sending s using Vuture

Transcription

1 sending s using Vuture November 2013 Before you send a mailing It is vitally important that the contacts we use for our mailings continue to value the s we send them. As a result we should be planning our mailing carefully to ensure that we are not inundating our clients and prospects which could easily lead to opt outs and complaints. Please make sure all planned mailings are added to the following document. Mailings planner MASTER (ple... All mailings must be discussed with Emma Auger or Andy Merkel in order to avoid any cross over or duplication of marketing messages and to check that there have not been too many messages in a short period of time. Andy and Emma will help you identify the correct list to use for your and liaise with Shellie Noquet if a new list is required. Please ensure that you are clear which list is being used. Selecting your mailing list We have now created static sector mailing lists in InterAction for the sector teams to use these have been saved in *Mailing lists (Validated). In most instances the list you require will feature in these lists however if another list is required Shellie will advise you of its name. Suppression searches Our current process means we no longer have to run suppression searches when mailing Browne Jacobson lists. EM Lawshare currently follows a different process to our main data and as a result if you are sending an for EM Lawshare you will need to refer to that process document for details of how to do this. Birmingham Exeter London Manchester Nottingham

2 Prepare and check your copy We suggest compiling all of your copy in Word prior to adding it to the . This will allow you to easily check the spelling and grammar and minimise the chances of any mistakes. Choose your container All of the campaign content created within Vuture is stored in containers. This is similar to what you might call a folder in windows. It is essential that the correct container is chosen right from the start as this is important for our reporting and impacts which templates you will have available to you. The containers are structured first by sector and then by content type. If you are unsure which container to use please ask a colleague or someone from the online team. Starting a campaign Once you have selected the correct container you are able to start your campaign. A campaign is where you keep all of the forms, s and landing pages relating to the activity you are working on. A new campaign should be created for every update, bulletin, event etc. You should only ever add content to an existing container if it is specifically related to the previous communication. i.e. a thank you following and event. If you are unsure speak to a member of the online team. Please ensure that you create a new campaign rather than copying a previous one. This protects you in two ways; it ensures that you are using the most up to date templates, and it avoids the risk of duplicating a previous error. To create a new campaign click on the envelope in the top left hand corner of the container page. 2

3 On the left hand side you will see a form allowing you to enter details for your campaign. The campaign name should go in the top box. This should be chosen so users can quickly identify what the campaign relates to. This is also important for our reporting. Please use the box below for putting any other notes that may be useful for you or your colleagues. The first dropdown menu allows you to select a template category. Select the category that is most relevant to your needs. For instance select Browne-Jacobson-Bulletins if it is a bulletin. If you are unsure which category to use please ask a colleague or a member of the online team. The second drop down allows you to select an template. Choose the that is most relevant to your needs but do not worry if you cannot find exactly what you require as you will be able to change and create your own s from within the campaign. Creating an Immediately after creating the campaign you will be taken to a screen inviting you to enter the name for the . Your s must be given the name that you want to use in the s subject line. Once you have entered a name for an , choose one of the thumbnails below to create a new . You will now have a template that you can edit. There is an orange icon like this hand panel. This means there are changes that are yet to be published. 3 under compose on the left

4 Editing your content You are now ready to begin updating the template with live content. This can be achieved by clicking on the element you wish to update in the right hand preview panel. As you hover the mouse over each item it will go slightly opaque. When you click on a text panel the text editor will appear in the left hand panel. Here you can enter new text and apply styles to it. You can also paste text from Word. Generally the best way of doing this is pasting the content as plain text using this icon. This allows you to put the content in without any of the styling from the main document. Creating links Because you have pasted the content in as plain text any of the links which may have been in the document need replacing. It is important that we generate custom URLS for tracking these in Google Analytics. These will allow us to better monitor the success of our campaigns. n.b. it is not necessary to add tracking to PDF links as these cannot be monitored by our analytics software. Custom URLs in the format we need can be generated using either of the following online tools: Google URL builder or GAConfig URL builder The forms should be completed as follows: Description Example Campaign Source Sector and content type retail legal opinion Campaign Medium The medium where the link will be Campaign Name The name of the or landing page Browne Jacobson Legal Opinion Updates for November Do not worry about campaign content or keywords as we do not monitor these. 4

