Home > m2news system help

 

Our aim is to make this system the easiest to use that it can be, so you can jump right in and start using it. Just click around in the system and see what's in the drop-down menus under 'actions' for each item that has them.

But if there is something you don't understand, then hopefully, you'll find the answer in here. If not, please use the forum.

Contents:

 

1. Overview

  • The system allows you to maintain different 'groups' of subscribers, and send email newsletters to those groups. It is these groups that members will be subscribers to.

  • You can upload a csv file of your subscribers, add them manually, and use a small snippet of code on your site for your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter group.

  • You create a newsletter, edit it and save. When you have finished it, you send it, choose the group(s) and click send. After that, your mail out is placed in the mailing queue. The queue is processed every 15 minutes.

  • While in the mailing queue, you have the opportunity to cancel the send, up until 1 minute before the queue starts it's run.

  • After it is sent, your reports page will begin showing statistical data over a period of time, as information is reported back to the system from recipients. this includes opens, links clicked in your email, bounces, forwards, and unsubscribes.

  • The system is free to use for trial purposes with the restriction of only being able to send a newsletter to yourself. Once you are confident that you wish to use the system on a full unrestricted basis, you simply update your account with your credit card details, we take a $20 deposit which comes off your first month's access fee and your account is upgraded.

  • The system automatically doesn't send the same one more than once to a subscriber, so if you get new subscribers after a send out and you'd like to send that one to them, all you would need to do is resend, and it will show you how many people it will be sending it to - that would be the number of people in the group who haven't yet received it.

2. Creating a newsletter email

  1. Clicking the 'Newsletters' link on the left of the screen takes u to your newsletter email management page. It will list your current and past newsletters, a link to ones you have archived (to tidy up your current list) and show options such as create new, edit, send, delete (if it hasn't been sent) and more.

  2. You can only delete one if it hasn't been sent due to statistics recording purposes.

  3. Clicking 'Create New' icon shows you a page where you can enter details about the newsletter, such as giving it a name for your own reference, and a subject which is pre-filled with a suggestion for your convenience.

  4. You can then select the template you wish to use from either your custom templates or list of generic designs.

  5. Next you can tick the 'Edit this newsletter next' box and click the 'Create Newsletter button to begin editing your newsletter right away. Not ticking the box takes you back to the newsletter management page, where you will see your new newsletter in the list. Clicking it's name will popup a preview of the newsletter in it's current state.

Pasting content from Word

  1. Pasting your newsletter content from Microsoft Word can cause the formatting in the newsletter to become messed up. This is because you paste hidden Word-only formatting along with your text. You can avoid this by using the paste from word function which may avoid the problem, or to be completely safe, Use the paste as text option, and then apply formatting such as bold etc using the editor in m2news. If you run into difficulties after pasting from Word and can't fix it, just let us know and we'll go in and clean it up for you.

 

3. Saving a newsletter email

  1. You can save your newsletter at any stage of editing by using the save button at the base of the editing area. This save button is only visible if the newsletter hasn't already been sent. This is because stats are based on each newsletter, and if you were to send the same one again, the recording would be inaccurate.

    If you have sent it already, you can use the 'Save as new' button which will create a copy of that newsletter, add it to your list with the prefix "Copy of" and then you can use that to send the next time.

4. Sending a newsletter email

4.a Sending to a group of subscribers

  1. Sending is simply a matter of clicking 'Newsletters' on the left, then clicking the drop down list of actions for the newsletter you want to send, and choosing 'Send this newsletter'

  2. Next you will be asked to choose which group(s) should receive this newsletter. Select your groups and click 'Send Newsletter'.

  3. Your newsletter has been added to the mailing queue. You can check the queue and time to next mail run by clicking the 'Email queue' link in the main navigation on the left.

