New Feature: Only pre-process an email marketing campaign, but never send it

You can now set an email marketing campaign to pre-process only, and never actually send. Just check the box in the Miscellaneous section at the bottom of the Send Email page.


What is "pre-processing" anyway?

There are two steps to processing every campaign in JangoMail: pre-processing and sending. The pre-processing refers to generating a final recipient list, and assigning various email senders to the recipients based on configured rules specific to your account, like whether you're a participant in the Habeas Safelist or the Sender Score Certified programs. In generating the final recipient list, your original recipients are filtered for unsubscribes, bounces, and possibly duplicates. Pre-processing generates the final "send to" list for your campaign. Checking the above checkbox will make it so the "pre-processing" happens, but the actual "sending" never happens.

Why would anyone ever want to use this?

There are several reasons why this feature may be useful:

1. You may want to see what the final recipient list looks like, after all unsubscribes, bounces, and duplicates have been removed. This feature will allow you to see the final recipient list while not actually sending the email to the recipient list.
2. You may want to see how long JangoMail takes to do the pre-processing, so you can time your actual send in the future accordingly.
   

New Feature: Send personalized previews/test messages to a Group

We have expanded the functionality of the Preview/Save button on the Send Email page to allow sending a personalized preview message to an entire Group that has 100 members or fewer. Additionally, a designated Test Group will have a corresponding one-click "send" button on the Send Email page.

1. To designate a Group to be a Test Group, the Group must have 100 members or fewer, and you must check the box as shown below. Go to the Groups and Email Addresses tab, select the Group, and then click the Change Group Name / Test Group button.




2. Check the box and click the button. Now that the Group is designated a Test Group, go to the Send Email page. In addition to the Preview/Save button, you'll see another button for each Test Group in your account. Clicking one of these buttons will send an immediate test email to the Group indicated on the button.


3. Clicking the Preview/Save button will launch the popup as normal, but a dropdown will appear listing the available Test Groups.

New navigation tabs

After 8 years of the same, boring-beige navigation tabs, we've re-stylized them to look totally Web 2.0! We hope you'll find these new navigation tabs visually and aesthetically pleasing.

Regular JangoMail Interface

JangoMail for Salesforce Interface

Bug Fix: Mass email initiations will now work with foreign characters

Tonight we have deployed a bug fix that allows mass email initiations to be sent containing both HTML and Plain Message parts, where the message contains foreign language characters.

Prior to the bug fix, when sending a mass email initiation, if the message contained foreign language characters, the campaign would only be sent if the message was sent as a Plain-Text-only or an HTML-only email. If both MIME parts, Plain Text and HTML, were included, then the email campaign would error out.

Screenshot of a mass email initiation composed using Outlook Express, and the message contains Chinese characters. Outlook Express will send this with both Plain Text and HTML parts.

General Information:
A mass email initiation is an email campaign triggered from a desktop or other email client outside of JangoMail. For example, you can use Outlook, GMail, or Thunderbird to compose an email campaign, send it to your assigned @init.jangomail.com email address, and then have JangoMail send the campaign to your email list. For more information on this feature, see this tutorial.

New Feature: FTP your List import files

You can now FTP files to client.jangomail.com/GroupImportsAutoFTP/ and those files will automatically be processed and imported into a JangoMail List.

You may use any standard FTP client, such as FileZilla, CuteFTP, or even the FTP built into Internet Explorer.

The above screenshot uses the Windows Explorer built-in FTP utility to transfer the file Data.csv to JangoMail. In this example, if an Email List named "Data" already exists, then the email addresses will be imported into this List. Otherwise an Email List named "Data" will be created automatically.

FTP to client.jangomail.com using your JangoMail username and password, switch to the GroupImportsAutoFTP folder, and place any data file there. The file can be of any extension (.csv, .dat, .txt, or anything else), and you can set the row delimiter, column delimiter, text qualifier and other options under Settings --> List Management --> FTP List Import Handling.

Some technical notes about how the FTP List Import feature works:

1. JangoMail will examine your file name, and if a corresponding List exists, then the data in that file will be imported into that List. If a corresponding List does NOT exist, then a new List will be created. The name of the list will be based on the name of the file, but non-alphanumeric characters will be removed.
2. If your file has column names in the first row, those column names will be translated into appropriate List Fields. If your file does NOT have column names in its first row, then field names will be created following this scheme: Field1, Field2, Field3, etc. After the import is complete, you can change these field names to more meaningul names.
3. If your file has column names in the first row, JangoMail will look for a column called "Email" or "Email Address", or similar derivations, such as "E-mail" or "E-mail Address". It will be assumed that this column contains the actual email addresses. If your file does NOT have column names in the first row, JangoMail will look for the first occurence of an email address in your data file, and will assume this is the column containing email addresses.
4. Your file should not have the following field names: confirmed, modified, memberID, uniqueident, submission_date, and email_id. These are JangoMail-reserved words, and files containing these field names may have the fields automatically re-named to something else in the actual JangoMail List that is created, or the file may not process correctly at all, in which case an error email notification will be sent.
5. This feature is foreign language compliant, so you may FTP Unicode files.
6. You may also use a secure FTP client to transfer files.
7. You will receive one email notification when the file is actually detected by JangoMail, and you will receive another email notification when the file is done importing and the data is in your List. 
8. If you FTP a file, and that file name corresponds to an existing List, and the file does NOT have column names, the file will NOT be imported, and you will receive an email notifying you of the error.

