Note: this month has been one of the busiest I’ve had in the last two years. It’s been very hard on work and that’s the reason I’ve not been posting as frequently as I’d like. In fact, next week will be worse because I’m a speaker at the Microsoft’s worldwide presentation event of Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008, so I will be travelling for the whole week. I hope that I can post something however. At least I’ll try my best. :-)

This is a little bit technical post, but if you follow the steps one by one it will be easy to put into practice. Let’s go!

Sometimes you’re not able to deliver a message to a recipient and you get some strange code from your Outlook (or the e-mail client you normally use) or, simply, get your e-mail bounced back. What everybody generally does is call her system administrators in search of help. But you will earn a lot of time and knowledge if you can find the problem by yourself (and you’ll save your busy sys-admin some health too) . Let’s find out how to do it...

Open your command line tool typing “cmd” in your Start·Run menu:

The first thing we’re going to do is check what are the servers responsible for handling e-mail for the problematic recipient.

The destination domain is just the text after the '@' of your recipient’s e-mail address, so that if it is johndoe@yourcustomer.com, the domain would be yourcustomer.com. Type the following command in the command line window:

nslookup –type=mx recipientsdomain.com

using the correct domain. You will see something like this:

The information you get that starts with the text ‘MX’ (short for Mail eXchanger) indicates the server responsible for handling the e-mail of the domain. In big domains usually there are more than one of them, but you should normally check only against the one with the 10 preference, as indicated.

OK, now that we know the server we must check, it’s time to connect to it. In the command line type the following:

telnet mail.yourcustomer.com 25

using the server you’ve just found out.

25 is the standard port for e-mail communication. If the server is up (and your connection too) you’ll see something that starts by the number ‘250’ (which means ‘this is OK’), like this:

If there is not a connection with the server you’ll get an error:

And you then will know that the reason of your problems is that the server is not working at all.

If you succeed it’s time to check the validity of the e-mail account. Type the word ‘ehlo’ following the domain name of the sender e-mail address. You’ll get a series of 250 acknowledge messages:

Now type 'mail from:' using the sender e-mail between ‘<’ and ‘>’ signs:

Next type ‘rcpt to:’ with the recipient’s e-mail address in this server. If the e-mail address exists and is willing to receive your email you’ll see something like this:

This will mean that, in this moment, there is not any problem with the recipient’s e-mail so you can retry the sending now.

But if there is a problem with the e-mail -which is very probable and that’s the reason you started all this stuff in the first place- you will get an error code (a number not ‘250’) and a message telling you the which the problem is all about. For example, if the e-mail address no longer exits you’ll get:

That’s all. You have diagnosed the problem by yourself and will be the super-geek hero of your office :-)

Don’t forget to type ‘quit’ to exit the telnet program before leaving. And never mind: if the address is OK your recipient will not receive any message from you and will never know that you have made this check procedure.

A professional e-mail marketing program such as MAILCast will offer you detailed information about the cause for some mails to bounce back, but if you are just sending a small bunch of e-mails from your “normal” e-mail client, with this technique you can found the main cause by yourself.

Some of our customers had several offices in different states and countries. Or maybe they need to send e-mail addressed from each of their customer reps to the customers they are responsible of, so that everyone receives the email from the right person.

Apart from the main sender of the channel you're using to send your mailing, you can personalize the sender name and email address for each of your recipients with a little trick:

Just add two fields to the Access or Excel file that contains your recipients after uploading it to MAILCast. Name them: 'Sender' and 'SenderEMail' respectively (case insensitive).

When you start sending your mailing, each e-mail will be addressed from the address in the 'SenderEMail' field, and with the name contained in the 'Sender' field.

If any of them is NULL or empty (or invalid)  the default address or name for the current channel will be used instead.

You'll never miss the chance to communicate from the right source again. And it's very easy to do :-)

A few days ago I was interviewed in BaquíaTV. I had the chance to talk about e-mail marketing, Krasis and, of course, this blog too.

Interview (in spanish, sorry) has two parts. In the second one I speak about our other bussiness line at Krasis: on-line developer training on Microsoft's technologies. (www.campusmvp.com). I hope you'll find it interesting :-)

When I started to write the title of this post I was tempted to use the colloquial phrase “snail mail” instead of the more politically correct term “postal mail”. In fact I wrote it and immediately change it. It was not my intention to be shamelessly partial when judging one against the other, but in our sector this is a common way to refer to traditional mail.

