Dbe emailer software documentation user guide

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PRIMARY DATABASE EMAILER SOFTWARE

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Contents

1. Getting Started 6

1.1. What is Database Emailer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.2. System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.3. Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.4. The Ultra-Short Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2. How to work with DBE 21

2.1. Accounts Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212.2. Outbound Servers Con�guration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.2.1. Add a New SMTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242.2.2. Auto-Con�guration of SMTP Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262.2.3. Utilizing FREE Email Service Providers to Email your Op-In List 30

2.3. Inbound Servers Con�guration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312.3.1. Add a New POP3 Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312.3.2. Auto-Con�guration of POP3 Email Account . . . . . . . . . . . 312.3.3. Modifying an POP3 Server Con�guration . . . . . . . . . . . . 352.3.4. Deleting a POP3 server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352.3.5. Utilizing FREE Email Service Providers to Email your Op-In List 35

2.4. Database Emailer Account Setup/Seed Noti�cation Email Address Con-�guration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

2.5. Email Landing Page Con�guration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

3. Address Book Management 38

3.1. Load Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383.1.1. Load Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383.1.2. Load Data Obtained from DBE Into Emailer Database . . . . . 403.1.3. Load Data Not Obtained From DBE Into Database . . . . . . . 403.1.4. Frequent Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

3.2. Export Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513.2.1. Export Data � Bad Addresses Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

3.3. Suppression File - Upload File Will Not Be Emailed . . . . . . . . . . 543.4. Domain Suppression File - Upload File Will Not Be Emailed . . . . . . 543.5. Remove Existing Database Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563.6. Adding New Information � Append to Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

3.6.1. County Appender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573.6.2. Gender Appender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

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3.6.3. Income Appender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573.6.4. Own/Rent Appender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573.6.5. Ethnicity Appender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573.6.6. Domain Name Appender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

3.7. Data Cleaning Refresh Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573.7.1. Con�guration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593.7.2. Loading Fresh Bounces Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593.7.3. Update Mailing Lists or whole Database with Fresh Bounces

Data Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603.8. Options for Data Con�guration and Proxy Services . . . . . . . . . . . 62

3.8.1. Data and Con�gurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623.8.2. Proxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

4. Mailing List Management 64

4.1. De�ning a New Mailing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644.1.1. Query Email Landing Page Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

4.2. Modify Existing Mailing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674.3. Preview a Mailing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

4.3.1. Amount of Records per Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704.3.2. Hide Bounces and Opt-Outs from the Mailing List . . . . . . . 704.3.3. Auto Fetch Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704.3.4. Count Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

4.4. Deletion of Mailing List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704.5. Clear a Mailing List De�nition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714.6. Export Mailing List Members to File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714.7. Select a Mailing List as Part of a Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734.8. Add a New Record into DBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734.9. Modify Existing DBE Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744.10. Unsubscribe Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

4.10.1. Manually Unsubscribe Records with Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . 744.10.2. Unsubscribe Records with a Filter Query . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

4.11. Verify Email Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774.11.1. Syntax Only Veri�cation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774.11.2. Syntax Veri�cation with SMTP Response Veri�cation . . . . . 79

4.12. Modify File Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794.13. Permanent Records Deletion from Database for the Mailing List . . . . 814.14. Generate Domain Name Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814.15. Sending Speed Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

5. Email Message Management 88

5.1. Create Your First Marketing Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885.1.1. DBE Has a WYSIWYG Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895.1.2. Create a New Marketing Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

5.2. Modify an Existing Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

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5.3. Delete a Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965.4. Body Substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

5.4.1. Default Database Replacement Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 985.5. Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995.6. Duplicate Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995.7. Select Messages as Part of a Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

5.7.1. Rotate Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995.8. Check Message Spam Assassin Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995.9. Test a Message Before Sending It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1025.10. Do You Want to Know Who's Reading Your Campaign Email? . . . . 102

5.10.1. Email Landing Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

6. Jobs Management 106

6.1. Automatically Delete Detected Bounced and Opted-Out Messages fromPOP3 Inbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066.1.1. Delete "Uncategorized" Email Messages from POP3 Inbox Au-

tomatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066.2. Automatically Update DBE Database for Bounces and Opt-Outs after

Speci�c Time Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1066.3. Collect Possibly Detected Bounced and Opted-Out Email Addresses

into the Speci�ed File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086.4. Sending Your Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

6.4.1. Update Your Database Before Sending More Email to It . . . 1086.4.2. Preparing the Job to Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1106.4.3. Pausing the Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126.4.4. Auto Pause/Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1126.4.5. When Your Job Won't Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

6.5. After Your Job Is Sent Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1136.6. Scheduled Job Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

A. Frequently Asked Questions 116

A.1. I observed an issue in DBE, could you help me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116A.2. In testing rotating presentations I was either doing something wrong or

the software was returning funny tests. How do I set the software so arotating mix of all these things are sent? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

B. DBE Email Addresses CSV File Format 118

C. Outbound SMTP Accounts CSV File Column Sequence Format 121

D. Inbound POP3 Accounts CSV File Column Sequence Format 122

E. Migration of Con�guration Settings 123

F. Migration of Database File 125

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Contents

G. Log File Location 126

Bibliography 127

Index 129

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1. Getting Started

1.1. What is Database Emailer?

Database Emailer (DBE) is marketing inspiration. There seems to be no comparableproduct on the market that performs a similar function. It is a crucial solution forone of the two great challenges of e-mail marketing. We assume you have met the �rstgreat challenge: getting a good mailing list. The second challenge is DELIVERINGyour message to that list. The other challenges, like writing a good marketing mes-sage, are small by comparison. Anyone who has tried e-mail marketing knows thatdelivering your message to a valid e-mail address � even a double opt-in who has whitelisted you personally - is a di�cult task. Entire industries are built upon the goal ofstopping your e-mail message. You probably have heard the terms �spam assassin�and �barracuda �lter.� They are part of the weaponry that stands between you andyour future customers. Database Emailer is an ingenious mechanism for getting yourmarketing message to the recipient's Inbox, where your target customer can decide� all by himself or herself, without any government authority coaching or advising �if it's of interest. But, in fact, DBE does much more: it greatly reduces the chancesthat your website(s) will be shut down in retaliation for bulk mailing. It similarlylessens the chances that your credit card payment processing will be abruptly turnedo�, crippling your e-commerce activity, with much of your sales revenue held hostagefor months. Another bene�t: Database Emailer is your alternative to so-called bul-letproof hosting. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars per month to a �black box�company that claims to be delivering your e-mail messages, you save that money andregain control and visibility over the sending process. DBE combines a SQL databasewith a feature-rich e-mailer. Don't worry; you don't need to know anything aboutdatabases except that they contain data. In your case, the database is your mailinglist. DBE will shield you from the complexities of the database. No database experi-ence is required; all the queries on data are done via a user-friendly interface. Unlikemost databases handling hundreds of thousands of records on a PC, DBE is usuallylightning fast. It's in a di�erent universe, speed-wise, when compared to most mailout systems, including and especially those which are hosted on monthly subscrip-tion services. Business data can be searched by di�erent criteria and multiple criteriacan be combined to create complicated searches. It's quite possible that all you careabout is sending an e-mail that is personalized with �Hello, Mrs Sally Jones, Hereis our wonderful product.� But for later on, keep in mind that DBE o�ers you great�exibility. And not only �exibility; it has a way to add value to your purchased emaillists. It can determine ethnicity of the recipients, their income level, gender, and theirrent/own status with a surprising degree of accuracy. It will do this very rapidly and

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1. Getting Started

add that information to each record. DBE allows you to have targeted email distri-bution lists. An unlimited number of e-mail accounts can be used simultaneously fordelivery. This is extremely valuable, because traps are waiting for your message allacross the Internet. These traps, or �lters, are triggered when too many identicalmessages come at the same time from a single server or sender. That last sentencewill o�end technical purists because it is not precise, but it will help the newcomerunderstand what he or she is up against with bulk mailing. This is particularly truewhen sending to gmail.com addresses. If Google decides you are spamming, it willgo into Gmail inboxes that you have already successfully delivered to, and if the userhasn't opened your email, Google will delete it.Industry Problem: You can have opt-in email data but as soon as you go over the

threshold limits of recipients �lters you can not get into the recipients inbox. Bulkemailers spend enormous amounts of money trying to get deliverability by purchasinghuge blocks of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and rotating them; however they are�nding that this approach is not working as the �lters are blocking �not just oneaddress�but the entire block of IP addressees. There are only two ways to get youropt-in email through:OPTION ONE) Spend hundreds of hours �lling out White-List applications with a

thousand Internet Service Providers (ISP's) and email from a dedicated email serverwith a dedicated IP address and domain name and your business must be the onlyone using that IP address. This is a very timely and very costly proposition just tobe able to send opt-in email.OPTION TWO) DatabaseEmailer Solution: Recognizing after 15 years in the in-

dustry that opt-in email could only be delivered if the emailing stayed below thethreshold limits of the recipient ISP's �lters, DatabaseEmailer (DBE) was developed.If you only have a small opt-in list (under 2 million a month) there is no reason tospend any money at all on emailing as the DBE can simultaneously use dozens of freeemail accounts. If you have a size able email list DBE allows a user to purchase andsimultaneously use an unlimited number of very low cost web hosting plans which ofcourse o�er as part of their web hosting plans email service. Businesses simply pur-chase a web hosting plan for about $7 bucks a month which allows about 1,000 emailsper hr (700,000 per month) or about $30 a month for 10 million emails per month.Bulk emailers typically charge $1,000 or more per million and can not get anywherenear the deliverability that is obtained with this system. DBE's user friendly softwareallows a business to simultaneously use as many web hosting/email service accountsas a business needs to get its opt-in database out�all accounts of course have theirown threshold �oor because each email account has its own IP address and its own do-main name; thereby staying below �lter threshold limits. The DBE ingeniously allowsyou to have your presentation round robin rotated over as many web hosting plansas you like to stay below threshold limits of recipient ISP �lters. In addition to themultiple domains and IP's being rotated the software stays below the �lter thresholdsby rotating your businesses �from addresses� ( [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ) etc. Additionallyunlimited subject lines and presentations are also rotated to stay below �lter thresh-

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1. Getting Started

olds to get your opt-in email delivered. DBE was developed with speed throttles tomake sure that your business stays in compliance with the Term of Service (TOS) ofthe web hosting/Email Service providers you choose. DBE also automates opt-outsso you can stay in compliance with some countries laws which require removal of thesubscriber if they wish to be taken o� your list. DBE Controls Email Servers withoutthe Need for an IT Person Normally to obtain incredibly low pricing as obtained withDBE you would be forced to lease your own dedicated server. Managing a dedicatedserver would entail: Transferring data (via File Transfer protocol) to a dedicatedserver, installing a database, knowing how to query that database, installing emailsoftware and hooking the email software up to the servers email client, and then hav-ing to write bounce scripts and opt-out scripts. You would need a full time IT personto manage a dedicated email server. DBE handles all this work without the need foran IT person. Complete PC novices are able to use DBE.

1.2. System Requirements

DBE runs on the following systems: Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows7/Windows 2008 Server. The preferred version of operating system is 32 bit version.Minimum amount of PC RAM is about 1GB. Recommended amount of RAM is 2GBat least. Excellent condition is to have PC with 4 GB and more to handle multiplemillions of records easily. Recommended processor power is some Dual Core Intelor AMD based processor. You should have at least 1GB of hard disk space for onemillion of records or about 20 GB of hard disk space for multiple millions of records.DBE requires a broadband Internet connection (DSL, Cable, Satellite, etc). Dial upis NOT supported.

1.3. Installation

DBE has a quick and easy installer which will allow you to create a desktop Icon tolaunch DBE. This section just covers how you install DBE on your computer. If youhave it installed, skip to the next section and run DBE by clicking on the DatabaseEmailer icon on your screen (your desktop). Start the installation process by double-clicking the installer. The following screen Figure 1.1 will be displayed:Click on the Next button to continue to get to the license agreement page Figure

1.2.Read the license agreement by scrolling through it. When done, select �I accept the

agreement� and click on Next to continue. You will get to the destination locationselection screen Figure 1.3. Select the location on your computer where you want toinstall DBE. You can click on �Browse. . . � in order to change the default. Once youhave made your selection, click on Next to continue. You will get to the Start MenuFolder Selection screen Figure 1.4.Select the Start Menu Folder you want to create on your Start Menu for the DBE

application. Once you have made your selection, click on Next to continue. You will

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.1.: Database Emailer Installation Wizard - Start Screen

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.2.: Database Emailer Installation Wizard - License Agreement

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.3.: Database Emailer Installation Wizard - Destination Location

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.4.: Database Emailer Installation Wizard - Start Menu Folder Selection

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.5.: Database Emailer Installation Wizard - Additional Tasks Selection

get to the Select Additional Tasks screen Figure 1.5. The �Create a desktop icon�option will place an icon on your desktop which you can click on in order to launchDBE. The �Create a Quick Launch icon� will place an icon on your windows taskbar which you can click on in order to launch DBE. Note that you need to have thequick launch bar activated in order to see this icon. The �Install Outlook Plugin� willinstall a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. The Outlook plug-in allows you to importyour Microsoft Outlook address book into DBE. By clicking Next you will get to theReady to Install screen Figure 1.6.Click on Install to continue with the installation. The following installation status

screen will be displayed Figure 1.7.Followed by the following pop up Figure 1.8. Click on OK to continue.If you opted to install the Outlook plug-in, you will be prompted with the following

screen Figure 1.9. Click on Next to continue to the Figure 1.10 screen.This screen allows you to select an installation directory for the Outlook plug-in.

