So far 2014 has been full of interesting and positive improvements at GraphicMail UK!  We are proud to say our latest improvements include:

- New faster and responsive website design
- The launch of our Managed Account service to reduce the workload of our users
- Improvements on the Client Section of our Resellers Account
- Responsive new layout of our blog to keep you updated
- Soon to be released mobile-friendly Editor

And all of these in just a quarter of the year!

But now it’s time to kick-back, relax and check the contents of your Easter basket which we hope is full of quality time with your family and friends (not to mention Chocolate Eggs). 

Please note during the Easter Holidays we will be closed on Friday 18th April and Monday the 21st April. 

Although the live chat and telephone support will be closed over this period, our support team will still be checking emails so if you do experience any issues or you require any assistance that is not covered by our Help Center (a tab on the left within your account) then please contact us at support@graphicmail.co.uk and we will endeavour to get back to you within 24 hours.

We will return as normal on Tuesday 22nd April at 9am however, until then you may want to use the support materials below:

- Download our interactive manual
- View our online video tutorials
- Search through our Help Centre
- View our previous training webinars
- Email us at support@graphicmail.co.uk

Nowadays social media and Email Marketing are becoming world trends. Both are very effective from an isolated point of view but, what would the result be if we joined them together?

According to a Business Insider study, social media networks are access by, at least, 4.2 billion of the population via their mobile devices and those users spend an average of 37 minutes a day on them. 

Now we know how the social media fever is affecting the population it’s time to think of the how we can include social media within our marketing strategies.
Once you have created your social media accounts, it is important to promote them. You can do this by developing different strategies however; including social media icons within your Email Marketing campaigns is a great way to introduce subscribers to your social networks. 

Whilst sending your newsletters you can reach a large number of your subscribers and therefore it is an ideal opportunity to promote your social networks and drive those subscribers to them. Increasing your ROI, improving your brand awareness and reputation and connecting with your audience on a number of different channels are just some of the benefits social media can give you.

You may be thinking this all sounds great but what are the most popular social media networks? Well, in the technology era we could say that almost all of the social media networks are considered popular and therefore it is quite difficult to choose. However, it is important to mention that Facebook remains as the network with the highest rate of active users and engagement level followed by twitter. On the other hand, Pinterest and Instagram have registered the biggest growth during the past year. When choosing the social media in which to develop your profile, you have to consider your business activity as, for instance, if your business is in the film industry you may prefer to concentrate your efforts on YouTube, an audio-visual network based in videos, rather than Instagram, a visual network based in static pictures.  

Follow the steps below to easily include your social media icons into your newsletters within your GraphicMail account and start getting all of the benefits mentioned above: 

When in the “Advanced Mail” section of your account, click “Newsletter” >> “Edit & Manage” and open the newsletter in our 2011 editor. Once you are in the editor, simply click “Images” >> “Embellishments” and open the folder “Social”. 

Simply insert the social media icons into your newsletter and link them to each of your social media profiles by adding a hyperlink to the images. 

Adding social media icons every time you send out an Email Marketing campaigns will help your clients to be able to access your social profiles with a simple click.

No doubt you have heard a lot about the latest Heartbleed SSL Bug so we have broken down what you need to know about it and why it didn't affect GraphicMail.

What Do I need to do?
GraphicMail does not use OpenSSL for its communications, but buys uniquely generated SSL certificates that is tied to our specific Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. This method is best practice and very secure. So there is nothing you need to do regarding your GraphicMail account, this email is purely for information purposes only

What is the issue?
Google Security and Codenomicon - a Finnish security company, have recently discovered a vulnerability within the Open SSL cryptographic library which is used to handle secure HTTPS communications for around 66% of websites and companies on the internet.

Open SSL have now patched their software to close this exploit and updating any Open SSL will stop any future leaks from occurring.

This bug appears to have been in existence since December 2011 and allows attackers to read the memory of any system using a vulnerable version of Open SSL. This could be Private keys, usernames, passwords, emails, or any other information that may be transmitted.

To reiterate GraphicMail does not use OpenSSL for its communications and therefore is completely unaffected by this vulnerability.

To prevent the abuse of our sending infrastructure for phishing purposes, we have put in place a verification process for the "From Address". This means any new from addresses must be confirmed by the user and only those confirmed email addresses can be used as the from email address. We hope this will reduce the abuse of our sending infrastructure as those sending emails must have access to the ‘from email address’ being used.

On Thursday 24th April you will see a new option under the “Setup & Options” tab named “From Address”. This new process will allow you to add and verify all of the from email addresses you intend to use.

Within this section you will be able to manage those ‘from email addresses’ as you can add new from addresses using the plus sign, delete current addresses that you no longer use and you can also request for the verification email to be resent.

If you have a new email address you would like to use then simply click on the plus sign as that will then allow you to add the address as shown below:


Once that email address has been added into the textbox just click the ‘Verify’ button as that will then send the verification email to that address to allow you to verify that email address exists and that you have access to it.
Please note: The email address used for your account username will automatically be verified for you.

For each email address you add, you will see a ‘Status’ which will explain when the email address can be used. If it states “Verified” then that from email address can be used, however if it states “Pending” then you still need to click on the link within the verification email. If you did not receive the verification email then please click on the link “Resend Verification” to have it resent.


Questions & Answers

Q: Can I still use an alias for my ‘From Address’?
A: An alias should not be a problem as it is still linked to a real email address so you should be able to click on the verification link within the real email address.

Q: Can I use a non-existent email as my ‘From Address’?
A: Unfortunately you can no longer use a fake (non-existent) email address; you will need to use a real email address to ensure you receive the verification email.

Q: Is there a way to bypass the verification process?
A: There is no way to bypass the verification process, if you did not receive the verification email then please check your spam folder and if it did not land in there then you can use the link “Resend Verification” to have it resent.

Q: When will this new procedure be added?
A: This new procedure will be introduced on Thursday 24th April and it will apply to all accounts.

Have a question of your own?
If you would like any further information regarding this new process then please don’t hesitate to contact our support team by emailing support@graphicmail.co.uk or call us on 0191 5004114