And that gets to the first point in my list of advantages of e-mail versus postal mail: it’s much faster to start and execute a campaign with e-mail. A traditional direct mail campaign needs planning at least three weeks in advance. With e-mail you can plan the campaign, send it and measure the results in just a few days.

That’s one of the reasons traditional mail gets dubbed as “snail mail” ;-)

Another good reason to choose e-mail is that you can save a lot of money too. Depending on the total size of your recipients’ data base (it gets cheaper as you send higher mail volumes) you can even send hundreds of e-mails per euro. Every postal letter you send costs you more than 50 cents if you take into account paper, printing, envelopes, stamps, handling and so on. So e-mail is thousands of times cheaper than postal mail.

Other annoyance of postal mail is that you must sort it appropriately before going to your postal office. Depending on the final destination of the letters you get a different price, and if you want to optimize the costs is very important to have all the letters sorted by destinations groups. This is an extra cost you must take in account, and one that many people discovers only the first time they arrive to the postal office with their ten thousand letters marketing action in several boxes :-(
With e-mail this just doesn’t happen and you get the same price if you send an e-mail to your country or to one in the other side of the world.

E-mail marketing campaigns give you instant access to results and metrics, and you start to receive information only seconds after sending the e-mails. You can have a level of detail impossible to get through other means. Sure, you can measure things with traditional mail, but is more difficult and inaccurate, it takes a lot of time, and generally you must use some kind of reward to get people back to you (coupons, discounts…). And that costs you money too.

Despite all this advantages and some more, many times postal mail is the only choice you have. Maybe your target sector is a very low tech one and e-mail is not very common in it. Or maybe, plain and simple, you don’t have the e-mail address of the people you want to contact. Even worse: maybe you have the e-mail addresses but don’t have the permission to use it (be careful with privacy laws: they’re much harder with e-mail than with –in my opinion- the more annoying fax or environmental unfriendly postal mail).

But if you can e-mail is generally speaking a much cheaper, agile and effective way to keep in touch with your customers, and prospects.

Today I've been working in a small (just 97 lines of code) Excel VBA macro that can be somewhat useful. This utility allows you to split up columns of data that contain Names and Surnames mixed, so that you get two new columns with this elements separated.

It is able to correctly split names in several formats:

• Name and Surname. (for example: Zachery Barr)
• Name Initial Surname. (Stewart H. Shepherd)
• Two Names and a Surname (José Manuel Alarcón)
• Two Names and several Surnames (José Manuel Alarcón Aguín)

Download Name and LastName Splitter.xls (54 KB)

In order to use it you must enable the support for macros everytime you open it in Excel:

Press "Options", and select the "Enable this content" option:

Now just copy and paste your mixed data in any column in any sheet of this spreadsheet.

It's important that you select the range of cells you need to be processed for splitting. If you don't make any selection only the current cell will be processed.

Now go to the "View" ribbon in Excel 2007 (or Tools·Macros in previous versions) and press the "Macros" button or press ALT+F8, as it's shown below:

In the dialog that appears execute the macro "SplitCurrentColumn":

Now you will get another sheet named "Split" with two columns. In the first one you'll have the names and in the second the Lastnames.

You can process as many data columns as you want but take into account that the "Split" sheet will be emptied each time you execute the macro, so save your new data first. You cannot process data in the "Split" sheet which holds the results.

In the download I've included a sheet with sample data for you to try (300 randomly generated names).

Hope this helps!

Blackberry mobile phones are very popular within business users worldwide, although actually only around 12 million receive their e-mail directly in these devices through a subscription.

Blackberry e-mail client has been known for its dreadful support for HTML e-mail. The problem was not that it couldn't read this kind of content (a lot of mobile phones out there which are able to read e-mail don't support html). The real problem is that this devices in fact do think that they can read it, so instead of showing the multi-part text version of the contents (if any), they showed the html version but without being able to display it accordingly. This is a huge pain for marketers.