You can click on �Browse� to select your own directory or accept the default. Onceyou have made your selection, click on Next to continue. You will get to Ready toInstall screen Figure 1.11.Click on Install to continue and install the Outlook plug-in.

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.6.: Database Emailer Installation Wizard - Ready to Install

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.7.: Database Emailer Installation Wizard - Installing

Figure 1.8.: Database Emailer Installation Wizard - Setup Language Selection

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.9.: Database Emailer Outlook Add-in

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.10.: Database Emailer Outlook Add-in - Installation Folder

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.11.: Database Emailer Outlook Add-in - Ready to Install

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.12.: Completing the Database Emailer Outlook Add-in Setup Wizard

You should get to the Completing the Database Emailer Outlook Add-in SetupWizard screen Figure 1.12. Click Finish to complete the Outlook plug-in install.And you should �nally get to the Completing the Database Emailer Setup Wizard

screen Figure 1.13.Select the �Launch Database Emailer� option if you want to launch DBE after

installation. Click on Finish to complete the installer of DBE.

1.4. The Ultra-Short Tutorial

Install the program. Click on Accounts and enter some outbound accounts to sendyour email and some inbound accounts to receive mail back Click on Address Bookand load in a CSV �le of emails. Click on Append if you need additional data suchas ethnicity or gender to be calculated. Click on Lists and check this list, so it canbe used by your campaign. Click on Messages and create or copy in your campaignemail. You'll need to enter From Address(es) and a Reply Address and a Subject.Click on Jobs and mail out your campaign to the selected list. That's it.

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1. Getting Started

Figure 1.13.: Completing the Database Emailer Setup Wizard

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2. How to work with DBE

2.1. Accounts Management

Note: technically advanced users will �nd some of this information imprecise, butplease read through because some important features are explained in this section. Tosend email, it has to come from someplace. It needs a point of origin and a way toleave that point of origin. For that reason, you're going to need at least one outboundemail server. DBE needs to know how to identify that server. Why? Because DBE isa database that can only send your messages if it has an outbound server, known asan SMTP server, to give instructions to. No SMTP server, no email goes out. That'sbecause DBE does not send email out `by itself.' Rather, it logs into your emailaccount brie�y and instructs the server to send an email or thousands of emails � eachcontaining your marketing message. Here you see the Accounts page. This is whereyou will set up the SMTP server so that DBE knows where it is sending from. Thelower part of the Accounts screen is where you set up Inbound mail servers, generallybeing what's known as POP3 servers. You need inbound mail accounts because whenyou send email to thousands of people, you get responses. The responses range from�Invalid Address� to �Unsubscribe� to �I'll buy all you have!� or less welcoming: �Stopbothering me�.DBE accounts page is divided into two sections; the top section contains the settings

for outgoing email (SMTP) and the bottom contains the inbound (POP) email settingssee Figure 2.1. DBE has the ability to remotely access the SMTP and POP settings ofan unlimited amount of web hosting plans which you need to purchase. Web hostingplans range from shared server access plans of about $7 a month for 750 opt-in emailsper hour (720,000 a month) to Virtual Private Server (VPS) plans at $30 a month forabout 10,000 opt-in emails per hour ( 7.2 million per month). There are thousands ofweb hosting companies that may be utilized. We are not an a�liate nor recommendthe use of any particular web hosting companies; you need to decide on your ownwhich ones to use.

2.2. Outbound Servers Con�guration

Why you need multiple outbound servers? In practice, you will most likely want toset up multiple SMTP servers � which equates to making it appear that your emailscome from multiple di�erent email accounts. You need to know that Gmail, AOL,MSN, and every other major email domain has sophisticated software that works 24x7attempting to catch and trap your messages � if you trigger their �lter alarms.

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Figure 2.1.: Accounts Management

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An alarm could well go o� at Google (gmail.com) if several hundred identical emailsaddressed to gmail account-holders came through in the space of 15 minutes. Quitelikely, nearly all those several hundred emails would not arrive � or if they did get toan Inbox, gmail would ID them as spam and yank them back out.For this reason, DBE was designed to `round robin' the outbound mail servers /

email accounts. For example, if you want to send out 1 million emails in a day, youcould have 1/10 of them come from your usual server and email account, and 10%would come from your Liquid Web account. Depending on how you set it up, DBEcould send a small percentage of the emails from your main account, then a smallpercentage from one of your secondary accounts, then a few from your cousin's Yahooaccount that never gets used.The spam �lters waiting out there will �nd it di�cult to ascertain that the messages

coming from a variety of servers are, in fact, identical and therefore possibly spam.The round robin capability greatly helps protect the Sender.You can have multiple email addresses at one domain name, such as www.myEMAILsite.com

but it's best to �scatter� them around. If all your �sending� email accounts are at onehost, or domain, they are probably all originating from the same IP address. Thatmakes your mass mailing campaign easier to pick out (and block) amidst the enormousocean of email that crosses the Internet each hour.Another key reason to use multiple SMTP outbound accounts is that many email

accounts and servers impose volume restrictions on you. This means they shut downand discard your outgoing messages if you exceed an hourly or daily limit. Sometimes,out of courtesy, they tell you that 5,000 outgoing messages were discarded � or theymay not. From their viewpoint, it's a pretty serious o�ense if you exceed the speedlimit they have set. When your �ood of outgoing email ties up their servers andbottlenecks their many other customers, you become the bad guy very quickly.By sprinkling your outgoing volume across several outbound SMTP accounts, and

respecting their speed limits (hourly quotas), you remain a welcome person. Now let'slook at how you do that.First, you need to open several email accounts, preferably at di�erent hosts that

allow you to send a great number of emails each month or day. For each of these, youneed to make up a detailed, very accurate list � best to store it on your hard drivebut make sure you always have a backup copy � of your email accounts that will usedin Accounts to send your messages. We'll assume that you have taken a few hours toresearch which hosts allow you to send a LOT of emails per hour/day/month and youhave opened the necessary email accounts with them.In this list, you'll need the following information for each SMTP server:

• Its name

• The port it uses to send email, often 25, 26, 587 or 465

• The correct host name, such as www.I-send-a-lot-of-email.com

• Whether the SMTP server that you're setting up requires SSL

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Figure 2.2.: SMTP Server Con�guration

• The address of the email account you'll use

• The password on that account

• The allowable number of emails per hour, day, and month for each account andhost domain

DBE needs the password, remember, because it must log into your email accounts toemploy their servers to send.Until you have collected all that info, you cannot send any emails (Jobs). The good

news is that once you set up these accounts, and get them properly set up in Accounts,you can use them for every marketing message you may want to send.Hint: when you go to set up the email accounts, and especially if it means you open

hosting accounts and select domain names, try to select names that have some rele-vance to your subject matter. If you are selling e-books, pick domains like www.ebooksforyou.comand email account names like [email protected]. It will make sense why,later on.

2.2.1. Add a New SMTP Server

To add an additional SMTP server, click on the new button to the right of �Outbound(SMTP) Mail Settings�. Your SMTP server area should now look like on Figure: 2.2Add following information for your SMTP accounts you are going to add:

• Account Description: Name of the Web hosting Plan. (Not essential �just therefor your organization if you have many accounts rotating.)

• Server Host Name: This is a domain name that you place on the web hostingplan. Typically the web hosting company will place your selected domain ontheir server for your web hosting/email plan. Tip�before you sign up witha web hosting company go to a domain registrar and verify whether the newdomain name that you are going to place on your web hosting plan is available.Don't register the domain name at the registrar, just verify the domain exists.

24


Your web hosting company will register the domain name for you, and manyo�er a free domain or two when you register for web hosting. When you enterthe domain name into the Server Host name box you either will either enter thedomain name without the ( www. ) before it as shown in the screen shot or youenter smtp.hostingcompanyname.com. Your web hosting will send you an emailthat will tell you what its SMTP access is. Tip�If you are selling di�erent typesof products choose domain names that are not about one particular productbecause each web hosting plan with your domain name for that hosting plancan be simultaneously utilized to email your opt-in list.

• Port number. Place 465 in the port box and place a check mark in the box thatsays: Use Secure Transfer (SSL). Most of the time your local ISP that you will bebypassing and your web hosting company both have port 465 SSL open so yourDBE will sync with your web hosting plan allowing you to control the sendingof email from your web hosting plan. We will test for connectivity between theDBE and your hosting company after we complete entering the next two entries,and if we �nd there is no connectivity then you will use either port 25, 26, or587 without the SSL box checked. For now leave it 465 with SSL box checked.Some hosting plans require Login Information, and some do not under port 465SSL. Before you go further hit the SAVE button on the right hand side whichwill test for connectivity. If you have a successful test you do not have to enterthe Provider Requires Login section. If you get a failure then continue withProvider Requires Login section. IMPORTANT NOTE: When you sign up fora hosting plan it will take up to 30 hours for that domain name to propagateso if you get a failed test within 30 hours the chances are it is due to this. Alsomany hosting plans will send you their welcome email as soon as you sign upbut that does not mean that your chosen domain has propagated throughoutthe Internet.

• Provide Login Information: If this section is needed place a check in the box andenter the account name and then the password of hosting plan purchased. Somehosting plans will assign the account name and PW and some will utilize onesthat you created when you registered for the hosting plan. Your welcome emailwill give you your SMTP account name and account password. Some hostingplans will for the account name the email address that you requested for theplan and some will use just alpha and/or numeric.

If port 465 SSL did not obtain a successful test you will use one of 3 SMTP ports(25, 26, 587) with the �Provide Login Information� box checked. Before you try usingone of the 3 SMTP ports make sure there is NOT a check mark in the �Use SecureTransfer SSL� box.You should already have your Account Name and Account Password entered before

trying SMTP port options. After you try each SMTP port you hit the SAVE buttonon the right hand side to test connectivity. Tip�Try SMTP port 26 �rst; however ifyour local ISP is Comcast try port 587. You can simply use a search engine to easily

25


ask what SMTP ports your own ISP has open so you can bypass your ISP and connectto your purchased hosting plan.If you have not been able to obtain a successful test chances are you have entered

in a wrong account name/PW or host name or propagation of the domain has not yettaken e�ect. If you have waited 30 hours and have followed the above and still can notobtain a successful test use the contact page of the website www.DatabaseEmailer.comto advise us and we will set up a technician to help you out for a $30 fee. If thetechnician can not get you synched you do not pay the fee.

• Hourly Messages: DBE allows you to adhere to the speed limitations of eachhosting plan that you have chosen. Remember to SAVE after any speed changesyou make.

• Threads: If sending under a speed limitation under 1000 an hour per plan theamount of threads used is �ne at 10 threads. Increase threads by 15 for eachadditional 1000 per hour. If you are purchasing a Virtual Private Server (VPS)to relay through and it has no limitations you can set the threads at 256. Whatis the ideal speed per hour/number of threads ratio? For limited SMTP serversbasically if you have 100 emails per hour, you can use 1 or 2 threads. Forlimited SMTP server, 1000 emails per hour you can use about 5 � 10 threads.If you observe you were not able to send at speed near 1000 emails per houras you speci�ed, you can increase threads a little. This will help you achieverequired speed. If you have unlimited SMTP account use at least 10 threads ormore to achieve the best possible speed per hour. Amount of threads allows tosend the speci�ed amount of emails simultaneously. But it depends on Internetconnection speed and concretely used SMTP server and also depends on howmany incoming SMTP connections SMTP server allows. The maximum totalallowed amount threads for all accounts and DBE highly depends on how manygigabytes of RAM has your PC. So we recommend to have 4 GB of RAM foroptimum performance.

• Activate or De-Activate SMTP hosting Accounts: You can check or un-check theboxes next to the name of your SMTP servers to activate or deactivate them.

2.2.2. Auto-Con�guration of SMTP Account

If manual con�guration of SMTP account into DBE does not work for you or you donot know right combination of required port numbers, domain names, etc., you cantry to use SMTP account auto-con�guration option. See Figure: 2.3.First type email address in the email address �eld. Then type password into the

password line. Click Next button. DBE will start detecting email account con�gura-tion. You will see a progress bard during this operation. Figure 2.4. After some timeyou will see if DBE was able to �nd correct SMTP account con�guration. Figure 2.5.If not try to �nd your email hosting provider introductory email with SMTP accountcon�guration and or ask your email hosting provider for correct SMTP con�gurationand then try manual con�guration instead. See 2.2.

