You can now create saved filters on your contacts database using our segmentation filter.

You can then use this filter when sending an e-mail campaign to quickly send to the specified contacts.

For full details, please see our help article on setting up a saved contact filter.

It is now possible to specify which version of your e-mail campaign (TEXT or HTML) you wish the View Online link to display.

The default view online link as shown below will always take the recipient through to whichever version they received (TEXT or HTML):

[viewonline]Click here to view this e-mail in your web browser[/viewonline]

To override this default behaviour, just edit the code as show below:

[viewonline:HTML]Click here for the HTML version in your web browser[/viewonline:HTML]
[viewonline:TEXT]Click here for the TEXT version in your web browser[/viewonline:TEXT]

For more details please see our help article about adding unsubscribe and view online links to your e-mail campaigns.

We’ve added a new feature into Suite26 today that allows you to import your e-mail campaign content directly from a URL.

Many of our customers have their e-mail campaigns designed by agencies which then host them online to view, whilst some customers design their campaigns in a program such as Dreamweaver and then host their on their own webspace for testing.

When you create a new campaign with Suite26 you simply need to enter the URL where your campaign is hosted when you reach stage 3 of the add wizard:

Suite26 will then go to that URL and get the HTML and CSS along with downloading the images into the File Manager.

After a few seconds you should automatically have your campaign content created and fully hosted within Suite26.   The import process will even automatically create the plain text version based on the text within your campaign.

All you need to do is check the content, make any final adjustments or changes and you are ready to send!

Suite26 now supports an alternative WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor for creating and editing your HTML e-mail campaigns.

We now support both the existing editor, TinyMCE, and the new editor, FCKeditor, leaving you free to switch to whichever editor you find easier to use.

Above, the FCKeditor in use and below the TinyMCE editor.

For current users of Suite26 you will find that we have left the default WYSIWYG set to TinyMCE to avoid confusion.  New users of Suite26 will have FCKeditor set as the default.

To switch to the editor your prefer, or to disable the editor completely, just click on the Options tab and then Preferences.

Suite26 now fully supports DomainKeys, DKIM, SPF and SenderID for users who wish to improve the deliverability of their campaigns and reduce the risk of being caught by spam filters.

E-Mail authentication is used by a number of ISPs, large and small, in the fight against spam.  E-Mail which has been authenticated ensures that it has been sent from a server which is legitimately allowed to send mail for the sending domain, improving deliverability and sometimes reducing the chance of it being flagged as spam.

Some webmail services also provide a visual indication to the user receiving the mail that e-mail has been authenticated and successfully verified.   For example in Yahoo! webmail the user will see a small symbol with a key next to the sender’s e-mail address.  This visual indication shows you have taken the time and effort to authenticate your domain and can project a more professional image.

Above, how an e-mail would display in Yahoo! webmail when if has been successfully authenticated by DomainKeys and below how it would look if it had not been.

It’s fairly easy to setup authentication in Suite26.  All you need to do is choose a domain you wish to send mail from (we recommend using a sub-domain or one specially registered for the purpose) and add that domain to Suite26.   We will provide you with 4 entries that need to be made to the DNS for that domain.  Once those entries have been made, any mail you send from that domain via Suite26 will be authenticated.

For more details, please visit our Help Centre and read the article about E-Mail Authentication and once you are ready to set it up please read our setting up E-Mail Authentication article.

We’ve recently made a few adjustments to our website at www.26.co.uk - most notably we’ve now included a Help Centre.

Over the coming days and weeks we’ll be filling it with loads of e-mail marketing articles, tips and step-by-step guides for using Suite26.

If you need any help with Suite26 and you cannot find the answer in the Help Centre then just get in touch with us and we’ll help you out.

We’d like to start by saying thank you to everybody who has contacted us recently with suggestions of features they would like to see implemented into Suite26.  Please keep them coming to suggestions@26.co.uk

From this feedback we would like to announce two small new features which may be useful in some circumstances.

Disable WYSIWYG Editor:

Some users design their e-mail templates in their favourite design program (Dreamweaver etc) and host the images for their mailer on their own servers.  In these cases it may be desirable to bypass the built-in WYSIWYG editor functionality. 

To turn off the WYSIWYG you will need to click on the Options tab, then Preferences and tick the Disable WYSIWYG Editor checkbox. With the editor disabled you will simply be provided with a standard text box to paste your HTML code into.

Disable Link Tracking:

Suite26 has always had the ability to turn tracking (opens & clicks) off on a per e-mail basis (available from the Send Campaign wizard), but it is now possible to disable tracking for a specific link within a campaign.

You may want to do this if you have a link which you wish to insert personalised information into (such as a membership number or e-mail address).  To disable tracking for a specific link you will need to switch the WYSIWYG editor into HTML code view and edit the link to add so that it contains rel=”s26-no-track” - your link should look like this:

<a rel=”s26-no-track” href=”http://www.mylinkhere.com/mylink.html”>

If you require any help with these new features or need further information, please e-mail support@26.co.uk and we will be happy to assist.

We’ve been up and running for just over six weeks now and the initial feedback from our users has been great.  We just wanted to give you a very brief update on some of the features and improvements we are working on at the moment and which you can expect shortly….

- Ability to import e-mail campaign content from a URL.
- SOAP based API for managing contacts, campaigns and reports.
- Selected reports can be exported CSV file.
- Allow contacts to be updated in bulk via a file upload.
- Custom contact segmentation via an easy to use filter.
- Comprehensive help and documentation area.

We’ve got loads more features and updates waiting in the wings which we will announce in due course.

If you have any ideas or suggestions on how Suite26 could be improved to further improve your online marketing campaigns, please drop an e-mail to suggestions@26.co.uk and we will consider implementing them into our future development plans.