4.b Sending to single subscriber

  1. Click the 'Subscribers' link to see your groups of subscribers

  2. choose the group the recipient is in

  3. find the subscriber and under the actions drop-down menu, choose 'Send newsletter to this subscriber'

  4. You are then shown a list of your newsletters. Tick those you want to send to this subscriber and click the 'Send selected' button

  5. Your single subscriber emails have been added to the mailing queue!

4.c Send to yourself

  1. Click the newsletter link on the left of the screen

  2. click the actions drop-down menu for the newsletter you want to send to yourself and choose 'Send this newsletter to me'

  3. On the next page, select which of your email addresses you want it to go to and click 'Send'

  4. Your send to self newsletter has been added to the mailing queue!

4.d Sending FAQ

  1. When I test by sending to myself, it says it is from 'send@m2news...'
    When sending to yourself, it uses a different system than that used to broadcast your newsletter. When you newsletter is broadcast it will show as being from your business email address.

  2. Some people are telling me they received it, but it's all just text. what's wrong?
    Most likely the email was considered spam by the spam detection software on the recipients mail server. Some SPAM detection software is set to very high, and there is nothing we can do about that. While the system is set to have a minimal spam rating, we cannot control the content of them. Another reason may be that the recipient has their email software set to receive in text-only format.

5. Managing subscribers

  • Subscribers are contained in groups, and it is the groups that you send newsletters to. Subscribe forms for your site(s) are per group.
    When you create a group, you're asked for a name and a description. The description is for your reference.

  • Clicking the add subscriber icon takes you to a page which shows two ways to add subscribers; either one at a time or by uploading a .csv file. You also choose which group(s) you want the new subscriber additions to be put into.

    A .csv file is a file contain Comma Separated Values. Outlook and Windows address book both export to this format, and Microsoft Excel can save in this format.

  • You can download a CSV file of your subscriber database per group from the option in the drop down menu to the right of the subscriber group

  • When there are subscribers in the group, you will see a list of actions for each group. All actions are self explanatory.

  • Clicking on a group will show the list of subscribers in that group and a choice of actions for each one. To find a subscriber in the list, you can click the letter their first name starts with, or search using the live search field. Just start typing their name and the list will refresh as you type to match your search word.

 

7. Listing newsletters in your site

- Click subscribers.
- Choose the group which receives the newsletter you want to show on your site.
- Click the last icon on the right at the top -- "Show newsletters sent to this group on your site".

8. Billing

  • Billing run is on the 1st of each month.
  • Period is from 12:00 am on the 1st until 11:59 pm on the last day of the month.
  • Your credit card will be debited automatically.
  • You will be sent an automatic invoice on the first of each month.
  • You can review and download your invoices on the 'My Invoices' page
  • If your credit card details change you must update the details on your account page.
  • If a payment fails, your account will be suspended automatically and you will need to contact us to have it activated again.
  • You can cancel your account at any time by notifying us in writing. Any fees due in that month will be debited immediately.

 

9. FAQ

  • Q. the newsletter is from send@m2news.com.au. Can we change it so it is sent from our email address?

    A. The system needs to send all emails from this email address in order to track bounces. Bounces will be sent back to this special email address which are then collected by the system and recorded in your stats. However, to the recipient, it will show us as being from your company and if they reply to it, the reply will go to your company's email address, because the 'reply-to' address will be set as your company's email address. Please see the forum for more info on this topic

  • Q. Can I have a subscribe form in my site?

    A. Yes, there is an option to show a snippet of code when you manage a subscriber group, that you can insert into your site and is linked to that subscriber group. JUst click Subscribers from the left navigation, then click the group you want to generate a subscribe form for, then click the icon labeled 'Generate subscribe form for this group'

  • Q. How do I set the 'reply-to' email address for the emails I send?

    A. As you send your newsletters to the groups you set up, and you can have multiple groups for sending different newsletters to (possibly from different businesses if you run more than one), the reply-to email address is set in the group details when you create a group of subscribers. You can also edit this at any time.