26

http://www.DatabaseEmailer.com


Figure 2.3.: SMTP Email Account Auto-Con�guration Wizard

27


Figure 2.4.: Detecting SMTP Email Account

28


Figure 2.5.: Correct SMTP Account Con�guration was Detected

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Description

Email

Hostname

Port

SecureTransfer

RequiresLogin

Login

Password

HourlyMessages

SendingThreads

DoNotUseReturnPath

smtp.XX.com [email protected] smtp.XX.com 465 2 True xyzz1 pass123c 10 1 False

Table 2.2.: Example of SMTP Accounts CSV File Column Sequence

2.2.3. Utilizing FREE Email Service Providers to Email your Op-In List

DBE has an Load and Import button which enables you to upload an unlimitedamount of SMTP accounts. For load of SMTP Accounts con�guration from CSV �le:First line in the CSV �le is header:Description, Email, Hostname, Port, SecureTransfer, RequiresLogin, Login, Pass-

word, HourlyMessages, SendingThreads, DoNotUseReturnPaththen on next lines are data in columns separated by comma.For Description specify text account description. For Email specify email address

related to SMTP account. For Hostname specify domain name or IP address of theSMTP account. For port specify port number value. SecureTransfer should containnumbers 0 for No, 1 for TLS and 2 for SSL option. For HourlyMessages specify num-ber of hourly messages sending limit or 0 for unlimited hourly messages sending. ForSendingThreads specify number of sending threads used for sending emails simulta-neously. For RequiresLogin and DoNotUseReturnPath use True or False values or 0or 1. For Login specify your login and for Password specify your password. The .csv�le uploaded must contain the SMTP information in the following column sequence:

Activate Accounts See the Activate button located on the left hand side underSMTP servers. You can use this button after you have imported a large list of freeaccounts to activate accounts. You can use Ctrl+A to select all accounts or or selectany number of accounts with mouse and shift key. Then use Activate button toactivate selected accounts.

Deactivate Accounts See the Deactivate button located on the left hand side underSMTP servers. You can use this button to deactivate active accounts. You can useCtrl+A to select all or to select any accounts number of accounts with mouse andshift key. Then use Deactivate button to deactivate selected accounts.

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2.3. Inbound Servers Con�guration

DBE needs to handle incoming mail because there will almost always be �bouncebacks� on invalid email addresses and Unsubscribes, and it needs to know where tosend such responses. You can set up as few as just one single POP3 server, but youprobably want to enter several. For starters, it is not necessary to set up (in Accounts)a unique POP3 account for each SMTP account. To know how many POP3 serversyou'll want, you have to think ahead to your mailing campaigns. DBE gives you thevery desirable option, when you actually send your message, to round-robin throughmultiple From Addresses. This makes your messages less likely to be intercepted andblocked, because they aren't identical. If you are going to use seven From Addresses,each of those must have its domain represented. That could mean seven di�erentPOP3 servers, if each From account is with a di�erent host. Or you might have sevenFrom Addresses, all being di�erent UserIDs for e-mail at the same host. The latterwould indicate one POP3. 1

2.3.1. Add a New POP3 Server

To add a new POP3 server, click on the new button next to the �Inbound (POP) MailSettings�. Enter an account description. Don't just say �POP at Liquidweb�. Be morespeci�c: MyEmailAddress POP at Liquidweb is more satisfactory. Enter the servername. Examples: pop.gmail.com or pop.secureserver.net or mail.mydomain.com Iden-tify the Server Port by its number. If you cannot get con�rmation of the Server Port,try 110 and 995. These are common POP3 ports that often work. Enter the accountname. [email protected] (the full email address) Enter the accountpassword. Then click on Save.Note: be very careful about clicking Delete. Once clicked, there is no way to retrieve

the Account that you just erased.

2.3.2. Auto-Con�guration of POP3 Email Account

If manual con�guration of SMTP account into DBE does not work for you or you donot know right combination of required port numbers, domain names, etc., you cantry to use POP3 account auto-con�guration option. See Figure: 2.7.First type email address in the email address �eld. Then type password into the

password line. Click Next button. DBE will start detecting email account con�gura-tion. You will see a progress bar during this operation. Figure 2.8. After some timeyou will see if DBE was able to �nd correct POP3 account con�guration. Figure 2.9.If not try to �nd your email hosting provider introductory email with SMTP accountcon�guration and or ask your email hosting provider for correct POP3 email accountcon�guration and then try manual con�guration instead. See 2.3.

1Do You Have a Photographic Memory? Track Your Account User Names and Passwords in Excel.

Remember, if you don't have a spreadsheet to keep track of all your di�erent emails and server

ports, then you should start one. Very quickly this data detailing which login and password you

used on which accounts becomes too much for a log book that is easily misplaced.

31


Figure 2.6.: POP3 Account Con�guration

Figure 2.7.: POP3 Email Account Auto-Con�guration Wizard

32


Figure 2.8.: Detecting POP3 Email Account

33


Figure 2.9.: Correct POP3 Email Account Con�guration was Detected

34


2.3.3. Modifying an POP3 Server Con�guration

Do the following:

1. Change the account description � The account description will be displayedunder POP3 Servers and will be used to reference your POP3 con�guration byDBE.

2. Change the server Hostname � Your provider will provide you with the addressof the server that will provide you with your POP3 services.

3. Server port � Normally port 110 is used for non-secured POP3 connections andport 995 for secured (SSL) POP3 connections. Your provider may use a di�erentport number.

4. If your provider requires secured (SSL) connections, tick the �Use Secure Trans-fer (SSL)� option.

5. If your provider requires you to authenticate (login), tick the �Provider RequiresLogin� option. Supply the account name (user name) and account password thatyou received from your provider.

6. Msgs/Hour � This setting is ignored for POP3. It is not there this option forPOP3 in latest version? Which version do you use?

7. Click on the save button. DBE will test your POP3 con�guration. If the testfails, then your con�guration will not be saved and you will have to modify yourinformation until it is correct and validated by DBE.

2.3.4. Deleting a POP3 server

Be careful with Delete. DBE will prompt if you really want to delete account con-�guration before deletion. You need to con�rm deletion to be able to delete account.To delete an account, highlight the account on the left hand side as can be seen inthe previous image Figure 2.6. Click on the delete button. The highlighted accountwill be removed and replaced by an example account which you can use in future tocreate a new server account with.

2.3.5. Utilizing FREE Email Service Providers to Email your Op-In List

DBE has an Load and Import button which enables you to upload an unlimitedamount of POP3 accounts. For load of POP3 Accounts con�guration from CSV �le:First line in the CSV �le is header:Description, Email, Hostname, Port, SecureTransfer, RequiresLogin, Login, Pass-

wordthen on next lines data in columns separated by comma.For Description specify text account description. For Email specify email address

related to POP3 account. For Hostname specify domain name or IP address of the

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Description

Email

Hostname

Port

SecureTransfer

RequiresLogin

Login

Password

smtp.XX.com [email protected] smtp.XX.com 465 2 True xyzz1 pass123c

Table 2.4.: Example of POP3 Accounts CSV File Column Sequence

Figure 2.10.: Database Emailer Account Setup/Seed Noti�cation Email AddressCon�guration

POP3 account. For port specify port number value. SecureTransfer should containnumbers 0 for No and 2 for SSL option. For RequiresLogin use True or False valuesor 0 or 1. For Login specify your login and for Password specify your password.The .csv �le uploaded must contain the POP3 information in the following column

sequence:

2.4. Database Emailer Account Setup/Seed Noti�cationEmail Address Con�guration

To con�gure Databaase Emailer Account con�guration you need to provide your FirstName, Last Name and E-mail Address into the speci�ed �elds and then to click Savebutton to save it. E-mail Address here is also seed noti�cation E-mail Address. If youneed to have multiple Seed Noti�cation E-mail Addresses, you can click on Addresses,type multiple email addresses into poped dialog and click OK. Then click Save buttonto Save modi�ed con�guration. See Figures 2.10, 2.11.

2.5. Email Landing Page Con�guration

See: www.EmailLandingPage.com for more info what Email Landing Page is exactlyand to start using it. To con�gure Email Landing Page into DBE click on EmailLanding Page button in the Accounts page and type Email Landing Page URL intothe text �eld, then click OK button. See Figure 2.12. More info about con�guringEmail Landing Page web script could be found here: ELP Instructions.

36

http://www.emaillandingpage.com

http://www.emaillandingpage.com/ELP/ELPInstructions.php


Figure 2.11.: Multiple Seed Noti�cation E-mail Addresses Con�guration

Figure 2.12.: Email Landing Page URL Con�guration

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3. Address Book Management

The address book screen allows you to do the following:

• Import data into the database.

• Export data from database to �le.

• Export all the bad addresses and opt-outs.

• Remove existing data from the database

• Suppress email addresses you do not want to email

• Deduce or calculate new information based on the data, and add it to eachrecord. Examples of the new information that DBE can deduce or calculate:the county, gender, income level, radius from a given point, own vs rent, andethnicity.

3.1. Load Data

There is possible to load email address data from CSV, packed CSV with BZ2 andGZ �les. The �rst row of your CSV input �le contains the �eld names for each dataelement. DBE will map the �eld names found in your CSV �le to the correct �eldsautomatically. See 3.1.2. There is also possibility to load custom CSV data, in thiscase �rst CSV converter will be used to convert data into DBE required CSV �leformat. See B.1. Then standard DBE loading mechanism will be used for loadingconverted data. See 3.1.3.

3.1.1. Load Mode

First select load mode - the way how data will be loaded. There are two modes to loaddata and how data will be loaded in the case there are already same email addressesin DBE database:

1. Ignore mode - if selected, during loading of new data, the records in DBE withthe same email address as from loaded data �le will stay in DBE intact.

2. Replace mode - if selected, during loading of new data, the records in DBE withthe same email address as from loaded data �le will be replaced with the recordsfrom data �le.

38


Figure 3.1.: Address Book Management

39


Figure 3.2.: Import Data

3.1.2. Load Data Obtained from DBE Into Emailer Database

Use this option to load data which are obtained from DBE website or �les which havethe DBE required CSV �le format. Click the load data button. A pop up will allowyou to browse for a CSV �le to import Figure 3.2.Select a �le and click on open. The import progress bar will be displayed Figure

3.3.Once the process is done, it will display Done message. Figure 3.4.Similarly you can load DBE BZ2 and DBE GZ �les.Previously the data that were possible upload into DBE could not have quotes:

�John Smith� around values. DBE was upgraded to now handle both quoted Figure3.5 and NOT quoted data values Figure 3.6. The format is detected automaticallyduring data upload. This way users can save CSV �les with Microsoft Excel or OpenO�ce Calc and then easily load it into DBE without any modi�cation.

3.1.3. Load Data Not Obtained From DBE Into Database

In the case you would like to load your own email addresses stored in di�erent CSV �leformat than what DBE is expecting, see expected CSV �le format B, use this option

40


Figure 3.3.: Loading CSV Email Address Data

Figure 3.4.: Loading CSV Emaill Address Data Finished

41


Figure 3.5.: Quoted CSV Data Values

42


Figure 3.6.: Not Quoted CSV Data Values

43


Figure 3.7.: Select CSV File to Convert into DBE Format

to load your data. Click on "Load Data Not Obtained From DBE Into Database"button in the addressbook page. Then DBE CSV Converter wizard will be started.Select CSV File you would like to convert into DBE format �rst Figure 3.7. Clickon "Browse" button, the open CSV �le dialog will appear see Figure 3.8. Select theyour CSV File you would like to convert. Click Open button, then click Next in thewizard.Type your CSV �le column separator character and click Next button. See Figure

3.9.The CSV data will start loading. Figure 3.10.After CSV data are loaded into DBE CSV Converter, you can see a preview of your

CSV File data separated by columns based on your speci�ed CSV column separatorcharacter. You can repeat the step of providing correct separator character in the caseyou do not see data separated correctly into multiple columns. Similarly as you cansee on Figure 3.11.Now click on C1 - Cn columns in the data preview and select and assign correct

column names into the CSV �le data columns you see in preview. See example onFigure 3.12 . At least EMAIL_ADDRESS column needs to be assigned to be able tocontinue. After you assign columns to the CSV �le columns click on "Next" button.Select output folder into which converted CSV data �le will be exported. See 3.13.

Then click on "Next" button.The converted �le will be saved. Figure 3.14.Wait until the converted �le is saved and you should see Figure 3.15.Then DBE will ask if you wish to load/import converted CSV �le data. Figure

44


Figure 3.8.: Browse for CSV File to Convert

Figure 3.9.: Select CSV File Data Column Separator Character

45


Figure 3.10.: CSV Converter is Loading Data from CSV File

Figure 3.11.: Assign DBE Column Names into Your CSV File Columns

46


Figure 3.12.: DBE Columns Assigned into CSV File Columns

Figure 3.13.: Select Output Folder where Converted CSV File will be Exported

47


Figure 3.14.: Saving Converted CSV File

Figure 3.15.: CSV File Conversion Finished

48


Figure 3.16.: Import Converted Data?

Figure 3.17.: Select File Tag Value to Identify Loaded Data in the DBE Database

3.16.Click yes and type File Tag to be able to identify loaded CSV �le in the DBE from

the queries. Figure 3.17. Then click OK and then DBE will start to load your datainto DBE. Figure 3.18.When data are loaded into DBE you should see Figure 3.19.

3.1.4. Frequent Questions

Question: What happens if I upload a record that is already in the database? Willthe database keep the old or replace it with the new?Answer: It depends on Load Mode you select. The system uses the email address

as the unique identi�er. If you select Replace mode, if you upload an entry it willoverwrite an existing entry that contains the same email address, even if all other�elds are di�erent. The new record is presumed by DBE to be more up-to-date andcorrect. If you select Ignore mode, the entry with the same email address in DBEdatabase will not be overwritten.

49


Figure 3.18.: Loading Converted CSV Data

Figure 3.19.: Loading Converted CSV Data Finished

50


Figure 3.20.: Exporting Data

3.2. Export Data

DBE can export your data in your database in CSV format. Click on Export data.You will be prompted with the following pop up Figure 3.20asking you to select thedestination �le.In the �File name:� input, type the name of the export �le you want to create. Once

done, click on Save to continue. The progress of your export will be displayed Figure3.21.Once done the following message will be displayed Figure 3.22.

