Create and configure eMailing – Evalanche Helpcenter

You create an e-mail in the Mailings folder by clicking + New.

The eMailing is created using an appropriate eMailing template with matching article templates and dummy articles. If the template allows it, you can also create a freely designed source e-mail (HTML) in this way. However, you will have to do without article templates, but you will have more freedom in designing the e-mailing.

When creating an e-mailing, you can choose from all available newsletter templates. Global templates (if available) are then accommodated in a separate navigation tab.

Email templates can be selected for one client only at the local level, as well as at the global level for all clients in a group.

Visual Editor

The visual editor shows you how the newsletter is basically structured. Here you can exchange the header image, for example. A click on the header image opens the object picker of the header folder - images located in the folder header can be inserted with it.

In the visual editor, you can insert articles directly into the e-mail or maintain the contents of the text fields where they are displayed in the e-mail. The system displays all articles with a simple auxiliary menu that is used to move, delete and edit the articles - directly in the slot where the article is located.

In each slot you can insert as many articles as you like and change their order in the slot. You can also specify a target group for each article. These articles are only displayed to a recipient if he or she is in this target group. With this type of individualization, you can, for example, include additional information for only a certain group of recipients in your e-mailing. (see Individualization for Articles).

It is also possible to sort articles within a slot using drag & drop and to move them between slots. If you move an article between two slots, the article is automatically adapted to the standard article template of the new slot. In addition, the article images can easily be replaced by new images via drag & drop.

Slot configuration

To the right of the slot name is a gear symbol. This allows you to set an automatic sorting of the items according to certain criteria. See also Profile Matching and Profile Tagging

There are four types of article sorting in a slot:

Manual (articles are sorted as set)
Automatic (articles are sorted descending according to the calculated profiling relevance)
Car. Top-X (Sorting as Automatic, but only as many articles are displayed as are set in the appearing input field)
Auto. positive (Sorting as Automatic, but only those articles are displayed whose relevance calculation results in a positive total)

Article configuration

To the right of the internal name of the article there is another gear symbol. This allows the article to be edited or removed from the e-mail. Furthermore, an individual target group or article template can be set here.

Manage content

Here you can edit and manage all slots with their article templates and the articles with their possibly different target groups in a list view. You can subsequently assign an article template differing from the standard template or a special target group to the articles.

To assign the template, uncheck the Default templates checkbox. An overview of the usable article templates opens. Select the desired template and the article will be displayed in the e-mail with this new template.

To assign a special target group, click on the object picker "For all profiles". A list of all available target groups will open, sorted by modification date. Select the desired target group and the item will be considered only for this target group when it is sent to the shipping target group. If the article target group is not included in the shipping target group, the article is not delivered.

The enhanced editor also offers the option of directly editing the text fields used in the template (input fields, text fields, HTML fields). You will find the corresponding input masks in the lower area.

Contents: Settings

If a container type has been specified in the e-mail configuration, you can specify additional content or make settings here. The available setting options depend on the configuration of the container type.

Configuration

Under the tab Configuration/eMail of an eMailing the basic information and functions of the eMailing are configured.

If you use a template for the creation of a new e-mailing in which all configurations have already been made and all information has been entered correctly, you usually do not need to change anything because all data is automatically pre-filled. Nevertheless, check the data for content errors or spelling mistakes. Under the item Template you can see on which template the e-mailing is based.

Name: Name of the mailing.
Template: emailing template on which the mailing is based.
External URL: URL to preview the mailing.
Sender: Sender of the mailing (visible in the mail client).
Sender address: The sender address must be an existing email address to which you have access and this address must be on the domain for which the DKIM record is also stored. For example, newsletter@ihre-domain.de or info@your-domain are suitable for a sender address.
Reply to: Name of the recipient for replies.
Reply address: The reply address can be any other address. This address is used by some email clients when replying manually to the emailing.
Individual salutation: Individual salutation based on the salutation pool field.
Transmission domain: Transmission domain to use, which will be used for all images and link URLs.
Confirmation URLs: URL for the confirmation page after unsubscribing or subscribing to the newsletter, as well as for deactivating tracking.

2-Click Logout: This makes it possible to provide an unsubscribe with an intermediate step in the form of an unsubscribe page to prevent accidental unsubscribes, e.g. by security software. If you want to use an individual unsubscribe page, you have to make sure that the used web page contains a working unsubscribe link. An example of how to generate such a link via Tal can be found here. (The one-click-unsubscribe-link in the mail header is left unchanged for legal reasons. The 2-click unsubscribe only refers to the variables {$REVOKE_URL} or {$DELETE_URL})
Recipient filters: Here you have the option to (de)activate the duplicate check, by default the duplicate check is activated. The duplicate check prevents profiles from being sent more than once if a profile with the same e-mail address exists more than once in one or more pools. In this case only the first profile will be sent.
eMailing format: Option to send an eMailing only as text version. This option is useful for profiles that do not use graphical eMail clients.
Test transmission prefix: This text is prefixed to the subject of a test transmission (navigation tab Check) to make it clear that it is a test send and not a real send.
Customisation & test transmission: Here you can enter a test target group that you want to use for a test mailing or article individualization.
Date: Free date field to enter a release date or deadline. This date will appear as a one-time event in the calendar.
External content: Possibility to process external content in the emailing. For example, an RSS feed could be passed to the mailing. For details see Programming in templates.
External tracking: Possibility to specify the tracking code of an external tracking tool. This code is added to all URLs that can be recognised and tracked by Evalanche.