5 Your custom URL will look something like: on%20legal%20opinion%20updates%20for%20november To add a link highlight the text that will be used to anchor the link and click on the chain icon in the editor. A dialogue box like the one on the left will appear. Here you are able to enter the properties for you link. The link URL is where you place the link itself. Copy and paste this across from the URL builder. If you are linking to a landing page that is part of the campaign you are working from you do not need to paste the link URL. Instead you can choose from a list of available s and landing pages by clicking the down arrow on the link list menu. Target allows you to select whether the link opens in a new browser window or in the existing window. Generally if it is an external link like the BBC or a government site we would set links to open in a new window, whereas if it is an internal link (within Browne Jacobson) we would set it to open in the existing window. The default is to open in the existing window. Title allows you to select the text that appears when you hover your mouse over the link. This should provide the user with a brief idea of where the link will take them or why they should click it. Creating links Often the link you will be creating will not be to a website at all but to an address. The process for this is slightly different and you do not need to add campaign data but you do not to change the way links are formatted. Example: mailto:timothy.howe@brownejacobson.com?subject=hello As you can see in the example rather than start the link with we type mailto:. After the address there is a subject. This is what appears in the subject line of the . In the example above the s subject line would read Hello. We do not have to enter a subject line but it often makes it easier for someone receiving the to identify which campaign it has come from. 5

6 When you have finished editing your content you must click the icon at the top of the left panel. This will push the changes you have been working on into the preview window on the right of the page and save your changes so that will be included in your live content. Updating images You are also able to amend images and headers. For instance you may wish to replace the Polaroids with the correct contact for the you are sending. To do this hover you mouse over the image you wish to update. As you do so it will appear slightly transparent. If you click on the image at this point the preview panel on the right will be replaced with an image library panel. The select folder menu allows you to choose from a number of image folders. The one you select will depend on the type of image you need. Large Polaroids work better when the image is shown in the sidebar whereas it is better to use the small Polaroids for contact details that are shown beneath the body of the . You can search for the image you need using the filters available. If the image you need is not there ask a member of the online team if they can add it for you. 6

7 Image folder functions Custom headers (600x125) To be used only when sending s with specially created headers. These might be used for Christmas mailings or communications that are dual branded. You should speak to a member of the online team to generate a new header for your . headers (600x125) Here is where our standard headers are stored you should select the header that is most appropriate for the you are sending. Landing page headers (960x125) These are only to be used on full width landing pages. Large Polaroids USE Large Polaroids such as those appearing in sidebars. Lead Gen Online team only. Small Polaroids USE Small Polaroids such as those appearing at the foot of s. Video thumbnails These images should be used with caution. Only ever use images approved by the brand team. General Do not use. Select the image you need by clicking on it. When you do this you will be taken to the edit image panel. Here you can change the size of the image and crop it if required. The dashed line indicates the boundary of the image. Anything overlapping this will not be visible when you save it. In order to get the image to properly fit the space that has been allocated to it in the template we should use either the or icons, to ensure that none of the image overlaps the dashed line. There is a small link at the top of the edit image panel saying alternative text make sure you click this and type in a two or three word description of the image. For example with a Polaroid you may wish to enter that person s name. This is important because if the image doesn t load automatically, which is very common with s, it is this text that will display in it s place. When you have selected the image you need, correct alt text has been applied and it has been adjusted to fit the template click the icon in the top right hand corner. This will place the changes you have made and take you back to the preview panel. Editing layouts In most instances the templates will provide you with the layout that you need for your . However in some cases you may wish to make adjustments to the layout. This can be done by clicking on the Icon. 7

