1.10. 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.
