AutoConfirm E-mail
Contents
AutoConfirm E-mail
After submitting a contribution, your visitor will see the Thank You page message, with an option to be contacted when you accept the submission. This is where you set up that AutoConfirm e-mail, which SBI! sends automatically if your visitor asked to be notified.
There are three notifications that she can ask to receive.
- Notification that you accepted her submission.
- Notification that other visitors have commented on her submission.
- Notification that other visitors have also submitted a contribution to the site.
The AutoConfirm e-mail notifies her that you accepted her submission. This confirmation message is sent out as soon as you accept the submission (if you delete it, no message is sent). This message is your third opportunity to make her feel like part of your site's community rather than just another visitor.
You also have the opportunity to promote SBI! 2.0 in the e-mail if you are (or want to become) an affiliate.
Design the Look and Feel of Your E-mail
- Select Template from the drop down menu.
- If you select Use Simple White, skip to Check/Change Mail Settings.
- If you select Last FBI! AR or Last E-zine (or Current Template), you can modify the Foreground Color and Background Color.
- If you select Create New Template, choose Foreground Color and Background Color.
Your e-mail goes out in both HTML and text formats. The HTML format allows you to add color and a logo to your message. This section is where you design your Look and Feel for the HTML version.
If you've created an autoresponder in Form Build It!, or sent out a newsletter using MailOut Manager, you can use the template you built then for this message, saving you some work.
You can also choose a simple white template, or build a new one from scratch. After your first invitation, you'll also have a Current Template option.
Steps to Build the E-mail Look and Feel
The first step in building the AutoConfirm E-mail is to design the Look and Feel.
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If you've used an autoresponder before, and have sent out a newsletter, you have four (or five) options for your Look and Feel. Select the one you want from the drop down menu. You can choose...
- to use the L&F of the last FBI! AR (autoresponder) you used (it appears in the menu only if you've used an AR).
- to use the L&F of the last e-zine you sent out (it appears in the menu only if you've sent out a newsletter or e-zine with MailOut Manager).
- to use a simple white L&F.
- to create a new template from scratch.
- to use the current template (which you'll see for your second and subsequent invitations).
If you choose Use Simple White, skip down to Check/Change Mail Settings.
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Choose your Logo.
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If you choose Create New Logo, Enter Logo Text or use your domain name.
If you choose Current Logo, Logo from Last Form AR, or Logo from Last E-zine, modify the logo text, if desired.
- Select Typeface and add optional Bold and/or Italic by clicking the boxes.
- Select Type Color.
- Select Type Size.
- Choose whether to add Outline around Type, then select the color from the drop down menu.
- Select Type Alignment by clicking one of the three buttons.
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- Click on the Preview button and make any changes until satisfied.
- If you choose any option but the simple white L&F, a hidden part of the page displays. Choose your Foreground Color and Background Color, then select the logo you want to use (Step 3).
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You have five choices for your logo.
- Current Logo
- Use Logo from Last Form AR (it appears in the menu only if you've used an FBI! AR).
- Use Logo from Last E-zine (it appears in the menu only if you've sent out a newsletter or e-zine).
- Create New Logo.
- Do not use Logo (if you decide not to include a logo in your message).
If you decide to use the current logo or the one from the last Form AR or from the last e-zine (without editing it), or choose not to have a logo, skip down to Check/Change Mail Settings.
If you choose to Create New Logo or to edit an existing logo, enter the text of your logo (if you don't want to use your domain name).
- Choose the typeface, bold or italic, color and size of the logo text.
- Then decide whether to add outline around the type, and choose the outline color.
- Align the text to the left, center or right.
- Then preview the L&F by clicking the Preview button at the bottom of the page. Make any changes until you're satisfied.
Tips
- You can modify the colors provided if you select Last FBI! AR or Last E-zine (or Current Template, after your first invitation).
- You can change the logo text, font and effects if you select Use Logo from Last Form AR or Use Logo from Last E-zine (or Current Logo, after your first invitation).
Check/Change Your Mail Settings
- Customize the Subject line of the e-mail that contributors will receive.
You can make the Subject line of the e-mail fit the purpose of the invitation.
For example, if the owner of anguilla-beaches.com created an invitation for Best Cheap Anguilla Hotels, she might change the Subject of her e-mail to "See Your Anguilla Hotel Review on anguilla-beaches.com."
Tips
- Customizing the Subject line personalizes it for your contributor, making it more likely that she'll open the message and find the URL of her contribution.
- Be aware that certain words in the Subject line can trigger spam filters, which can keep your e-mail from reaching your contributor. The owner of anguilla-beaches.com did not include the word "Cheap" in the Subject, as it is a trigger word, even though the invitation is about cheap Anguilla hotels.
Build Your E-mail
- Customize the Page Text of the e-mail that contributors will receive.
You can add your own e-mail text, customize the default e-mail text, or use the default as is.
If you decide to create your own message, consider the following...
- Be enthusiastic when discussing how your visitor's contribution will add to the quality of your site.
- Thank her for taking the time to share with you and your other visitors.
- Let her know that you welcome any future contributions she may want to make.
Tips
- Invite her to let her friends and family know about her contribution, that they can comment on it and/or rate it.
- Very Important: If you remove the <<URL-OF-NEWLY-ACCEPTED-PAGE>> tag from the body of the message, your contributor will not know how to reach the new page containing her submission. So don't remove it!
Promote SBI! 2.0
- If you are not yet an affiliate, click on the checkbox to Enable Promotion.
- Read the Affiliate Agreement. Check the Conditions of Rejection and click on the checkbox for I so certify. Click on I Agree!.
- Choose whether to Include SBI! promo in AutoConfirm E-mail.
- Add text to Continue P.S. (optional) if you want to customize it. Or delete the default text and add your own.
- Choose whether to Add "Powered by SBI!" image.
What better time to gently promote SBI! 2.0 than when your visitor is about to see how great her contribution looks as one of your site's pages!
She'll remember how easy it was to add her content and upload a photo. And she'll remember how easy it was to edit her contribution right on the Thank You page.
If you're not currently an affiliate, you'll see a checkbox to Enable Promotion. If you want to become an affiliate, so that you can promote SBI! in your AutoConfirm e-mail, click the checkbox.
Tips
- The SBI! promo and Powered by SBI! image are both added by default (Yes buttons). If you do not want either one, click on the applicable No button.
- Don't be "sales-y" if you customize the P.S. of your message. You want this to be a gentle promotion of SBI!, not a spam message.
Preview and Build
- Click on Preview to view the e-mail. Make any changes until you're satisified.
- Click on Build It! to build the e-mail.
- Click on Cancel if you don't want to customize the e-mail.
After designing your e-mail's L&F and building the body of the message, preview it. If you're satisfied with everything, close the preview window and build the e-mail. If you want to make changes, close the window and alter the L&F or the text. Once you're satisfied, build the e-mail.
If you decide that you don't want to customize the e-mail, click Cancel to return to the Invitation Setup Tool Page. SBI! will send the default AutoConfirm E-mail.