New Features for Mass Email Initiations

Tonight we have added a slew of enhancements to our Mass Email Initiation feature. This is the feature that allows you to send an email campaign to one or more Groups by composing and sending your email message from an outside email program, like Outlook, GMail, or even a Blackberry.

New enhancements to this feature allow you to:

1. Have a word or phrase automatically pre-pended to the Subject of the email campaign.
2. Have JangoMail authenticate the email by the From Address rather than by looking for [password-send] in the Subject line.
3. Encompass the message as received within a pre-defined template. For example, if you wish to send a simple text message from your Blackberry, and have that text message inserted into a more aesthetically pleasing template before the email message is sent to Group members, you can now do that.

Below is a screenshot of the new Mass Email Initiation settings page under My Options --> Mass Email Initiations:

New Super Reporting Features

On Friday, we launched a few Super Reporting enhancements. They include:

1. Numbers now have commas in them, when greater than 3 digits.

2. The Filter box at the top of each report will now clearly indicate when a Filter is in effect. This will eliminate confusion when only certain rows of the Report are displayed due to a previously-set filter.

3. The Campaign Details page now shows all of the individual properties of the e-mail campaign. Here's an example:



4. Under the Recipients section, the Actions report now has a "Bounced" column:



5. Under the Recipients section, there is a new "By Domain / Actions" report:

Salesforce.com Integration, Phase I

We have released the first part of our Salesforce.com integration, a section within JangoMail that allows you to pull in your Leads/Contacts in real-time from your Salesforce.com account, and then send an email campaign to your Leads/Contacts, or a subset of Leads/Contacts.

To use this feature, your Salesforce.com account must allow API access. Salesforce.com Enterprise and Unlimited edition accounts have API access turned on by default, but API access is also available for Professional edition a la carte.

From JangoMail, click the Extract from My Database tab, and then click on the Connect to Salesforce.com button.

Below is a screenshot:

Feature Enhancement: Web database connections now support HTTPS

When configuring JangoMail to connect to a web site's database, the connection to the customer's web server can now be done over the secure HTTPS protocol rather than the HTTP protocol. Previously, only the HTTP protocol was supported, and to ensure security, a private key encrypted database information passed to the customer's web server, and that same private key decrypted the database information on the customer's web server. Now, the HTTPS protocol will itself ensure the encryption and decryption of database credentials. In time, we will deprecate the JangoMail custom private key encryption mechanism and encourage all customers to use this feature over HTTPS.

The form where you specify the URL for the special script file now contain a drop-down where you can specify http:// or https://.

See the below screenshots:

New Feature: Click Tracking Enhancement

Tonight, we have enhanced the Click Tracking feature. Click Tracking now allows you to pass campaign and recipient-personalization variables through to your destination URL.

You can choose to append personalization variables to the destinatinon URL by going to My Options --> Click Tracking.

Below is a screenshot:



Here's an example. If your e-mail campaign links to http://www.browniekitchen.com/WelcomeVisitor.html, then the e-mail recipient's browser will go to the following when the link is clicked:

If box is unchecked:

http://www.browniekitchen.com/WelcomeVisitor.html

If box is checked:

http://www.browniekitchen.com/WelcomeVisitor.html?
MassEmailID=24343243&email_id=98434&emailaddress
=john@doe.com&FirstName=John&LastName=Smith&
submission_date=1/1/08&confirmed=True

Therefore, checking the box allows you to program your web page to display a personalized message to the recipient based on the variables in the URL.

Open Tracking Bug Fix

We have modified the 1-pixel open-tracking GIF image so that it is transparent instead of white. A customer using a colored-background HTML e-mail campaign informed us that he could see the white 1-pixel "dot" used to track opens at the bottom of his email campaign.

Therefore, we have modified the 1-pixel "dot" to be a transparent GIF rather than a white GIF.

New Feature: Set your own notification preferences

You can now control which JangoMail email notifications you receive, setting individual preferences for:

• Sending Complete notifications
• Import Complete notifications
• Scrub Complete notifications

To set your notification preferences, go to My Options --> Notifications.

Below is a screenshot:

New Security Feature

Today we have introduced a new security feature which will alert the account holder in cases where attempts to gain unauthorized access to a JangoMail account are being made.