New Feature: Quick File Upload

You can now quickly upload a file and have the data converted into a JangoMail Group. The Quick Upload feature is seen immediately after clicking the Groups and Email Addresses tab. If a Group does not exist that corresponds to the name of the file you upload, a new Group will be automatically created for you. The Quick Upload follows the same rules as the new FTP List Import feature.

You can now sort Groups by Date

Need to quickly see which Groups you've recently created? For those clients with lots of Groups, you'll be pleased to know you can now sort your Groups by date, instead of the default alphabetical sort. Just click the "Sort by Date" link at the top of your Group listing. And of course, if you change your mind, you can always toggle back to "Sort by Alphabetical".

JangoMail is on Twitter

We've decided to join the social media revolution and join Twitter. Please follow us at http://www.twitter.com/JangoMail. We will strive to make our tweets entertaining, witty, and informative!

New Feature: The "Update Only" option when importing into Email Groups

JangoMail now allows you more precise control over your Email Group Imports. In the Import Wizard, you now can check a box to tell JangoMail to update existing email addresses rather than add duplicate email addresses, if your imported data contains email addresses already present in the Group.

This is yet another way JangoMail provides complete control and flexibility over your data.

API/Web Service users can call either ImportGroupMembersFromData2 or ImportGroupMembersFromFile2 and set the "UpdateOnly" parameter to "True" or "False".

API/Web Service "Import" methods now support "UpdateOnly" setting

The two API methods ImportGroupMembersFromData2 and ImportGroupMembersFromData2 are updated versions of the older ImportGroupMembersFromData and ImportGroupMembersFromData methods:

ImportGroupMembersFromData2
Imports members into a Group from raw data. Specify whether to add all records or update existing records. Returns a string.

ImportGroupMembersFromFile2
Imports members into a Group from previously FTPd file. Specify whether to add all records or update existing records. Returns a string.

Version 2 of these methods allows the setting of the UpdateOnly parameter to True or False. Setting this parameter to True will cause the JangoMail Group Importer to only update existing email addresses and add new email addresses. Setting this to False will cause the Importer to add all email addresses in the imported data, even if the email addresses already exist in the Group.

New API/Web Service method allows creating Agency Sub-Accounts

JangoMail users who are Master Agency Account users can now create client Sub-Accounts via the API method CreateAccount.

CreateAccount
Creates a user account. Returns a string containing the User ID and Password for the new user account.

One of the input parameters is the SecretToken. If you are an Agency Account wishing to use this method, please contact our Support team for your secret token value.

API/Web Service "Send" methods now support "Template" setting

The following API methods have been updated such that "Template=True" or "Template=False" may be specified within the Options input parameter:

SendMassEmail
Sends a mass e-mail with a plain text and/or HTML e-mail. Returns a string.

SendMassEmailPrevious2
Sends a previously saved mass e-mail to a new set of recipients. Returns a string.

SendMassEmailRaw
Sends a mass e-mail, given a raw message including MIME parts and a MIME boundary. Returns a string.

Setting Template=True within the Options parameter will mark the email campaign as a Template, and will cause it to appear in the "My Templates" dropdown menu in the Send Email section of the JangoMail web interface.

How to Send Automated Birthday Emails

If you're storing your email list in a JangoMail Group, then you may wish to setup JangoMail to automatically send daily birthday emails. To do so follow these simple instructions:

1. Define Field: Make sure that your JangoMail Group has a field defined to store a person's date of birth. In the below screenshot, the field is called DOB.

2. Set DOB values: Make sure your Group members have a "DOB" value set. Use a standard mm/dd/yy format, as shown below.



3. Compose birthday email: Next, setup the email message that you wish to be sent on a person's birthday. Do this under the "Send Email" tab.



4. Filter your Group: Finally, do a "filter" on the Group pulling out just the members whose birthday it is today. Use the exact syntax shown below in the WHERE box:

Month(CONVERT(datetime, DOB)) = Month(getdate()) AND Day(CONVERT(datetime, DOB)) = Day(getdate())


4. Schedule and send: Finally, re-select the message you composed in step 2, put in the scheduling parameters, and hit Send. The scheduling parameters are set to send the email daily, at 3:01 PM, and a box is checked to re-query the Group every day, ensuring that every day, the email is sent to that day's birthdays, rather than the birthdays from the day we scheduled the email.


5. Check your work: You can see the recurring scheduled email you've setup under My Options --> Recurring Schedules:

Non IE browsers will no longer be able to switch to Simple HTML Editor

JangoMail provides two different HTML editors for composing email campaigns: the Simple HTML Editor and the Enhanced HTML Editor. The Simple HTML Editor was the editor we first provided when JangoMail was created, and it only works with Internet Explorer. In 2004, we introduced the option of a much more powerful Enhanced HTML Editor that works with all browsers. You can choose which HTML Editor you want to use under My Options --> Send Email Page.

