How to Roll Your Own Email eNewsletter

First things first. Why should you use a third-party email list management company?

1. Because using the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) field in your email program is unprofessional. Also, as your list grows you will have more and more problems managing it and processing unsubscribes.



2. Did I mentioned Unsubscribes? The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 has legal requirements related to sending emails and a reputable list management system will help you satisfy key requirements of the Act.



3. Good list management companies will help you master the entire system from creating lists, using templates to build email newsletters, launching the email newsletters, and more.



4. Using a third-party system doesn't cost much.

Campaigner by Got Corporation has been around since 1999. I started using their services in 2002 and it is an extremely stable system.

To get started with Campaigner, visit their sign up page and register for a free account.

Click to view larger screenshot.

The sign up page is pretty straightforward. Start by clicking on the a Start your free trial link. When you get to the actual sign up form, choose your username carefully because once you create it, you are not allowed to change it.

Click here to sign up with Campaigner

Now that you have your account all set up, you're ready to load your first customer list. What's that? You don't have a customer list? We'll get to that in a bit. For this first part we'll assume you have an email list in some form or another.

How to load your contact list
Do you have more than twenty or so contacts in your list? If yes, then you will want to add the contacts to a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel, format the spreadsheet, then upload it. If you have more than 10,000 emails then you will have to email it to Campaigner and they will upload it for you.

When you set up your contact list, you will have an email_address field and be able to add other list attributes like customer name, address, and preferences. "Attributes" is just a fancy name for the spreadsheet column headers. These fields can help you create more personalized emails, but some people might think it's a bit too much information. I usually take a minimalist approach and just use their email address, first name, last name, and email preference and leave it at that. Then, when I create the newsletter, I can use the built in Campaigner tools to customize each newsletter. You'll see how I do that in STEP THREE.




This is the way I set up my contact spreadsheet. When you load your list, you will select the field types. The first name and last names are just "strings" which means they are free-form text fields. The email address field will be matched up with an "email_address" type field. This is of course the most important field and the only required field. The spreadsheet sample includes a couple of preferences that I will use to decide who gets what types of emails. These preferences will be "checkbox" kinds of fields (called "boolean" fields).

NOTE: You should never harvest email addresses to build a list. The basis of email marketing and newsletters is to get the user's permission to do so. You may have these email addresses in your customer list and they have given you permission to send them stuff. Or you may have these emails in your Rolodex, or from a business card left in a "drop your biz cards with email address here" fishbowl on your counter -- but you need to get permission.

Once you get your contact list loaded, you're ready for STEP THREE.

Let's review. So far you've learned about why you should use a third party email list management system to help manage your email newsletters and you've learned how to structure and upload your first list of contacts.

Now we're ready to create an email campaign. A "campaign" is the term the Campaigner site will use to refer to your email communications. In this case we will create an email newsletter.

1) Once you log into Campaigner, click on the My Projects link or icon (the little file cabinet) on the left part of the page.

2) Then click on the Campaigns folder. Since you're just getting started, you should see the Managing Projects page in the right pane and it should not have any items.

3) Click on the Create button on the right pane. For now, we're just going to create a campaign in this main directory, but you can also create sub-directories by adding a folder.

You should now be on the Create an Item page. You can now decide to either create an email using a Campaigner template, or you can post your own text or HTML. For this tutorial, we will use our own text and HTML to create a campaign. Don't worry, I'll provide the text and HTML for this test run.

4) Under Campaigns, click on the Use your own text or HTML to create a campaign option.




5) Name your campaign and add a description, then click on the Campaigns folder in the Select the folder.. list below.

6) Click on the Next on the bottom right part of the page. You will be taken to the Contact Database Selection page.

7) Click on the "+" sign next to the Contact Lists folder. The folder will expand and show a test list that was created when you first set up your account plus the contact list you created in STEP TWO. If you skipped that step then you can just click on the little test list named Sample List.

8) Click on the list then the screen will update and show the name of the selected contact database and the number of contacts in that list.

9) Click on the Next button. Now we're at the heart of the campaign. Enter the Subject line that you want to show on the email. Then enter your name or company name in the From Name box.