3.2.1. Export Data � Bad Addresses Only

The export data � bad addresses only option will export address information from yourdatabase containing email addresses found to be marked as bounced or unsubscribed.If you pick this option you will be prompted to select a location and �le to export thebad addresses to Figure 3.23.Fill in a new �le name in the �File name:� input box and pick Save. A progress

window will be displayed Figure 3.24.

51


Figure 3.21.: Exporting Data Progress

Figure 3.22.: Export Finished

52


Figure 3.23.: Exporting Data - Bad Address Only

Figure 3.24.: Exporting Data Progress

53


Figure 3.25.: Export Finished

Once export of bad data is completed, the following pop up will be displayed Figure3.25.

3.3. Suppression File - Upload File Will Not Be Emailed

This functionality allows to unsubscribe email addresses provided in simple �le. Eachemail address in a �le needs to be on separate line. Click on "Suppression File UploadFile Will Not Be Emailed" button then select your suppression �le. Figure 3.26. ClickOpen button. Progress dialog will be displayed. And all email addresses provided ina �le will be unsubscribed - the records in DBE database will have unsubscribe �ag.So you will not email to those email addresses.

3.4. Domain Suppression File - Upload File Will Not BeEmailed

This functionality allows to unsubscribe email addresses for the speci�ed domainsprovided in simple �le. Each domain name in a �le needs to be on separate line. Clickon "Domain Suppression File Upload File Will Not Be Emailed" button then selectyour suppression �le. Click Open button. Progress dialog will be displayed. And allemail addresses for all speci�ed domains provided in a �le will be unsubscribed - therecords in DBE database will have unsubscribe �ag. So you will not email to thoseemail addresses domains. Eg. specify domain like hotmail.com on the line, then allhotmail.com email addresses will be suppressed. It is also possibly to specify completeTDL like .gov, .mil or endings like .something.any.domain.com .

54


Figure 3.26.: Select Suppression File Dialog

Figure 3.27.: Remove Existing Database Entries

55


Figure 3.28.: Addressbook has been Emptied

3.5. Remove Existing Database Entries

The remove existing database entries option will remove all data from your database.THIS CANNOT BE UNDONE!Once done, you will be noti�ed that the task is complete with the following dialog

Figure 3.28.Press the OK button to return to the Address Book Management screen.

3.6. Adding New Information � Append to Database

This set of features is a great way to add value to your databases.Let's start with the example of ethnicity. In most cases, your database of purchased

addresses will include a last name but not the ethnicity of the individual. When youclick on Append Ethnicity, DBE rapidly checks every last name against a table ofethnic family names and in roughly half of typical cases, �nds a likely match. Acolumn (�eld) is added to the database, named Ethnicity, and �lled with whateverethnic match seemed most likely.Where no match seemed likely to be accurate, the �eld is left empty. This kind of

look up system will yield some mistakes, but it is surprisingly accurate. Among theethnicities you can look up: Hispanic, Chinese, Jewish, Slovenian � and many more.After running Append on Ethnicity, click on Lists (the open lock icon) at top menu.

When the mailing list appears, scroll toward the right until you �nd the columnEthnicity. Then scroll down until you see values (ie. Hispanic, Romanian, Japanese)in the column. You can then Query for ethnicity Hispanic and use the resulting queryresponse to send a mailing to Hispanics.Some of the Append functions, including Gender and Radius, are time consuming.

On a large database, you may want to schedule these to run over a weekend.To see what each Data Append possibility is based on, just scroll down from the

large Data Appending block in the Address Book screen. It explains, for example,

56


that Radius causes DBE to look up the latitude and longitude based on zip code; thenyou can query on records with a location within or outside a particular distance fromthat zip code.

3.6.1. County Appender

The zip code in the data record is matched against County/Zip tables that are con-tained in the software to append the county name to your data record so you canquery by County.

3.6.2. Gender Appender

DBE matches the �rst name in the data record with over 12,000 female names and10,000 male names to append gender status to the record.

3.6.3. Income Appender

The zip code in the data record is matched against the US Census Bureau Income perzip code rankings in the software for all USA zip codes, so you can query by incomeparameters.

3.6.4. Own/Rent Appender

The postal record in the data is analyzed to determine if the dwelling is a home or anapartment so as to query by either of these dwelling statuses.

3.6.5. Ethnicity Appender

DBE analyzes and matches the last name of the data record against tens of thousandsof common surnames of many di�erent ethnic groups to query by ethnicity.

3.6.6. Domain Name Appender

Domain name appender is useful to generate domain name data into domain_namecolumn for data loaded into database. So your own data, data that is not issued byus can be appended and domain name analyzed to stay below threshold limitations.See 4.15.

3.7. Data Cleaning Refresh Service

Data cleaning refresh service allows to update database data with fresh bounce �agscollected in Emailer server. This helps to avoid to send email messages to alreadynot existed or bad email addresses or recipients. Which helps to avoid to get SMTPaccounts suspended. And helps to achieve better message sent/delivered ratio. Firstyou need to con�gure username and password for data cleaning refresh service. Then

57


Figure 3.29.: Data Appenders

58


Figure 3.30.: Data Cleaning Refresh Service

you can see how many bounce updates are ready from the top of the Address Bookpage.

3.7.1. Con�guration

To be able to use data cleaning refresh service you need specify your username andpassword. See Figure 3.31.

3.7.2. Loading Fresh Bounces Data

To be able to load fresh bounces data into Emailer, you need �rst con�gure yourusername and password. See 3.7.1. If you wish to load the fresh bounces data into

59


Figure 3.31.: Data Cleaning Refresh Service Con�guration

Figure 3.32.: Loading Fresh Bounces Data

Emailer, just click the �(N) bounce updates are ready...� button. See Figure 3.30.Then fresh bounces data �les will be loaded. See Figure 3.32.

3.7.3. Update Mailing Lists or whole Database with Fresh BouncesData Flags

When fresh bounces data are loaded, then you are ready to update your mailing listsor whole database with the fresh bounces data �ags. To be able to do it, go to Listspage, select mailing list for which you would like to update bounce �ags. Then clickon �Update Bounces from Server� button in the right bottom of Lists page. See Figure3.33. Then for all the records in the selected mailing list will be updated bouce �ag.So you will not send email messages to bad, bounced recipients any more. This wayyou can avoid to get a lot of bounce email messages back to email account(s) andlimit risk of possible SMTP account suspension from email account provider.

60


Figure 3.33.: Update Mailing Lists with Fresh Bounces Data Flags

61


Figure 3.34.: Options

3.8. Options for Data Con�guration and Proxy Services

3.8.1. Data and Con�gurations

In the Data and Con�guration Options, it is possible to switch between Shared Dataand Con�gurations Among All Windows Users (default) and User's Own Data andCon�gurations. See Figure 3.34.Based on this the base path location of the database �le and con�guration �les

changes. For Shared Among Windows Users option it is the default location which wasoriginally used with previous version of Emailer Software (under Win XP): c:\Documentsand Settings\All Users\Application Data\Database Emailer and for User's Own database�le and con�guration �les base location: c:\Documents and Settings\<Current User>\ApplicationData\Database Emailer .In newerWindows Vista andWindows 7, the location path of the �les is: c:\ProgramData\Database

Emailer for Shared AmongWindows Users c:\Users\<Current User>\AppData\Roaming\DatabaseEmailer for User's Own.The operating system environment variables for the �All Users� and �User paths�

is little di�erent for each operating system. That is why there are di�erent locations.In newer Operating Systems (OS) there are always the same paths/links which arethe same as in older Win XP for All Users and User paths.So eg. if you go to c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Database

Emailer you will end in c:\ProgramData\Database Emailer (in Win 7/Win Vista).If you go to c:\Documents and Settings\<Current User>\Application Data\Database

Emailer you will end in c:\Users\<Current User>\AppData\Roaming\Database Emailer(in Win 7/Win Vista).Both paths are valid for the same location and leads to the same paths in newer

OSs.Why and when would you use the NON default option:If you had multiple employees/customers/remote o�ces each with their own User

login name and password on a remote server and each of the users would need to usetheir own SMTP and POP3 accounts and their own email recipients and EmailLand-ingPage.com (ELP) tracking also.

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Figure 3.35.: Proxies

3.8.2. Proxies

Recent emailer allows to use Socks 4/5 and Http proxies for sending of emails. Thiscould be useful to hide your IP. See Figure 3.35.To Allow to use proxies check Use Proxies for Email Sending check box.To specify New Proxy con�guration use New button. Then Proxy con�guration

Dialog will appear. Specify Proxy Host, Proxy Port, Socks version 4 or 5 for SocksProxy or 6 for Http proxy. If your Proxy requires Username and Password, specifyUsername and Password there otherwise leave it empty. You can test your Proxycon�guration with Test button.To Edit Proxy con�guration, select Proxy con�guration in the left list and click

Edit button.To Delete Proxy con�guration, select Proxy con�guration in the left list and click

Delete button.To Acivate/Deactivate Proxy con�guration click on check mark on the left of the

Proxy in the left list.To Search for Socks 4/5 proxies use Search Socks 4/5 button.To Search for Http proxies use Search Http button.To Load proxy con�guration from CSV �le use Load button. CSV �le in correct for-

mat should contain: Host,PortNumber,ProxyTypeNumber,Username,Password columnsheader in the �rst line of the �le and then on next lines data in columns separated bycomma. Host should be IP. PortNumber should be port number, ProxyTypeNumbershould be either 4 for socks 4, 5 for socks 5 and 6 for HTTP proxy type. If your proxyneeds username and password, specify username and password there otherwise leaveit empty.To Import proxy con�guration from CSV �le in other format use Import button.

CSV converter will be used to convert the CSV �le to the required format for loadinginto emailer.

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4. Mailing List Management

Why would you want to de�ne a new mailing List? To ascertain how many probableIrish or Indian individuals you have in the database, and group them for analysis orto send them Irish-centric marketing campaigns. Or to segregate recipients by agegroup, or county, or get a view of every record where the zip code starts with 10024and ends with 10026 (say, to mail to people on Manhattan's upper West Side).The mailing list management screen allows you to do the following:

• De�ne new mailing lists. Modify existing mailing lists.

• Preview a mailing list.

• Delete a mailing list.

• Clear a mailing list de�nition.

• Export mailing list members to �le.

• Select a mailing list as part of a job.

When you �rst see the Mailing List Management screen it should look similar to this(except with your own data) have a look on Figure 4.1.

4.1. De�ning a New Mailing List

• Click on the New button. You should now have a new Example Mailing list inthe Mailing Lists area.

• Type the name for your new mailing list into the �Description� �eld of the ListCon�guration area.

• The List Con�guration area has a number of drop-down boxes. These drop-downboxes can be used to create �lters on your email data to create mailing lists foronly sending mail to people who match your criteria. There are 4 drop-downboxes per line. You can enter multiple �lters and the resulting �lter would bethe combined result of all your �lters. The �rst drop-down allows you to selecta �eld from your database. Some of the values are calculations like the AGE ofa person or a person's BIRTHDAY. The 2nd drop-down box allows you to selectan operator on the �eld. Di�erent �elds have di�erent operators, but in generalyou have operators like equals, is, between, etc. The 3rd drop-down box is the�rst value of the �lter to compare. For operators like equals you will only need

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Figure 4.1.: Mailing List Management

65


Figure 4.2.: De�ning a New Mailing List

to use the 3rd drop-down box. The 4th drop-down box is the second value ofthe �lter. This value is used for operators like between where you need 2 values.Some of the �elds you can select in the �rst drop-down will provide pre-de�nedoptions for its values which will become available once you select a �eld.

• Once you have �nished adding your �lters, click on the Save button to save yourmailing list.

As you can see we have now added a mailing list called �My �rst mailing list� withstate �lter de�ned.

1

1The records database is not a�ected by making a new mailing List. It is probably helpful if you

think of a mailing list as a �view� of the records database. To illustrate this, run a query in

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Figure 4.3.: Query Email Landing Page Data

4.1.1. Query Email Landing Page Data

There is possible to query Email Landing Page data in the Lists page. User can queryall ELP data by �EmailLandingPage_id� to query, all interested email addresses, toquery just all who opened email message (all who was able to see attached ELP imagein the message) with �ELP_ID_Opened�, all who clicked the ELP url in the messagewith �ELP_ID_Clicked�, all who clicked ELP more info with �ELP_ID_More_Info�(clicked to a button on the ELP landing page). Query can be made for just one ELPID with �equals� and specifying ELP ID or ELP ID range with �between� and ELPID from and ELP ID to. See Figure 4.3.

4.2. Modify Existing Mailing List

In order to modify a mailing list you need to do the following:

List Con�guration for zip code starting with 10001 and ending with 30000. You will see that the

number of records has dropped drastically. But if you click on Clear, the number immediately

reverts to whatever it was before.

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Figure 4.4.: Modify Existing Mailing List

• Highlight the mailing list you want to modify in the Mailing Lists area.

• Change the name of the mailing list to your new name in the �Description� boxof the List Con�guration area.

• Modify the �lters for your mailing list.

• Click on Save.

• Your mailing list should now look similar to this in Figure 4.4.

