A couple of weeks ago we sent out a survey to learn more about what you think of Direct Mail and what you would like to see improved. We send our utmost thanks to all who responded! We read every response and can’t wait to incorporate your ideas and feedback into future versions of Direct Mail.

One of the questions we asked in our survey was “if you could improve one thing about Direct Mail, what would it be?”. This question prompted lots of great new feature ideas, but one thing that surprised us was that some of the suggestions were actually already features available in the current version of Direct Mail. This taught us that we can do a better job of informing and educating our users about the breadth and depth of features in Direct Mail.

If you’d like to stay up on what’s new with Direct Mail, one of the best ways to do that is to subscribe to our newsletter. We’ll always let you know about important updates and new features via the newsletter (and this blog). Our Facebook page and Twitter feed are good sources for relevant news, too.

Yes, Direct Mail can do that!

Here’s a short list of some of the things that you asked for that (happily) already exist. Yes, Direct Mail can do that!

Can I share my project with a co-worker or my team? Can I sync it across all my Macs?

Yes! Using our new cloud feature, you can access your Direct Mail project from all your devices and share it with your entire team. Changes are synced automatically across all your Macs in real-time. Works online and offline. Learn more

Can I automate my emails or set up a drip campaign?

Yes! Using our new autoresponder feature, you can automate your email campaigns based on a variety of triggers. For example, send an automated email when someone signs up to your list, or clicks a link in your newsletter, or on their birthday. Learn more

Can I compare email campaign reports with each other?

Yes! In the Reports tab, simply select two or more campaign reports (hold down the command key and click to select more than one campaign). You’ll see a comparison report appear that gives you the breakdown on which campaign performed better across a variety of metrics.

Do you have an API available?

Yes! You can use our REST API to access and update any of your projects that are saved in the cloud. Consult the documentation for details, or use our Zapier app to set up powerful integrations with hundreds of other web apps—no programming required!

Can I schedule sends without tying up my laptop? Can I send more than 250 emails per hour?

Yes! When you send email using our built-in e3 Delivery Service, your email is sent instantly (or at the time you schedule) without tying up your computer—it doesn’t even have to be powered on. Our servers handle the whole process for you so you can move on to the other important tasks in your day.

Can I personalize my email with each recipient’s first name, for example “Hi, Mike”?

Yes! You can use Direct Mail’s mail-merge tags to add first names, last names, company names, and up to 15 other custom fields to your emails. You can even use powerful if-else logic to dynamically alter the content of your email for each recipient. Click here to learn more.

Can I test what my email looks like in different email clients using Litmus?

Yes! You can use Design Tests to view full-size screenshots of what your email looks like in over 30 popular email clients (including mobile, web-mail, and Windows email clients). Just choose Message > New Design Test from the menu bar at the top of your screen.

Can I export my campaign reports?

Yes! There are two really convenient options for exporting your campaign report:

• If you’d like to share a live-updating campaign report that can be viewed in any web browser, click here to learn how.
• If you’d like to export campaign report data as a CSV or PDF file, click here to learn how.

Can I drag and drop email addresses from Apple Mail?

Yes! Start by dragging the email address from Apple Mail and then drop it into your address list in Direct Mail. Here’s a short video clip that demonstrates how to do it.

Can I import email campaigns from Microsoft Word?

Yes! You can import message content from a variety of sources, including Microsoft Word and web pages. Just choose Message > Import from File from the menu bar at the top of your screen. It’s worth mentioning that the formatting in Microsoft Word does not always 100% translate over to HTML (the formatting language used for emails). Instead, we suggest building your emails in Direct Mail itself using one of its built-in templates as a starting point.

Can Direct Mail inline my CSS automatically?

Yes! Direct Mail automatically inlines all CSS before your email is sent (and performs other optimizations). You can control this feature in the Preferences window. Use the Preview window in HTML Source mode if you’d like to preview what your inlined CSS will look like.

But what about…

Don’t see the feature you were hoping for listed above? Please take a moment to consult our documentation or contact our support team. If it’s already possible, they’ll let you know. If not, they’ll make sure it gets considered for a future update to Direct Mail.

Thank you again for taking the time to complete our survey and share with us your feedback. Our door is always open and we welcome any comments or questions that you might have. Here’s to an exciting year ahead!

We wanted to squeeze in one more software update before the book is closed on 2015. Direct Mail 4.2.5 is now available to all of our users (direct download and Mac App Store). The release notes contain the full story of what’s changed, but some notable improvements include:

• The campaign report map now uses Apple Maps instead of Google Maps. You’ll find that the map loads faster, looks better, and feels more natural on your Mac. The clustering algorithm has been improved to make it easier to see where a majority of your subscribers are located.
• Dragging and dropping images from your web browser right into Direct Mail now works seamlessly. No need to download the images first before adding them to your message.
• Important bugs related to cloud syncing and autoresponders have been fixed
• Integration with Mail Designer has been improved (no more “blank” thumbnails)

Upgrading to the latest version of Direct Mail is super easy: just choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of your screen. The update will be downloaded and installed automatically. If you’re using the Mac App Store version of Direct Mail, the App Store will upgrade Direct Mail for you behind the scenes.

Thank you for the valuable feedback, comments, and questions that you contributed to help make this a high-quality release! We wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to an exciting 2016!

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.