We would like to notify you that although the GraphicMail software will obviously be available throughout the entire festive period, the UK office will close for the Christmas and New Year holiday.


Although the live chat support and the telephone lines will be closed over this period we will still be checking the email helpdesk regularly so if you do experience any issues or you do require any assistance over this period that is not covered by our help center's online tutorials and help files then please contact us at support@graphicmail.co.uk and we will endeavour to get back to you within 48 hours.

As many companies will be closing on Friday 19th December for the Christmas Holidays, we understand that it can start to feel like you're snowed under with work. To help take the pressure off, we have created some free resources which will make creating your Christmas email quick and easy.

But before looking at the free resources, let's take a moment to remember why sending an email at this time of year may prove really useful for you. Sending a Christmas email is an ideal opportunity to promote new up and coming products, share what your subscribers can expect from your company next year and to maybe ask for feedback so they can underline all the things you've been doing right and highlight any improvements you may wish to make for 2015. And just as important as those, here is your ideal opportunity to say thank you to your subscribers for choosing your company to provide their products/services.

Once you know what your email is going to say, it's time to create it using the free resources listed below:

Free Christmas Themed Responsive Templates

We have now added even more free Christmas themed responsive templates for you to use, so if you feel that you're running out of time then they are a great starting point. Once selected, you can easily personalise them with your own text and images as well as any other changes you'd like to make.


You can access the new Christmas templates within your account when using our new editor by clicking on 'Emails' (tab on the left) >> 'Template Library'. Alternatively if you're new to GraphicMail then you can signup for a free trial and access the templates here.

Free Christmas Images

Sometimes all you need are some images to brighten up your email and at Christmas time they are needed more than ever. So to make sure everyone has what they need, we have created a collection of Christmas icons and banners that can be included in your email.


You can download the full pack of Christmas images here.

For those that are looking for something extra to help your email stand out. Our Christmas Animations are perfect as they allow you to have your own company message & logo presented while they are being played. So as well as being fun for your subscribers (and their family & friends), your company will always be at the forefront of their mind.

Free Email Marketing Checklist

We have list of our own that you can use to make sure you don't miss anything out while creating & setting up your Christmas email.


If you'd prefer to save it for later then you can download it here.

Save Time By Scheduling Your Send

Once your email is complete you can use our schedule autoresponder to have your email sent at a specific date & time. This means our system will automatically send the email for you, allowing you to concentrate on other aspects of your business.

If you'd like to schedule your email, then you can do that by following these steps:

Select 'Advanced Mail' (tab at the top) >> 'Send' (tab on the left) >> Autoresponders >> click the plus sign for 'Schedule your autoresponders' and then select your send details including the date & time you'd like the email to be sent.

Using the free resources above, your Christmas email should be created & scheduled to send so you can now sit back and relax... even if it's only for a moment or two.

Want to share this with others? You can use the social sharing options on the left or tweet about it using this link: http://ctt.ec/LOe6b

Our Christmas Animations are a great way to send a seasonal message that's eco-friendly & makes your company stand out.

You can add a personal message and company logo into each of the animations so as they are being played by your subscribers (not forgetting their colleagues & friends too) your company is always at the forefront of their mind.


We have a great selection of Games, Ecards & even a Song so if you prefer to get the highest score in the office, have a laugh or sing along our animations are a perfect match.

How much do they cost?

❄ If you are a GraphicMail customer then you can use the links above to play & purchase a Christmas Animation at our discounted price of £125+VAT for a Game or £75+VAT for an Ecard or Song.
❄ If you're not a GraphicMail customer but you'd still like to purchase one then you can do that via this website costing £175+VAT for a game or £95+VAT for an ecard or song.
❄ If you're a Reseller of GraphicMail then please contact our support team before ordering as you will have additional discount applied.

Please note: It's best to order your animations early to ensure you pay the best price as the prices will go up from Monday 15th December (the last order date is Friday 19th December).

What should I do once purchased?

Once you have purchased your animation you will receive a confirmation of payment, simply forward that to our team by emailing us at gms@graphicmail.co.uk or fill in the form on our Christmas Animation page and we will contact you with the next steps to have your custom animation created.

With our new editor, the Email Creator makes creating HTML email easy as it includes over 80 responsive templates for you to use. Some of them are themed for your holiday emails and others are created to provide different layouts making it easier for you to find a suitable template regardless of your requirements.

The benefit to creating and sending your HTML email is that you can use HTML code to style your emails so it stands out in the inbox. This means you can create different layouts, include colours, spacing, pictures and more; but what happens if your HTML email isn't accepted?

GraphicMail will always try to delivery your HTML email but there are some restrictions that your subscribers may have in place which can prevent it from being accepted. Without knowing it, some of your subscribers may have their email client setup to only accept text-only emails. If that is the case then your beautifully crafted emails are not going to be seen and therefore your subscribers are missing out.

Prevent subscribers from missing out...

GraphicMail allows you to create text-only versions of your emails so even if your HTML version doesn't get accepted then your text-only version will be delivered in its place. By creating both, you can make sure that regardless of how your subscribers have their inbox setup, they will always receive something worthwhile. Although your text-only version is just that, 'text-only', which is usually very plain and uninviting there are ways for you to style it.

Here are 5 of our best tips to help you style your next text-only email:

1) Make good use of space as it will make it easier for the recipients to read your content
2) Separate content using the equals sign ' ====== '  
3) Use bullet points or other symbols to list content
4) Use symbols to highlight headings such as **** Sub-heading 1 **** or ---- Sub-heading 2 ----
5) URLs will usually have a default blue colour helping them to stand out, however putting them on a separate line or spaced out will also make it easier for them to be noticed.


