AutoResponse Plus User Guide Copyright ECom24 Ltd 2000-2009 Page 1
Software License Agreement You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before using ECom24 Ltd software ( the Software ). Your use of the software indicates your acceptance of this license agreement ( the Agreement ) and disclaimer of warranty. By installing and using the Software on your server, you agree to the following terms and conditions. The Agreement grants you the right to run one instance (a single installation) of the Software on one web server and one domain for each single domain license purchased. If your license allows multiple domain installations, then you have the right to install the Software on as many domains as allowed by the license you have purchased. Copyright This product is Copyright ECom24 Ltd, 2000-2009 and is protected by United Kingdom copyright law and various international treaties. You may not use, copy, modify, translate, or transfer the Software, documentation, or any copy except as expressly defined in this agreement. The Software is licensed to you. You are not obtaining title to the Software or any copyrights. You may not sub-license, rent, lease, convey, the Software for any purpose. All copyright notices within the Software and documentation must remain unchanged and visible. If the code you have been supplied is unencrypted, you may modify the Software code for your personal use, at your own risk, but any altered code must not be redistributed or resold in any form without the explicit written permission of ECom24 Ltd. Modified code will not be supported in any way by ECom24 Ltd. Uusolicited Commercial Email ( SPAM ) The Software may not be used to send unsolicited email or SPAM. ECom24 Ltd reserves the right to revoke the license of any user they believe to be using the Software for sending unsolicited email. ECom24 Ltd is not responsible for any repercussions that arise from your use of the Software to send unsolicited email. A refund will not be granted for a revoked license. Legal Jurisdiction This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of Scotland, and each of the parties submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Scotland. If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be struck out and the remaining provisions shall remain in force. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between us concerning its subject matter. If any terms are violated, ECom24 Ltd reserves the right to revoke the license at any time. No license refunds will be granted for revoked licenses. License fees are non-refundable. Refunds, when granted, will be at the sole discretion of ECom24 Ltd. All other rights not specifically granted in this license are reserved by ECom24 Ltd. Disclaimer of Warranty This product and/or license is provided as is, without any representation or warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation any representations or endorsements regarding the use of, the results of, or performance of the product, its appropriateness, accuracy, reliability, or correctness. The entire risk as to the use of this product is assumed by the user and/or licensee. ECom24 Ltd does not assume liability for the use of this product beyond the original purchase price of the Software. In no event will ECom24 Ltd be liable for additional direct or indirect damages including any loss of profits or other incidental or consequential damages arising from any defects, or the use or inability to use the Software, even if ECom24 Ltd has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Page 2
Introduction Thank you for choosing to buy the for AutoResponse Plus. The integrates seamlessly with all versions of AutoResponse Plus from 3.6.001 onwards. If your version of AutoResponse Plus is less than 3.6.001, you need to upgrade before you can use the. Upgrades are available from the AutoResponse Plus members area: http://www.autoresponseplus.com/members License Manager Before you can use your software, you need to generate an activation code for it in our License Manager: http://www.autoresponseplus.com/lm Upgrades & Support Support is available only through the help desk in our Members Area: http://www.autoresponseplus.com/members If your membership has expired, please visit the following page to renew your access: http://www.autoresponseplus.com/renew Affiliate Program Would you like to earn money by promoting AutoResponse Plus and the. Find out more and sign up at: http://www.autoresponseplus.com/affiliates Page 3
What Is RSS? An Introduction To RSS RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It offers you a way of delivering your content to interested parties without using email. There are several advantages of using RSS to deliver your content instead of email: Subscribers actively subscribe to your RSS feed because they want to receive your information. If they remain subscribed, they are telling you they want your content. Because RSS does not use email, there are no SPAM problems. Your content is guaranteed to be delivered without being filtered out by over-zealous SPAM filters, and your subscriber will receive no SPAM. Your subscriber is fully in control - if they want to stop receiving your information, they simply remove your RSS feed from their RSS News Reader - a special program that s installed on their computer. How To View RSS Feeds To view RSS feeds, you need software called a News Reader or News Aggregator. There are many different versions, some of which are installed on your PC, and some of which are accessed using your normal web browser. These applications allow you to subscribe to and display the RSS feeds that you want by regularly polling the host of the RSS feed for the latest content. Some RSS news readers are: Windows Newz Crawler Feed Demon Awasu Mac OS X Newsfire NetNewsWire Browser Based Bloglines My Yahoo! NewsGator www.newzcrawler.com www.feeddemon.com www.awasu.com www.newsfirerss.com www.ranchero.com/netnewswire/ www.bloglines.com my.yahoo.com www.newsgator.com Page 4