Previously, a non-IE browser, like Safari or Firefox, a user could choose to use the Simple HTML Editor, and then on the actual Send Email page, an error would be displayed, often times confusing the user. To avoid this confusion, we have now made it so that when using a non-IE browser, you will not be able to select the Simple HTML Editor.

Additionally, if your account is already set to use the Simple HTML Editor, and you login with a non-IE browser, the Send Email section will default to the Enhanced HTML Editor.


Additional Information for Techies:

The Simple HTML Editor is ActiveX based, and therefore only works with Internet Explorer. The Enhanced HTML Editor is a Java applet, and is therefore browser-independent.

New behavior for "Forced Recipients" option

JangoMail allows users to specify up to ten email addresses in a "Forced Recipients" box under My Options. Using this option forces JangoMail to send a copy of every email campaign sent through the account to the addresses specified here.



Previously, these addresses would get filtered out of a campaign if these addresses were also on the account's Unsubscribe List or Bounce List for example. So previously, there were cases where these addresses did not receive a copy of the email campaign.

We have modified the behavior of this feature such that the addresses in the "Forced Recipients" box now override data in the Unsubscribe List, Bounce List, or any other filtering mechanism when sending a campaign.

Therefore, specifying email addresses in the "Forced Recipients" box will guarantee that every email campaign is sent to these addresses.

Group Importer Enhanced

We have deployed a fix to the JangoMail Group Importer that allows the record delimiter to appear in between a pair of text qualifiers, and for all data to be properly imported.

For example, if in an uploaded import file, the record delimiter is the "newline" character and the field delimiter is a "comma", and the text qualifier is a double-quote character, then data my look like:

EmailAddress,FirstName,CustomerFeedback
johndoe@yahoo.com,John,You guys are the best!
janesmith@gmail.com,Jane,You need improvement.
mikejones@hotmail.com,Mike,Thanks for your hard work

This data would always import properly, but if a particular value contained the record delimiter, the data would previously not import properly, even if the value was surrounded by the text qualifier. For example:

EmailAddress,FirstName,CustomerFeedback
"johndoe@yahoo.com","John","You guys are the best!
Thanks for all that you do."
"janesmith@gmail.com","Jane","You need improvement."
"mikejones@hotmail.com","Mike","Thanks for your hard work"

This time Record 1 has a longer CustomerFeedback value. Record 1 of this data has a "newline" in the middle of the CustomerFeedback value. Even though the entire value is surrounded by the text qualifier (a pair of double-quotes), previously, the entire value would not be imported. Now, with our Group Importer enhancement, this is now fixed. Additionally, should the field delimiter appear in between a pair of text qualifier characters, this situation will also be accommodated, as it has always been.

New layout for "Send Email" page coming this weekend

After years of adding new features to the main Send Email page of JangoMail, a new design has arrived to make using these features easier. We will be deploying the new Send Email page this weekend. Attached to this email message is a GIF screenshot of the new layout, showing the re-designed "Advanced Options" section.

Now, the items underneath Advanced Options have been categorized. Each category can be expanded and collapsed using the +/- symbols. Additionally, all categories can be expanded/collapsed at once using the "expand/collapse" links next to the title "Advanced Options".

Some noteworthy changes:

1. The Plain Text Message field has been moved to the top.
2. The Tracking options are now below the Plain Text Message section
3. The Mark as Template checkbox has been moved to the Miscellaneous section.

We hope this new layout will make this page easier and faster to use (click image to see full size):

Upgrade to Enhanced HTML Editor

JangoMail has upgraded the Enhanced HTML Editor to Version 6.6.2.6 of Ephox's EditLive! editor. Released on March 10th, 2009, this latest version of EditLive! fixes a number of bugs. For full details, click here.

Group Imports now support foreign languages

You can now import foreign characters into Groups using the "Import Members" function. Previously, foreign characters imported into Group fields would be garbled. But now, foreign characters are properly stored in Group fields.

Below is a screenshot where data, including Chinese and Arabic characters, will be imported into the Group "Customers":

In this example, the data is copied/pasted into the form, but you can also upload a data file containing foreign language characters.

Uploading Files Containing Foreign Language Characters:

If you upload a file containing foreign characters into a JangoMail Group, make sure the file is saved as a Unicode file, and NOT a UTF-8 encoded file. The below image shows how to save a file as a Unicode file in Windows Notepad (click image to see full size):




API/Web Service Reference:

The Group Import methods, ImportGroupMembersFromData and ImportGroupMembersFromFile have also been enhanced to support foreign language characters.

Bug Fix: CAN SPAM Footer now supports foreign characters

Today we fixed a bug that was preventing foreign characters in the CAN SPAM Footer from being displayed properly.

Now, if you include foreign characters in any of the fields under My Options --> CAN-SPAM Footer, those foreign characters will display properly at the bottom of your email campaigns.