Now you have read our best tips, it's time to put them into practice. You can create your text-only version within your account by following these steps:

Click on 'Emails' (tab on the left) >> My Emails >> then use the drop down menu next to "Edit" and select 'Edit Text Only'. That will then open up our text-only editor (as shown above), you can then click on the 'paste' button as that will then paste all of your text from the HTML version. You can then start to style your text-only email making it easier for your subscribers to read.

New to GraphicMail? Signup for a no obligation 30 day free trial here.

We're being swept along with Black Friday fever and are pleased to reveal some exclusive offers as we have lots of discounts on transactions between now and Friday 28th November.

What's Black Friday all about?

Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

What's in it for me?

We have lots of exclusive offers for new and existing customers, but don't forget you only have until Friday 28th November before these offers end:

What do I get if I upgrade my account?

✔ If you signup from a free account or just simply upgrade to a 'Per Send' plan then we will provide you with 20% extra send credits for the first subscription month.
✔ If you signup from a free account or just simply upgrade to a 'Per Contact' plan then we will refund 20% of the subscription cost for the first subscription month.
✔ If you signup for a Reseller account then we will provide you with 10% extra non-expiring send credits. That's an extra 5,000 if you signup to our Basic Reseller package or 10,000 if you signup to our Agency Reseller package. Signup for a free trial here.

What do I get if I purchase extra send credits?

✔ If you purchase extra non-expiring send credits between the allotted dates then you will be given 20% of extra credits (there is no limit as to how many you can purchase, therefore even if you purchase a million or more you will still get 20%).
✔ If you are a Reseller of GraphicMail and purchase extra non-expiring send credits between now and Friday 28th November then not only will you get your standard 20% discount on your purchase you will also be entitled to an additional BLACK FRIDAY OFFER of 10% extra credits added to your purchase. As we have no limit on this offer now is the perfect time to buy non-expiring send credits in bulk.

How will the discount be applied?

Once you have upgraded your account or bought extra send credits, simply complete the form on our Black Friday webpage and a staff member will then contact you to confirm that the discount has been applied.

Why should I get involved?

There are lots of statistics that backup Black Friday being hugely popular so although it is primarily celebrated in the USA, the internet has helped it to be known world wide. Here are some key statistics to give you a better understanding of why everyone gets involved:

• Almost 85 percent of retailers will send an email to their customers about Black Friday deals, up from 80 percent last year. (Source: Shop.org)
• A study that examined mobile shopping activity across 20 retailers during Thanksgiving and Black Friday found that total mobile visits increased by 93 percent, overall mobile transactions increased 219 percent, and total revenue from mobile transactions increased by 368 percent. (Source CMO.)
• The average 2013 Black Friday online order was $135.27 - that’s up 2.2% yearover-year (Source: TechCrunch)

Pushed for time?

We understand that setting up an unscheduled email can add to your pressure of getting things done, so with that in mind we have added a new Black Friday Email Template to your 'Template Library'. When your using our new editor, you can access that template by clicking on 'Emails' (tab on the left) >> Template Library.

If you have any questions, or would like some assistance then our support team is here to help. You can contact us at support@graphicmail.co.uk, call us on 0191 5004 114 or via livechat on our website here.

The benefits of Mobile Marketing are something you really shouldn't be missing out on. Although email marketing is still one of the most effective ways of communicating with customers; mobile marketing is the perfect partner to team it up with. When you use both email and mobile marketing you have a very powerful campaign that allows your message to be read immediately regardless of the recipient being sat at their desk or being on the move.

So let’s start with the benefits of sending an SMS campaign:

1. It's opt-in: By only sending to customers that have given you their consent to receive text messages, you are immediately targeting those that you know are interested which will help to achieve a better response.

2. It’s cheap: When using GraphicMail you can send personalised text messages for just 5p making it a lot cheaper than other traditional advertising methods such as radio or TV adverts. You can also create and link to a free mobile site allowing you to provide more information, request details via forms and more. As the mobile site is tailed specifically for mobiles, it will continue to make sure the overall user experience is great.

3. Straight to the point: As 1 SMS credit limits you to 160 characters, this helps to keep your message short and straight to the point. Also as only the key information is included in your text message it will allow it to be read quickly so you can expect action to be taken within minutes of sending.

4. Fast and Effective: Mobile Marketing gives you the ability to reach your customers within seconds any anywhere, anytime. As I’m sure you will agree, mobile phones are normally within arm's reach so when you send your text message not only will your recipients see they have received a text message (usually by the mobile lighting up) but they will also hear it as their SMS alert will sound. So for just 5p per text you can immediately grab your recipient’s attention and have your message read within minutes.

5. Time Management: Time is money and using SMS as a marketing channel will save you both! As well as being cheap, you can also save time as setting up and sending an SMS campaign is a lot quicker than any other forms of marketing freeing up your time so you can focus on other areas of your business.

With all this information in mind why would you pass up this opportunity? Each account, including free trials has a 'Mobile' section (tab at the top) and is provided with 5 SMS credits to allow you to try it out for yourself.

Don't forget to contact our support team if you have any questions! You can contact them via livechat which is available within your account & on our website, email (support@graphicmail.com) or you can call them on 0191 5004 114.

The season of opportunity is approaching so now is the perfect time to setup your holiday emails to help increase sales & traffic to your website. Although Christmas takes the top spot, there are also some other holidays that you should consider when sending emails:

Halloween - Friday 31 October
Thanksgiving - Thursday 27th November
Black Friday - Friday 28th November
Cyber Monday - Monday 1st December

As there are lots of emails for you to create, we have put together a bundle of resources to help you.

