Full-service dispatch

If you want to send mailings to your customers at regular intervals but do not have time to import new recipients, create new mailing content, and run a quality check before sending a mailing, use Optimizely's full-service mailing dispatch. Supply Optimizely with addresses, the latest content, and your message template, and Optimizely takes care of the rest, including reporting after the process is finished. To ensure quality, Optimizely sends a test mailing for your approval prior to the actual dispatch.

And, you can use the layout for subsequent newsletters – just supply Optimizely with updated content.

Needed information

Optimizely needs the following information to generate a full-service mailing dispatch:

• Recipient data and test recipients as a CSV file (containing at least an email address)
  • For a personalized mailing, include a salutation or title, first and last name, and other desired criteria.
  • If target groups are being used, include supplementary columns (for example, only distribute to recipients who specified "mobile device" when registering, or addresses whose code that starts with 49)

• Newsletter template as an HTML file or graphic.
• Subject line for the mailing.
• Sender (such as Your Company Product News) and return address (such as news@example.com).

  You need to delegate the sending domain to Optimizely beforehand. This can take up to 72 hours;Optimizely cannot control the time required. Also, you cannot use a domain delegated to Optimizely for any other purpose (for example, as a log-in page), because the selection would produce no response. If you cannot delegate a sending domain, contact customer support.

• Email address for replies.
• Current content, where it differs from the template.
• Planned dispatch date.

To avoid complaints about unsolicited emails, observe these guidelines:

• You received an opt-in for all addresses, confirming the recipients' desire to receive promotional emails.
• Optimizely may require confirmation of this approval.

Lead time

Plan sufficient lead time to ensure that you can send mailings on schedule. When Optimizely has all necessary information, Optimizely creates a timetable containing:

• Date for sending a test mailing
• Date by which correction requests must be submitted
• Date by which corrections are incorporated and a second test mailing is sent
• Date by which mailing must be approved
• Date for sending actual mailing

Allow approximately five working days to evaluate the test mailing, incorporate correction requests, and provide final approval.

What Optimizely does for you

After you supply Optimizely with information and the planned sending date, Optimizely does the rest. This includes:

• Scheduling. Sends you a schedule showing when
  • the mailing is ready for testing
  • your correction requests must be submitted
  • corrections are incorporated
  • your final approval is needed
• Address check. Checks for problem addresses before importing recipients. If a significant number of addresses may be a problem, Optimizely contacts you.
• Importing addresses. Compiles a recipient list that matches your address list, then imports recipients.
• Creating the mailing. Creates a multi-stage mailing based on your message template. Any graphics included in the template increase your cost. So, it is best to include graphics as HTML files in the message template.
• Modifying content. Incorporates the new text and images if current mailing content differs from the template.
• Testing and quality control. Tests mailing before it is sent to test recipients. Optimizely checks whether major providers and freemailers (T-Online, web.de, GMX , and so on) deliver the mailing to intended in-boxes, or if spam filters catch any of them, and whether the contents are displayed correctly.
• Sending test emails. When your mailing passes quality control, it is sent to the supplied test recipients. You screen the content one last time. After that, either send Optimizely your correction requests, or notify Optimizely by email your approval of the mailing.
• Incorporating corrections. Incorporates your changes into the mailing and sends it to test recipients a second time.
• Mailing to a distribution list. When Optimizely receives your final approval, the mailing is sent to recipients on the distribution list as scheduled.
• Sending report. Within two work days of the sending date, you receive an initial report containing the following information (in both diagrams and data). You get a final report within ten work days.
  • Recipients
  • Emails opened
    • unique opens
    • opens over time
  • Opening rate (%)
  • Clicks
    • unique clicks
    • clicks over time
    • total clicks by link
  • Click-rate (%) and effective unique click-rate (%)
  • Number of responses and response rate (%)
  • Number of unsubscriptions and unsubscribe rate (%)