The existing HTML editor in Maxemail is staying, but we are giving our users another option for producing their HTML email creative.

The video below demonstrates this, but here is a summary of the key benefits of this additional editing option:

• Editable Regions – certain areas of the template can be restricted so they cannot be changed, helping you maintain brand guidelines and ensure code is not broken.

• Content Library – populate the Content Snippets Library in Maxemail with content and then this is all available to insert into your email with a couple of clicks. You can even integrate your existing website or product databases, so every product or holiday you offer is available as an item for you to drop in. This dramatically reduces the build time on an email.

• Drag and Drop Interface – move content around with point and click, rather than the unreliable method of copying and pasting.

This might sound strange for an email company, but for certain activities we hate email. One such activity is the collecting of feedback from various sources, on what needs to be tweaked in an email campaign.

Endless chains of emails are sent between those giving feedback and the person making the changes. This person needs to make sure they do not miss any changes, while trying to decipher ambiguous change requests.

To address this problem, Emailcenter have introduced a tool to streamline the feedback process and improve communication. The video below demonstrates this, but here is a summary of the key features:

• Provide feedback by drawing on top of the email – remove ambiguity with visual annotations, so everyone is clear what the feedback means.
• Each comment is easily identifiable to the region and commenter, helpfully stored in one location, to make it easy to review all comments.
• Comments are archived for auditing purposes.

To understand how the Collaboration tool can make your email team more efficient, call the Support team on 01327 355871.

We have been working hard to develop even more innovative features in Maxemail and will soon be releasing Maxemail Version 6.

Version 6 will contain some exciting new features, including:

Visual Feedback Interface

• Give feedback on an email design by tagging/highlighting the actual email within Maxemail itself.
• Feedback is visual and therefore will reduce ambiguity and save time.
• With all feedback and comments in one place there will be no more endless email chains.
• Store revisions for archiving/auditing purposes.

Advanced HTML Editor

• Non-technical users will now be able to edit emails through a drag and drop interface without needing HTML skills. No more broken code!
• Ensure branding consistency by locking down areas of a template.
• Update all emails using a particular template by simply updating the master template.
• Easily change the order of content within a template and add/remove content blocks.
• Maintain a content library of assets and simply drag content into the email.
• Dreamweaver compatible – create a ‘Dreamweaver Template’ (.DWT file) and import it into Maxemail without the need of any special markup code.

Automated Split Testing

• Predetermine win criteria and Maxemail will complete the send once campaign results are in.
• Choose criteria on any statistics, including open, click and conversion.

Enterprise Control

• Define specific access rights to data, emails and assets per user.
• Control which groups of users have access to which lists, emails, content, reports and other assets.
• Set read and write permissions on any folder.
• Each user can belong to any number of groups and Admin users can see and edit everything.

To speak with a member of our team about any of the features above please call 01327 350921 or email our client services team.

Last October we launched ‘Segment Reports’, a feature to allow you to analyse results in a single or series of emails broken down by segment of your database.

Now we have taken this further and launched ‘Cross-tab Reports.’

This allows you to take 2 separate types of segmentation and view email performance between them. For example you might have used Segment Reports to view performance between male and female customers, and created a second report for performance between age groups. However what differences do you see between males and females of different ages?

Here is how that report might look:

This shows we are getting good results for our older audience, but more problematic for younger groups, and in particular young males. Interestingly older males outperform females in the same age bracket. So what can we do to change if anything? How about:

• Look at the data collection process; are we getting the same quality of sign-up within these age groups to explain the difference in performance?
• Does the content appeal to all groups? If not, try utilising more targeted sends or tailored content using the Dynamic Content functions.

Using this analysis we can start to move away from the idea of each email having a target open and click rate, and move towards having targets for each specific segment of customers. As soon as we see it in this form, then it is easier to identify & measure strategies to improve smaller, specific segment performance, rather than the daunting question of how to improve the performance of the whole customer database.

To have a demo of the Cross-Tab & Segment Reports features, or have them enabled please get in touch with our Client Services team.

Maxemail offers Salesforce.com users a closed-loop system with data held in Salesforce being synchronised with Maxemail, and Maxemail reporting data stored against each contact record within Salesforce.

Synchronising lists between Salesforce & Maxemail

In Maxemail right click on the list you wish to add Salesforce data to and select ‘New Scheduled Imports’.

Here you will need to enter your Salesforce details & choose a report to import:

Using the Salesforce reports option makes it much easier to choose which customers to pull into your list.

Then you will need to map the fields from your Salesforce report with your fields in Maxemail:

Finally you need to define a schedule of how often you want the scheduled import to run:

Salesforce data will now be automatically imported into Maxemail without any manual intervention.

Viewing Email Activity against each contact record

All email activity is stored against each contact. Simply go to a Contacts page and you will see our tab listing all the emails they have been sent, and what they did with each email:

Click on this to get more detail on what they did with an email:

To get a detailed demonstration of Salesforce & Maxemail working together call your Account Manager on 01327 350921.