Good news if you use our WordPress plugin! We gave our plugin some love last week and have an updated version ready for you to try. The new version works better with the latest changes in WordPress and is more compatible with a broader variety of themes. You can upgrade by logging into your WordPress control panel, going to the Plugins section, and clicking “Update Now”.
What’s a Plugin?
If you use WordPress, the plugin is a fast and easy way to integrate your subscribe form right into your blog. What better way to grow your mailing list? Check out this help article for instructions on how to get started.
We went live with our version 4.2.4 update late last week and I thought I’d mention a few of the improvements that we think will have broad impact.
Performance
We have optimized the way that campaign reports are updated and accessed. The end result is that you’ll find your campaign reports load much faster (and don’t require as much CPU). If you’re on a laptop, this means better battery life!
OS X 10.11 Bug Fixes
Some of the performance improvements mentioned above were enabled by changes in Apple’s new operating system, OS X 10.11. Unfortunately, some new bugs were “enabled”, as well. This update to Direct Mail fixes those bugs, including issues that could cause Direct Mail to crash when using the Preview window or clicking Send.
Additional Improvements
We have added the iPad Pro screen resolution to the Preview window. You’ll also see that the campaign report comparison view now shows data for the number of opens and clicks in the initial 24 hour period of a campaign. This makes it easier to compare campaign performance without having to wait several days for all the opens and clicks to roll in.
How to Upgrade
Upgrading is easy: open up the Direct Mail app and choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of the screen. If you’re using a copy of Direct Mail from the Mac App Store, please be patient with us as we wait for Apple to approve the new update the update can be downloaded from the Updates tab inside the App Store.
No app is an island! Now, with our new Zapier integration, you can plug Direct Mail into a whole universe of web services and create automations that save you time and headache. No programming skills required! You can connect Direct Mail to services like Salesforce, Slack, and Shopify (and even ones that don’t start with the letter “S”, like PayPal and Google Forms 😃). Getting started is free, and you can be up and running in a matter of minutes. Read on for more information.
What’s Zapier?
Zapier is a popular website that allows you to easily connect two web services (or apps) together and send data between them. This lets you create some really convenient automations, called “zaps”. Zapier currently supports over 400 different web services and apps, including Direct Mail. Click here to see some of what you can do on Zapier.
What can I do with it?
Lots! What if you could automatically send your new Salesforce leads to a mailing list in Direct Mail? What if you could send notifications to your Slack chat room each time someone signed up for your list? We’ve put together a list of some of the most popular Direct Mail integrations, but rest assured you can do a lot more than what’s listed below. To create your own custom zaps, visit Zapier to get started.
How do I get started?
You’ll need two things to get started: a Direct Mail account and a Zapier account. You already have a Direct Mail account if you’ve ever purchased from us before. Zapier accounts are available for free on the Zapier website.
Zapier integrations require that your Direct Mail project be stored in the cloud. Cloud storage is a new feature in Direct Mail 4 that opens up new possibilities for collaboration, automation, and integration. You can learn more about cloud features here.
Your apps work best when they work together. By connecting Direct Mail to Zapier, you can automate away tasks that you once had to do by hand, saving you time and headache. We are excited at the possibilities that this new integration allows and look forward to seeing how you use it to enhance your productivity.
We’ve been working hard the past few months on some key improvements to Direct Mail and are happy to now make them available to everyone in our Direct Mail 4.2 update. In this blog post, I’ll cover three of the enhancements. For more detail, feel free to consult the release notes. To upgrade right away, open up the Direct Mail app and choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of your screen. Here’s some of what’s new:
Import from Google Sheets
Google Sheets is an increasingly popular app for working with spreadsheets online. Starting in Direct Mail 4.2, you can import your mailing lists directly from Google Sheets—without having to export to a CSV file first like the old days.
Direct Mail talks directly to Google to let you browse and import any Google Sheets document that you own (or that is shared with you). Your Google credentials are kept safe through the use of a secure access token.
New Autoresponder Trigger
Starting in Direct Mail 4.2, you can now trigger an autoresponder whenever a new address is added to your list via our API. If you use our API, either directly or via Zapier, this new trigger can enable convenient automation features. For example, if you have an online shopping cart that adds new customers to your mailing list at checkout (via the API), you can use this trigger to send them follow-up emails, promotional offers, etc.
Faster Syncing
If you use our cloud features to share your email campaign projects across multiple Macs, you’ll love the faster syncing performance in Direct Mail 4.2. Syncing is dramatically faster than before and uses less memory resources on your Mac. Even customers not using our cloud features will benefit from numerous performance enhancements we’ve added throughout the app.
Thank You
In addition to Google Sheets, autoresponders, and performance features, we’ve squashed plenty of bugs and added enhancements throughout. We hope you’ll upgrade right away. To do so, open up the Direct Mail app and choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of your screen. We thank you for your continued feedback and feature suggestions and look forward to great things to come!
A Note for Mac App Store Customers: Thanks for your patience as we wait for Apple to approve the 4.2 update. The 4.2 update is now also available in the Mac App Store.
Update: As of OS X 10.11 Public Beta 2, the compatibility issues described in this blog post have been resolved.
Today marks the beginning of Apple’s public beta for the next version of OS X: 10.11 “El Capitan”. In addition to the usual disclaimers that accompany beta-quality software, we want to point out to eager Direct Mail users that the current version of Direct Mail (4.1) is not compatible with the public beta of El Capitan (as of this writing). For our technically-inclined readers, beta 2 introduced a WebKit-related bug that is responsible for the crash. We have notified Apple of the issue (rdar://21690765) and hope they will have it resolved in an upcoming seed. In the unlikely case that the bug survives until the release of OS X 10.11, we have identified a workaround that will be ready in time.
Our recommendation is to not install the public beta of El Capitan on any Mac that you plan to use Direct Mail on—at least until we’ve confirmed that Apple has fixed the bug. As always, please contact our support team with any questions.