10) In the Your available 'From' Addresses drop down, you will only see one option, Campaigner-generated address. We need to add you email address. So click on the Add a 'From' Address button. Enter your email address then click on the Send Validation Email button. Once you do that you can close that little window verifying that a validation email was sent

11) Go to your personal email, wait a minute or two for the confirmation email to show up from Campaigner, then click on the confirmation link.

12) Now wait a minute or two then go back to the Campaigner screen and click on the updated my list link. Your email address should show up on the drop down list. Select it from the list.

13) Scroll down to the HTML Content section then save this .txt file to your computer. To save it, right mouse click on the Sample HTML link and select Save Target As.

Sample HTML

14) Open the .txt file and cut and paste the HTML text in the file into the HTML Content box on Campaigner.

15) Want some instant gratification? OK, then click on the Preview link just above the HTML Content text box. You should get a pop-up window (you may have to turn off your Yahoo or Google toolbar pop-up blocker if you have them) with a sample view of your email.

This should get your creative juices flowing. So, close the Preview window then scroll down to the Text view box. Enter your own email "creative" then click on the Preview link again. This time, when the Preview page comes up, click on the Text link at the top of the page to preview the text version of the email. Close the Preview window.

16) You can also use this page to insert information from your contact list. Go back to the Text area you just edited then click on the Add a wildcard to your message... drop down list and select a contact list attribute like First_Name if you used the contact list format I suggested in STEP ONE. Click on the Insert button.

This will make that information (contact list field) show up on the email when it is eventually sent. After you insert that information, click on the Preview link again and test it out. You may have to cut and paste the field that is inserted to move it to a better location in the email. If you did first name you could move it to the beginning of the email and write "Hi" then add the [first_name] wildcard after it.



This is what the text field would look like after adding the First_Name wildcard. I added a comma and a couple of line breaks so that it looks better.



This is the text preview from Campaiger. Notice you have to click on the Text link at the top of the Preview screen. It shows HTML by default. Close the Preview window.

17) At the bottom of the page, click on Either option as your email format. I always use this option. If a user can accept HTML then the email will be sent in that format. If they only can view text emails then they will receive the text version.

18) Exciting! You get to click the Next button again. Click it.

19) Select the language in which you want the Unsubscribe instructions to appear. Click on the Next button after making your selection.

20) If you have links in your email, you can track them. Campaigner can tell you how many people clicked on a link on your email. This is a useful feature and can provide some useful feedback on what people do once they get your emails. Click Next after you make you choices.

21) Set the Reply address that you would like to use. If you like, you can also automatically send an email when someone replies. People may reply asking for a quote or to buy your product so it's nice to give them an instant message. If you send this email to a large list you may also get a lot of "Out of office" replies from your contacts. They would also get this reply. Add your message if you decide to send an instant reply then click on the Next button.

22) Send a test! By default, your sign up email address will appear in the Insert the test email... textbox. Click on the Send Test button and you'll get an alert message saying that your test was sent. Check your email and see how your email looks.

Note: if you entered any kind of wildcard like First_Name, you will not see a name, only the wildcard. However, if you select the second option, Or send your test email to a test contact list, then you can send it to the default test list that is added when you sign up. That list is located under the Contact Lists folder. If you send a test from that list the value of the wildcard will show up.

23) Did things show up perfectly in your email? If not, then go back and edit the HTML or text email and go back and test again. Once the email looks right, click on the Next button.

24) You can schedule your campaign to be sent out or you can choose to save this campaign as is by clicking on the Save Unscheduled button. If you've already created your own campaign and are ready to really launch the email newsletter then select your desired launch time and click on the Next button.

25) If you are ready to launch, you will be prompted to select a subscription plan. Then you can confirm your email newsletter launch time.

26) Once you launch your email, you can go back to your campaign properties and report on your campaign. If you haven't sent your campaign yet, then this is how you jump back into edit mode. Notice the tiny Edit link at the top right of the screenshot below.

Congratulations! You are now armed with everything you need to create and launch your own email newsletters. Whether you are spreading information to your company or organization, trying to stay in touch with your customers, or sharing your own personal "message" remember that permission is golden.

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If after this great tutorial you find that you still need help with your email newsletters, feel free to contact me at .