8 The content within each template is broken down to smaller elements called snippets. Entering edit layout mode allows you to drag and drop the various snippets to the position on the page you need. Right clicking on a snippet loads up a dialogue box which allows you to delete, copy and more. Clicking insert below allows you to choose from a selection of pre built snippets. This will appear directly below the snippet you clicked on. If you regularly find yourself creating the same snippets for a content type it may be worth asking a member of the online team to add these to the snippets that are available. When you have finished making changes to you layout click the icon and you will be returned to the editor mode. Checking your Once you have completed editing you you will need to perform some basic checks to make sure that everything is in order. Vuture has inbuilt features that allow you to quickly check that all of your links work correctly. To use this click on the icon at the top of the left panel and then click Link Checker. This brings up a panel that lists all of the links across the campaign. If you click on the blue link marked Check all links vuture will automatically ping each of the links and test that they are working. Any that are broken will remain in the table with a description of the problem. If the link is broken go back and replace it with the correct one. Send for review DO NOT use the send for approval button at this stage, you should only use the approvals process when you are ready to send an and all checks have been made. The sender is responsible for ensuring that the is approved and successfully sent. Please follow the approval process carefully and check that each step has been completed properly. 8

9 Once you are sufficiently happy that all of the links have been checked, the copy reads well and there are no issues with branding or layout you are ready to submit your page for approval. Initially this should be done by sharing the view page link. You can get this by clicking on the icon and copy the URL for the page. Send this link together with an accompanying to everyone you wish to approve the . This should be shared with at least two other people for them to review this could include: a team member the initiator (usually the fee earner) the BD person responsible for the sector (if a sector based ) For any sector based campaigns you must make sure the person responsible for the sector or Alyson Evans reviews the content using this method. You will be able to make any changes based on the feedback you are given in the editor. When all of the required changes have been made and your colleagues are happy for the content to be published you are ready to submit the page for approval. PLEASE NOTE events s do not require approval they need to be thoroughly tested using the process described above. This can be done by clicking the icon at the top of the left hand panel. This opens a send for approval panel on the right hand side. There are two steps selecting the s and landing pages being sent for approval and selecting the approvers. For step one you can choose whether to send all of your s and landing pages for approval at once or to have them approved one by one. Simply check the pages that you sending for approval and click the send for approval button. For step 2 you need to select at least 2 approvers for the . Select people who you know are available and click send for approval again. If the is not approved or you make any further amendments to the after sending it for approval you will have to repeat the send for approval steps until it is approved. Once it is approved the icon next to the will turn green instead of orange. Sending your Once the has been approved you are ready to send. This can be done by clicking on the 9

10 icon. Doing so opens a send panel in the right hand side on your browser. Here you input data about your . The first drop down selection box allows you to select who the will say it is from. The first value is the name that will show under from in the recipients client the address in brackets immediately following this is the address that the will be marked as coming from. The subject field is automatically populated with the title of you although this can be changed if any last minute amends are required. Personalised from field is not currently used. In the Reply-To field type the address where you want any replies to be sent. This will receive all out of office responses as well as any other replies. This box only needs populating if you want the s to go to someone other than yourself (for example if you are out the office when the is due to be sent). You have the option to either send the now or later. As a general rule we should always select send later and set the time to be sent for at least two hours in the future. Make a note of the exact time as this will be used in the always include . 10

11 The advanced box allows us to select the IP address that will be used for sending the . Unless instructed otherwise you should always use BJ Smarthost. This is particularly important as not doing so may result in your not being successfully delivered. This is where we choose the lists that receive the . We always select Interaction as the list source and then choose the lists to send to using the checkboxes (we are now able to send an to more than one list at a time). Be doubly careful to ensure that the correct lists have been selected. It is important that the correct option is selected in the type drop down as users are able to manage which types of content they opt to receive. Selecting the wrong option could result in individuals getting s they have opted out of. It is also used to mark the activity type in InterAction. Once you have completed your selections and set the correct time you can hit the button in the top right hand corner. Send to always include All mailings should be sent to the always include list. This needs to happen prior to the scheduled mailing going out. So mailing can be stopped if required. Once your has been scheduled you should immediately resend the to the always include list. This is done by clicking icon. A duplicate version of your will appear in the Compose 11

12 folder. Construct your as before but select Send now under When:, choose the Always include list, remember to always check BJsmarthost, select the right sender and type and in the subject line include something like THIS HAS BEEN SCHEDULED TO BE MAILED AT 3pm TODAY: prior to the title. If any feedback comes back from the always include group which results in changes having to be made the original must be cancelled and you must go back to the beginning of the approval process. talk to us Tim Howe