Hopefully it seems that this is going to change soon. RIM has released a press note about several software updates for server and devices that are going to fix this problem inthe next months. Literally they say:

"HTML and Rich Text Email Rendering – BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to view HTML and rich text email messages with original formatting preserved including font colors and styles, embedded images, hyperlinks, tables, bullets and other formatting. "

This are good news for everyone because Blackberry adoption will surely grow a lot in the next few years, and this will lead the way for others to adopt the same feature (as Windows Mobile Devices did long time ago).

Most people, as is perfectly normal, are not concerned about the technical details of the e-mail marketing software they use. But they should be. The devil is in the details, and technical ones are very important.

I've recalled this today, analyzing some commercial e-mails I've received recently.

For example, let's take a look to the URL an e-mail marketing provider generates for tracking reading stats for his customers (this is a real one, just changed the domains for privacy):

<IMG src="http://www.anemailprovider.com:8080/pcmwtg/trackingServlet=idtracking=2&idsend=906077">

Take a look at the evident purpose of each parameter of this tracking URL... What if I change the idsend value a little bit to, let's say, 06078?: I've just added a new read count to another user.

If I were not a really nice person (as I am in fact), I could easily mess-up all the reading stats of this provider, making them totally useless to their customers. :-(

Another thing interesting enough is that this image is not pointing to a real image. It doesn't even have an extension or even a real file name, which is easily spotted by some anti-spam filters. Not a good technical decision.

Now take a look at the typical tracking image we use in MAILCast:

<image src="http://mcs.krasis.es/C/R/MTc5NDA1NCAg.gif">

Well, the name of the image is not very beautiful either, but is clearly an image file name, and what's more important: all the information about tracking is nicely codified and encrypted in the name of the image, so is very difficult to tamper, and the stats are much more reliable.

Other issue involves the tracking of links. A tracked link in the previous sample e-mail was like this one:

http://www.anemailprovider.com:8080/pcmwtg/trackingServlet?idtracking=1&url=http://www.customerserver.com/landingpage.htm&idsend=906077

Uh??, The same as before but even worse. I could assign random clicks to anyone and the destination is directly embedded in the link, so I could easily avoid the tracking too.

A typical tracking link in MAILCast looks like this:

http://mcs.krasis.es/C/L/?V05_122498_MTc0NRB2NCAg

Which is, again, ugly (not uglier that the previous one, by the way), but is shorter and don't compromise the reliability of the tracking process.

The worst thing about the technical approach used in many e-mail marketing programs like the one I'm analyzing today is the unsubscribe link:

http://www.anemailprovider.com:8080/pcmwtg/GestionServlet?type=1&idunsubstemplate=10140&idCustomer=2447&idcontact=1572907

When I try writing in the browser that URL I get a message saying that I was successfully unsubscribed. But the customer ID and de contact ID are plain auto-numeric values in a database, so if I start trying different values I start to unsubscribe all the contacts of the customers of this provider too! Oh my!!!

Even If I get a message telling me that a unsubscribe confirmation e-mail is going to be sent to me, a malicious attacker could flood the inbox of all those contacts with unsubscribe confirmation e-mails which is in fact a cruel attack.

In fact if I try other values that are not numbers, in this case I could even make a SQL Injection Attack to the database, and don't want to know what a malicious attacker could do with this.

This is a very critical sample, but in fact a real one extracted from an email I've received this week. Just yesterday I received at least two newsletters that had this kind of issues, that are more common than you may think.

So the moral is: you don't have to be technical savvy for using an e-mail marketing or newsletter software, but is very important that you get advice from a skilled programmer or technician so that you don't have problems in the future. In fact you should get advice with any software you purchase, and this gets more important if you're dealing with your image and your customers' privacy.

This post ends the "Call to Action" series I started a few days ago (you can find the links below).

Today I'm going to talk about good practices for location and aspect in CTAs, the two last main parameters that have influence in CTA performance.

The obvious place to locate your CTA is at the end of your e-mail. That's not bad, but not all of your readers will read your whole message, so maybe a lot of them don't even get to see the CTA. It's advisable to put it in higher positions of the message body too.

Why settle for a single CTA? You can use several links and graphics at different locations in your e-mail body, all pointing to your landing page. Use several options, for example: a link in the header, a left aligned graphic and a final sentence each of them pointing to your landing page. You don't know which will be more effective, so don't limit yourself, but don't abuse neither. It is sometimes interesting to have a first CTA-link in the first two lines of your content.