We have created a Halloween Toolkit which includes a free responsive template and Halloween images. We also have over 80 other free responsive templates that you can use which include themed templates for Black Friday, Christmas and Thanks Giving:


Once you have chosen a template to use you can easily include your own images, text and links into it. The next step is to then test your email because although our templates are created with email clients & mobiles in mind some images, links and even font may not work as expected.

Testing Features:

Within the GraphicMail account we provide numerous testing features that will help to make sure your emails display as intended and reach the inbox.

•	Inbox Preview - This tool is free to use for paying accounts and will show you exactly how your email will look in 14 different email clients including an iPhone so you can immediately identify issues.
•	Send a Test - This option allows you to send up to 50 free test sends a day. As the email is sent to your own inbox it's vital that you test all links within your email to make sure they work correctly.
•	Spam Score Checker - This tool allows you to check the spam score rating of your email. It will check the subject line, email content and HTML code being used and provide you with a reason for specific scores to help you reduce them.

Features To Increase Opens & Clicks:

Once your email has been tested and you are happy to send, there is no certainty that the recipients will open it. With this in mind, it's time to use some more of the advanced features you have access to:

•	A/B Testing - While using this feature you can test different subject lines or even email designs such as colours, layouts or calls-to-action such as using text hyperlinks, buttons or images. The tests will be sent to a percentage of your mailing list and then the winning subject line or email design can then be sent to the remainder of your mailing list.
•	Auto-responder - You can use our schedule auto-responder to have an email automatically sent at a specific date & time. This will help to free up your time to concentrate on other tasks.
•	Segmentation - Rather than sending your email to your full mailing list, if you have information about your subscribers then you can use it to target specific groups. You can even use very basic information such as gender, age or location as that will then help you to target your subject lines & email designs to that group.

If you'd like to try our free templates & advanced features then you can signup for a free 30 day trial by clicking here.

For those that already have a paying account then you can simply go to "Advanced Mail" (tab at the top), you will then see all of the testing features as well as the A/B testing and auto-responder tools within the "Send" tab (presented on the left) . Our segmentation tool can be found within the "Lists & Contacts" (tab on the left) >> within the 'Manage' section.

If you have any questions then feel free to contact us via email on our Help Center or on Live Chat as our support team are always happy to help.

We have recently added even more responsive email templates to our template library pushing the total above 80 for our customers to choose from. Each template has been created with a specific design in mind to make sure we can provide as many different layouts as possible.


All of the templates are fully customisable as you can amend the text, images, styles and within our editor you can also add, remove, and duplicate content blocks to fit any extra content you have. If you haven't seen our latest editor in action then you can watch a demonstration on our YouTube channel.

Now you may be thinking, why should I use a responsive template? Well that's easy, the Email Client Market Share (provided by Litmus) compares over 927 million email opens and displays up-to-date figures of the top 10 email clients used. As you might have guessed, Apple iPhone is ranked as the top choice as it takes the crown with 27% of the opens. We can also see that Apple iPad 12%, Apple Mail 8% and Google Android 6% are also included in the top 10. This is a clear sign that the growth of subscribers viewing emails on their mobiles and devices is still increasing and more importantly not going to change.

Custom Template Creation

As well as the 80+ free responsive templates, we also offer a custom template service which allows you to have a custom template built specifically to your requirements. As this template will be setup to use our latest Editor it will be responsive and include all of the functionality available within that editor such as adding, moving, duplicating and deleting content blocks. Like our free templates, you can use this as base for all of your future email campaigns as you can easily change the text & images within it. If you'd like to find out more about having a custom template created then please view this page.

Managed Accounts

Is the pressure of time preventing you from being successful in Email Marketing? We have the perfect solution; save time with your own GraphicMail Managed Account! With a Managed Account you will be able to develop successful email marketing for your company with minimum effort!

Using a template of your choice, a member of our managed account team will then add your content and test it to ensure it's compatible with all email clients. Then when agreed by you, the team member will send it to your contact list as frequently as you require. There are no contracts with this service so you can stop it at any time, if you'd like to find out more then please view this page.

For as long as I can remember there have always been rumours of Email Marketing being on its way out. Often I'd find myself (and most of us here at GraphicMail) going on the defensive explaining that Email Marketing is still one of the best ways to increase sales, brand identity and communicate with customers.

As we are very passionate about Email Marketing, it's great to have some concrete results showing that Email Marketing is here to stay.

This month (September 2014) Ascend2 have conducted a Digital Marketing Strategy survey (full report available here) completed by 333 marketing, sales and business professionals from around the world. The results from the survey are very clear in putting the spotlight back on Email Marketing.

Not only does the report show email marketing as the most effective type of digital marketing but it also shows it as the least difficult to execute:


If you'd like to find out why Email Marketing is still rated so highly then you can setup a free account with us and send up to 5000 emails. Alternatively for those that would like full access to our advanced features then you can upgrade for as little as £9.95 per month.

When you're trying to grow your mailing list it can sometimes feel like you are trying to physically capture your potential subscribers. In reality, growing your mailing list will take time and effort on your part but the end result will be a larger list of opt-in subscribers looking forward to receiving your emails.

There are many companies out there that will try to lure you in with offers of purchasing or renting a list, but don't fall for it. If you purchase or rent a mailing list then those subscribes will not be opt-in specifically to your company, some of those on that list will no longer exist and others will likely report you for spam making you feel like a criminal. Also many Email Service Providers (ourselves included) will not accept a bought/rented list as the damage it can do to an IP address massively outweighs the potential of new business.

Now we have explained what not to do, it's time to explain what you should do and what incentives you can offer:

What can you and your subscribers do?

