Gammadyne Corporation

Sequential Follow-Ups

One of Gammadyne Mailer's many strengths is the ability to send a series of different emails over time, starting when the recipient is added to the mailing list.  This is known as "Drip Marketing".  Drip Marketing is an important tactic, as prospective clients typically need to see a marketing message more than once before acting.  If you rely on a single message, you are giving up much too easily.

Setup

Following is the procedure to configure a Gammadyne Mailer project to send a series of follow-up emails.

  1. Choose "New Project" from the File menu.
  2. Configure the project just like you would for a normal Send Operation.  Enter an email address in the From header.  Choose Indirect Delivery or Direct Delivery on the Delivery branch.  For Indirect Delivery, be sure to specify the SMTP details.
  3. The Follow-Up System requires that the mailing list be located in a database.  You can use Gammadyne Mailer's internal database, or any external database such as MySQL.  Specify all relevant information on the Database branch and its sub-branches.  This includes the Table Name, the Recipient Column Name, and the Primary Key.  Note:  the Primary Key MUST have a unique value for each row of the table.
  4. On the Database/Setup branch, check the "Follow-Up System Enabled" box.
  5. Choose the Follow-Up Index Column.  If your table does not already have this column, you will need to create one (click "Create").  This index determines which follow-up email that the recipient will receive next.  For example, if this column's value is 2, the recipient will be emailed the second follow-up message.  Each time a follow-up is sent, the value in the column is automatically incremented.
  6. Choose the Follow-Up Date Column.  If your table does not already have this column, you will need to create one (click "Create").  The date in this column is used to determine when the next email in the series should be sent.  Each time a follow-up is sent, the current date is stored in this column.
  7. For each email in the series, you must do the following:
    • Click the "Add" button at the bottom of the Follow-Up Table.
    • Enter the name of the follow-up in the "Name" column.  This is for your informational purpose only - the recipient will not see it.  It appears at the top of the HTML Body and Text Body branches.
    • Enter a number in the "Days" column.  The follow-up will not be sent until this many days has elapsed since the last message was sent.  For example, if the follow-ups should be sent in 3-day intervals, then enter "3" on each row.
    • Enter the follow-up email's Subject header in the "Subject" column.  If this column is left blank, the Subject header on the Headers branch is used.
    • Click the "Edit HTML" or "Edit Text" button at the bottom of the table.  This will take you to the HTML Body or Text Body branch where you can specify the content of the follow-up email.
  8. Now it is time to populate the database table with recipients.  How you do this depends on where the data is coming from.  Please note the following:
    • It is okay if the Follow-Up Index Column is initialized to 0 or null.  These are treated the same as a value of 1.  A value of 0, 1, or null indicates that the recipient should receive the first follow-up.
    • The Follow-Up Date Column can be initially null, in which case the recipient will receive the first follow-up immediately.  Please note that the date in this column is updated when a follow-up is sent, therefore the column should not be used for any other purpose.
    • The "Import Addresses" tool (on the Database menu) can help populate the database table.  There is also an "Import CSV Data" tool.
  9. The project is now complete.  It is recommended that you run a Send Operation once per day.  This can be scheduled automatically with the built-in Scheduler.

Operation

When the Follow-Up System is enabled, the behavior of a Send Operation is changed in the following ways:

  • If the Follow-Up Index Column is greater than the number of follow-ups, the recipient is rejected.
  • If the Follow-Up Date Column is too recent, the recipient is rejected.  This date can be no later than the current date minus the number of days listed in the Follow-Up Table (on the row that corresponds to the value in the Follow-Up Index Column).
  • After an email is successfully sent, the Follow-Up Index Column is incremented by 1, and the current date is stored in the Follow-Up Date Column.

Example

Below is a screenshot of how the table data might look.

Screenshot #1

Next is a screenshot of the project settings.

Screenshot #1

There are two recipients, sales@foo.com and support@bar.com.  sales@foo.com will receive Follow-Up #1 no earlier than 2/16/2011, Follow-Up #2 no earlier than 2/20/2011, and Follow-Up #3 no earlier than 2/22/2011.  support@bar.com will receive Follow-Up #2 no earlier than 2/18/2011, and Follow-Up #3 no earlier than 2/20/2011.


See Also

Database Setup Tutorial
SMTP Relaying