A word of caution when using images: take into account that images are probably initially blocked in your recipient's e-mail client; so don't rely on having them visible, as I've already pointed in this blog before. Anyway always use an ALT attribute. At least they will read the purpose of the image if they can't see it.

Regarding text-based CTAs, is advisable to highlight in some subtle way the CTA so that it will stand out from the rest of the paragraph. But not too much. For example, you can make the text bold or underlined, but you should not use loud colors (light red or similar) neither bigger font sizes. The main reason is that this is something very common in non-solicited mail messages and your message will have more choices of being considered spam. Another tip to highlight your text CTA is to add a linefeed and align it to the right, so that it will be clearly visible.

Summing up: try to use several locations for your CTA. Don't rely on images as the only way to go to your landing page, and use subtle ways to highlight your text-based CTAs.

Previous posts in this series:

• Glossary: Call to Action or CTA
• Call To Action: Good practices (I) - The words
• Call To Action: Good practices (II) - The action

In my previous post I talked about the first of the four variables that impact the most in our CTAs: the words.

Now it's the time for another important parameter you must take into account: the action or, what most of the times it's the same, the landing page.

As we have already discussed, the words of your CTA must transmit clearly what your recipients are going to find on the other side, after they click on it. So the first rule for landing pages is quite obvious: they must contain the type of content you promised in the claim of your CTA. So if you wrote "Customize your new computer" don't send users to a page that has only information and that will force them to search for the customization page. Many will not even try to do it, and if they do, they will be a little bit upset.

Unless there is no other choice or it is very pertinent, never link to a general page, such as your homepage or the root information of your product. Try to be more specific and link to a features page, a price list, etc... You can use several links in your e-mail to send prospective customers to different pages (that is, several CTA). This way they go straight to what interests them, and as plus, you get extra information too. For example, if a lot people go straight to your price information page you will know that price is a big concern for your target. Otherwise, if your features' page is the most demanded, probably they are more interested in what your product can offer.

The content of your page is very important too. Apart from giving enough information in the right place, try to anticipate the fears of your prospective customers, and give information about it. For example, if you're selling something that must be phisically delivered, include a link or a sentence that state clearly your shipping costs. If they must fill in a form with their credit card, notice that all data will be sent securely through SSL and that you will not lend or sell their personal data. Just try to walk in their shoes and don't let them wondering about anything, or they will not buy.

Summing up: your landing page must be specific and reflect exactly the expectations your CTA created before clicking it. The contents must be clear and will try to foresee the concerns your visitors might have.

In the next post I'll talk about the other two parameters of a good CTA: location an aspect.

We have already seen what a Call To Action is. Now let's see how a good CTA is designed.

When you are writing a CTA for your marketing message you must take in account at least four main variables:

1. The words you are going to use.
2. The action you want them to take.
3. Its location.
4. Its appearance (color, size, design if it's an image)

Let's see today something about the first one.

A lot of people limit their CTAs to links with phrases like "Click here" or "Buy it now!" and the like. In fact, although this kind of sentences could seem good CTAs because they are very straight forward and imperative, they're not.

A simple "Click here" at the end of your message can mean a lot of different things. Some readers may think it's a link that leads to a buying page, and many of them will not click it if they are not very interested at first. But, what if this link leads only to a page with more information? Maybe many doubtful readers will click it if they had known.

So be specific about what the CTA will really do, and let your readers know what to expect. Express clearly what they are going to find. If you want them to know more about your product just write something like "Learn more about the new BrandNewProduct". Don't use just a mere "Click here".

Maybe you want them to buy your product right now (of course), but chances are that the link you use doesn't lead directly to a purchase, but more to an information page or to a selection page. Trust your customer. If you're selling a new shirt model, instead of using a "Buy now!" CTA, you can use a "Choose your favorite color". At the landing page she will be intelligent enough to make the purchase if she's interested.

In order to raise its effectiveness, try to choose wisely the rest of the contents that support your CTA. Give recipients information enough about your product, but not so much that they have no reason to click the link.

It's important not to repeat the same CTAs over and over throughout the document. Use your imagination and run away from the common ones.

Summing up: a good CTA text must state clearly, with only a few words, why the recipient must click it and what to expect when she does it.

In next posts I'm going to talk about the rest of the variables that affect a good CTA.