There are many things you and your current subscribers can do to help your emails reach a wider audience, increasing the potential for sales and new subscribers.

What incentives should I offer?

A lot of people will shy away from HTML code as there are many editors and free templates (including our own) that make it easy for users to create perfect emails without the need to delve into HTML code. However for those of you that would like to learn more about the code used to create your emails but are unsure what all of the HTML tags are used for then take a look at our infographic below as we have outlined the basics.

Our infographic shown below has been created to help you build upon your understanding of HTML code:

If you would like to view and edit the HTML code used for your email then then simply follow these steps:

Once in our newest editor, select a content block so you can edit the text and images within it >> click 'Content Block' (option at the top) and then select '<HTML>' as that will then show you the HTML code used for that particular content block as shown below:



Of course, if you have any questions about editing the HTML code of your email then please don't hesitate to contact our support team as they are always happy to help. You can view our contact information by clicking here.

As one of the World's Leading Email Service Providers we know how important it is to make sure your email stands out. Having a well-structured template is a great start and as we provide 80 responsive templates you will easily find one to suit your needs.

Once you have chosen the email template it is then time to move onto the content you are going to be adding into it. You need to make sure you engage with your subscribers while providing a clear call to action so the subscribers know exactly what you would like them to do.

As more and more people are viewing emails on mobiles, it’s best to adapt it to make sure you are giving them the best user experience. As most users will scan read your email first, it is best to use a mixture of space, clear headings and bold text. However without doubt, a picture is also one of the best ways to help your email stand out. A picture has the ability to immediately grab the reader’s attention, help present key information and explain exactly what you want the reader to do.

Understandably, not everyone has the option to use Adobe Photoshop or to purchase stock images which can result in you reusing old images or doing without. To help you, we have listed a number of free Image Editors and websites providing free Stock Images that can be used/edited for your email campaigns.

Editors:

• GraphicMail Image Editor - Our image editor has 19 tools that can be used to edit your image allowing you to resize, crop, enhance, add text to your images and much more.


If you would like to try our Image Editor and have access to all advanced features then, start a free trial here

• Canva- Canva gives you everything you need to easily turn ideas into stunning designs. Create designs for Web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations and so much more. It provides free templates, layouts, images, art work, backgrounds and more so you no longer need to create your design from scratch.



If you would like to try it for free then you can do so here.

• Pixlr - This has all of the features you will need for editing an image so don't just put up with Paint, upgrade to a free version of Pixlr today.



If you would like to try it for free then you can do so here.

Now you have a choice of editors to use, it's time to help you find some free images for you to use in your email. We have listed some of the best websites for you to gather free stock images:

Free Images:

The images on the sites below are all freely available for commercial and non-commercial use:

• Unsplash - The images on Unsplash are all free to use for commercial and non-commercial use. You can view the Unsplash images here.

• Freerange Stock - Freerange Stock was formed with the goal to provide quality stock photos for commercial and non-commercial use for free. You can view the Freerange Stock images here.

• Deathtostockimages - You can signup to this website and receive free stock images via email as the owner of the site will send you new images every month. You can signup to receive their free images here.

• Gratisography - Gratisography allows you to use their high-resolution pictures freely meaning you can use them on your personal and commercial projects. You can view their free images here.

• Pixabay - Pixabay has made it free to adapt and use their images for commercial purposes without attributing the original author or source. You can view their free images here.

• Picjumbo - Picjumbo provides totally free photos for your commercial & personal works. You can view their free images here.

As you now have a huge choice of free images & editors to use, we hope they will inspire and help you to create eye catching images so your emails get the recognition they deserve. 

Not only do we automatically manage your mailing lists by de-duplicating email addresses on import and when sending to multiple mailing lists. We also automatically remove unsubscribed and hard bounced addresses by giving them a status of 'U - (Unsubscribed)' or 'HB - (Hard Bounced)' ensuring you only send to active email addresses. However as we provide you with options that allow you to easily remove the hard bounced and unsubscribed email addresses from your lists we suggest you use them. By doing that, your mailing lists will only contain your valid subscribers so you accurately see your list grow.

As well as managing your current mailing lists, we also offer a cleaning service. Cleaning your mailing lists will help increase sender reputation, delivery, reduce spam complaints and more.

We suggest you clean your list when you are using new opt-in addresses or if you would like to use a list that you have not recently send to. Our List Clean Up tool will automatically remove the invalid email addresses from your list and give you a report of what the likelihood of engagement is from the good addresses at a very low cost.

What are the main benefits?
• Save money: Get rid of unresponsive subscribers that won’t see your messages or contribute to your return on investment.
• Improve reputation: Your delivery rates and your sender reputation will be remarkably improved by emailing only to clean lists.
• A partner to help you: GraphicMail will take care not to over-cleanse your list and drop any good recipients by mistake.

Try our List Clean up today by clicking on Lists & Contacts (tab on the left) >> List Clean Up tool and see for yourself.

We would like to notify you that although the GraphicMail software will be available as usual, our UK office will be closed on Monday 25th August as it is a bank holiday.

This means our email, live chat support and the telephone lines will be closed however you can still access help through our Help Center as that has user guides, videos tutorials and help files.

You can access our Help Center here: https://graphicmailuk.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/

Please note, our UK support office will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 26th August.

As Email Marketing has taken center stage it's easy to let SMS take a back seat, however, I would like to remind you why SMS Marketing still deserves to be considered.

So you might be thinking that you need to concentrate on email marketing which is great as email marketing is one of the best ways to connect with your customers, however SMS is also a worthy contender. If you are hosting an event, having a last minute sale, a quick survey or you’d really just like to make sure your message is read then SMS can be a great way to do it.

