How awesome is Apple’s new ultra-thin MacBook? The excitement around the new Force Touch trackpad got us thinking about sharing some super handy trackpad gestures that you can use today to make navigating around Direct Mail even easier. All you need is a recent MacBook that supports multi-touch (or a Magic Trackpad).

Zooming Design Test Thumbnails

Use the pinch-to-zoom gesture to zoom in or out of your design test thumbnails. Here’s an example:

 

Navigating Campaign Reports

We love how easy it is in Safari to go back or forward just by swiping to the left or the right on the trackpad. Did you know that you can use that same gesture to move backwards or forwards in your Direct Mail campaign report? This gesture makes it easy to dive into the details of a report and then swipe back to the summary:

 

Zooming Maps

Did you know that Direct Mail lets you see where your subscribers are when they open your newsletter? Just head over to the Maps section of the campaign report. While you’re there, use the pinch-to-zoom gesture to zoom in or out:

 

Quick Look Attachments

Okay, technically this is not a multi-touch gesture, but it’s still super useful! In the Attachments window, use the space bar on your keyboard to open a Quick Look preview of your attachments. You can also click the Quick Look icon.

What’s Next?

We’re excited about the new possibilities that technologies like multi-touch and Force Touch bring to the user experience, and look forward to incorporating more of them into Direct Mail. Stay tuned for more blog posts on features of Direct Mail that are new—or just new to you!

Trying to compete for your subscriber’s eyeballs in an increasingly crowded inbox can be tough. One tactic that you may not have considered before is using special characters (called “Emoji”) in the subject lines of your emails. Read on to learn what you should know about using Emoji in email.

Emo-what?

Similar to emoticons or webdings, Emoji are mini-illustrations that can be inserted alongside text. In fact, as far as your computer is concerned, they’re just another character of text. The use of Emoji started in Japan as a way to express one’s self in text messages and then grew in popularity worldwide when Emoji capabilities were added to the iPhone (and later OS X 10.7).

Emo-how?

Adding Emoji characters to your subject lines can be a fresh way to stand out from the crowd. Here’s how to do it in Direct Mail:

1. Switch to the Messages tab and click the subject line you want to edit.
2. Choose Edit > Special Characters from the menu bar.
3. Select the Emoji character set.
4. Double-click the Emoji character you want to insert into the subject line.

Words of Caution

Before you get carried away adding Emoji to your email, please consider the following tips:

• Emoji works best when used in moderation (i.e. just one symbol) and when placed at the beginning of the subject line.
• Don’t add Emoji just to add it. Try and use it to replace a word or add some extra meaning.
• Emoji may not render properly in all email clients. Use our Design Test feature to see what it looks like in popular email clients.
• Don’t overuse Emoji. Your subscribers will quickly tire and likely complain (i.e. spam) if you add Emoji to every email you send.

There are a variety of holiday-themed Emoji icons (snowflakes, stars, etc.) that you may want to try out over the next few months. Have fun and be creative!

If your business or organization has its own Facebook Page, Direct Mail makes it easy to add a subscribe form that looks great, syncs automatically with Direct Mail, and doesn’t require your visitors to leave Facebook to sign up! Here’s how to add a subscribe form to your Facebook Page.

First, you’ll need to make sure your business or organization already has a Facebook Page. If you don’t already have one, click here to build one.

Once your Facebook Page is built and working, switch back to Direct Mail. Click on the Addresses tab at the top of the window and select the address group (from the list on the left) that you want your subscribe form to sync with. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to create a subscribe form for that group.

Once your subscribe form is created in Direct Mail, all that’s left is connecting it up to Facebook:

1. Select your address group (from the list on the left)
2. Click Subscribe Form: Edit Form
3. Click Add Form to Website and select Add to Facebook Page…

That’s it! Facebook will confirm that you want to add the subscribe form to your Facebook Page. In Facebook terms, the subscribe form is an “app” that you add to your page.

Once it’s added, visitors to your Facebook Page will see a “Newsletter Signup” app icon at the top of your Page (next to the Photos, Likes, and any other app you’ve installed on your Facebook Page).

If you want to see an example of what the finished product looks like, head on over to our Facebook Page and click the Newsletter Signup tab at the top of the page.

Questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with our support team. Thanks for reading!

From day one, protecting our customer’s data has been a top design consideration. Nowadays, many people access their Direct Mail project data from multiple devices (including mobile devices using our iOS app, Stamps), so it’s important we provide our customers more information about their account activity.

New: Account Activity

In Direct Mail 3.5, we added a new “Account Activity” section to the Direct Mail Account control panel (choose Direct Mail > Direct Mail Account from the menu bar). Account Activity shows you information about who (or what application) is accessing your account as well as an approximate geographic location.

If you see activity that is unfamiliar (like someone logged into your account on Stamps), you can instantly sign them out by clicking the “X” icon on the right-hand side of the window. That device will be unable to sign back in without first manually entering your email address and password.

We feel that these changes, as well as other behind the scenes improvements, will help continue to keep your passwords and other data safe from unauthorized access. If you ever have any questions about your account, please see our Security FAQ or contact support.