This year marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of Direct Mail 1.0. It is remarkable to consider all that has changed since 2002, and what better way to mark this milestone than by releasing our latest and greatest update: Direct Mail 5.0! This is a big one.

In this release, we revisited and revamped many of the core features that you use most often. There are, of course, new features, but the primary goal was to make your every day experience using the app even more productive and enjoyable than it is now. We hope you find that these changes save you time, save you headache, and help you stand out from the crowd. In this blog post, we take a look at a few of the notable improvements. Instructions on how to upgrade (for free!) can be found at the end.

New Template Editor

Direct Mail’s template editor has always been easy to use, but it was not as flexible as some customers would have liked. The new editor retains that ease of use, but allows for much for customization. It is super easy to add, remove, rearrange, and customize each and every element of our new, modern templates—all with the peace of mind that unlimited undo brings.

You can even build your own templates from the ground up, no HTML knowledge required. Images, text, video, buttons, and more can be dropped into a variety of layouts with one click. New text styles will help your message retain consistent, clean formatting from top to bottom.

Unlike before, templates built with the new editor will look great on all screen sizes, and even adapt to notoriously difficult email clients like Outlook. Professional typography and color selections will make your content stand out in a crowded inbox. Power users can take advantage of new conditional sections that show or hide their content based on the recipient or device the message is viewed on.

Expanded Template Gallery

Direct Mail 5 ships with over 50 brand new modern templates, each one 100% customizable, and each one optimized for popular desktop, mobile, and web email clients. You are sure to find a template that fits the occasion. Already have a favorite template? No worries, all of your existing templates are still available in the app.

Speaking of finding templates, the new template chooser features larger thumbnails, a bigger viewing area, and a search box for easier navigation.

New Integrations Directory

Direct Mail has long supported useful integrations with third-party apps and web services, but those integrations were not always easy to discover. New in Direct Mail 5 is a one-stop-shop window for discovering all the ways that you can connect Direct Mail to the other apps and services you already use.

Nobody likes manually syncing mailing lists, or doing repetitive work that could be automated away. Take a look in the new Integrations window to see if an integration already exists that could save you time. And if you don’t see one fits your needs, please let us know!

While we’re on the topic, one notable new integration is Google Analytics. Now when you send an email campaign, you can automatically have the links in your message tagged for Google Analytics. If you use Google Analytics on your website, this can give you greater insight into what email campaign links are driving visitors to your site.

 

Built-in Image Editing

Improved Design Test Experience and Pricing

The Design Test tool has been revamped to give you precise control over what email clients to test (over 50 available!), to return screenshots up to 4× faster, and to allow quicker and easier navigation of your test results (including zoom and gesture support). What’s more, design tests are now included for no extra charge in both the Unlimited Plan and the Pay Per Email Plan! You’ll sleep better knowing your latest and greatest design looks as good in Outlook as it does in Gmail.

Speed Boost

One of the improvements that we are most excited about is one you cannot see. Direct Mail 5 brings big performance gains when working with larger lists, and big speed boosts to the cloud sync process. You should notice a snappier experience and less time (or no time) looking at a spinning beachball.

One More Thing…

There is just too much to pack into one blog post. Our features page contains more information (and the release notes contain the nitty gritty detail), but here are few more improvements to note:

• An enhanced Spam Test window now helps you find and fix more mistakes (like bad or missing links) before they are sent out to your entire list.
• Importing Excel files is now faster and easier—no CSV required.
• Autoresponders can now be saved as drafts and duplicated, for easier creation of multi-step automation workflows.
• Handy editing and navigation options now appear in the Touch Bar (on supported Macs).
• Social sharing options have been expanded, and you can now customize how your email is displayed in social media feeds.
• Two-Factor authentication for your Direct Mail account is now supported for tighter security, and custom DKIM signing keys can be set up for your email campaigns.

Get It Now

Direct Mail 5 is available immediately, at no extra charge, to all of our customers who are running macOS 10.11 or newer. To upgrade, open Direct Mail and choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

If you’ve downloaded Direct Mail from the App Store, your Mac will update automatically (or you can check for updates in the App Store app). Direct Mail 5 is fully compatible with the forthcoming macOS High Sierra.

If you’re new to Direct Mail, you can download it now (for free!) by clicking the Download Now button at the top of this page.

Here’s to 15 More

One thing that has not changed since 2002 is our commitment to help customers grow their businesses, inspire their communities, and expand their reach through excellent email marketing tools. We hope you find that this update helps you accomplish those goals even faster. We also want to sincerely thank each every one our customers for making the past fifteen years possible. We literally could not have done it without you. Here’s to 15 more!

Yes! Direct Mail 5 is almost here! We cannot wait to share with you all of the new and improved features that are coming in this release—it’s gonna be big. Of course, we want to make sure that the update is a smooth experience for all of our users. To that end, we are currently accepting sign-ups for anyone that would like to help us beta test Direct Mail 5.0 before we release it to the public. If you are interested in helping us test (and like to live life on the edge), please sign up here.