With the average open rate for SMS being 98% it is easy to see why it has its place. Not only that but according to the wireless industry association CTIA, "it takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email, however it takes 90 seconds for the average person to respond to a text message". Hopefully this reminds you about the benefits of using SMS as a form of communicating with your clients. It's fast, cheap and can get your message read within seconds.

If you decide you haven't tried SMS Marketing yet, or you want to give it another chance then there are some things you should know about conducing an SMS campaign within your GraphicMail account:

• Free Mobile Site - Did you know you can create a free mobile site which can be used to collect data? Whether you own a restaurant and want to push sales during slow times of the day or you'd just like to gather feedback from clients our mobile sites make it easy. You can submit via date, text, numeric values or even customise a drop down menu to be used in your form.

• Insert Personalisation - Although the text messages are to be sent in bulk you can still personalise them. Just like emails you can include the recipients firstname or other important information such as the nearest shop, contact information and much more.

• Reports & Statistics - Want to know how successful your SMS campaign has been? We have retrievable data that can do just that! You can see how many were delivered, received, clicked and easily collect the inputted information from your mobile site.

Although emails are beginning to target mobile users via our Responsive Templates, there is still a huge opportunity for you to communicate via SMS / text messaging. Don't miss out, find out more and start using the 'Mobile' section in your account now.

It’s been almost a decade since we began our journey here at GraphicMail.

For me it really did start as a journey. I met Paul on a raft trip down the Orange River in Namibia. We wanted to create a solution that enabled companies to connect with their customers. We focused on a dynamic email application which would be the basis to help our clients meet this goal. From the first email sent through the GraphicMail platform to the opening of our local office in Beijing, there have been many exciting milestones along the way.

Today’s milestone is the most exciting. I can announce that we’re being acquired by SMTP Inc. and merging with SMTP and SharpSpring.

I’m thrilled about the news of joining forces with SMTP and SharpSpring, and after you learn a bit about these companies, you’ll understand why.

By joining with them we will continue to deliver on our goal of providing a great product to help you connect with your customers.

SMTP is an industry leader in email delivery, bulk and transactional sending, and reputation management. SMTP helps its customers increase email deliverability with less time, cost and complexity than if they managed it themselves. By teaming up with SMTP, we’ll be able to strengthen GraphicMail by ensuring increased email deliverability which is crucial in the landscape of today’s overwhelmed inboxes.

SharpSpring offers a best of breed, next generation marketing automation solution. It’s an amazingly powerful integrated marketing platform and rivals the current top platforms in terms of features and performance, but it’s affordable at a fraction of the cost.

The three companies are a perfect fit – like the pieces of a puzzle coming together: SMTP’s delivery solutions, SharpSpring’s marketing automation solutions and our email solutions.

The fit is even better than just the combination the solutions.
All our companies have similar cultures. We all share a commitment to delivering outstanding service and support to our customers. We’ve always believed in the importance of customer relationships here at GraphicMail. It’s why we focused on building a global network of local support for GraphicMail clients.

SMTP and SharpSpring understand the importance of being close to the customer.

All of our companies grew out of similar entrepreneurial, bootstrap beginnings. This means we understand the value of money and know that solutions must be affordable to be effective.

I’ll continue to head up GraphicMail as President, because I’m really excited to be part of this opportunity. For me, this is the next part of the journey I started years ago. Together with SMTP and SharpSpring, we’re looking to create an email ecosystem that gives you the ability to reach and connect with your customers like never before.

- Nick Eckert, President, GraphicMail

If you still have some questions or want for more information on the acquisition, check out our FAQ.

Auto-responders have the ability to automate your email campaign which in return will help you save time, target subscribers and drive sales from those taking action in your emails. We have numerous auto-responders that can help you to continue the communication with your subscribers.

A lot of our users will schedule emails to be sent via our auto-responders as that allows them to set an email to send at a particular date and time. However our powerful auto-responders can do a lot more to help your email campaign succeed. To make sure you don't miss out, our auto-responders are explained below:

✓ Subscribe - When a user subscribes to your mailing list, you can have an email automatically sent to that person immediately or it can be delayed if you prefer. Within this email I suggest that you thank the user for subscribing, provide them with some information about what they can expect from your email campaigns and award the new subscriber with the advertised incentive such as discount offer or similar. The final section you should include in your subscribe email is to ask the recipient to add your from email address as a trusted sender. By doing this, it will help your future emails to land in the inbox as the recipient will be telling their email client that they expect emails from you and that they are trusted.

✓ Schedule - This auto-responder will allow you to schedule an email to be sent at a particular date and time so even if you are out of the office your email campaign can still be sent as intended. All you need to do is create the email, setup the auto-responder and sit back and relax as our system sends it out for you at the exact date and time you selected.

✓ Open - The open auto-responders can help you to continue the communication with your subscribers as it allows you to automatically send an email once a previous email has been opened. An example of proactively using this auto-responder is to use it to remind people of your offers such as if you have an offer running for a week. You may want to send the first email about your offer on a Monday and have the open auto-responder automatically send another email 2 days after the first email has been opened, that way the second email will remind the subscribers that the offer is going to end soon, pushing them to take action now.

✓ Click - This auto-responder allows you to take a more persuasive approach with those that are actually interested in your products. If a subscriber clicks on a link in your email to view more information about a particular product, you can use this auto-responder to have another email sent to that subscriber providing them with more information about the product. You can also include similar products and be a lot more persuasive as you know they are interested in that particular product so this is your chance to give them an incentive to actually purchase it.