JangoMail will notify the account holder if more than 5 failed login attempts are made within a 30 minute period.

In such cases, the account holder will receive an e-mail like the following:

Subject: JangoMail: Security Alert -- 6 Failed Login Attempts (browniekitchen)

Message:

Dear Kim Cook,

Your account has had a high number of failed login attempts in the last 30 minutes. We are notifying you of this in case you are unaware of this and someone is trying to gain access to your account. If you have a weak password, please change it now by logging into your account and going to the Account Info tab.

Please direct any questions to https://www.jangomail.com/Support/.

Sincerely,

The JangoMail Administrator
https://www.jangomail.com/Support/
http://www.jangomail.com
1-888-709-4099 or 614-343-3864

Lastly, in cases where someone has gained unauthorized access to an account, a simple password change will disable all sending ability of the unauthorized user. Previously, if two or more machines were logged into the same JangoMail account, and the user of one of the machines changed the password on the account, the logged-in user of the second machine could continue using the JangoMail account. Now, when the first user changes the password, the second user will be automatically logged out as soon as he attempts to send anything.

New Reporting Enhancements

Today, we have launched several reporting enhancements, including:

1. The ability to set a local Time Zone, and have all Reporting date/times be localized to your time zone. The only exception is the timestamps that appear in SMTP log files, which will always be on GMT time.
2. The ability to turn the AJAX screen refresh feature off. AJAX allows your browser to update reporting statistics on the main campaign summary page or on a campaign detail page right before your eyes, without refreshing the page in the browser. Recently, some customers have requested the ability to turn this feature off.
3. The times on the main campaign summary page are now in 24 hour format, making it easier to tell whether a time is in the AM or PM.
4. Filters on reports are now memorized, so that the same filter will apply the next time you load the report. For example, if you go to the main campaign summary report, and you set the Job Type filter to be All, then log out and back in, when you go back to the Reporting tab, the report will default to Job Type=All.

Below is a screenshot of the new "Preferences" screen that allows you to control your Time Zone and AJAX settings.

Improvements to Google Analytics Integration

You can now customize the four variables used with our Google Analytics integration. The four variables that Google Analytics expects are:

utm_source (previously set to "JangoMail")
utm_medium (previously set to "Email")
utm_content (previously set to recipient's email address)
utm_campaign (previously set to campaign Subject followed by campaign ID number)

Previously, these four variables would be set for you by JangoMail, but now you can customize the values of these variables by using certain parameters. The parameters available for use are:

%%Subject%% (subject of your e-mail campaign)
%%CampaignID%% (numeric identifier for your campaign)
%%EmailAddress%% (recipient e-mail address)

Here is a screenshot of what the new page looks like under My Options --> Google Analytics Settings:

New Bounce Handling Options

As a result of customer requests, JangoMail can now have bouncebacks e-mailed to either the From Address on an outbound e-mail campaign, or any other designated e-mail address.

History:

Prior to switching our SMTP platform in March of 2007, JangoMail was using the Microsoft SMTP service to send e-mails. The MS SMTP service e-mailed back bounced messages to the address used in the MAIL-FROM part of the SMTP transaction. When we switched to our custom JangoMail SMTP Service in March 2007, this functionality disappeared, and instead all bouncebacks were stored in our database, rather than e-mailed back to the sender.

Now:

Under Settings --> Reply Management --> Bounce Handling, you can now specify whether bouncebacks should be e-mailed or not. You can choose to have bouncebacks:

1. E-mailed back to the From Address on the e-mail campaign
2. E-mailed to a different designated e-mail address
3. E-mailed to both.

Additionally, on the Send E-mail page, we have removed the "Bounces handled by JangoMail" checkbox next to the From Email Address field, since bounces are now (since March 2007) always handled by JangoMail, regardless of whether the bouncebacks are e-mailed to the sender or not. However, you do still have control of the MAIL-FROM address. If you would like the MAIL-FROM address used in the SMTP transaction to be the same as the designated From Address, you can uncheck the checkbox under Advanced Options labeled MAIL-FROM Address.