Just a few moments ago we pushed the big, red LAUNCH button and released the latest version of Direct Mail to all of our customers worldwide. The primary purpose of this version (4.3.7) is to ensure compatibility with Apple’s latest and greatest operating system, macOS 10.12 Sierra. If you are planning on upgrading to Sierra (and we hope you are!), then you’ll want to make sure and update your copy of Direct Mail right away. Here’s how:

1. Open Direct Mail
2. Choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of your screen

That’s it!

Other notable improvements in this release include up to faster cloud syncing, a more responsive user interface, and some critical bug fixes. For more details, please take a look at the release notes.

Note: If you downloaded Direct Mail from the Mac App Store, you should get the update in a few days, pending Apple’s approval. Thanks for your patience! The update is now available for Mac App Store customers, as well!

We have some shiny new bits available for you to download today. Our version 4.3 update includes oft-requested new features as well as enhancements to existing features, like autoresponders, that make them even easier to use. Here are some of the highlights of what’s new and improved (or you can read the release notes for the details).

Folders!

Your messages and autoresponders can now be organized into folders. This is one of the most frequently requested features, and it’s easy to see why. If you have a long list of messages that you feel are cluttering up your project, use message folders to keep them nice and organized. Likewise, use autoresponder folders to keep your various automated campaigns organized and under control.

If you select a folder in your source list, you’ll see a handy grid view of all the messages and folders contained therein (double-click the thumbnail to jump right to the message for editing).

Contacts Syncing

Direct Mail has always supported importing contacts from your OS X Contacts app. Now you can sync your OS X Contacts to an address group in Direct Mail with just one click. Direct Mail will take care of updating contacts that have changed, as well as syncing unsubscribe information back to the Contacts app. This feature also works with the older “Address Book” in OS X 10.7.

Autoresponder Sequences

Campaign automation was one of the big new features to arrive in Direct Mail 4. This update builds on that foundation to make autoresponders even more useful and easier to use. The first improvement is that autoresponders can now be triggered by previous autoresponder emails. For example, you may want to create a three-week email training course that people can subscribe to online (one email per week). Here’s how to do that:

1. Create three autoresponders: Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3
2. The Week 1 email is triggered when a person subscribes to your course using a Direct Mail subscribe form
3. The Week 2 email is triggered seven days after the Week 1 email
4. The Week 3 email is triggered seven days after the Week 2 email

Look for the new “Trigger after another autoresponder” option in the Autoresponders window.

Another improvement is that autoresponder emails can now be triggered manually. In our above example, you may have a friend who did not fill out the subscribe form, but that asked to be added to your training course. To enroll that person in the email course, simply add their email address to your list in Direct Mail, then choose Addresses > Trigger Autoresponder from the menu bar at the top of your screen. Your friend will now begin receiving your email course.

Additional Improvements

The release notes contain more detail, but this release includes a host of other improvements and bug fixes including:

• A new, modern look for the Autoresponder, Design Test, and Spam Test windows
• Design Test results can now be sorted by popularity, and results appear more quickly
• Mail-merge tags can now be safely used inside URLs (see the release notes or help documentation for detail)

How to Upgrade

Upgrading is easy (and free)! Just open up the Direct Mail app and choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of your screen. Mac App Store customers will receive the upgrade automatically in a few weeks once Apple has approved the update. Update: Apple has now approved the update.

Thank you to all our customers that have provided and continue to provide feedback on Direct Mail. We are excited to bring these improvements to you today, and look forward to the next round of great new features coming soon! Got an idea in mind? Please get in touch!

Since version 1.0, Direct Mail has always employed encryption to keep the contents of your email campaigns, mailing lists, reports, etc. private as they move between our servers and your Mac. This is also true for our iOS companion app, Stamps. Not only does this keep your information private, but also ensures that your data is not tampered with as it is transferred across the Internet. Beginning recently, we have started encrypting the content of your email campaigns as they are sent to each person on your list, too. This is known as encryption in transit, and it uses the same technology (TLS) that your web browser uses to keep your Internet browsing safe from hackers. This protection is enabled for all customers who send their email via e3 Delivery Service.

You may wonder why Direct Mail did not encrypt email in transit right from version 1.0. The reason is that most email providers (like AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) did not support the necessary technology until only recently. As the need for encryption and digital privacy has become more apparent, a large number of email providers have made the necessary changes to accept email over secure channels.

Despite these advances in email security, it’s important to remember that it is still not a good idea to send sensitive information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, passwords, etc. via email. As mentioned above, a large number of email providers support encryption in transit, but there are still some who do not. There may be subscribers on your mailing list whose email providers do not yet allow them to receive their email securely.