Configuring advanced newsletter/discussion list properties
After creating a new list, further options can be configured which enable the customization of elements and behavior of the list. These options include:
Creating a custom footer for the list
- From the Footer tab configure a custom discussion list footer. A footer is added to each email sent to the list.
- Use the HTML editor to add an HTML version of the footer. To add variable fields in the list footer, navigate to Insert > Variables. Select the variable to add and click Add.
- You can also enter a plain text footer for plain text lists. Click Variable... to add variable fields.
- Click Apply.
Tip
You can use footers to show how users can subscribe/unsubscribe from list and/or to promote your social media channels.
Setting permissions to newsletters
Specify the users who can submit newsletters.
NOTE
Permissions are not configurable for discussion lists.
- Open an existing or create a new list and go to the Permissions tab.
- Key in an email address that can send newsletters and click Add. The email address is added to the list.
- A newsletter password secures access to newsletter in case someone else makes use of the email client or account details of a permitted user. Enable passwords by selecting the Password required: checkbox and providing a password.
NOTE
When sending emails to the newsletter, users must authenticate themselves by including the password in the email subject field. Password must be specified in the subject field as follows:
[PASSWORD:<password>] <Subject of the email>
Example: [PASSWORD:letmepost]Special Offer.
If password is correct, the list server automatically removes the password details from subject and relays email to newsletter subscribers.
- Click Apply.
Manually adding subscribers to the list
Manually add users to newsletters/discussions without any action on their behalf.
NOTE
It is highly recommended that users subscribe themselves to the list by sending an email to the subscribe newsletter/discussion address. Ensure that you have users' authorization before manually adding them to the list.
- Open an existing or create a new list and go to the Subscribers tab.
- Key in the subscriber details in Email Address (required), First name, Last name and Company fields and click Add. The new subscriber email address is added to list.
- To remove users from the subscription list table when unsubscribing from the list (and not just flag them as unsubscribed) select Delete from database when user unsubscribes checkbox.
- Click Apply.
Importing subscribers to the list / database structure
When a new newsletter or discussion list is created, a table called 'listname_subscribers' with the following fields is created in the database.
To import data into the list, populate the database with data in the following fields.
Field Name | Type | Default Value | Flags | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ls_id | Varchar(100) | PK | Subscriber ID | |
Ls_first | Varchar(250) | First name | ||
Ls_last | Varchar(250) | Last name | ||
Ls_email | Varchar(250) | |||
Ls_unsubscribed | Int | 0 | NOT NULL | Unsubscribe flag |
Ls_company | Varchar(250) | Company name |