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Figure 4.5.: Preview of Content of a Mailing List

4.3. Preview a Mailing List

In order to make sure that your mailing list will have members once your �lters arede�ned you can preview all members of your mailing list. Click on the Query button.The area should now list the members of your mailing lonlyist. 2

The Figure 4.5 is an example of a preview.You can see the U or B next to the left of the data record after you query for either

of them. Which means record U is unsubsribed member, record B is bounced memberof the mailing list. You query the Unsubscribes and Opt-outs by using the drop downon the lists page and going to Bounces and unsubscribes and doing a query on them.

2If this list is empty there are no matching people for your mailing list and the list will be ignored

when sending mails.

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Figure 4.6.: Data Preview Controls

Data preview is divided into the page system, which allows to preview subset amountof speci�ed records of the data. You can change page of the previewed data with "|<�<,<, >, >�>|" buttons. See Figure 4.6. "|<�<" button allows to go to the �rst page,"<" button allows to go to previous page, ">" button allows to go to next page and">�>|" button allows to go to the last page.

4.3.1. Amount of Records per Page

DBE has default value of amount of rows to preview per page, which is 500 rows perpage. You can change this value if you wish by changing "Records per page" value.See Figure 4.6.

4.3.2. Hide Bounces and Opt-Outs from the Mailing List

If you wish to then Hide bounces or opt-outs there is a button on the lists page thatallows you to hide the bounces and opt-outs "B" and "U" from showing up. If youwish to see bounces and opt-outs, click "Show/Hide Bounces and Opt-Outs" buttonthe way it shows "Show Bounces and Opt-Outs". If you wish to hide bounces andopt-outs, click "Show/Hide Bounces and Opt-Outs" button the way it shows "HideBounces and Opt-Outs".

4.3.3. Auto Fetch Records

Sometimes it could be handy to disable auto fetch of records from DBE database.It could be in the case you have multiple millions of records loaded in DBE and thequery for preview of data starts to take time you are not comfortable with. In thiscase you can disable auto fetching of records for data preview by unmarking "AutoFetch Records" checkbox. See Figure 4.6.

4.3.4. Count Records

Other option how to speed up fetching of records from DBE database for preview isto disable count of records for the query. Counting amount of records which match�lter some di�cult criteria over whole database could take time. That is why if youare interested only in preview of data matching the �lter without counting, you candisable count of records by unmarking "Count Records" checkbox. See Figure 4.6.

4.4. Deletion of Mailing List

In order to delete a mailing list do the following:

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• Highlight a mailing list in the Mailing Lists area.

• Click the Delete button. Your mailing list should now be deleted.

4.5. Clear a Mailing List De�nition

In order to clear a mailing list de�nition so that you can perhaps modify all the �lters,do the following:

• Highlight the mailing list you want to clear.

• Click the Clear button. The mailing list should now be cleared as in the Figure4.7 example.

4.6. Export Mailing List Members to File

In order to export mailing list members to �le:

• Click on the Export button.

• You will be provided with the following dialog Figure 4.8. The dialog allows youto set the following:

� Maximum number of lines per �le. If there is more data then the data willbe spread over multiple �les similar to the split import functionality 3 .

� Browse and select the directory to which the data will be exported.

� Select the �eld name on which �le splitting will be made, e.g. if you selectLAST NAME then there will be a �le created for each unique last name inthe results.

• Export does not a�ect the data held in DBE. If you export 100,000 records,the number of records remaining in DBE's database does not go down. Exportis a way to copy information from DBE to �les outside DBE.

An example of some exported �le names from mailing list export is displayed onFigure 4.9. Each �le will have a header containing the �eld names in the �rst line.This makes it easy to import it again into DBE in future. It is easy to divide yourmailing lists along other lines.For example, ethnicity can be a useful breakout. Load your CSV �le into DBE under

Address Book, using Append Ethnicity. Of course the data must contain last names to

3When possible, it's advisable to split the �le along lines that are useful for organizing the data, or

marketing products. For example, you might split the �les by State. One of the most common

reasons to split up a large �le is the limit of approximately 66,000 rows in earlier versions of Excel,

which still are widespread in usage. DBE can handle very large �les, and the process of splitting

them up is extremely rapid.

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Figure 4.7.: Clear a Mailing List De�nition

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Figure 4.8.: Export Mailing List Dialog

enable DBE to estimate the ethnicity of each record. Then go into Lists, click on Ex-port, and when the dialog box appears and asks the �eld name for splitting, click Eth-nicity. DBE will immediately � it's so rapid that you may not realize the operation hastaken place � create �les with such names as database_export_ETHNICITY_Italianand so on. You will not see these �les if you open Excel because they are CSV and notExcel's native format; remember you must tell Excel to look for all �le types, LoadExcel, choose File, then Open, then at the bottom in File type click to select All Filetypes. Note: there is no need to break up a large �le by sorting it, then copying outsections. DBE can do this for you almost instantly.

4.7. Select a Mailing List as Part of a Job

In order to select a mailing list and add it to a job:

• Tick the checkbox to the left of the mailing list in the Mailing Lists area.

• Once you have ticked all the mailing lists you want to be part of the job, youcan click on Messages button to continue to the Message Template Managementscreen.

4.8. Add a New Record into DBE

If you wish to manually add a new record into the DBE, you can click on "Adda Record" button. New Record dialog will be displayed. See Figure 4.10. Youneed at least to �ll EMAIL_ADDRESS �eld and if you wish you can �ll other �elds

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Figure 4.9.: Example of some Exported File names from Mailing List Export

also. Like CONTACT, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, ADDRESS, CITY, STATE,COUNTRY, ZIP, etc...

4.9. Modify Existing DBE Record

If you need you can modify existing records in DBE manually. You need to doubleclick on existing record in the data preview and "Modify Record" dialog will appear.You can change the data in there and then to con�rm, click OK button. See Figure4.11.

4.10. Unsubscribe Records

You can either unsubscribe records manually with mouse or you can make a queryand then click "OptOut" button to unsubscribe all recipient from the query.

4.10.1. Manually Unsubscribe Records with Mouse

To manually unsubscribe record. Simply click into the data preview on the left sideof where the recipient email address is. And if you have selected "Show Bounces and

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Figure 4.10.: Add a New Record Dialog

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Figure 4.11.: Modify Existing DBE Record Dialog

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Figure 4.12.: Opt-Out Con�rmation Dialog

Opt-Outs", you should see "U" on the left side of the record. Otherwise if you are inthe "Hide Bounces and Opt-Outs" mode the clicked record will simply disappear.

4.10.2. Unsubscribe Records with a Filter Query

First you need to construct a query. Click "New" button to create new mailing listquery. Then construct the query similarly like you construct normal mailing listquery see 4.1. Then click on "OptOut" button. The Opt-Out con�rmation dialogwill appear. See Figure 4.12. If you are sure that you wish to unsubscribe multiplerecipients from the query, then click Yes button, otherwise click No. If you click yes,you will not be able to send emails to the selected email address anymore. So becareful here with the query construction and con�rmation.

4.11. Verify Email Addresses

To avoid receiving bounces, it is wise to verify email addresses. In DBE there are twotypes of veri�cation. First is syntax only email addresses veri�cation. The second ismore extended, it is syntax email addresses veri�cation with DNS and SMTP serverstype of response email address veri�cation. See Figures 4.13 and 4.14. DBE allowsto verify email addresses for the selected query. Detected wrong email addresses aremarked with �ag Bounce in DBE database. The way that this email addresses willnot be used for sending.

4.11.1. Syntax Only Veri�cation

Syntax email address veri�cation veri�es if email address is syntactically correct. Thismeans if the email address is constructed correctly according to email address con-struction rules. Eg. if email address has @ character, if there is domain name, thelength of email address text, etc. See Figure 4.13.

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Figure 4.13.: Email Addresses Veri�cation Dialog

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Figure 4.14.: Syntax Veri�cation with SMTP Response Veri�cation Dialog

4.11.2. Syntax Veri�cation with SMTP Response Veri�cation

This type of email address veri�cation uses syntax veri�cation �rst. If the emailaddress is syntactically valid, then DNS records and SMTP servers are tried to detectfor email address. If the records are found and SMTP servers for the email address,then DBE pretends that we are going to send email message to the veri�ed emailaddress. If SMTP server responds unusual way, eg. that recipient does not exists,then the email address is marked as invalid and marked with �ag bounce in DBEdatabase. See Figure 4.14. With this type of veri�cation there is possibility to specifySocks 4 or Socks 5 type of proxy. You need to set host IP or name, port number,select port type 4 or 5, user name and password and it should pass Test. This wayyou can make contacting of SMTP servers more anonymous.

4.12. Modify File Tag

Sometimes you could need to change �le_tag value for one or multiple �lter queries.In this case �rst you need to mark all of the lists queries for which you would like tochange �le_tag. Then click on "Modify �le tag" button. Mo�fy �le tag dialog willappear. Type new �le_tag there and click OK. If you have processor di�cult typeof queries in the marked lists and big database with millions of records, in this casesometimes you need to be patient. So wait until it �nishes. See Figure 4.15.

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Figure 4.15.: Modify File Tag Dialog

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4.13. Permanent Records Deletion from Database for theMailing List

If you wish to permanently delete records from database, then you can use �DeleteRecords� button in the Lists page. First select mailing list or create a new query tospecify which records you would like to delete. Then click the button. See Figure4.16. Then you will need to con�rm records deletion, since it is permanent, to be sureyou would like to do it. See Figure 4.17.

4.14. Generate Domain Name Report

It is possible to generate domain name reports for the query in the Lists page foremail addresses. It could be very usable so you can get an ordered amount of emailsfor the domains ordered with the highest quantity of emails for the domain in theselected query. First select list for which you would like to generate domain namereport. Then ensure that domain_name is not missing for the data records there. Ifthe data are missing for the domain_name column, go to Address Book page and clickDomain Name Appender to generate domain_name for all the data in the database.If you have data for the domain_name, select the list and click Domain Name Reportbutton. Domain Name Report Dialog shoud appear. It is possible to specify theamount of the maximum domains to generate report for the ordered list. Then clickGenerate button to generate the report. See Figure 4.18.

4.15. Sending Speed Limit

For the mailing list query this is possible to specify sending speed limit. This couldbe useful in the cases if we would like to send messages with maximum hourly sendingspeed limit to avoid getting bounces. Eg. some domains like aol.com, yahoo.com,hotmail.com, gmail.com etc. could have some maximum hourly message allowed re-ceiving limit from the same sender or IP address. In this cases we could construct thequeries the way to specify hourly messages sending speed limit for this type of emailaddresses/domains. That we meet the domain hourly messages receiving limit.See example of specifying hourly sending speed limit for aol.com, yahoo.com, hot-

mail.com, gmail.com with combination of not limited sending for everything else, seeFigures 4.19 and 4.20. This was useful for older version of emailer. With the outputfrom Domain Name Report in the recent emailer and domain_name database columnit is preferred way to do this type queries rather over domain_name instead. Sincethis type of queries are faster than queries directly over EMAIL_ADDRESS. See Fig-ure 4.21 and Figure 4.22. So use domain_name in the mailing list queries to make fastqueries for include and exclude of domains instead of using EMAIL_ADDRESSESwhich is slower.

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Figure 4.16.: Permanent Records Deletion from Database for the Mailing List

82


Figure 4.17.: Records Deletion Con�rmation

Figure 4.18.: Domain Name Report

83


Figure 4.19.: All email addresses excluding hotmail.com, aol.com, gmail.com, ya-hoo.com domains

84


Figure 4.20.: All email addresses with hotmail.com, aol.com, gmail.com, yahoo.comdomains and 200 hourly messages sending speed limit

85


Figure 4.21.: Exclude Domains in the Query

86


Figure 4.22.: Include Domains in the Query

87

5. Email Message Management

The email message template management screen is where you de�ne, create templatesform messages that will be sent to the people on your mailing lists. To get to thesefunctions, go to the top Menu and click on Messages.The screen allows you to do the following:

• Create a new message.

• Modify an existing message.

• Delete a message.

• Import an HTML �le as message contents.

• Export message contents as HTML �le.

• Select messages as part of a job.

5.1. Create Your First Marketing Message

Before we get started, there are a few concepts to cover brie�y. First, this is notjust any message that you're about to create. It's a message that will have uniquefeatures designed to increase deliverability. One of those features is multiple FromAddresses. Let's assume that back in Accounts, you added seven outbound accounts.Those are invisible to the recipients of your mailing, unless you enter them here in theFrom Address �eld. By rotating, going round-robin through your From Addresses,DBE makes it less likely that your mail trigger barracuda alarms. Note: Each FromAddress on your marketing message must also appear correctly in your AccountsPOP3 inbound list. If you employ a From Address in your marketing message thatdoes NOT appear identically in your POP3 list in Accounts, you could be labeled a�spoofer.� Additionally, you can have as many Subject lines as you wish. DBE willalso round-robin through these subject lines as it sends out your mailing. The ReplyTo address is where your bounces and unsubscribes will be sent by DBE. If you donot enter a Reply To address, then responses will be sent to the From Address thatyou enter on this Messages page. There is also possible to have rotated multiple FromNames. See Figure 5.1. Note: If you do not enter a Reply To address on your message,and you enter multiple From addresses for the message, the bounces and unsubscribeswill be distributed in round-robin fashion, across those multiple From addresses.

