JangoMail

In the last month, we've introduced a slew of new email list management features, including a very powerful FTP (File Transfer Protocol) based auto-Group-Import system.  Read on for the details.

FTP data files for automatic Group import

We've built a smart FTP based import mechanism.  Just FTP your data file (.csv, .txt, .dat, or any other text-based file format) to ftp://client.jangomail.com/GroupImportsAutoFTP, and you're done! Your file will be processed, an appropriately named Group will be created for you with the proper fields based on the data in your file, and your file will be imported.  Use your JangoMail username/password as your FTP credentials. To control precisely how this feature works, go to My Options --> FTP Import Settings. This features is great for users who are used to using FTP to manage web sites and for developers who want to automate the sending of email data files over to JangoMail without having to write code for the API/Web Service. For more detail on using this feature, see this blog posting.

Quick File Import

Afraid to use FTP? JangoMail can still do the heavy lifting for you.  Now on the first page under Groups and Email Addresses, there's a Quick File Import section, allowing you to upload any text-based data file (.csv, .txt, .dat, or any other extension).  Similar to the FTP import feature, an appropriately-named Group will be created for you with the proper fields based on an analysis of your data file. For more detail on using this feature, see this blog posting.

Send personalized preview messages

You now have the option to send personalized test messages by designating any Group with fewer than 100 members to be a Test Group. Test Groups will show on the Send Email page as individual buttons which upon clicking will send a personalized test message to the entire Group. Additionally, the Preview/Save popup box will have a dropdown of Test Groups from which to choose to send a test message. Personalized previews will be especially useful for those clients using personalization or Dynamic Conditional Logic. See this blog posting for more information.

All Imports are now foreign language compliant

You can now import Unicode files containing characters in any language, and the characters will be preserved in JangoMail Groups. For more information, see this blog posting.

Imports: option to update existing records, add new records

Now when importing data into a JangoMail Group, you have the option of having existing email addresses updated with new field data, while adding only the new email addresses in the file.  In the Import wizard, just check the box indicating to update existing records only.  For more information, see this blog posting. To import records with the update-only option in the API, see this blog posting.

Record delimiters now sensitive to text qualifiers

Need to store large blocks of text in Group fields, like poetry for example? Previously, if you used a "newline" character as your record delimiter, as 99% of users do, a poem would not be able to be imported, because the poem itself would contain "newline" characters.  Our new Group Importer is more intelligent now, and if your poem is surrounded by a text qualifier, such as double-quotes, you can now import the whole text into a single Group field.  See the blog posting for more information on record delimiters within text qualifiers.

Send automated birthday emails

This actually isn't a new feature, since it's always been possible with JangoMail, but we've done a write-up on how to accomplish this.  To learn how to send automated birthday emails, see this blog posting.

Questions or feature suggestions?

JangoMail is a feature-rich and constantly-evolving Web-based email marketing system. Stay up to date on our latest improvements and enhancements by reading our JangoMail In Progress blog at http://www.jangomail.com/blog. If you sign up to subscribe to our blog, we'll send you an email notification any time we post a new entry!