Ask Emma is an email Q&A series in which we take a frequently asked question from the Emma community (Q) and do our best to supply a semi-intelligent answer (A).
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Ask Emma your question now.
Join the Ask Emma mailing list and receive our near-weekly series in your inbox.
Emma answers your questions about email marketing and life
in general.
Recent Q&A
in general.
Recent Q&A
Dear Emma,
I just noticed that I can opt for plain-text-only delivery when I send my campaign. Quite frankly, that's totally sweet. I was wondering if you had any other tricks like that up your sleeve. They don't have to be actual tricks, I guess, but if anything were to involve juggling or sawing people in half, that would also qualify as totally sweet.
Thanks,
Curious in Tucson
I just noticed that I can opt for plain-text-only delivery when I send my campaign. Quite frankly, that's totally sweet. I was wondering if you had any other tricks like that up your sleeve. They don't have to be actual tricks, I guess, but if anything were to involve juggling or sawing people in half, that would also qualify as totally sweet.
Thanks,
Curious in Tucson
Dear Curious,
While our 'saw-a-juggler-in-half' feature is still a ways off, we would love to point out a few little tricks that you may not have noticed in your account before. We hope they'll help you get the most out of Emma when you're creating campaigns, checking your response, and more...
How can I mark my test emails as tests?
Before a big campaign, it's a great idea to send several drafts of your email to your colleagues - in fact, it's why the emails you send to the Test Group don't count toward your monthly total (it's true!). But what's the best way to let your test group know the email they're receiving is a test?
Instead of typing 'test' in your subject line (and running the risk of forgetting to change it later), consider editing your campaign's From Name in the send tab with a helpful reminder like 'test' or 'draft' or 'Seriously, Gary, read this.' Next time you send - whether it's a second test or the final send-off - the From Address in the send tab will revert back to what you've set as the default, so you won't accidentally send a real campaign with 'test' in the subject line.
How can I change the color of a link in my campaign?
If you've ever had trouble getting your links to *be* green and *stay* green, dang it, here's a little trick to know. After you type the text you'd like to link, set the color first. Then add the font type, size, and link, and your formatting should stick.
-> TIP: This trick works best if you're just starting to format your campaign. If you're still having trouble, use the editor's 'unformat' button on that troublesome section to start from scratch.
How can I say "Dear Bob" in my newsletter but make sure it's not blank for some people?
Any time you personalize a campaign with fields like first name or company name, you can set placeholder text that will display if you don't know someone's first name, for example. So, instead of the dreaded Dear , anyone whose first name you haven't stored might see Dear Friend, or Dear Colleague, or possibly Dear Jokester, if you've got a bunch of those on your list.
Here's how: After you add any personalization field to your campaign, the option to store a placeholder for that field will appear near the bottom of your campaign when you're in edit mode. Just type your placeholder text into the box, and it'll save when you click 'save and preview.'
-> TIP: If you use placeholders often for a particular field, make sure to leave that field empty for one person on your test list. That way, when you send test emails, you can see your placeholders in action. And when we say 'in action' there, we don't mean to imply that there will be any juggling or acrobatics involved. Again, that's a feature slated for later this fall.
How can I tell which link is which when I'm looking at my clickthrough results?
Next time you're creating your newsletter, remember to scroll all the way to the bottom of your campaign's edit screen to see the list of links you've added to your campaign. Next to each link, you can type a quick label that we'll use to identify your links when we give the breakdown in the response section. Your readers won't see the nickname, but you'll know at a glance how many people read your "Charity Ball article" instead of wondering what the heck is lurking behind 'news/February/article1229.html.'
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Hope these tricks qualify as totally sweet, compadre, and that you and your circus friends find them helpful. And if you have your own Emma magic to share, don't hesitate to pass it along...
Cheers,
Emma
While our 'saw-a-juggler-in-half' feature is still a ways off, we would love to point out a few little tricks that you may not have noticed in your account before. We hope they'll help you get the most out of Emma when you're creating campaigns, checking your response, and more...
How can I mark my test emails as tests?
Before a big campaign, it's a great idea to send several drafts of your email to your colleagues - in fact, it's why the emails you send to the Test Group don't count toward your monthly total (it's true!). But what's the best way to let your test group know the email they're receiving is a test?
Instead of typing 'test' in your subject line (and running the risk of forgetting to change it later), consider editing your campaign's From Name in the send tab with a helpful reminder like 'test' or 'draft' or 'Seriously, Gary, read this.' Next time you send - whether it's a second test or the final send-off - the From Address in the send tab will revert back to what you've set as the default, so you won't accidentally send a real campaign with 'test' in the subject line.
How can I change the color of a link in my campaign?
If you've ever had trouble getting your links to *be* green and *stay* green, dang it, here's a little trick to know. After you type the text you'd like to link, set the color first. Then add the font type, size, and link, and your formatting should stick.
-> TIP: This trick works best if you're just starting to format your campaign. If you're still having trouble, use the editor's 'unformat' button on that troublesome section to start from scratch.
How can I say "Dear Bob" in my newsletter but make sure it's not blank for some people?
Any time you personalize a campaign with fields like first name or company name, you can set placeholder text that will display if you don't know someone's first name, for example. So, instead of the dreaded Dear , anyone whose first name you haven't stored might see Dear Friend, or Dear Colleague, or possibly Dear Jokester, if you've got a bunch of those on your list.
Here's how: After you add any personalization field to your campaign, the option to store a placeholder for that field will appear near the bottom of your campaign when you're in edit mode. Just type your placeholder text into the box, and it'll save when you click 'save and preview.'
-> TIP: If you use placeholders often for a particular field, make sure to leave that field empty for one person on your test list. That way, when you send test emails, you can see your placeholders in action. And when we say 'in action' there, we don't mean to imply that there will be any juggling or acrobatics involved. Again, that's a feature slated for later this fall.
How can I tell which link is which when I'm looking at my clickthrough results?
Next time you're creating your newsletter, remember to scroll all the way to the bottom of your campaign's edit screen to see the list of links you've added to your campaign. Next to each link, you can type a quick label that we'll use to identify your links when we give the breakdown in the response section. Your readers won't see the nickname, but you'll know at a glance how many people read your "Charity Ball article" instead of wondering what the heck is lurking behind 'news/February/article1229.html.'
-------------------------------------------------
Hope these tricks qualify as totally sweet, compadre, and that you and your circus friends find them helpful. And if you have your own Emma magic to share, don't hesitate to pass it along...
Cheers,
Emma