A better "My Options" menu

We have re-organized the menu under the My Options tab to be clearer and more user-friendly. The Branding section now includes functionality related to making JangoMail transparent to your recipients. The Composing section now includes functionality related to the authoring and composing of your e-mail campaigns.

Bug Fix: Group fields with dashes in it were not searchable

We have fixed a bug with Group Search where if the Group field name upon which you were searching had a dash, the search would always return zero records.

For example, if your field name was "First-Name", and you were searching for all records where "First-Name" was equal to 'John', this would previously fail. This issue has now been corrected.

JangoMail Launches Integration with Google Analytics

Overview

While we haven't officially announced this yet, it is available for you to use - our integration with Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free web site analytics tool that tracks the success of your web site by measuring page views, landing pages, exit pages, funnel paths, conversions, and provides this data to you in various formats as well - raw data, as a map overlay on the world, or as a graphical overlay on top of your web site.

JangoMail's integration with Google Analytics allows you to track the success of your web site specifically after you send a mass e-mail campaign to your recipients through JangoMail.

JangoMail has always provided its own built-in web analytics tool - we simply refer to it as Web Site Activity Tracking, and you can learn more about it in this PDF tutorial.

Now, with our integration with Google Analytics, you can use both -- JangoMail's built-in analytics tool and Google Analytics -- for the best of both worlds.

How to do it

There are a few simple steps to get started with JangoMail and Google Analytics.

1. To setup a free Google Analytics account, go to http://www.google.com/analytics/.
2. Add the Google Analytics JavaScript code to all pages of your web site that you want tracked.
3. Turn Google Analytics on in your JangoMail account by logging in, going to My Options --> Google Analytics.
4. Make sure you enable Click Tracking on all of your outbound e-mail campaigns.
   

And you're done. Turning on Google Analytics in your JangoMail account appends a few parameters to your final destination URLs in your e-mail campaigns. These parameters are:

utm_source (set to "JangoMail")
utm_medium (set to "EmailMarketing")
utm_content (set to the recipient's email address)
utm_campaign (set to the Subject of your campaign plus the JangoMail Campaign ID in parentheses after the Subject)

For example, if your e-mail campaign links to http://www.silicomm.com then if you enable Click Tracking and you turn on Google Analytics under My Options, when a recipient of your email clicks the link to http://www.silicomm.com, he will actually be taken to:

http://www.silicomm.com/?utm_source=JangoMail&utm_medium=
EmailMarketing&utm_campaign=This+is+just
+a+test+campaign%2878964283%29&
utm_content=ajay%2Egoel%40silicomm%2Ecom

We recommend using JangoMail's inherent Activity Tracking feature in conjunction with our integration with Google Analytics. You can turn on Activity Tracking in your account by going to My Options --> Activity Tracking. Doing so will add two additional parameters to your destination URL (jmid and j):

http://www.silicomm.com/?jmid=1&j=78964283
&utm_source=JangoMail&utm_medium=
EmailMarketing&utm_campaign=This+is+just
+a+test+campaign%2878964283%29&
utm_content=ajay%2Egoel%40silicomm%2Ecom

JangoMail Analytics vs. Google Analytics

Note that JangoMail's Activity Tracking feature works by placing a one-line img tag at the bottom of all of your web pages, while Google Analytics works by placing several lines of JavaScript at the bottom of all your web pages.

JangoMail is on the Habeas SafeList!

Today, Habeas has completed its audit of JangoMail and has added JangoMail's list of shared sending IP addresses to the Habeas SafeList. This means even higher deliverability rates for all JangoMail clients using the shared IP addresses. According to Habeas, the SafeList is the "industry's most widely-used Internet whitelisting service for legitimate commercial senders" and being SafeListed results in "improved delivery to over five million servers at Fortune 1000 companies and ISPs around the world".

Here is Habeas's 2 page PDF document on the benefits of being on the SafeList:
http://www.habeas.com/fileadmin/resources/Habeas_SafeList_DS.pdf

Below is a chart summarizing delivery rate improvements in Habeas SafeListed senders:



In addition to the JangoMail shared pool of IP addresses being added to the SafeList, any emails sent through a SafeListed IP address will have these additional headers added to the e-mail message:

Accreditor: Habeas
X-Habeas-Report: Please report use of this mark in spam to http://www.habeas.com/report/

New Bounce Methods for API/Web Service

We have deployed the following "version 2" of our Bounce retrieval methods. The "version 2" methods are identical to the older methods, but these new methods return two additional columns: the SMTP Diagnostic Code and the Definitive columns.

