CreatingandSendinganEmailBlastCreatinganemailblastisaseven‐stepprocessthatletsyousendemailsinHTMLandtextcontenttospecifiedtargets.
Creatinganemailblastisaseven‐stepprocessthatletsyousendemailsinHTMLandtextcontenttospecifiedtargets.If,duringthecreationofyouremail,youneedtoexitandlaterreturntofinishtheblast,yoursavedblastwillremaininyouremaillist.Youcanlaterclickthe"Details"linkfromthislisttoreturntoandedityourblastcontentbeforesubmittingtheblastforprocessing.
Step1:SelectthePackage• Selecttheemailblastspackagebyclickingthe"emailblasts"tabinthemain
navigationbar(seeimage1).
• Hoverover"emailblasts»"inthesub‐navigationbarandselect"createblasts"(seeimage2).
Image1
Image2
Step2:CreateaBlast
AddaReferenceName• Thisisauniquenameforthisemailthatwillhelpyouorganizeyourblasts.It
isonlyvisibleinternally.
Selectanemailtemplatebyselectingtheradiobutton(seeimage1).• Tip:Youcanmakechangestoyouremailtemplatebyclicking"edit"nextto
thetemplatename.
Addatag• Inthetoprightcorner,youhavetheoptionofaddingatagforeasytracking
ofyourcampaign.Readmoreabouttagshere.
Click"save"tosaveyourworkOR"save&continue"tosaveyourworkandmovetothenextstep.
• Afteryousaveyourwork,youwillseethenextstepsforbuildingyouremailblast(seeimage2).
Image1:
Image2:
Step3:Content
AddaFromNameandEmailAddressinthetwofieldsonthefirstline• Tip:WhensendinganemailitisagoodpracticetoincludeFirst&LastName,
Organization(ex.HotTamale,SalsaCommons)
• Tip:Besuretouseavalidemailaddress.
AddaReply‐Toemailaddress• Tip:HavingthesameemailaddressinboththeFromandReply‐Tofields
mayreducespamfiltering.
AddaSubject• Tip:Includinganexclamationpointinasubjectlinemayincreasespam
filtering.
AddHTMLContent• ClickyourcursorinthelargeblankboxunderthegreenHTMLContenttab.
Onceyouclickinthebox,atoolbarwillappear.Typeorpasteyouremailcontent.
• Tip:WhencopyingandpastingcontentfromaWorddocument,firstpasteitinaplaintextfiletocleanupanyformatcode.
• AdvancedTip:AddDynamicContent
AddTextContent• Clickthegreen"TextContent"tabtotypeorpastetheplaintextversionof
theemail.
• Ifyouwantonlyplaintextemailstobesent,select"OnlysendaTextmessage"(thisisnotcommon)
• Clickthegreen"HTMLContent"and"TextContent"tabstoflipbetweenthetwo.
• Tip:HavingsimilarHTMLandTextcontentmaydecreasespamfiltering.
Click"save"tosaveyourwork,or"save&continue"tosaveandmoveontothenextstep.
Step4:SendOptions
Select"Donottracklinks"ifyouwouldliketodisablelinktracking.
Select"Donottrackopenrates"ifyouwouldliketodisabletrackingopenrates.
Select"Addtowebpage"ifyouwouldliketoaddthisblasttoapublicwebpageforlaterviewing.
Click"save"tosaveyourworkOR"save&continue"tosaveyourworkandmovetothenextstep.
Step5:Targeting
Selectasavedqueryorcreateanewquery• Seequery/exportdocumentationtolearnmoreaboutusingthequerytool
Step6:Validation
Ifavalidationtesthasagreencheckmark,youremailisreadytobesent.Click"moreinfo"tolearnabouteachvalidationtest.
Ifatesthasared"X",followtheinstructionstofixtheerror.
Ifyouwanttosendatestemailtomultipleaddresses,separatethemwithacomma.
Step7:Summary
ClickonHTMLandText"previewlinks"toopen&closeemailpreviews.
Clickon"targetquerysummary"toopen&closesummary.
