Mailing List Setup

Setting up your first mailing list

There are generally two main types of mailing lists which are used for email marketing and distribution purposes. These are the "Single Opt-in Mailing List" and the "Double Opt-in Mailing List"..

Single Opt-in Mailing List

• Single opt-in mailing list addresses are generally not confirmed by way of an action on the part of the owner of the subscribing email address after a subscription request or action has been initiated.
• Single opt-in mailing list addresses may have been subscribed by a method or obtained from a source which has not adequately ensured that the recipient has actually subscribed to the list and/or is interested in receiving the messages.

Double Opt-in Mailing List

• Double Opt-in lists are comprised of email addresses which are confirmed by way of an action on the part of the owner of the subscribing email address after a subscription request or action has been initiated such as the filling out of a "Subscribe to our mailing list" type form on a website..
• Usually a request for confirmation is sent to the submitted email address and the address owner must take some action such as replying to an autoreply message or clicking on a link in the message to confirm that they are the owner of the email address and that they wish to subscribe to the mailing.

One of the main differences between Single Opt-in and Double Opt-in lists would be that Double Opt-in lists usually have a higher "open rate" and a higher "click through" rate. This means that Double Opt-in subscribers are more likely to open your email message and also more likely to take action by clicking on a link in the message. Also, Double Opt-in subscribers are more likely to be interested in receiving your messages having taken action to confirm their subscription. Double Opt-in subscribers are also less likely to consider your message as being Spam and less likely to initiate a Spam complaint or report providing that regular contact is maintained and one or more suitable convenient un-subscription methods are provided.

Creating a new mailing list

• To create a new mailing list click on the "Lists" tab.
• On the right side click the button "Create New List"

This will bring up the list creation wizard:

• Enter the name of your list
• Select the subscription type (Single or Double Opt-in)
• You can tick the option to hide the mailing list from subscriber area
• Now click on the "Create List and Edit Confirmation Email"

Now that we have configured the basic list options - we must create the opt-in confirmation emails. These confirmation emails will be activated and sent to the user who is subscribing to our double opt-in mailing list.

The system provides several different methods to set up your Opt-in Confirmation Emails. It is important to note that whatever method is used to create the confirmation emails must include Opt-in Confirm and Opt-in Reject links. These links will allow the subscriber to confirm or reject the subscription.

1. From Scratch
   This option will allow you to compose your email using an HTML editor. You can also paste your own HTML code and create an opt-in confirmation email.

2. Template Gallery
   This option allows you to select a built in template for creating an opt-in confirmation email. The system offers a wide variety of templates which can be used to create suitable confirmation emails.

3. Copy from another list
   If you have already created a nicely formatted confirmation email for another list within your account then you can easily copy the same using this option, this method can help you reduce the time in creating a new set of confirmation email(s).

4. Fetch URL
   You can use this to fetch a URL which will have a formatted content for the confirmation email. Please be sure that this content will have to have the necessary Opt-in Confirmation and Opt-in Reject links within the content or the content will need to be edited to add these.

For this example we will be using the first option "From Scratch".

Once you select this option you will be provided a screen which can allow you to define the settings of your email such as Sender Name, Sender Email address, Reply to name and Reply to email address.

• Enter the sender name
• Enter the sender email address
• You can tick the last option to keep the same reply-top information or un-check the option to add a different reply-to information

Now we need to go to the content part of the confirmation email by hitting the "Next" button.

Content Settings

You can choose the "Embed images to email content" option to embed any images within your content to the email. This will increase the email size although all the images will usually be seen by the end-user even if the email client is set to hide all the images.

Content Type

You can set the content type as html, text or both.

Subject

Define the subject line of your confirmation email.

Content

Add your content as shown in the example.

Attachments

If you wish to send some other document or attachment with your email you can do so by adding your attachments using this tool.

Now we need to review our confirmation email by hitting the "Next" button.

Example HTML content for your confirmation email

Dear Subscriber

This is to inform you that your email address %Subscriber:EmailAddress% has been added to our mailing list.

I order to confirm your subscription please click on the below link. %Link:Confirm%

In case if you think that someone else subscribed your email id or you subscribed to our mailing list by mistake - you can reject the subscription by clicking on the Subscription Reject Link below.

%Link:Reject%

Thanks and best regards XYZ Corporation

When you are finished with the content part of the confirmation you need to go to the next step where you can review your email. This last step will allow you to preview your confirmation by sending a preview email or on browsers. It will also allow you to get the detailed content and Spam analysis.

This is the final step to finalize your confirmation email and save it.

After you are satisfied with the preview you can save it by click on the "Next" button.

Website Integration