The Direct Mail process let you create newsletter pages which can then be emailed to people on a recipient list. The following are the main steps of the Direct mail process:
Creating a newsletter: a newsletter is basically a regular Typo3 page which resides in the Direct Mail folder; you can view the page in a browser and it may also be rendered in plain text.
Categorizing the content elements: you may assign categories to the content elements of the newsletter; the newsletter emailed to each subscriber will be tailored to the categories the subscriber has subscribed to.
Creating a direct mail: a direct mail is a record that contains a compiled version of either a newsletter page or alternatively the content of an external url. In addition, the direct mail contains information like the mail subject, any attachments, priority settings, reply addresses , etc. For each direct mail, a log is kept of who has received the direct mail and if they responded to it.
Building a recipient list: there is a number of ways by which recipient lists may be built. Recipient lists may be built beforehand and be reused as needed.
Sending a test: it is good practice to send a test mail to make sure that the email messages that will be sent to the recipient list look as expected when received in a client email application.
Invoking the mailer engine: schedule the actual sending of the direct mail to a specific recipient list.
Viewing the status of mass mailings: monitor the sending of the direct mails, view response statistics, and take action on returned mails.
At any point, you may, if needed, use the module context sensitive help. Backend forms for editing direct mails and recipient lists also provide context sensitive help on each field.
To access the Direct Mail module, click on the Direct Mail option of the Web section of the backend menu. A list of available Direct Mail folders is presented. Clicking on one of the Direct Mail folders leads you to a page of the Direct Mail the Direct Mail module. Pages of the Direct Mail module have a function menu presented in the upper right corner of the backend frame.
The functions of the Direct Mail module are the following, but their availability may be restricted depending on user access rights:
Newsletters: this function lets you create a new newsletter or select an existing one; you may also select an existing newsletter in the page tree of the Direct Mail folder; selecting an existing newsletter leads you to a screen that lets you view or edit the newsletter, assign categories to the content elements of the page, view direct mails already based on this newsletter page, or create a new one based on it.
Direct Mails: this function lets you create a new direct mail based on a newsletter that has not yet been used to create one, or based on an external URL, or select an existing direct mail; selecting an existing direct mail leads you to a screen that lets you view the current information on the direct mail, edit the properties of the direct mail, and select from a menu of options the action you want to take on the selected direct mail.
Recipient Lists: this function lets you create a new recipient list, import Addresses records from csv data to create a new recipient list, link to a recipient list editing form, or select an existing recipient list; selecting an existing recipient list leads you to a screen that lets you view the number of recipients of each type in the list, with the options to list the recipients or download a csv file.
Mailer Engine Status: this function lets you review the current status of the direct mails that have been scheduled for mass sending, and invoke manually the mailer engine, if it is not configured to be automatically invoked; selecting one of the listed direct mails leads you to the Direct Mails function where you may select to review the statistics of the selected direct mail.
QuickMail: this simple function lets you enter a short message and send it immediately to a recipient list. No newsletter, nor any direct mail is involved in this function.
Categories Conversion: this function is a migration tool that lets you convert your database to the new Direct Mail Categories introduced in version 2.0 of Direct Mail. Please refer to the relevant section of this manual for more information.
Module Configuration: this function is an administration tool used to configure a Direct Mail folder. Please refer to the relevant section of this manual for more information.
You will find context sensitive help on some of the screens of the first five of these functions.
The Direct Mails function has a sub-menu or options menu. This menu lets you select the action you want to perform on a given direct mail. Possible actions are the following, but their availability vary depending on the current state of the direct mail:
Fetch and compile mail content: this option lets you fetch or acquire the content of the direct mail which will be compiled in a special format for later mailing; this action must be performed before any other action may be taken; you should review the properties of the direct mail as presented on the screen, and edit them, if required, before fetching content.
Send a testmail: this option lets you send a test mail to make sure that the email messages that will be sent to the recipient list look as expected when received in a client email application;
Mass-send mail: this option lets you schedule the actual sending of the direct mail to a specific recipient list.
See statistics of this mail: this option lets you review statistics on the direct mail and the responses, and take action on returned mails; this option is available only after mass-sending the mail has been initiated.