When you have chosen a news reader, all you have to do is decide what content you want. Many sites offer content supplied by RSS feed, shown by a small orange RSS or XML image like this: Page 5
AutoResponse Plus and RSS AutoResponse Plus is an excellent tool for sending automated follow-up emails and one-off broadcast messages to your subscribers. Until the launch of the, AutoResponse Plus could deliver content by email only - plain text or HTML. The for AutoResponse Plus allows you to deliver your content by RSS feed. Fully personalized follow-up messages and broadcasts can now be delivered by email or RSS, seamlessly, all using your normal AutoResponse Plus software. Using the for AutoResponse Plus, you can give your subscribers more choice about how they receive information from you. They can choose to receive your messages by email or by RSS. Some features of the for AutoResponse Plus: Seamless integration with your current AutoResponse Plus system. Send fully personalized follow-up messages and broadcasts by RSS feed. Use your existing HTML or plain text messages, or write new ones for RSS delivery. Preview facility for your RSS message content. Full definition of your RSS feed - channel title, description, URL, image and error URL. Offer your subscriber the choice of email or RSS delivery. Or force delivery by email or RSS - the choice is yours. Each message item has an RSS title and description. Message item title and description can be fully personalized. Message item content can use your existing plain or HTML messages, or dedicated RSS HTML or simply send the subscriber to a web page on your site. Message item content can be fully personalized. Use your existing autoresponders headers and footers in your RSS message item content. Full counting of RSS message item delivery - how many unique subscribers received your message. Single-click filtering to select those who received an individual RSS message item. Full counting of RSS message item open rate - how many unique subscribers opened your message. Single-click filtering to select those who opened an individual RSS message item. {RSSFEED_LINK} tag that you can insert in emails to encourage subscribers to switch to RSS. Their link will be unique to them, offering full personalization per subscriber. Logging per subscriber of all messages they have received - email and RSS. Notification to you when someone subscribes to your RSS feed. Custom subscribe successful pages can be used for RSS subscriptions. Page 6
Getting Started With the AutoResponse Plus IMPORTANT NOTE - The works only with AutoResponse Plus version 3.6.001 or greater. If you do not have version 3.6.001 or greater, you must upgrade before attempting to use the. You can download the latest version of AutoResponse Plus from the AutoResponse Plus Members Area: http://www.autoresponseplus.com/members Registering the Software When you bought the for Autoresponse Plus (or the AutoResponse Plus/ bundle) you will have received a license number and license password. You need to activate your license in the AutoResponse Plus License Manager: http://www.autoresponseplus.com/lm There are 3 steps: 1. Register your contact details. 2. Register the domain where the software is installed 3. Generate an activation code. All 3 steps should be done in the License Manager Activating the When you have generated your activation code, you need to activate the in your AutoResponse Plus software. 1. Run your AutoResponse Plus software 2. Visit the System > Activate License menu option 3. Paste in your license number, license password and activation code If your system is successfully activated you will see the following at the bottom of every screen in your AutoResponse Plus system: AutoResponse Plus With RSS Version x.y.zzz If you see this, you know that you have successfully integrated the into your AutoResponse Plus installation. Page 7
Configuring Your RSS Channel When you have successfully activated your software, you first need to define the settings of your RSS channel. These are settings that define your RSS feed to your subscribers news reading software. The RSS channel settings can be found in the System > Settings screen of your Autoresponse Plus system. The section is highlighted in orange and is headed RSS Channel Settings. Channel Title This is the title you want to give to your RSS channel. Example ~ My Domain News Updates Channel Description Channel Link This is a fuller description of your RSS channel. This section describes the information that is supplied by your RSS channel. This is the URL of your web site or a page on your web site that describes your RSS channel. Example ~ http://www.yourdomain.com Channel Image URL This is the URL of a small image that will appear in the news readers of your subscribers. The image cam have a maximum width of 144 pixels and a maximum height of 400 pixels. The default value, and the recommended size is 88 pixels wide by 31 pixels high. Example ~ http://www.yourdomain.com/rss_logo.gif Channel Error URL This is the URL of an error page that will be shown to your subscribers if there is an error when accessing your RSS feed. Example ~ http://www.yourdomain.com/rss_error.html Page 8