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5.1.1. DBE Has a WYSIWYG Editor

Always maximize the size of the Message screen to get a view of all the commands andfeatures in DBE. In particular, the formatting icons on the Message Editor bar will beuseful 1. You'll see that the Messages box goes wider and now you can see the MessageEditor bar and all its command icons. DBE o�ers several useful WYSIWYG editorialand formatting features, allowing you to work visually while it creates your marketingmessage in HTML code. However, DBE's main purpose is not to be an HTML editorand design tool. If you have more sophisticated design requirements, such as handlingand changing tables, or you want entire background of your campaign email to bechartreuse, you are advised to create your message in a document or HTML editorthat you are comfortable with, then import it to DBE.The message management screen has the following layout as it is on Figure 5.1.Note: To make the round-robin really work for you, and give you maximum pro-

tection, have an odd number of From Addresses. Have a di�erent odd number ofSubjects. For example, if you have seven From Addresses, and nine subject lines, themessage will repeat only every 63 outgoing emails. And to add greater variety to themessage that will reduce its chances of being caught as spam, remember that DBE isgoing round-robin through your outbound accounts. If you have 11 outbound SMTPaccounts, the message would only show the identical subject, From, and SMTP serverevery 693 emails.

5.1.2. Create a New Marketing Message

To create a new marketing message:

• Click the New button.

• Enter message Description. It is title under which you will �nd you messageeasily in DBE.

• Enter a From Name.

• Enter a From Address.

• Enter a Rely To address; this should be where your bounces will go.

• Then enter a subject. If you would like to have some personalization have it starteg. with $FIRST_NAME so you can see how personalization of a marketingmessage. Other database �elds column names from message list screen are alsosupported here, see list of all supported data �elds B.1. Mailing List screenFigure 4.1 and Mailing List Management 4.

1If you didn't understand the above instruction, click on the white square next to the red box with

X.

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Figure 5.1.: Message Management Screen

90


• Then enter marketing message to the message editor area. You can also switch

to Full Screen editing with icon. Now let's have you want to enter content,i.e. write the marketing message. You have di�erent options:

� Just Type Away: go into the blank white space under the Message Editorline with the Format bar, and start typing your marketing message. Thenhighlight sections of your text for special treatment, click on B for Bold forexample. When you are ready, click Save.

� Import and HTML message: On the Format bar , click HTML icon.A window containing <HTML></HTML> will appear. Paste the HTMLcode of a message from else where that you copied and want to reuse herewith DBE. You should insert it between <HTML> and </HTML>.

� You can also import an HTML �le, by clicking on the icon in theFormat bar. It will bring up a dialog box that gives the option to open a�le, but only an HTML �le. You can copy and paste (but not import) aMicrosoft Word Doc �le.

Type Away. If you maximized the window size as instructed above, you will seethat below the Subject box is the Message Editor bar. Some programs wouldcall this a Formatting Bar because it contains the formatting commands thatthis program supports. Starting from the left, you have:

� Full Screen Message Edit Mode Switch

� Envelope with arrow � Open an Existing File

� Diskette � Save your work

� HTML � edit the HTML code behind your message

� Scissors � cut highlighted text or graphics

� Two clipboards � copy whatever is highlighted in the editing space

� A clipboard with something on it � paste what was copied, to whereveryour cursor is

� A curved arrow pointing left � Undo the last action

� Curved arrow pointing right � Redo the last thing you undid

� The font/typeface entry boxes � choose yourfont style and size from a huge drop-down menu

� B � boldface whatever text is highlighted

� I � italicize whatever text is highlighted.

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� U � underlined whatever text is highlighted in your campaign email.

� A with color underneath; change the color of whatever text is high-lighted

� An odd graphic, resembling a chalkboard eraser. It changes the back-ground color of whatever text is highlighted. It does NOT change thebackground of the entire email.

� Four command buttons, align left, align right, align center,justify.

� White clouds on blue button � insert a graphic.

� Tiny brownish globe � click here to insert a Hyperlink on whatever ishighlighted: text or graphics

� Email Landing Page URLs Info. See more info about Email LandingPage functionality here www.EmailLandingPage.com.

� Opt-Out/Hyperlink or text info. This could be useful in the case youneed to provide unsubscribe hyperlink to the users. So they can easilyunsubscribe.

� 1��- 2��- 3��- Turns multiple lines of content intoa numbered list.

� *�� *�� *�� Turns multiple lines of content intobullets list without numbering.

� Finally, two indent bars. These equate to Tab Right, and Tab Left.

Import HTML �le

You can use an HTML �le as your message content. Do the following:

1. Click on Import button.

2. A dialog will be displayed so that you can select the HTML �le to import.Figure 5.2.

3. The HTML �le contents will be displayed in your message area.

Hyperlinks in your Message

Undoubtedly you want links from your marketing message to your website(s),to enable marketing action by the recipient. Click on the image, or highlight

the text that you want hyperlinked. Then click on the round icon on theMessage editor bar. You will be prompted to enter the URL.

Graphics in your Message

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http://www.EmailLandingPage.com


Figure 5.2.: Select a HTML File to Import Dialog

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You can insert a graphic simply by copying it wherever it is, then pasting it in atwhatever point you select. Its position, however, is controlled by the text aroundit. Add text before it, and it will move right and down. To lower its positionmore rapidly, click Enter several times. The other way to enter a graphic is to

click on the icon , icon which has white clouds on a blue sky. This bringsup a dialog box asking you to Browse to �nd your picture �le. Once your image�le is chosen, this dialog box gives you the ability to control where your graphicwill be placed. For example, you can pick the absolute middle of the screen.Its worth experimenting with these Layout commands to understand the choiceyou have on graphics placement.

Personalization of a marketing message

If you would like to have some personalization have it start eg. with $FIRST_NAMEso you can see how personalization of a marketing message. Other database �eldscolumn names from message list screen are also supported here similarly as inSubject �eld. See Mailing List screen Figure 4.1 and Mailing List Management4 chapter. Also all supported �elds list: B.1.

• Click on Save button at the top. Your new mailing list marketing message shouldbe similar to the following Figure 5.3.

Note: Be careful: if you click Delete, the marketing message will be erased and youcannot retrieve it. It is recommended that you frequently back up your marketingmessages, by clicking the Save As disk icon on the left of the Message Editor bar.At any time, you can retrieve the backup by clicking the Open icon at the far left ofthe Message Editor bar, then browsing to �nd the HTML �le you had saved. To addimages to your marketing message, just click on the icon near the right that showswhite clouds against a blue sky. This allows you to import and place an image. Somethings you cannot do: You cannot import a Word document as a �le to serve asyour marketing message. However, you can easily import the Word �le by opening it,selecting your text, copying to the clipboard, then pasting into the Message Editorspace here.

5.2. Modify an Existing Message

In order to modify a message you need to do the following:

1. Highlight a message in the Message List area on the left side of the screen.

2. You can change the name of the mailing list by changing the �Description� �eldin the Message Headers area. Only you see this Description; recipients of theemail message don't see it.

3. Change the �From Name� �eld to the name you want to be displayed as thesender of the email. Recipients see this �eld.

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Figure 5.3.: Create a New Marketing Message

95


4. Change the �From Address� �eld to the email address you want to be used asthe from address in the emails. Recipients see this �eld.

5. If you want email to go to a di�erent address when people reply on your mails,change the �Reply To:� �eld to the address you have in mind. Recipients seethis �eld.

6. Change the �Subject� to the subject you want used. You can insert database�elds into the subject by using the �eld name pre�xed with a $ sign, e.g.$FIRST_NAME and $LAST_NAME. Of course, recipients do see this �eld.

7. Edit the marketing message inside the Message Editor area and save it at fre-quent intervals to avoid losing your work.

8. Click on the Save button.

5.3. Delete a Message

To delete a message do the following:

1. Highlight the message you want to delete.

2. Click the Delete button. Your message should be deleted.

Note: Be careful. Once you delete a message, it cannot be retrieved.

5.4. Body Substitution

Body substitution functionality allows to de�ne Key Word and multiple SubstitutionTexts or Words, which will be automatically substituted for the Key Word insertedinto the Message while sending message. To de�ne body substitution you need to clickon "Body Substitution" button �rst in the Message page. Body Substitution Dialogwill be shown. Then click on "New" button, Key Word dialog will appear, type nameof the new Key Word there and click OK button. Now type substitutions texts to theright of Body Substitution Dialog. Each substitution should be typed on new line.Then click OK to close Body Substitution Dialog. To insert Body Substitution intothe Message, you only need to insert Key Word with $ character into the messagepage. Eg. if you de�ned Key Word greeting_subst in the Substitution Dialog andthen de�ned substitutions, eg. Hi, Hello, Hey. Then in the Message Editor insert$greeting_subst. Then $greeting_subst key word will be automatically substitutedwith de�ned substitutions during sending. See Figure 5.4. The substitutions will berotated per Message and SMTP account used for sending pair. This type of bodysubstitutions could be useful for deliverability to vary content of the email message.

96


Figure 5.4.: Body Substitution Example

97


Figure 5.5.: Default Replacement Values

5.4.1. Default Database Replacement Values

Previous version of software only had the ability to automatically insert the valuefrom a data row if the value was there. For example when you do $FIRST_NAMEthe persons �rst name appears in the subject line or the email body. If there was no�rst name in a data record there would be no value entered into your presentation.Recent emailer can automatically replace empty database values with anything user

want to specify in the message. For example if there was not a �rst name in the datarecord when that record came up for emailing user could default: Dear Neighbor.All empty values for data can be replaced for any of the headers. See Figure 5.5.

98


5.5. Attachments

In addition to standard text or rich text (HTML) and images you can attach intoemail message as an attachment �les, which will be delivered to the recipients. Mostemail addresses has some limitation on size of email message with attachment. Thislimitation is usually around 9 or 10 MB maximum. That is why you are not possibleto send anything. Only the things which do not exceed this limitation. To be themessage delivered to the recipient. To add attachment into the message, click on"Attach" button and �le open dialog will appear. Select the �le(s) you would like toattach and click Open. You should see attached �les at the right side of the Messagepage there now. Then click Save button to save the message. As an example see rightside of the Figure 5.1.

5.6. Duplicate Message

To duplicate existing Message, select message you would like to duplicate, then clickon Duplicate button. You should see your message copy in the Message List therenow. See Figure 5.6.

5.7. Select Messages as Part of a Job

In order to select a message and add it to a job, click the checkbox to the left of themessage in the Message List area. Once you have ticked all the messages you want tobe part of the job, you can click on Jobs to continue to the Jobs screen.

5.7.1. Rotate Presentations

You can create and select more than one presentation and each will round robin rotateo� the same queried list in the case if you click the Rotate Presentations checkbox.

5.8. Check Message Spam Assassin Score

Before you start to send your email campaign it is useful to check possible emailmessage spam assassin score. First select a message for which you would like to checkSA score, then click on "Spam Assassin Score" button. You should see spam assassinscore button in a moment. Similar like on Figure 5.7. If the score is less than 5.0,then it means that this message is not considered as spam. If the score is greater than5.0, then this message is considered as spam by Spam Assassin. You can see analysisdetails with possible solution to lower the score at the bottom of the report. If youget score greater then 5.0 for your message, try to take advantage of the advices tolower the possibly detected Spam Assassin score.

99


Figure 5.6.: Duplicated Message

100


Figure 5.7.: Spam Assassin Score Report

101


5.9. Test a Message Before Sending It

To test sending of email messages:

1. Click on Test button at the top of the Message screen.

2. Enter email address into which you would like send a test message. In recentemailer version was added the capability to avoid having to retype a test emailaddress for "Test" email message sending. Now the last test email addressentered is automatically o�ered.

The Test function does not test everything � speci�cally, it will not test your mailmerge,personalization �elds. The purpose of Test is to check the appearance of a messagewhen it arrives. When you use the TEST function you are NOT drawing from thedatabase. So for instance if the subject line contains:$FIRST_NAMEThe TEST function will not pull any �rst name from the database. The only thing

that the TEST function knows is the email address you insert.

5.10. Do You Want to Know Who's Reading YourCampaign Email?

It is frustrating to send out thousands of emails and not know what's happening tothem. You can check "Request Read Disposition Receipt" and then you'll be noti�edevery time someone opens or deletes your email. De�nitely do this at �rst with yoursmaller mailings, while you �nd out what gets recipients to take action and hopefullybuy your product. Better way how to �nd out who is reading your email and getstatistic reports, con�gure auto-replies, bar charts about your sending about yourcampaign success, handle unsubscribes easily, etc. is to use Email Landing Pagefunctionality in your Messages.