Under the tab Configuration of a mailing are the different items for:

Information

Name: The internal name of the eMailing, so the eMailing can be found with the search function.
Template: Template of the eMailing template of the mailing (it must contain all data of the configuration).
External URL: Direct URL to an unpersonalized preview of the emailing.

Sender

Sender: Name of the sender that will be displayed to the recipient.
Sender address: Address of the sender. Please note that there must be a valid DKIM record for the senderardess domain.
Reply to: Name of the recipient to whom a reply email can be sent.
Reply address: Email address to which a reply can be sent.

Under Sender you can enter which sender and reply address will be displayed to the recipient.

For the sender address, make sure that there are valid SPF and DKIM records for the domain of the sender address.

Individualized salutation

With the individualized salutation, you can address your e-mailing recipients directly. Depending on which information for the salutation is stored in the profile, an individual salutation for Mrs., Mr., Divers, etc., is output. The individualized salutation is created with the replacement variable {$INDIVIDUAL_SALUTATION}.

Domain

A Transmission domain is used to ensure that all outgoing links and image URLs are provided with the URL of the registered transmission domain. For more information, see the article Transmission-domain.

Confirmation URLs

Here the links to the confirmation pages for registration/deregistration, etc. are entered.

2-Click Unsubscribe

To prevent accidental newsletter unsubscribes, e.g. by a security software, a 2-click unsubscribe can be used. Here, the Revoke URL leads directly to the stored unsubscribe page, where the actual unsubscribe link must then be clicked for the final unsubscribe. Please make sure that the web page used contains a working unsubscribe link.

Recipient filter for dispatch

In order to prevent a profile from being written to twice during a mailing, it is recommended to set a check mark here for the duplicate check.

This will check all profiles, to the target group to be sent, to see if there are multiple profiles with the same email address in the target group. If there is more than one email address in the target group, a mailing will only be sent to one email address.

Display

Here you can select the format of the emailing to be sent. Either an HTML and text emailing will be sent or only a text emailing.

In addition, a prefix for a test mailing can be specified. The text of the test mailing prefix is displayed first in the subject line of a test mailing to identify it.

Customisation & test transmission

If you want to make a test transmission, you can insert a target group here to which the test transmission will be sent.

Date

In the Date section you can specify a date for a release and a deadline for sending the mailing, this date will then be displayed as an event in the system calendar.

External content

Here you can enter a URL to an external XML file.

External tracking

A link tracker code and a campaign ID can be specified here. This code is added to all URLs that can be recognised and tracked by Evalanche. Suitable for use with campaign tracking tools such as Google Analytics, eTracker, etc.

Subject

Here you define the subject line of the e-mailing. It is also possible to define different subject variants depending on the target group.

File attachments

Here you can specify one or more file attachments to be sent with the mail. This is not recommended, however, as it leads to a high spam rating and an increased unsubscribe rate.

Rollout

Here you can configure and perform a rollout, provided this function is enabled in the e-mailing template and the e-mailing is on the global level. A rollout can be used to copy this e-mail to several clients. Articles and/or article images can also be copied.

Select objects for the rollout.
Select the client into which the direct mailing is to be rolled out.
Enter a name for a folder in which the direct mailing and objects are stored.

For more information on the rollout, see here.

Important!

A rollout is only possible in mailings that are on the global level.

Check

Here you will find a selection of different ways to check your e-mail before sending it. You can find detailed information on this topic in the section eMailing testing & sending.

Under the Check tab, you can have the mailing checked for various criteria.

Preview various output formats: For each type of output of an e-mailing (HTML, TEXT, LANDINGPAGE, PDF, WEB, RSS/Atom Feed) an option is listed in the preview.
Display & Spam offers a comprehensive check of the e-mailing in various mail clients (desktop, web, mobile), spam filters and mobile devices. Additional costs are incurred for this check.
Display & Spam (Quick) offers a free quick check to check content, layout and spam probability.
Eye-Tracking offers a simulation of the probable eye movement of the recipients. There are additional costs for this check.
Text analysis is used for the textual evaluation of the emailing regarding comprehensibility, grammar and stylistics. This check is only available for German language emailings. Please note that there are additional costs.
Links shows all external links integrated in the emailing and checks them for validity - i.e. whether the target can be reached. Functioning links are marked with a green OK, possible errors are marked red.
Individualization shows the display of individualized and personalized variables for the target group set here (if no target group is selected, all profiles that have the flag: Persona are displayed). To set it, select a suitable target group and save the object. By clicking on "Preview" for a profile of the target group, the e-mail will be adjusted to the data of the profile concerned - e.g. salutation, individualized articles, etc. This way you can check individualization and personalization for correctness.
Test mail transfer allows you to send the e-mail to a small target group "test recipients" before the actual dispatch. This allows you to check the display quality, individualisation/personalisation and deliverability for certain mail clients under real conditions. You can also directly enter a list of emails as recipients. However, these will then only be individualized for a sample profile and thus correspond to the standard preview. Single sent mails will be preceded by a "test" in the subject line to make it easier to distinguish them from later sent mails.

The eye-tracking check and the free display check are deactivated for text-only emailings.

Transmission

The transmission is initiated with a click on the navigation tab transmission. This is always set to the current time in the default setting. In this case, the system sends the e-mail immediately after final confirmation of the transmission. In addition to the start of sending, you can also set the target group to which the e-mail is to be sent. For more information about sending, see the section eMailing testing & sending.

eMailings