HOW TO: Sending out the newsletter
Prerequisites:
This is an advanced instructional guide, users with in-depth computer knowledge recommended.
The following instructions require ADMIN level access to Mailchimp.
This article has dependencies on other instructional guides, references to those guide are linked within this article.
Please refer to article: Upload and add newsletter to the website, prior to following this article.
Sending out the newsletter
Once the newsletter has been completed, uploaded to the website and is ready for publication to the general membership, please follow these steps to send it out.
1. Go to Login | Mailchimp
The user account is membership@nqwildlife.org.au.
2. Once logged in, navigate to Campaigns in the lefthand pane.
3. Navigate to Email templates in the step out pane.
4. On the Monthly Newsletter - Template,
select the downward chevron icon next to the Edit button and select,
Create campaign from the dropdown menu.
This will copy the template to a new campaign.
DO NOT edit this template unless you need to make a change, this affects the global template system.
5. You will be navigated back to the All Campaigns tab with a new, draft email campaign created.
6. From here, you will need to tweak the following settings.
Click on the respective buttons
| Field | Instructions |
| To: | leave as is, this is determined by the membership database |
| From: | Click Add From and change the email address to newsletter@nqwildlife.org.au |
| Subject: |
Subject: NQWildlife [month][year] Newsletter Preview Text: Here you should add a very brief synopsis of the contents of the newsletter. eg. Happy Halloween, OR Merry Christmas etc. |
| Content: | Click Edit Design to add in the specific details and attach the newsletter. Go to step 7. |
7. Edit design -
here you will need to update a few things
| Element |
Instructions |
| Title |
You will need to change the title from, Newsletter - December 2020, to reflect the month and year of the newsletter. SubStep1: You can edit it by hovering over the element, and selecting the pencil icon that will appear. A Dynamic Content pane will appear. Here you can directly edit the text. NB: this process applies to all elements on the email content block pane. Click Save & Close once the changes have been made. |
| View Newsletter |
Following the SubStep1 above; Button Text: no changes Link to: no changes Web address (URL): you will need to add the newsletter URL from the nqwildlife website in the Web address (URL) field. Refer to the top of this article to obtain this URL |
8. Once the above edits have been made to the design, click the Continue button in the top right.
9. Back at the campaign screen, the email is ready for delivery.
It is recommended to send a test email first to make sure the edits have been made correctly.
In the contents section, click the Send a Test Email button underneath the preview box.
 |
Send a test to: leave as is, unless you have to make changes. Click Send Test Review the email that is sent to you. |
10. Publish the email.
In the top right corner, you may choose to Send now or Schedule for later.
Marketing statistics show that Tuesday and Thursdays are the best days to send emails. As for the exact hour of the day, these are key transition times that tend work best: 8 am is a great way to capture the ones who check emails first thing in the morning 1 pm falls during/after lunch break. reference: The Best Time to Send Emails to Boost Opens, Clicks, and Sales (optinmonster.com)
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