✓ Anniversary - Our anniversary auto-responder allows you to send emails to your subscribers based on dates you have stored about them. For a garage those dates may relate to a car's M.O.T so you can have an email sent to the subscriber a few weeks before the M.O.T is due reminding them of this and providing an offer to them. For other companies it may be a subscription renewal, or simply the subscriber's birthday. If it is relating to a birthday you may want to have the email automatically sent a few weeks before so they have your products on their mind (as they can ask others to purchase them). Alternatively on or after their birthday you may want to email them advertising some of your more expensive products as they will likely have more money to spend.

✓ Unsubscribe - Although users may unsubscribe it doesn't mean you have lost them forever. If you don't have an unsubscribe auto-responder setup then you are missing an opportunity to tell the subscriber what action they have taken. Some people may click on the unsubscribe link without meaning to, so by using an unsubscribe auto-responder you can have an email sent immediately after they unsubscribe telling them they have unsubscribed, provide them with an option to sign back up and you can also give them an opportunity to follow you on social media instead as email may no longer be their preferred method of following you.

✓ RSVP - It is not best practice to add a form in your email as those using Outlook Desktop won't be able to submit the form meaning you won't get any feedback and your subscriber will have a bad experience with your email. A far better way of gathering information is to use our RSVP auto-responders as they allow you to ask a question and then obtain the answer from the recipient by them clicking on a particular link such as "Yes" or "No". When they click on one of the specific links it will then update some information within your dataset allowing that information to be used at a later stage such as if you would like to segment the mailing list so you can send to those that answered "Yes".

Hopefully this blog has shed some light on how auto-responders can be a very good asset to your email campaigns as they are powerful, automated and can drive sales for your company. If you would like some help setting up an auto-responder then please don't hesitate to contact our support team.

When you begin creating your email campaign there are many things to consider such as the email design, content, images, and target audience but unfortunately none of them count if your email doesn't get seen.

By using an Email Service Provider such as ourselves you will have lots of features that can help to make sure your email gets delivered into the inbox so it is seen. The features that can help you achieve a better delivery rate are listed below: 

1) Create a text only version: Some email clients will not accept HTML emails so by creating a text only version of it our system will try to send the HTML email first and if that isn't accepted it will then send the text only version. That way it will ensure that regardless of the email settings the recipient has they will still see something of value from you.

2) Become a trusted sender: Ask the recipients to add your from email address as a trusted sender. The easiest way to do this is to enable the Email Header from within your GraphicMail account as that provides numerous options which include a request for users to add the from email address as a trusted sender.

3) Check the Spam Score: Checking the spam score rating of your email cannot be underestimated as it will help identify any problems with your email or subjectline. The spam score reports are generated using Spamassassin - a 3rd party software module that is the industry standard in spam detection.

4) Email Authentication: Use our authentication methods as they are used by ISPs to verify that the sender of the emails has been authorized by the domain owner to send on their behalf. To implement the authentication methods you will need access to your DNS records as you can create SPF & DKIM records from within your account and then add it to your DNS settings.

5) Dedicated IP: Although our clients are grouped based upon their complaint rates. Customers demonstrating a history of responsible list management, low bounce rates, unsubscribes and abuse complaints have higher delivery rates than those that do not. This is due to our delivery team placing them on different spam risks so the better sending reputation you have, the higher delivery rates you will have.
However if you would prefer to have your own dedicated IP meaning only you will be sending through it then that can be arranged. The benefits to having your own dedicated IP means there will be no wait time for sending (as only your sends go through it). The IP address is always the same making it easier for white-listing, less risk of blacklisting as the IP reputation is completely based on your sends and you will also have your own recognized domain within the links.

Unfortunately no-one can force the email to be accepted for delivery but by using the tips above they will help to increase the chance of your email being delivered and placed into the inbox so can be seen by your recipients. If you'd like to try GraphicMail then you can start a free 30 day no obligation trial today:

At GraphicMail we are always looking for ways to help our clients and others to better their email marketing efforts.

By now you will likely know that we offer a free account; this account runs as a 30 day free trial giving you all advanced features, after the 30 days it will then change to a free account. While on the free account you can import up to 500 email addresses and send to that list of 500 up to 10 times a month at no cost. Although you don't get the advanced features we still make it easy for you to create an email using our responsive templates, import and send to your list of subscribers and of course provide detailed Reports & Statistics so you can measure your email campaigns.

As well as our free accounts, we also provide free Charity accounts which also allows you to send up to 5,000 emails each month. However with this account you do not have any contact limit allowing you to add and delete contacts as and when you like. It also provides all advanced features, an additional 20% discount off any future purchases and you will have access to our livechat & telephone support.

As we understand that charities can find it difficult to raise awareness for their valued cause we want to do everything possible to help them. We already have numerous responsive templates which have been specifically designed for charities, allowing you to simply add your own images & text to them as shown below:


If your organization is a UK or Irish registered charity then register for your free charity account today and let us help you to keep up the good work:


If you want to help your favourite charity then you can tweet about this blog here.

It's easy to see why catering for mobile phones is something you should be doing as you are going to massively improve the user experience by making the emails more visually attractive and also easier for recipients to read and take action with them. As well as the practicality of having a responsive email, according to Litmus Email Client Market Share, Apple iPhones takes the top spot above all other email clients and has done so for some time now.

This growing trend hopefully gives you a big incentive to start creating responsive emails so you can cater for all of your subscribers regardless of the device they are using. Of course this trend may differ depending on your own subscribers so you can easily check which email clients they are using by viewing your opened Reports & Statistics. Luckily for you, our new Editor provides 80 responsive templates which cover lots of different layouts and allows you to easily add your own images & text into them.