5.10.1. Email Landing Page

Allows you to further synchronize DBE Emailer with your Email Landing Page toquery emails opened, emails clicked, and emails that went to your �landing page� , andthe ability to export each of these levels of interest and the enhancement of the autoresponder etc. This unique tracking system allows you to ANONYMOUSLY track allemail addresses without ever asking for any information about the emailed party. Itis a closed marketing system that prevents you from emailing from one database andthen asking people to enter their email address to get more information or so you canput them into an auto responder database. We found that 82% of people who areinterested enough to at least click on your email presentation will refuse to provide youwith their email in a landing capture page. This system ANONYMOUSLY captures100% of those interested people. Your EmailLandingPage can be look however youwant. This is a PHP code that gets added to your HTML Landingpage on whatever

102



server you are using or you can use servers for under $10 a YEAR. Remember thelanding page not only is a complete tracking system but serves to PROTECT your realdomain from being inadvertently black-listed. Remember �just because you are notemailing from your company domain does not mean you are protecting that domainfrom possibly being black-listed. Even when you do opt-in emailing by promotinga domain in the body of an email it can subject that promoted domain to beingblack-listed. It costs less than a dollar per month to protect your domain name.Come to a webinar and I will explain in detail. Click on "Update DBE for bouncesand Opt-Outs" button or use automatic update check-box and this loads ELP dataautomatically into DBE. Now it is possible to make a query for the ELP data fromthe Lists page as you would normally do. Please see 4.3 for details if needed.You can use "EmailLandingPage_id" to query all interested email addresses for the

speci�ed ELP campaign ID assigned, IDs (equals) or campaign ID range (between).Or use "ELP_ID_Opened", "ELP_ID_Clicked", "ELP_ID_More_Info" the same

way to get the results for "who" was the email address that opened the ELP coded pre-sentation, ELP message url/website clicked or clicks to a button on the ELP landingpage.Then it is possible to export your query results using the Export button found on

the Lists page.Visit www.EmailLandingPage.com for more info. First you need to have installed

Email Landing Page web scripts in some web host, then you need to con�gure ELPin DBE Accounts page. See 2.12 section. Then after successful con�guration ELP

in DBE, use ELP URLs icon to obtain information what you need to provide inthe message to achieve required ELP functionality. See Figure 5.8. First you needto select your Campaign ID to identify your campaign, under this ID you will �ndcampaign statistics in your ELP website. Then copy and paste any or all the providedURLs to your designed message to achieve your desired ELP functionality.

To achieve ELP URL clicks statistics, Copy the and Paste �rst URL with InsertHyperlink Tool into your message. To achieve message opened ELP statistic, Copy

the Image URL and then Paste it with Insert Image Tool into the message. Toachieve ELP website unsubscribe functionality, Copy third URL and then Paste it with

Insert Hyperlink Tool into the message with some text and word Unsubscribe forhyperlink. Design Message with this URLs in it and you should get similar report asyou see on Figure 5.9.

103



Figure 5.8.: Insert Email Landing Page Images and URLs to achieve required EmailLanding Page functionality

104


Figure 5.9.: Email Landing Page Campaign Report Example

105

6. Jobs Management

JOB � Running and sending email to your lists. Before you start to send emailcampaign you can con�gure DBE to be able to update DBE database during emailcampaign sending. And whether detected bounced email messages or unsubscribesshould be deleted from POP3 inboxes automatically during this update also. Thereis also an option to delete all other email messages - not recognized as Bounces andUnsubscribes email messages automatically also. It is possible to specify time periodof how frequently should be DBE database updated for bounces and opt-outs. Alsothere is an option to collect bounced and opted-out email addresses into separate �lein addition to standard internal DBE database.

6.1. Automatically Delete Detected Bounced andOpted-Out Messages from POP3 Inbox

If you mark this option, detected bounced and opted-out email messages will beautomatically deleted from POP3 inboxes with update of DBE database for bouncesand opt-outs. So you can avoid to delete them manually, by going into email accountstep by step, one by one to review and delete them. Bounced and Unsubscribedmessages are detected automatically by DBE and deleted if this option is marked.With the new DBE : Just click on "Update DBE for bounces and Opt-Outs" buttonor use automatic update check-box and this loads also ELP data automatically intoDBE.

6.1.1. Delete "Uncategorized" Email Messages from POP3 InboxAutomatically

Some users could not interested at all in replies to the email campaign. In this casethey can simply check this option and all other email messages found in POP3 inboxeswhich were not recognized as Bounces or Unsubscribes will be deleted as well. Thisway some users can have empty inbox easily with just use of DBE.

6.2. Automatically Update DBE Database for Bouncesand Opt-Outs after Speci�c Time Period

It is possible to update DBE database for bounces and opt-outs during email campaignsending with this option. Just mark "Update your DBE Database that is built intothis software for Bounces and Opt-Outs" option and type amount of time in minutes

106

6. Jobs Management

Figure 6.1.: Jobs Management

107

6. Jobs Management

to wait between each update. Then DBE database will be updated automatically,periodically for bounces and opt-outs after speci�ed time period. With the new DBE: Just click on "Update DBE for bounces and Opt-Outs" button or use automaticupdate check-box and this loads also ELP data automatically into DBE.

6.3. Collect Possibly Detected Bounced and Opted-OutEmail Addresses into the Speci�ed File

In addition to �ag detected Bounced and Opted-Out email addresses into DBE database,it is possible to collect Bounced and Opted-Out email addresses into speci�ed text orCSV �le. The output �le will contain multiple lines, on each line will be email addressand Opt-Out �ag, this separated by comma. Opt-Out values could be: 2 for Bounce�ag and 1 for Unsubscribe in the �le.

6.4. Sending Your Job

If you have not emailed to the current List yet, then you have no Bounces or Opt-Outsto process. Just skip this next section, and go to Preparing the Job to Run.

6.4.1. Update Your Database Before Sending More Email to It

Before each emailing that you carry out, it is important to update your database anybounces and opt-outs. To do this, just select the DBE Update Bar under Jobs. DBEwill include �ags for each Bounce and Opt-Out in the database. Note: If you browsethe mailing list, you can see the �ags, B for Bounced and U for Unsubscribes.On the Jobs page, you select the DBE Update for Bounces and Opt-Outs bar and

this will process any bounces and opt-outs as a �ag in your DBE database.Note: After processing the Bounces and Opt-Outs, if you query the number of

records in a mailing list, you will not see a change in the number of records. Therecord does not go away or get erased - it is often important to keep that record andits history status in the database. For that reason, we call the SQL engine inside DBEthe �Permanent Database� because it retains Bounce and Unsubscribe information aslong as it resides on your computer. Deleting mailing lists from DBE, running di�erentjobs, and time do not make the Bounce / Unsubscribe information fade away.A few years down the road, if you load a CSV �le into DBE with records that have

already been logged as opt-outs or Bounces, those records will be rejected.In terms of how you employ Bounced and Unsubscribed record for marketing pur-

poses, an Unsubscribe response to an e-mail is purely for emailing. Spam rules donot apply to phone calls or postal mailings. You might still contact them by phoneor postal mail; for example, it could be a very happy 20-year repeat customer at yourcar dealership who doesn't like e-mail, or a diabetic patient at your medical practicewhom you remind at regular intervals to stock up on testing supplies.

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6. Jobs Management

Some marketing �rms will upload the phone number from a Bounced record into anautomated dialer, call the people and then transfer the call to a live operator /Salesperson in an e�ort to obtain an up-to-date email address or make a sale. So Bounceand Unsubscribe data remains valuable. It is important to do the DBE processingof bounces and Opt-outs before each emailing. Otherwise, you are very likely to sendagain to people who don't want your e-mail, and that raises your chances of beinglabeled as Spam. Experienced marketers often choose to process bounces and Opt-outsshortly after completing each job � this also keeps the Bounce in-box from over�owing.You will probably notice that your email In-boxes, after a mass mailing, will �ll up

with messages such as Undeliverable / Failure to Deliver. They will stay there untilyou manually delete them, or until you process them with DBE.It's laborious and very time consuming to go through and manually delete them

from within each of your email accounts. Far better for most users is to handlethem automatically from DBE. DBE takes a rather complicated process and makesit fast and easy. The only di�cult part is understanding what happens with Bounceprocessing.When you select Update DBE Database for Bounces and Opt-Outs, three processes

occur:

1. DBE will �ag every Bounce (with a B �ag) and each Unsubscribe (with a U �ag)in its own database. It will keep that information about those email addressesuntil you choose to "Delete Database" on the Address Book page. Before youdo that always export bounces and opt-outs history to external �les from theAddressbook page, so you can import them back if needed.

2. DBE will "reach into" the email account(s) listed on the marketing email mes-sage as your From Addresses, since this is where Bounces and Opt-outs are sent,and delete them automatically from the Inbox(es) of those accounts. In order tohandle the bounces and opt-outs automatically you must have earlier created amatch between two e-mail addresses: the FROM ADDRESS/Reply To Addressline in the HTML Editor page (Messages page) and the address you enteredfor your inbound POP3 box found on the lower part of the DBE ACCOUNTSPAGE. More on this below.

3. When you hit the DBE Process button on the JOBS page, all bounced records(but not Unsubscribes) from your PC/server are also sent to the master www.DatabaseEmailer.comemail server database from which you purchased data. This means that all previ-ous users who processed their Bounces helped �clean up� the data you received;your processed Bounces help clean up the data that others will later buy.

It's important that you understand that when you select Update DBE Database forBounces and Opt-Outs on the Jobs page, deleting happens in only one place: your In-box(es) at your email accounts that received the Bounce noti�cations � these accountsbeing the From Address(es) on your campaign mail.No records are deleted during this operation; they are only �agged as Bounces or

Unsubscribes and remain in DBE's SQL permanent database history.

109

6. Jobs Management

And as mentioned in #3 above, the Database Emailer company master database �from which most of the data used on DBE comes � is updated so that our companydoes not sell those addresses or records in the future. This helps everyone, includingyou, avoid sending to individuals who are more likely to classify your message asSPAM. People sometimes get confused about #2 above. How does DBE havethe ability to delete hundreds of Bounces from your email accounts? The answer issimply that during Account setup, you entered one or more email accounts with theirSMTP servers to send your mailing. You also entered one or more POP3 servers forreceiving email. DBE has the email address and log-in because it came from you.To process bounces and opt-outs automatically, you should have a POP3 receivingaccount, complete with email address and password, for each From Address/Reply ToAddress on your campaign email. This makes it possible for DBE to log into thatsingle account many times, and delete each Bounce and Unsubscribe. To emphasizethat point, you should set up a POP3 account to match each outbound SMTP account.You might not use every POP3 account to receive Bounces, but there must be a POP3account to match every From Address or Reply To Address in the campaign email.Even if you delete the mailing list (the one that was sent out and resulted in this

batch of Bounces and Unsubscribes) from DBE, the processed Opt Outs and Bouncesremain stored in DBE's permanent SQL Lite database. SQL queries on data from theDBE database. The opt outs email addresses will stay there in the database.This is a valuable feature, because if you load a new mailing list in the future,

and it happens to contain people who do not want to be contact again, DBE willautomatically avoid the problems that come when people get email they don't wishto receive.

6.4.2. Preparing the Job to Run

To be able start sending email campaign we assume, that you con�gured and activatedSMTP and POP3 accounts on Accounts page, that you imported email addresses fromAddress Book page, that you prepared/selected mailing lists on the Lists page, thatyou prepared and selected/marked Message(s) on Message page.To start sending:

1. Click on Send Emails button. Figure 6.1.

2. You will get possible option for selection of Birthday type of message for emailcampaign. If you are not interested just click continue.

3. New Start From Dialog will appear. You will be asked from which email indexcampaign should start. Select or type number. Then click on Start button.

4. Then click Start button.

110

6. Jobs Management

Figure 6.2.: Start From Index Dialog

111

6. Jobs Management

Figure 6.3.: Pausing the Job

6.4.3. Pausing the Job

You can stop a job that is already sending, by clicking Pause Job. If your computeris short on RAM (memory), you may see a delay in response, as the mass sending isCPU-intensive.

6.4.4. Auto Pause/Resume

With this option it is possible to specify automatic pause time. This could help withdeliverability. To use this option you need to mark "Auto Pause/Resume" optionduring the email campaign sending. And then to specify Sending Times and PauseTimes. The time is speci�ed in the format: hours : minutes : seconds. Total SendingTime = Constant Sending Time + Random Sending Time in the speci�ed Randomrange (00:00:00 - your speci�ed random time). Total Pause Time = Constant SendingTime + Random Pause Time in the speci�ed Random range (00:00:00 - your speci�edrandom time). Eg. if you specify Constant Sending Time to 00:08:00 with Random

112

6. Jobs Management

Sending Time 00:00:00 and Constant Pause Time to 00:02:00 and Random Pause Time00:00:00, then it would send 8 minutes and then would pause 2 minutes periodically.If you wish to add some random value to the Pause Time, just add Random PauseTime. Eg. if you add Random Pause Time to 00:01:00, then total pause time couldbe in random range 2 - 3 minutes. Similarly for specifying Random Sending Time.See Figure 6.3.

6.4.5. When Your Job Won't Run

You've tried to get a job to send out, but you keep seeing the message �NO VALIDJOBS TO RUN�. Here are several items to go back and check, to see if you omitteda step:

1. Did you enter a Send From account under Accounts � and test it successfully?Please note that if you only entered it, but it did not test successfully, then DBEconsiders there is no valid job to run.

2. In Accounts, did you place a check mark next to at least on SMTP server, andat least on POP3 server?

3. Have you loaded email addresses into Address Book? No destination means nojob can be valid. But just importing an email list is not enough. See #3 next.

4. Go to Lists and see if you have a check next to a mail list. If not, your job can'tgo out � it needs a List to go to.

5. Under Messages, did you check to select a message to send? If not, DBE has nomessage to send out.

To sum up, a Job isn't �valid� unless you have a Send From account that tests suc-cessfully, you've loaded email addresses into DBE, you've chosen which list to sendto, and you've chosen a valid message to send.

6.5. After Your Job Is Sent Out

When your job has concluded sending, it's advisable to select Update DBE Databasefor Bounces and Opt-Outs within a couple of hours, as this will prevent your Inboxthat receives the Bounce noti�cations from over�owing. Bounce Processing � It'sAutomatic but Not Infallible.There are many messages that indicate a faulty or nonexistent address. The rejects

will likely be labeled with one of the following: 'delivery failure', 'failure delivery','mail error', 'error delivery', 'mail returned', 'failed', 'Delivery Status Noti�cation(Failure)', 'failure notice'. DBE will recognize these and numerous other labels cor-rectly. However, it is possible that some Bounces will not be recognized as bounced,because they are labeled in an unusual way by the receiving Host. Unsubscribes willalmost always be recognized and treated correctly, because there are relatively fewlabels or subject line responses to recognize.