Creating RSS Follow-Up Messages With the installed in your AutoResponse Plus system, you can give your RSS subscribers the option of receiving your follow-up messages by RSS instead of by email. When you edit any follow-up message, you will see the RSS options highlighted in orange. These are the options that define the properties of the RSS version of your follow-up message. The section is called RSS Item Settings in the follow-up message edit screen. The Structure Of An RSS Message Item It is important to understand how an RSS message it structured, and how it will be viewed by your RSS subscribers. Unlike email, an RSS message does not simply appear in the inbox of your subscriber s news reader software. When a new message item is received, the subscriber is shown the title of the item, and its description. They can then choose to view the content of the item by clicking on its title. So when you define an RSS version of your follow-up messages, you need to define a title and description of each of your messages. This is what your subscriber will see first - they will only see the actual content of the message if they choose to do so by clicking on the item title in their news reader. It s important to make your item titles and descriptions compelling enough to encourage your subscriber to take the extra step, and click to view your message content. Item Title The title of the item. This appears in your subscriber s news reader and should give some indication of the content of the item. The item title can contain personalization tags such as {FIRSTNAME}. Example ~ Learning French The Easy Way ~ Course Part #1 Item Description A fuller description of the item. This can contain HTML to give better formatting, but we recommend that you keep the HTML simple to make it compatible with many news readers. Note that this is not the main content of your message - this is simply a longer description of the message. This should be compelling to make your subscriber choose to click through to the actual message content. The item description can contain personalization tags such as {FIRSTNAME}. Page 9
Item Content The allows you to deliver the actual content of the message in several ways: RSS Message - a dedicated message for RSS subscribers using HTML code. The message can contain personalization tags such as {FIRSTNAME}. The HTML is pasted into the box below this option. Plain Text Message - the plain text message that is normally sent to email subscribers. HTML Message - the HTML message that is normally sent to email subscribers. Send To URL - the URL of a page on your web site where the message is shown. Include HTML Header Include HTML Footer Include the autoresponer s HTML header in the message content. This only applies when the RSS Message option is used for the message content. Include the autoresponer s HTML footer in the message content. This only applies when the RSS Message option is used for the message content. We recommend that you set up dedicated messages for your RSS subscribers, rather than using the standard plain text or HTML messages that are normally sent to email subscribers. This is because those messages can contain links (eg unsubscribe links) that are not relevant to RSS subscribers and will just confuse them. So for RSS follow-up messages, we recommend you use the RSS Message option, and paste in the HTML for the message or use the Send To URL option and create web pages containing the content of the message for your RSS subscribers. Follow-Up Message Scheduling The message scheduling of RSS messages works in exactly the same way as for email messages. Although your subscriber s news reader software will poll your server regularly for new content, AutoResponse Plus will only release the information as defined by the Schedule option for the followup message. In other words, RSS and email subscribers receive your content to the same schedule as each other - RSS subscribers don t receive the information sooner just because they are polling your server, rather than your server sending it to them, as happens for email. Page 10
Creating RSS Broadcast Messages The for AutoResponse Plus allows you to send broadcasts to your RSS subscribers - the same broadcasts that you are sending to your email subscribers. Like follow-up messages, you need to define the item title and description for your broadcast message, and the scheduling of the broadcast is the same for your RSS subscribers as it is for your email subscribers. You can set up the RSS options for a broadcast message on the same screen as you define an email broadcast. The section is shown in orange and headed RSS Item Settings. Selecting Subscribers To Receive Your RSS Broadcast In the same way that you need to filter your list before sending an email broadcast, you need to do the same if your broadcast will be sent to RSS subscribers. Using the powerful Autoresponse Plus filtering features, you can easily target your subscribers whether they are RSS or email subscribers. Item