One of our responsive templates is displayed below, to view the full version click here:

If you are going to target subscribers using a mobile phone then our responsive email templates are a great start, however there are also some other design aspects we suggest you consider. To help keep you on track we have listed them below:

1. Create an email snippet as this will allow you to have text displayed next to your subject line to give a further incentive for recipients to open your email. This can be done within your account by selecting your email, then use the drop down menu (advanced options) and select edit email snippet.
2. Recipients are no longer using a mouse so don’t ask them to click; it's best to state "read more" or similar for your calls to action.
3. If you are using a button for your call to action then it should be a minimum size of 44 by 44px as this will ensure it can easily be tapped using a thumb.
4. Don't underestimate the power of spacing; for those viewing your email on a mobile it gives them more breathing space between headings which in return should make it easier for them to understand and scan read your email.
5. Keep fonts to a minimum size of 13px otherwise iPhones and iPads will automatically resize them.
6. As mobile users are often on the move they will not always have a Wi-Fi connection so make sure your image file sizes are as low as possible to ensure they download quickly and of course always use ALT text.

If you haven’t already tried our responsive templates then now is the time to try them as you may find a jump in your subscriber activity. When you log into your GraphicMail account simply upgrade to our new editor (free of charge) and you will then be given access to it along with all of our 80 Responsive Templates.

Don't forget to let us know how you are getting on as we'd love to have some feedback about our new Editor. If you have tried the Editor and you'd like to help us to continue to improve our Editor then please submit feedback on our survey here.

When you have a GraphicMail paying account which start from as low as £9.95 a month you will have a whole range of advanced features ranging from list segmentation, ability to improve open & click-through rates, more testing and sending features and extensive reports & statistics. 

Our new Editor “Email Creator”, also now makes it even easier for you to create your email campaigns as we provide over 80 free responsive email templates which you can use as a base. As those email templates are responsive it means they look great regardless of the email client or device your subscribers are using. This will help to ensure your emails are received as intended and as it responds to the device being used it will make it as easy as possible for your message to be read.

As well as providing 80 free email templates we also give you the option to import an email template of your own. To help you do this we have made sure the process of uploading your own email template is as easy as possible. You can import a HTML template via a text or HTML file, via a URL or you can even import your images and HTML file in one go via a compressed zip file. We also allow you to import an email template using a Word document, however it is better to use one of our free HTML templates as the Word document might not display correctly as there are some limitations when converting it HTML.

Once the email has be imported or created using our free templates you will be ready to send. At this point you will see some additional options which many users forget about. If you click on Send (tab on the left) >> Send to Mailing list >> select the option “[+] Attach File or Images” >> You will then see you can tick the box to ‘Embed Images’.

By embedding images it will make sure your images within the email display immediately regardless of the recipients settings. With that in mind, if you are sending an email which is predominately images then you may want to embed the images to make sure it is immediately seen by the recipient. Of course, you can then use our Reports & Statistics to compare your results against your previous campaigns.

These are just some of the benefits of using GraphicMail, to find out the full list of Advanced Features then please click here. Alternatively, if you're new to GraphicMail then you can signup for a free 30 day trial and gain access to all of our responsive templates and advanced features by clicking here.

One of the very first things you need to do before sending your emails is to have someone to send to!

We have created a Checklist (available here) to help you put steps in place to gain as many new subscribers as possible. However for those of you that already have your subscribers ready, then the first step to importing them into your GraphicMail account is to create a mailing list. This will allow you to group your subscribers so you can then send to them all in one go. This list must be opt-in which means all of the recipients on your list have given their consent to receive your emails. Please note, using a bought list will not be accepted by GraphicMail as it contravenes the UK law.

There are several ways of importing contacts into a mailing list:
1) You can add contacts by copying and pasting them into your GraphicMail account
2) Import your list from an online account such as Gmail, Yahoo or sync from Outlook Desktop
3) You can easily import an Excel spreadsheet that’s been previously created
4) Alternatively you can sync your contacts from cloud applications using OneSaas.

Although we provide 4 options, uploading your contacts via an excel spreadsheet is the most popular so we are going to give some additional guidance to help make sure importing your contacts this way can be done as quickly as possible. When importing your excel spreadsheet it's best to ensure the following:

1.The name of the file: When looking to import your list you need to check that the name of your file doesn’t contain any spaces between the characters or any symbols. Keep it short and save it as a .CVS file (comma delimited) file type as that is the quickest and easiest way for the file to be imported.
2.The number of columns: It's important to keep in mind the maximum number of columns allowed is 25. Each detail, such as the email address, title, firstname, etc should be in a separate column.
3.The data provided: The data in each column should not exceed 50 characters in order to be able to upload your list into your GraphicMail account.
4. Keep it simple: Avoid dropdown menus and formulas in your spreadsheets.

Once you’ve imported your contacts they will be placed in your selected mailing list ready to be used. For those of you that have imported additional information about your subscribers then we suggest you make use of our Segmentation tool as that allows you to send your email marketing campaigns to a specific audience. You can easily set rules based on the information you have about your subscribers allowing you to target an audience you would like to send to such as only 'males within Newcastle', 'users that have purchased a product in the last 48 hours' and more.

You can also take advantage of the personalisation feature available within the editor and personalise your emails with your client’s data. If you'd like to learn more about this then you can read our previous blog to “Learn how to boost your Email Marketing campaigns”.

Hopefully you can now easily import your current subscribers and continue your efforts to gain more as having opt-in subscribers and up-to-date information relating to them is essential for you to create personalised, targeted and successful Email Marketing campaigns. 