You may personalize the direct mails that will be sent to each recipient by inserting the following markers in content elements of the newsletter page. The markers will be substituted with the corresponding value found in each recipient record, whenever available:
###USER_uid### (the unique id of the recipient)
###USER_name### (full name)
###USER_firstname### (first name calculated)
###USER_NAME### and ###USER_FIRSTNAME### will insert uppercase versions of the equivalents
###USER_title###
###USER_email###
###USER_phone###
###USER_www###
###USER_address###
###USER_company###
###USER_city###
###USER_zip###
###USER_country###
###USER_fax###
###SYS_TABLE_NAME###
###SYS_MAIL_ID###
###SYS_AUTHCODE###
Newsletter content may be categorized so that subscribers received only content they have expressed interest in. Subscribers may express their interests by subscribing to specific categories of content. They do so using some frontend plugin provided by extensions such as Direct Mail Subscription (direct_mail_subscription), Front End User Registration (sr_feuser_register) and Email Address Subscription (sr_email_subscribe).
Direct mail categories are created in the backend using standard backend creation/editing forms. They would normally be created in the Direct Mail folder, or a sub-folder, but this depends on the general configuration of your Direct Mail module. The titles of the categories may be localized so that they can be presented in the language of the site visitor and subscriber by the frontend plugins.
For more information on the individual fields found on the creation/editing form of direct mail categories, please use the contextual help attached to each such field.
Once the direct mail categories are created, they may be used to categorize content elements. This may be done either on the normal backend editing form for each content element. It may also be done, for all content elements of a newsletter page, using the Direct mail module as follows:
Select the Newsletters function of the Direct mail module;
Click on one of the newsletters in the list that is presented;
Assign categories to content elements in the relevant section of the form; if you do not set any category for an element, the element will appear in all mails;
Press the button Update category settings at the bottom of the form.
There are five types of Recipient lists:
From pages: a list dynamically built from records found on pages of the website; you select the pages with the Starting Point field; you may include records from subtrees using the Include page subtree checkbox; you must specify the types of records to select: Address, Website User, Website User Group and/or From custom-defined Table; if Website User Group is checked and a Website User Group is found, all Website Users members of the group will be included in the list; you may also restrict the selection of records to those with specific categories assignments;
Plain list: a list of email addresses separated by space, comma or line break; if you change the List format, you may rather enter, one per line, a name and address, separated by a comma; sending Direct mail to such list will send only plain text email messages; moreover, only non-categorized content will be sent;
Static list: a list of individually selected records; the type of record may be Address, Website User, and/or Website User Group; if a Website User Group is selected, all Website Users members of the group will be included in the list;
Special query: a list dynamically built using a SQL query; after creating the list, you may specify the query against one of the tables: Address, Website User or Custom-defined Table; to do so, you must select the Recipient list function of the Direct Mail module and click on the title of the list;
From other recipient lists: a list dynamically built from other recipient lists individually selected from the Recipient list table.
For more information on the individual fields found on the creation/editing form of recipient lists, please use the contextual help attached to each such field.
The Recipient Lists function of the Direct Mail module gives you the option to import a csv, or comma-separated, list of address records and create a recipient list containing the imported records.
The records to import are entered one per line. Each record to import is a comma-separated list of field values. You may also specify the use of a semicolon(;) or of a colon (:) as separator instead of the comma.
On the first line you may enter a comma-separated list of field names. This first line provides the structure for the records that follow. If you do not provide a list of field names on the first line, then the structure of the records is assumed to be “name, email”.
Each field name listed on the first line is analyzed as follows:
the field name may one of the field names from the following list: uid, name, title, email, phone, www, address, company, city, zip, country, fax, module_sys_dmail_html, module_sys_dmail_category;
the field name may be omitted in which case the corresponding values will be skipped or omitted;
the field name may start with “user_”, assuming that table tt_address was extended with the specified field name;
in addition, fields may be suffixed with "[code]"; in this case, when the value in the imported record is not null, “[+value]” adds that number to the field value and ”[=value]” overrides any existing value in the field.
Example of csv field specification:
;user_date;name;email;zip;phone;user_age[=20]
185;12-02-01;Connie Greffel;c.greffel@get2net.dk;;39905067;x
186;12-02-01;Stine Holm;ravnsbjergholm@hotmail.com;;32 96 70 75;
187;12-02-01;Anette Bentholm;madsenbentholm@mail.net4you.dk;;98373677;x