Ifeverythinglooksgood,clicktheorange"SubmitEmailBlastNow!"buttontoblastaway!
AdvancedTip:A/BtestingA/BTestingallowsSalsacampaignmanagerstosendslightlydifferentemailblastsouttoasmallpercentageofthetotaltargetforablast.TheHQcampaignmanagercanthenmonitortheopenratesorconversionratesofeachseparateblast,determinewhichwasthebetterperformingemail,andthensendthecontentfromthebetterperformingemailouttotherestofthetargetsfortheblastemail.
UsingA/BTesting:
AddingTestBlasts• CompleteyouremailintheSalsaHQasnormal.AtStep7:Summary,youwill
seethe"mainblast"readytogoout:
Clickonthe"Createtestblasts"linktoseeashortexplanationofA/BTestinganda"Createtestblasts"button.Clickthisbuttontoaddtwotestblaststoyouremailblast:
BestPracticesforA/BTesting:WeHIGHLYrecommendchoosingtoeither:
• Usetwoslightlydifferentsubjectlinestotestwhichwillhaveahigheropenratewithyoursupporters,OR
• Usedifferentcontentinsidetheemailtodeterminewhichversionofcontentwilldriveahigherconversionrateofdonations,actions,etc.
Set‐upbothtestblastsandsendthematasclosetothesametimeaspossible.Thisremovestimeasavariablefromthedifferencesinopenrateorconversionrates.
EditingtheTestBlasts:• Clickthe"edit"linknexttothetestblastsandthefollowingboxwilldrop
down
Thisboxallowsyoutoedit:
• Emailblastcontent:o Click"edit/viewfullemailblast"toeditthecontentoftheblast.This
shouldbedoneifyou'regoingtotestconversionratesbycomparingdifferent"content"betweenthetwotestblasts.It'srecommendedthatthislinkbeopenedinanewtab.
• Percentage:o Thisrepresentsthepercentageofthetotaltargetsthatwillreceive
thistestblast.Thedefaultsare5/5/90whenyouusetwotestblasts.Inordertoreachallofyourtargetedsupporters,makesurethattheblastsaddupto100%.
• Referencename:o Thisisaninternalreferencenamethatisnotvisibletoyour
supporters.• Subject:
o Ifyouaretestingopenrates,changethesubjecthere.• Savethisemail:
o Onceyou'vemadechangestothetestblast,don'tforgettosavethem!
SendingTestBlasts:Onceyouhavemadeeditstoallofyourtestblasts‐submitthemusingtheblue"SubmitTestBlast"button.Thiswilllaunchthetestblaststothespecified%ofpeopleandbringuptheopenratestatisticsonthissummarypage.
Tip:Werecommendwaitingapproximatelyonehourfortestblastresultstocomein‐sendtheblastsandgrabsomecoffee!
Whenyoucomebacktothe"Summary"stepoftheemailblast,youwillseetestblastresults:
ReplacingtheContentandSendingtheMainBlast:• Inthisexample,"TestA"performedmuchbetterthan"TestB".Giventhese
results,we'dliketo"replace"themainblastcontentwiththecontentsentin"TestA".
• Gotothemainblastdropdownlabeled:"ReplaceMainContentwith:"• Thedefaultoptionis:"Leaveasis".Thiswillsendoutthemainblastwith
whatevercontentiscurrentlysavedintoit.Ifyouhaven'tusedthisdropdownyetitwillsendouttheoriginalblastyouhavecreated.NOTE:Ifyouhavealreadyreplacedtheblastwithcontentfromoneofthetestblasts‐itwillsendoutthatcontent.
• Ifyouwanttoreplacethemainblastwiththemoresuccessfultestblast,clickintothedropdowntoseeallofthetestblaststhathavebeenSENT.Clickandchoosetheblastyouwouldliketousetoreplacethemaincontent.ThisREPLACESthemainblastcontentwiththetestsetcontentandcannotbeundone.Oncecompleted,thedropdownwillchangeto"Leaveasis"again.Yourblastisnowreadytobesentwiththebettercontent.
