Introduction to Modular Mailer

[Mail Bag]

Introduction

What is the purpose of this document?

The purpose of this manual is to provide instruction on using the Modular Mailer module. This includes how to:

• Create a reusable email template
• Create a chronological series of emails to be sent to customers
• Automatically sign a customer up to receive a series of emails
• Send an email to a selection of customers
• Track who's reading the emails you've sent, and which links in the email they're following
• Schedule an email for delivery either immediately or at a later date
• Use QuickCode Tags to personalize emails for each recipient

Prerequisites

The instructions in this manual assume that the reader already has a basic understanding of how to construct a Plain Text or HTML email message; including working with HTML source code, and creating links, tables, styles and images for use in email. A tutorial on this prerequisite is outside the scope of this guide. However, if you require instruction on these items, many free resources and tutorials are available on the Internet, and a variety of books are available in the computer section of your local bookstore.

Modular Mailer uses Customer Groups to determine the recipients of email messages. This manual assumes that the reader has a basic understanding of how to create and manage Customer Groups from within their store's administration area. A refresher course on Customer Groups can be found on page 36 of the Modular Merchant Administrator's Guide, available at:
http://www.modularmerchant.com/docs/Admin_Manual.pdf

This manual also makes use of selected Modular Merchant QuickCode Tags. A QuickCode Tag is a pseudo HTML tag developed by Modular Merchant, for use in your store's webpage and email templates. A familiarity with using QuickCode Tags is assumed.

A QuickCode Tag is formatted like this: {SAMPLE-QUICKCODE-TAG}. When viewed in a web browser, QuickCode Tags will be translated into the appropriate content. For example, {COMPANY-NAME} will display as your company's name. Various QuickCode Tags are used to display custom content in your emails. More information on QuickCode Tags can be found in the online QuickCode glossary, available at:
http://www.modularmerchant.com/quickcode/

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Terminology: What we'll be calling things

Let's define the terms used throughout this guide:

Modular Mailer:
Modular Mailer is the name of this add-on module in your store's administration area. It is located at: [Navigation Menu > Modules > Modular Mailer]. It is sometimes referred to as simply Mailer by particularly savvy members of the Modular Merchant Support Staff.

Customer Group:
A Customer Group is a selection of customers that you create in your store's administration area. Customers can be appended or removed from existing Customer Groups, or added to a new Customer Group, on the Search Customers page in your store's administration area. A Customer Group Editor is also available in the Groups & Zones section of your store's administration area.

Email Queue:
Every email that is created by Modular Mailer has a delivery date assigned to it ## even if that delivery date is "now". Emails with a delivery date in the future are stored in your store's Email Delivery Queue until they are due for delivery. The emails in the Queue can be searched, reviewed, put on hold or deleted.

Email Template:
Every email delivered by the Modular Mailer system is based on a template you create. Templates contain the email's contents, such as: who the email is from, the subject, text-only version of the message, HTML version of the message, and more. Each email message can have its own template. Multiple emails can also share the same email template.

Email Series:
A Series is a group of emails that will be delivered in chronological order. Each email in the series is referred to as a "Step". Use the Series Editor in the Modular Mailer administration area to create and manage email series.

Series Step:
A Step refers to an individual email included in an Email Series. Each email in the series is a separate step. Each step has its own scheduled delivery date, which can be minutes, hours, days or even weeks apart. Use the Series Editor in the Modular Mailer administration area to manage the steps within an Email Series.

Email Instance:
An Instance refers to an email message, or group of email messages, that have been scheduled for delivery to its recipient. Emails that are scheduled for delivery on a future date become an Instance as soon as they enter the Email Queue. Emails that are scheduled to be delivered immediately (and thus never wait in the Queue) become an Instance as soon as they leave the server on the way to their recipient.

QuickCode Tag:
A QuickCode Tag is a pseudo HTML tag developed by Modular Merchant, for use in your email templates. A QuickCode Tag is formatted like this: {SAMPLE-QUICKCODE-TAG}. When used in an email message created by Modular Mailer, QuickCode Tags will be translated into the appropriate content. For example, {COMPANY-NAME} will display as your company's name. Many QuickCode Tags are available for displaying such things as the recipient's name, email address, billing address, etc.

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Modular Mailer Module OverviewWhat does this module do?

The Modular Mailer module is designed to allow the admin to do several things:

• send a single personalized email message to a selection of customers (such as a newsletter),
• create a series of personalized email messages that a customer will receive at specified dates,
• automatically sign a customer up to receive a series of emails when they perform certain tasks, such as when they purchase a specified product (also known as an "autoresponder").

For instance, the examples throughout this manual will use a fictional store selling cat care accessories to demonstrate Modular Mailer's capabilities. In this vein, Modular Mailer could be used to do the following...

• Send a monthly newsletter to all the customers in the store.
• Send an email advertising a special on cat leashes to all the customers who purchased a cat collar within the past 90 days.
• Create a pre-made series of emails containing cat care tips that will automatically be sent to customers once a week over the next several months when they purchase a specific brand of cat food.

What else does this module do?

Whenever possible, this module will also track statistics about the emails it sends. Information such as which email instances have been opened by the recipient and which links in the email they've clicked on will be recorded in your store records. This data is recorded in real-time, and can be reviewed at any time in the Reports section of the module's administration area.

Note: Certain email applications will block this sort of tracking mechanism. However, if allowed by the recipient's email program, Modular Mailer will track this information.

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The availability and installation of the Modular Mailer module

The Modular Mailer add-on module is located in the Modules section of your store's administration area. (Located at: [Navigation Menu > Modules > Modular Mailer].) To coincide with anti-spam and other security precautions, several requirements must be met in order for the Modular Mailer service to be available in your account:

• Modular Mailer requires account activation.
  (It is not available during an account's free trial period.)
  
  
• Modular Mailer is available with Marketplace 10K and higher accounts.
  (It is not available with Marketplace 1K and Marketplace 3K accounts.)
  
  
• Modular Mailer requires a hosting account.
  (It is not available while a store is hosted in the "modularmerchant.com/clients/" starter area. This is because a dedicated IP address, which is included in a hosting account, is required.)

When the above requirements are met, then the Modular Mailer module will automatically install itself in your store's administration area, unlocking the module's admin tools and adding several new options to the Product Editor. Once it is installed, it is ready to use.
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