected language).
Other Messages
Welcome Messages
Welcome messages are sent the first time a user joins a particular group. They differ from Subscribe Acknowledgement messages in that:
Welcome Message are only sent the first time that a user is successfully added to a group
The %RESULT% field is not supported
The message you specify is the only the default welcome message for the mailing list, so it is used when someone subscribes to a group for which you have not specified a custom welcome message. You can customize the welcome message for a group by selecting File > Options, Edit Group, Messages tab
Use the Delayed Messages button to send multiple messages when a user joins a group, e.g. send a follow-up after 60 days.
Reminder messages are follow-up messages that are sent on the anniversary of a user joining a group (e.g. every 12 months after they joined). Typically these are used to remind a subscriber about the group and the options available to them, but they could also be used to handle delivery of annual accounts, etc.
You can specify the frequency of reminders as well as whether the reminder is delayed when you send them their regular messages. These options are located under File > Options, Sending, Other Sending Options.
The message you specify is the only the default reminder message for the mailing list, so it is only used if you have not specified custom reminder messages for any of the groups to which the members is subscribed. You can customize the reminder message for a group by selecting File > Options, Edit Group, Messages tab
The actual date that the message is sent to each member is controlled by the "Last Reminder" field. If you want to delay the sending of a reminder for some recipients, select them then choose "Home", Member, Other, Update Field of Members. Set the "Last Reminder" date to something more recent than your reminder period
Birthday Greeting
Specify a special message to be sent to members on their birthday (if it has been specified for the member)
If you frequently respond to messages with common text, you might have a need for auto-responder functionality. This function detects messages containing certain text and responds with your pre-built message. This is particularly useful for web forms that invite a user to provide their e-mail address for further information. You can even use Personalization fields so that the response is customized with the user's name, for example.
Review the Automatic Message Responding page for more information.
See Also