BetterMail will be down for scheduled maintenance on June 12, 2011 starting at 10pm for one hour. We are upgrading our database servers with the latest software. Thank you for your patience during this time.

Here is what we’ve been up to in the past 3 months:

We installed a new dedicated database server, upgraded the slave DB server and added load balancing for the API servers. What does all this mean to our clients? Faster service with extra redundancy and improved reliability.

We’ve made changes to our billing processes to include more concise notification emails and added overdue payment notices in the interface. Many revisions were also released for the billing engine – while most of the updates were made behind the curtains, the changes will translate into quicker support for billing related questions.

The message editor has also been upgraded to a newer version. The new editor is now the standard content editor for all elements.

We are currently working on a new, site-wide list engine that will result in more consistency and continuity across all pages in your account.

A newer, more intuitive version of the import screen and related pages have been released to address issues around our second most “popular” support calls. *

The updated import process fewer steps to import your contacts, the interface is less cluttered and we’ve added descriptions using help icons (). Mouse over these icons to learn more about the corresponding settings.

There are also four sample import files for you to download and we’ve also added an overview of rules for the upload/import process.

Another new feature for December is the ability to start an autoresponder/engagement campaign on contacts’ anniversary dates (anniversary dates are based on the birth day field) in addition to sending a single birthday message.

It is now possible to export only selected interests and custom fields. The system used to export all interests/custom fields in the past, which resulted in very large data files with many unnecessary fields. The new approach will considerably speed up the export process but some files over 50K records may still be too large for exporting via the interface – we are in the process of addressing this issue by moving the export script to the back-end and sending an email notification when the export is completed. This will eliminate page time-outs and allow for processing more simultaneous export requests.

We recently released a new feature that allows you to archive any message folder and thus hide it from various drop down menus in your account. No more messy, long lists of old and unused messages!

To archive a folder, click on the “Edit folder” link next to the folder’s name and check the “Archive folder” check-box.
Archiving a top-level folder automatically archives all of its sub-folders.

You can use the “Hide archives” link at the top of the message list page to hide archived folders from the messages page. This is a user-based preference, so your choice to hide (or show) the archives will still be in effect the next time you log in.

In addition to archiving, we also introduced a user-based time preference feature accessible from the “My preferences” page. You can set the time and date format you prefer and you will see this change reflected across the interface.

It’s been over a month since the last product update blog entry and one might think that not much is happening on the BetterMail front. The truth is that we’re so busy with development we didn’t have time to blog : ) A number of improvements have been released in the past month with a special focus of making the user interface more intuitive and user-friendly. Several other projects are also in development.

Spring ‘10 Additions & Improvements

On-page error and confirmation messages

We’re on a quest to cut back the number of clicks it takes to perform common actions. You may have already noticed that on many pages after a change is made the confirmation (or error) messages are displayed on the top of the page while the rest of the page is fully loaded below the message. This eliminates the need to click “OK” on the annoying stand-alone confirmation pages.  More than 50% of pages are already converted to using the click-free messages.

Test messages

The “send test messages” popup window got a facelift to include new styles, descriptions, error and confirmation messages. Of course, after the test messages are sent the popup window auto-closes to save one additional click!

Source folders

Source folders were rolled out last week. They work the same way as interest, message and campaign folders.  No more excuse to keep a messy source list.

Auto responder details

The auto responder details page now allows you to preview messages sent by auto responders, jump to the message edit page, view the auto responder campaign stats or edit the same campaign – all from one page. A small change but we find it very helpful (and it also reduces clicks).

Sub-folders for messages

Messages can now be organized using nested folders. This makes it easier to archive old messages or to group them by date or various categories. To create sub-folders scroll down to the bottom of the message list page.

Filtering by interest group

Interest groups have been around for years but until recently there was no option to select contacts by one of the interest groups (individual interests had to be used).  On the filter setup page you can now select “Interest group” as a filter condition.

What’s on the horizon for June/July?

Since the beginning of May we have been beta testing hosted forms! This feature will allow you to control form layout and behaviour directly from the BetterMail interface without having to modify the form code on your website. The hosted forms feature is a major development milestone and we’re glad to announce that it is scheduled to be released in late July 2010.

But before that, we’ll release a number of smaller features such as user based date and time preferences, nested campaign-groups, message archiving and improvements to the export feature.

Thanks for reading, enjoy your summer and don’t be shy to send us an email if you have a cool idea for a new feature!

This new export feature makes it very convenient to export records selected by the current view on the Contact List page.

You can find the new export option on the bottom of the contact list page.

The export file (CSV or TXT) is saved in the Exported Lists folder in the My Web Files area of your account. The file only contains columns selected by the current contact view and unlike working with the classic Export feature you don’t need a pre-defined filter, simply select contacts, enter a file name and click the “Export” button.

Have you ever imagined being able to update a contact’s interests based on the links they click in a message? Stop imagining, now you can do it – with ‘Action Links’ you can automatically trigger virtually any action based on the clicking of a link in a message. You can update a contact’s interests, trigger or de-queue an auto responder, or change subscription status when any specific link is clicked.

It’s easy. You select the link, select what fields, auto responders or interests you want to be able to update when it’s clicked, and tag it as an ‘Action Link’. Any link within a message (direct or autoresponder) can be turned into an action link. They’re easily configured within the User Interface, with one or multiple actions possible at a time and per click. The action takes place in the background and is invisible to contacts – they are instantly taken to the page where the link points just as before.

Here are some examples of how Action Links can be used:

• Create a double opt in: A contact fills out a form to sign up for a newsletter and you want to confirm the email address they’re using. You can send an autoresponder message with an ‘action link’ to confirm the signup, and when the action link is clicked the contact’s subscription status is updated to ’subscribed confirmed’.
• Auto Interest Update: You send an email message that features several links to different sections of your website. Each link can be tagged with interests that match the part of the website that they point to, and the recipient’s contact record updated with their areas of interest.
• Auto triggered messages: You can trigger an autoresponder / send a message when someone clicks on a link.
• Stop a message queue: You can stop an ongoing autoresponder campaign if a contact clicks on a link (sign up links for example).

This is the first of many features that we’ll be releasing this year to expand the engagement automation features of BetterMail that will help improve your online marketing. Please let us know how you’ll use Action Links to make your marketing more powerful!