GetBounceListAll2
Gets the list of all e-mail addresses that have bounced at least once since the specified date. Includes SMTP Diagnostic Code and Definitive columns. Returns a string.

GetBounceListNormal2
Gets the list of e-mail addresses that have bounced X times since specified date, where X is a configurable parameter in your account. Includes SMTP Diagnostic Code and Definitive columns. Returns a string.

GetBounceListNormal_IncludePast2
Gets the list of e-mail addresses that have bounced at least X times in total, and at least once since specified date. X is a configurable parameter in your account. Includes SMTP Diagnostic Code and Definitive columns. Returns a string.

Reports_GetBouncesByCampaign_DataSet2
Retrieves list of bounced addresses for a particular mass e-mail campaign. Includes SMTP Diagnostic Code and Definitive columns. Returns a .NET DataSet.

Reports_GetBouncesByCampaign_String2
Retrieves list of bounced addresses for a particular mass e-mail campaign. Includes SMTP Diagnostic Code and Definitive columns. Returns a string.

Reports_GetBouncesByCampaign_XML2
Retrieves list of bounced addresses for a particular mass e-mail campaign. Includes SMTP Diagnostic Code and Definitive columns. Returns an XML document.

Super Reporting in Beta

It's here! Login to your account, go to Reporting, and then click the link to try our new Super Reporting (Beta) and get these enhancements:

• Deliverability reports by domain
• AJAX-based campaign summary report with statistics that update right before your eyes, without refreshing your browser.
• All reports are searchable
• Bars, charts, and graphs
• View metrics never seen before - like complaints per campaign, mailbox-full messages per campaign.
• Self-diagnose deliverability issues by viewing the actual SMTP log file for any recipient for any campaign.
• Time based reports showing opens/clicks/unsubscribes/bounces/page views hour by hour or day by day after a campaign launch
• A Recipient Action summary report showing whether each recipient opened/clicked/unsubscribed/bounced/forwarded...all in one report.
• Bounces now show the SMTP bounce code.
• View the processing log for a campaign, showing how your campaign was processed from start to finish.
• Click tracking broken down by HTML clicks vs. plain text clicks.

Note: You can always switch back to the "Classic Reporting" interface.

New Feature: Personalizing Subject/Message with the Campaign ID

You can now use the JangoMail-assigned campaign ID or a custom-assigned campaign ID to personalize the Subject and Message of your e-mail campaigns.

To use the JangoMail-assigned campaign ID, use the variable %%MassEmailID%%. To use a custom-assigned campaign ID, use the variable %%CustomMassEmailID%%. Custom campaign IDs can be assigned by filling out the Campaign Identifier field on the Send E-mail page.

This feature may be useful if you want to tag links with campaign IDs for your own internal tracking/reporting system.

New System Statistics Page

In conjunction with our "Total Transparency" theme for 2008, we have launched a JangoMail System Statistics page at http://www.jangomail.com/SystemStats.asp that allows you to peer into the internal activity of JangoMail on a daily basis. Every day, learn:

1. How many campaigns were sent
2. How many messages were sent
3. How many message Opens there were across the entire system
4. How many message Clicks there were across the entire system
5. How many API calls were made during the day
6. And much much more!

We'll be adding more and more statistics as time goes on.

New API Method: ImportGroupMembersFromFile

This new method allows you to import Group members from a file that you have previously FTPd. There are two steps to using this method:

1. FTP the file containing the data to ftp://client.jangomail.com. Use your JangoMail username/password to login. Navigate to the folder called "GroupImportsAPI". Place the file there.

2. Call the ImportGroupMembersFromFile method. For the "FileName" parameter, enter the name of the file which you FTPd in Step 1.

This method allows you to import larger sets of data into Groups from any file, whereas the older method ImportGroupMembersFromData has limitations on how much raw data can be passed through in one method call.