1.    Reach your audience: With Email Marketing not only can you reach your existing clients but you can also reach new ones. With a single click of a button your email will be sent and land in your subscribers inbox, reaching a wide audience within a very short period of time. 

2.    Brand awareness and customers relations: Your newsletters will help you to establish a close relationship with your clients and understand their needs. You can personalise or even segment your email campaigns in order to provide your customers with targeted information. In addition, your brand will be landing in your client’s inbox so you will be gaining brand awareness from the very beginning. 

3.    It’s measurable: Within a few minutes of sending your email, you will be able to start to track your results. Sent, delivered, opened, clicked and the number of people unsubscribing are just some of the reports that you will gain access to. The Reports & Statistics from your send will help you to develop future email marketing campaigns and will also be helpful when creating other offline strategies. 

4.    It’s cost effective: Email Marketing remains to be one of the most cost effective marketing strategies. It is cheap and quick with instant results! 

5.    Daily access: Many subscribers will check their emails on a daily basis which is why email remains to be one of the best ways for reaching your existing and potential customers.

6.    Testing: You can easily test your email campaigns before sending them out. This will not only help your campaign to look perfect in all email clients but it will also help you to remove any mistakes as you can tweak and review your campaign as many times as required.

7.    Less intrusive: An email will always be less intrusive than an advert as your recipients have signed up to receive your emails. In fact, if you develop creative email marketing campaigns and send on a regular basis your recipients will likely be waiting impatiently for them to arrive. 

8.    Interactive: Unlike newspapers or magazines, emails are interactive allowing the readers to click on links within them such as “read more” which will then drive them to your website, landing pages or even social media profiles providing them with more detailed information.

The list above represents just some of the benefits that Email Marketing can bring to your company in terms of profit and brand awareness. 

Our UK office will be closed on Monday 26th May due to Spring bank holiday.  

We would like to notify that, although our live-chat and telephone support will be unavailable throughout the day, the GraphicMail software will continue to be available as normal.

If you do require any assistance during this break, please check our Help Centre located on the left hand side of your GraphicMail account where you will be able to view our help Guides, previous training webinars and video tutorials.

Alternatively, you can email us at support@graphicmail.co.uk and a member of staff will contact you within 24 hours.

We will reopen our office on Tuesday 27th May and be available to provide support from 9am as usual.

Nowadays, approximately 51%* of the emails are read on-the-go on mobile devices. As these figures show, it’s time to go mobile and design your newsletters to look great on the small screen!

If Email Marketing itself can bring lots of benefits to your business in a low cost basis, in order to provide a great customer experience you need to be prepared to include the new oncoming trends when creating your email marketing campaigns.

With our new Email Creator not only you will be able to take advantage of all of the benefits the 2011 editor brought to your company but also all of the revamped features!

A large number of new responsive templates, a drag and drop functionality, automatic resize and alignment of your design to look perfect in mobile phones and tablets and many more features are waiting for you to develop your Email Marketing Campaigns so…

Get ready to keep at the top of the trend with our new mobile friendly editor and surprise your readers!




*According to a Litmus study available in www.litmus.com

It has been announced that Yahoo! are set to change its DMARC policy to stop fraudulent emails. By doing this, we expect emails will start to bounce if you are using a free Yahoo! address as the 'from address’ when sending from non-Yahoo servers (such as ours). AOL have also announced the same change to its DMARC policy, so this will likely cause similar results.

However it’s not all doom and gloom just yet! As Yahoo! and AOL are making the same changes these will only affect senders that are still using their free Yahoo! / AOL addresses as the ‘from address’ for their sends. Although you can of course change to another free email provider such as Gmail we would not advise this as they are very likely to follow in Yahoo & AOL's footsteps.

The best solution to ensure your email campaigns are delivered without issue is to use a private domain such as 'name@xyzcompany.co.uk'.  By doing this you can also include our more advanced authentication techniques such as DKIM & SPF records. These will give us more authority to send on your behalf, helping your emails to be trusted and therefore delivered.

If you would some help setting these up or if you have any further questions then please don't hesitate to contact our support team.

Keywords and Tags are currently used in IT to referrer to words that can help us to classify the online content.  But before we carry on to name their benefits, we need to clarify what does each of these words mean and what is the main difference between them.

A Tag is a word or label assigned and related to a certain piece of information. This data will help the item to be found when browsing. Tags are generally chosen by the person who creates the content.

Our advice is to choose one tag for each content and not various version regarding the same. Also, bear in mind that these words will always need to be related to the content and you need to use tags that will be easily searched avoiding long names and specific words. However, it isn’t a good idea to have a great amount of tags. The best number of tags is usually between 5 and 8 as long as they are content related and consistent.

Keywords are used to help us to find the information we are looking for. These words are used by search engines for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). When you use certain keywords within the articles, the search engine will assign a good rank to your page. By using the words that are relevant to your audience, you can make your users happy as you will be able to provide them with the information they are after.

If we keep in mind that approximately 75% of users do not scroll past the first page then maybe we understand the importance of the SEO positioning. In addition, using the right and relevant keywords and tags can help you to gain audience engagement, increase your conversion rate and find new markets, always keeping your content at the top of the trend.

The main difference between tags and keyword is that while tags are chosen by the creator of the content, keywords have already been created and are ready to be used. There are many free keyword tools that can help you decide which words are the best for you to use.

Once we have reached this point, you might think that it could be a good idea to use some keywords as tags and you are right! The benefit to doing this is that if keywords are used by people to search, if you use them as tags of your content, you will increase your chance of being read.

After reading this, your next question might be, what can keywords and tags do for me?

The answer is simple, a good use of these two items can help you to improve your SEO positioning and therefore your chance of reaching potential customer so, why don’t give it a try?