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!
We’ve just published an important update to Direct Mail that addresses some critical bugs and brings welcome performance improvements, especially for users with larger mailing lists or extensive campaign report histories. Version 4.0.3 is available now for direct download users. If you already have Direct Mail installed on your Mac, here’s how to update:
Open Direct Mail
Choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of your screen
If your copy of Direct Mail came from the Mac App Store, please be patient with us as we wait for Apple to approve the update you can update from inside the App Store app.
Thanks for all the wonderful feedback on Direct Mail 4 over the past month! If you have any comments or questions, please connect with our support team.
We are very pleased today to announce the launch of Direct Mail 4, a major upgrade to the best email campaign software for OS X. Powerful new cloud and collaboration features in Direct Mail 4 enable teams of all sizes (including teams of one!) to work together on email marketing campaigns, even offline. Time-saving automation features allow you to create email campaigns that run themselves based on flexible rules that you define. And an all-new user interface looks and feels great on OS X Yosemite. We couldn’t fit all the new goodness into just one blog post, so watch this space over the coming days and weeks as we highlight new features of Direct Mail 4 you might not have discovered yet!
Cloud Collaboration
Starting in Direct Mail 4, you can now store your email campaign projects in the cloud. This means that all your project data (like messages, mailing lists, campaign reports, etc.) is available from all your devices, even when you’re offline. Changes you make on your laptop at home sync instantly to your Mac at work. In addition, we make sure your data is always safe and backed up. For more information about how cloud syncing works, take a look at this feature page or help guide.
“Open from Cloud” allows you to open projects that you’ve saved in the cloud, or projects that have been shared with you.
For many of our users, planning an email campaign is a team effort. Direct Mail 4 makes it incredibly easy to share your project with other Direct Mail users. Project owners can easily control who has permission to view, edit or send their email campaigns.
Easily share your projects with other Direct Mail users. All you need to know is their email address.
Automation
Direct Mail 4 includes a powerful new automation feature called Autoresponders. Autoresponders allow you to design email campaigns that send themselves automatically in response to various events. For example, you can automatically send a welcome email to new subscribers, or create a drip campaign that sends a series of emails to your subscribers over a period of time. Send customers a Happy Birthday email once a year, or a special promotional offer when it’s time to renew. You can even trigger follow-up emails based on which links your subscribers click on. Keep your campaigns working, even when you’re not!
Create automated campaigns that send based on rules you set.
For more information about how autoresponders work, take a look at this feature page or help guide.
Fresh New Look
Direct Mail 4 takes advantage of great new visual effects in OS X Yosemite.
Direct Mail 4 looks fantastic on OS X Yosemite (and great on older versions, too). The beauty is not just skin deep, either. We’ve given careful thought to how best present the wealth of campaign report data that Direct Mail makes available. We hope you’ll find that every aspect of Direct Mail 4’s user interface is cleaner, more helpful, and easier to use.
Redesigned campaign report summaries show you the numbers that matter most.
That’s Not All, Folks!
If you’re in to the nitty gritty, feel free to read through the release notes. Other notable new features include a more powerful web-based API, a super useful subscriber activity window that shows the complete history of each person on your list, and Handoff integration with Stamps (our app for iOS). Watch this blog over the coming weeks as we highlight new and improved features in Direct Mail 4.
Direct Mail 4 is a free upgrade for current users, and a free download for anyone new to the app. We’re very happy to deliver great new features like cloud integration and automation, and look forward to hearing your feedback!
A note to Mac App Store customers: We appreciate your patience as we wait for Apple to finish reviewing the update. If you’d rather not wait, feel free to download Direct Mail directly from our website. You won’t lose access to any services or email credits previously purchased in the Mac App Store.
Update: Direct Mail 4 is now available in the Mac App Store!
With the release of Apple’s new operating system drawing near, it’s important for our customers to know that Direct Mail is already fully compatible with OS X Yosemite. No special updates to Direct Mail will be necessary.
If you’re planning on upgrading, we do recommend taking a moment to make sure that you’re running the latest version of Direct Mail. Simply choose Direct Mail > Check for Software Update from the menu bar at the top of your screen.
As always, our support team is available via email and live chat should you run into any Direct Mail issues after upgrading.
Are you fearless in the face of danger? Do you have nerves of steel? Never met an app you couldn’t break? If so, we’d love to have you join us in testing the next great version of Direct Mail!
We have been hard at work for a very long time bringing a new set of amazing features to Direct Mail (not to mention working on a fresh design that looks and feels great on Apple’s new OS X Yosemite). We’re convinced that the new update will open up even more email possibilities to you and change the way you use Direct Mail. And by “change”, we mean “make it a whole lot better.”
If you have a knack for hunting down bugs and would like a sneak peek at what’s next, please apply here to be a beta tester. Unfortunately, we can’t take everyone, but we will do our best!
Update: Thanks for the enthusiastic response! Our beta testing pool is now full and we can’t take any more at the moment.