113

6. Jobs Management

Figure 6.4.: Schedule Job Start

6.6. Scheduled Job Start

DBE contains feature to schedule Job start. Click on �Schedule Job Start� check boxand Select Start Date and Time dialog will appear Figure 6.4. Select your requestedscheduled job start date and time there and click OK button there to con�rm. Thenfollow Preparing Job Start chapter 6.4.2 to �nish preparation of scheduled Job start.Then you will see similar screen with scheduled text with date and time there in theJobs screen, see Figure 6.5.

114

6. Jobs Management

Figure 6.5.: Scheduled Job Start

115

A. Frequently Asked Questions

A.1. I observed an issue in DBE, could you help me?

Yes, but we need help from you to identify the issue �rst to be able to reproduce theissue you observed to be able to help you or to possibly �x the issue for you. So clarifythe situation when the issue appeared as much as possible. Answer all of the followingquestions and possibly clarify observed issue as much as possible.Which DBE version do you use?Which operation system do you have?Which version of operations system do you have?Do you have 32 bit or 64 bit version of operating system?How many SMTP accounts do you use? With how many threads?How many gigabytes of RAM do you have?Could you send us screen shots of Accounts page, Lists page and Messages page

and possible other screen shots with your con�guration so we can see and understandyour con�guration?Could you send us log �le? Log �le can be located:c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Database Emailer\databaseemailer.exe.stdout .In Windows 7 shorter way to the speci�ed application data folder is: c:\Users\All

Users\Application Data\Database Emailer\databaseemailer.exe.stdout .Older emailer version log �le path:c:\Program Files\Database Emailer\databaseemailer.exe.stdout .Are you running DBE as Administrator/in Administrator mode? This often helps

to solve a lot of observed issues.

A.2. In testing rotating presentations I was either doingsomething wrong or the software was returning funnytests. How do I set the software so a rotating mix ofall these things are sent?

As you can see from the Messages page. You can insert multiple From Names, multipleFrom Addresses, multiple Subjects. Also there is an option to Rotate Presentations,in the case you mark multiple messages on the left so all marked messages will berotated including the From Names, From Addresses, Subjects in the Message.Rotation works uniquely per SMTP account and Message pair. So if your message

has been sent with other SMTP account, then di�erent rotation is cycling even for

116

A. Frequently Asked Questions

the same Message.

117

B. DBE Email Addresses CSV File

Format

DBE requires Email Addresses data in CSV File Format with �rst line as a headerwith:EMAIL_ADDRESS, CONTACT, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, ADDRESS, CITY,

STATE, COUNTRY, ZIP, WEBSITE_SOURCE, PHONE_NUMBER, GENDER,DOB, REGISTRATION_DATE, EXTRA, COUNTY_NAME, sic_code, naisc_code,company_name, title, fax, company_website, APPROX_INCOME, LONGITUDE,LATITUDE, ETHNICITY, ownrent, interest, sub_interest, domain_name, �le_tag,OPTOUT. Then on next lines are recipients data. Each recipient is on new line. SeeTable B.1. Previously the data that were possible upload into DBE could not havequotes: �John Smith� around values. DBE was upgraded to now handle both quotedFigure 3.5 and NOT quoted data values Figure 3.6. See Table B.2. The format isdetected automatically during data upload. This way users can save CSV �les withMicrosoft Excel or Open O�ce Calc and then easily load it into DBE without anymodi�cation.

118

B. DBE Email Addresses CSV File Format

EMAIL_ADDRES

CONTACT

FIRST_NAME

LAST_NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

COUNTRY

ZIP

WEBSITE_SOURCE

PHONE_NUMBER

GENDER

DOB

REGISTRATION_DATE

EXTRA

COUNTY_NAME

sic_code

naisc_code

company_name

title

fax

company_website

APPROX_INCOME

LONGITUDE

LATITUDE

ETHNICITY

ownrent

interest

sub_interest

domain_name

�le_tag

OPTOUT

[email protected]

JimSmyser

Jim

Smyser

1401WTAROLN

Phoenix

AZ

USA

85027

expedia.com

18001234123

M

1968-12-24

2008-12-23

68.0.158.1

Maricopa

BookServiceInc.

18001234124

www.BookXyzService.com

-112.099816

33.678258

own

compuserve.com

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

TableB.1.:DBEEmailAddresses

CSVFileFormat

119

B. DBE Email Addresses CSV File Format

�EMAIL_ADDRES�

�CONTACT�

�FIRST_NAME�

�LAST_NAME�

�ADDRESS�

�CITY�

�STATE�

�COUNTRY�

�ZIP�

�WEBSITE_SOURCE�

�PHONE_NUMBER�

�GENDER�

�DOB�

�REGISTRATION_DATE�

�EXTRA�

�COUNTY_NAME�

�sic_code�

�naisc_code�

�company_name�

�title�

�fax�

�company_website�

�APPROX_INCOME�

�LONGITUDE�

�LATITUDE�

�ETHNICITY�

�ownrent�

�interest�

�sub_interest�

�domain_name�

��le_tag�

�OPTOUT�

�[email protected]�

�JimSmyser�

�Jim�

�Smyser�

�1401WTAROLN�

�Phoenix�

�AZ�

�USA�

�85027�

�expedia.com�

�18001234123�

�M�

�1968-12-24�

�2008-12-23�

�68.0.158.1�

�Maricopa�

��

��

�BookServiceInc.�

��

�18001234124�

�www.BookXyzService.com�

��

�-112.099816�

�33.678258�

��

�own�

��

��

�compuserve.com�

��

��

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

TableB.2.:DBEEmailAddresses

CSVFileFormat

Quoted

Values

120

C. Outbound SMTP Accounts CSV

File Column Sequence Format

Description

Email

Hostname

Port

SecureTransfer

RequiresLogin

Login

Password

HourlyMessages

SendingThreads

DoNotUseReturnPath

smtp.XX.com [email protected] smtp.XX.com 465 2 True xyzz1 pass123c 10 1 False

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Table C.2.: SMTP Accounts CSV File Column Sequence Format

121

D. Inbound POP3 Accounts CSV File

Column Sequence FormatDescription

Email

Hostname

Port

SecureTransfer

RequiresLogin

Login

Password

smtp.XX.com [email protected] smtp.XX.com 465 2 True xyzz1 pass123c

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Table D.2.: POP3 Accounts CSV File Column Sequence Format

122

E. Migration of Con�guration Settings

It is possible to migrate DBE con�guration settings from one PC into another. Youonly need to copy con�guration folder from one PC into another PC or to copyparticular con�guration �le at least. You can copy only Messages, only Lists, etc.The con�guration folder in recent version of DBE is: c:\Documents and Settings\AllUsers\Database Emailer\conf . In the older DBE version the con�guration folder was:c:\Program Files\Database Emailer\conf .In Windows Vista or Windows 7 the �les are hidden. You need to change option to

"Show Hidden Files and Folders" and to possibly uncheck "Hide protected operatingsystem �les" option to allow to see the con�guration �les in the speci�ed folders.Follow these steps to display hidden �les and con�guration folders:

1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button,clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then click-ing Folder Options.

2. Click the View tab.

3. Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden �les and folders.

4. Under Advanced settings, uncheck Hide protected operating system �les andthen click OK.

Here is also some help from Microsoft.Con�guration �les:

• messages.win32 - used for storing Messages in DBE (Messages Page). By copyingthis �le from one PC to second you get the same messages in the second PC inDBE.

• mailinglist.win32 - used for storing Mailing List with queries con�guration (ListsPage). By copying this �le from one PC to second you get the same Listscon�guration in the second PC in DBE.

• SMTP.win32 - used for storing con�guration of Outbound SMTP accounts con-�guration (Accounts Page - Outbound SMTP con�guration). By copying this�le from one PC to second you get the same outbound SMTP accounts con�g-uration in the second PC in DBE.

• POP3.win32 - used for storing con�guration of Inbound POP3 accounts con�g-uration (Accounts Page - Inbound SMTP con�guration). By copying this �le

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http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Show-hidden-files

E. Migration of Con�guration Settings

from one PC to second you get the same inbound POP3 accounts con�gurationin the second PC in DBE.

• UserCon�g.win32 - used for storing con�guration of "Database Emailer User'sAccount/Seed Noti�cation Email Addresses" in the Acoounts Page. By copyingthis �le from one PC to second you get the same Database Emailer User'sAccount/Seed Noti�cation Email Addresses con�guration in the second PC inDBE.

• BouncesProcessingCon�g.win32 - used for storing con�guration of settings inthe Jobs page. By copying this �le from one PC to second you get the samecon�guration in the Jobs page.

• ELPCon�g.win32 - used for storing con�guration of Email Landing Page inDBE (Accounts Page - ELP Con�guration). By copying this �le from one PCto second you get the same Email Landing Page con�guration in the second PCin DBE.

• ProxyCon�g.win32 - used for storing con�guration of Socks Proxy in the SMTPEmail Address veri�cation in the Lists Page. By copying this �le from one PCto second you get the same Socks Proxy con�guration for Email Address withSMTP Response type of email address veri�cation in the second PC in DBE.

• exceptions.win32 - originally used for storing exception processing con�gurationin older version of DBE.

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F. Migration of Database File

It is possible to migrate emailer database �le from one PC into another. You only needto copy database �le from one PC into another PC. Database �le path is c:\Documentsand Settings\All Users\Application Data\Database Emailer\data\dbe.db. In theolder emailer version the database �le path was: c:\Program Files\Database Emailer\data\dbe.db.In Windows Vista or Windows 7 the �les are hidden. You need to change option to

"Show Hidden Files and Folders" and to possibly uncheck "Hide protected operatingsystem �les" option to allow to see the con�guration �les in the speci�ed folders.Follow these steps to display hidden �les and con�guration folders:

1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button,clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then click-ing Folder Options.

2. Click the View tab.

3. Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden �les and folders.

4. Under Advanced settings, uncheck Hide protected operating system �les andthen click OK.

Here is also some help from Microsoft. In Windows 7 shorter way to the speci�ed appli-cation data folder is c:\Users\All Users\Application Data\Database Emailer\data\dbe.db.

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http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Show-hidden-files

G. Log File Location

In the case user observe an issue, error or exception, it could be very useful if usercan send us log �le in addition to possible screenshot or video session recorded whathappened. Log �le can be located:

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Database Emailer\databaseemailer.exe.stdout .In Windows 7 shorter way to the speci�ed application data folder is: c:\Users\All

Users\Application Data\Database Emailer\databaseemailer.exe.stdout .Older emailer version log �le path:c:\Program Files\Database Emailer\databaseemailer.exe.stdout .

126

Bibliography

[Credits] The Database Emailer Team:http://www.DatabaseEmailer.com

127

http://www.DatabaseEmailer.com

Bibliography

128

Index

Account, 26, 31

Accounts, 21

Accounts Management, 21

Add New List, 64

Add New Mailing List, 64

Adding POP3 Server, 31

Adding SMTP Server, 24

Address Book Management, 38

After Job is Sent, 113

Append to Database, 56

Auto Fetch, 70

Auto-Con�guration, 26, 31

Bounces, 108, 113

Clear Mailing List De�nition, 71

Con�guration, 21, 24, 26, 31, 36,

123

Count Records, 70

Create a Message, 88, 89

CSV, 118, 121, 122

CSV File Format, 118

Data, 118

Database, 125

Database Emailer, 6

Delete a Message, 96

Domain Name, 81

Editing, 21, 31, 36

Editor, 89

ELP, 36, 67, 102

Email Landing Page, 36, 67, 102

Export, 71

Export Bad Address, 51

Export Data, 51

File, 125, 126

Format, 118, 121, 122

Hide Bounces and Optouts, 70

Import POP3, 35

Import SMTP, 30

Installation, 8

Job, 114

Job Run Problems, 113

Jobs, 106

Jobs Management, 106

List, 64, 67

List Deletion, 70

Load Data, 38

Log, 126

Mailing List, 64, 67, 71

Mailing List Part of Job, 73

Message, 88, 89, 94

Message Management, 88

Message Part of Job, 99

Migration, 123, 125

Modify a Message, 94

Modify List, 67

Modify Mailing List, 67

Modifying POP3 Con�guration, 35

Opt-Outs, 108, 113

Outbound server, 21

Page, 70

Pause, 112

Pause Job, 112

POP3, 31, 122

Prepare Job to Run, 110

Preview List, 69

129

Index

Query Data, 69

Remove Database Entries, 56

Report, 81

Requirements, 8

Rotate Presentations, 99

Run Job, 110

Scheduled Job Start, 114

Seed Noti�cation, 36

Send Test Email, 102

Sending Job, 108, 114

Sending Speed Limit, 24, 81

Server, 21, 24, 31

Settings, 123

SMTP, 21, 24, 26, 121

Spam Assassin, 99

Spam Assassin Score, 99

Start Job, 110, 114

Test a Message, 102

Unsubscribe, 108

Unsubscribes, 113

Update Database, 108

Who is Reading Your Email?, 102

WYSIWYG, 89

130