Title The title of the item. This appears in your subscriber s news reader and should give some indication of the content of the item. The item title can contain personalization tags such as {FIRSTNAME}. Example ~ My Monthly Newsletter ~ August 2005 Item Description Item Content A fuller description of the item. This can contain HTML to give better formatting, but we recommend that you keep the HTML simple to make it compatible with many news readers. Note that this is not the main content of your broadcast message - this is simply a longer description of the message. This should be compelling to make your subscriber choose to click through to the actual message content. The item description can contain personalization tags such as {FIRSTNAME}. The allows you to deliver the actual content of the message in several ways: RSS Message - a dedicated message for RSS subscribers using HTML code. The message can contain personalization tags such as {FIRSTNAME}. Plain Text Message - the plain text message that is normally sent to email subscribers. Page 11
HTML Message - the HTML message that is normally sent to email subscribers. Send To URL - the URL of a page on your web site where the message is shown. Page 12
Send Rate And Open Rate The send and open rate statistics that are available for HTML and multi-part email follow-up messages and broadcasts have been extended to include messages delivered by RSS feed. The following apply to both follow-up messages and broadcasts. Send Rate When a subscriber s news reader pulls a follow-up or broadcast message from your server, the number sent for that message increases by one. This count is per subscriber so will only increment once per subscriber. For broadcasts, when the Filter link is clicked under the number sent, the list of subscribers shown will contain both email and RSS subscribers. In other words, AutoResponse Plus knows which of your RSS subscribers pulled down your broadcast, not just how many. If you know that a subscriber is pulling down your messages, then you know that they are still an active subscriber. Open Rate As for email, the open-rate for follow-ups and broadcasts is tracked. AutoResponse Plus knows how many and also who opened your RSS follow-up and broadcast messages. The normal filtering options for email apply to RSS subscribers. If an RSS subscriber pulls down your messages and also opens them, you know that they have taken the conscious decision to remain subscribed, and also to click through to your message content. These are valuable subscribers. Page 13
Accepting RSS Subscriptions The Subscription Form Generator The subscription form generator in AutoResponse Plus has additional options when the is installed. These options allow you to define how RSS subscribers will be accepted. The section on the Generate Code screen is highlighted in orange and called RSS Subscriptions. Offer Choice of Email or RSS Default Subscription Type If this option is checked, the subscription form will have 2 radio buttons - Email and RSS. With this option you can give your subscriber the choice of receiving your content by email or RSS feed. If you give your subscriber the choice of email or RSS, this option allows you to determine which will be selected by default when the subscription form is shown to the subscriber. If you have chosen not to give your subscriber the choice of email or RSS, then this option determines the type of subscription that the subscriber will automatically have. The RSS Feed Link When a subscriber completes the subscription form for an RSS feed, they are shown a page that details the link they need to paste into their RSS news reader to subscribe to your feed. This link is unique to the subscriber, giving you the option to personalize all messages to that subscriber, in the same way as for email subscribers. The link format is: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-rss.pl?c=xxxx&p=yyyy Custom Subscribe Success Pages If you use custom subscribe pages for your email subscriptions, the screen that shows your subscriber their RSS feed link has a Click Here link that will take them to the custom success page after they have noted the feed link. If you are not using custom success pages, then the Click Here link does not appear on this page. Page 14
Allowing Subscribers To Switch Between Email & RSS If you want to allow your subscribers to switch between email and RSS for receiving your messages, you can do so. You must only allow subscribers to switch if you offer your messages in both email and RSS format. In the Properties screen of an autoresponder, check the box that allows subscribers to change their subscription type. The check box is in the orange Subscription Type section of the autoresponder Properties screen. In your plain text messages, include the following tag: {CHANGETYPE_LINK} For HTML emails, use a link of the format: <a href= {CHANGETYPE_LINK} >Click here</a> to change your subscription type. This will embed a link in the message in this format: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-type.pl?c=xxxx&p=yyyy When the subscriber clicks on this link, they will be shown a screen that offers them Email and RSS subscription types. If they choose the RSS subscription type, they will be taken to a screen that shows them their feed link - the URL that they must enter into their RSS News Reader software to receive your feed. Page 15