We know we might be jumping ahead a bit, but in Chicagoland, we’re pretty excited to already be seeing a few signs of spring—even the occasional blue sky and slight warming of the temperature signals the slow transition out of winter—and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

Spring is a time of renewal and transformation, and this month we’d like to fill you in on all the changes we’ve been making and everything else we’ve been up to. The staff at Expedite Media Group has been working hard to improve our services, and there are quite a few changes and updates that have been made to our Simplicity marketing software. Please read on for the details and to find out more!

View Message As A Web Page

For the e-mail marketing portion of Simplicity, we have added a “view as a Web page link.” The purpose of this feature is that when it is checked, you are then able to view a full size version of the image and content of that particular message, as it would appear in a Web browser. This option is particularly useful to ensure that all the images are enabled, and it preserves the formatting of your message, which ultimately increases the number of message views for your campaign.



To find and use this feature, it can be located under the e-mail marketing tab, under create campaign in the left menu and then under the new campaign option. If you scroll down the page past campaign information, message information and list information, you’ll see a drop down menu labeled “advanced features.” Click on it, and then all you have to do is check the box marked “add view as a Web page link.”

Extensive List Segmentation

Another addition for the e-mail marketing portion of the software deals with e-mail list segmentation. The benefit of this particular addition is that you can segment your uploaded lists even further depending on how many fields your lists contain. For example, many of our clients upload e-mail address lists that also include columns with first name, last name and physical address information including city, state and zip codes. With this new Simplicity feature, you can now segment your lists based on one of those criteria or any combination of them. For example, if you want to send a message to your customers in Illinois, you can now do so by segmenting your list by the state column, if you list was loaded with one.

To utilize this feature, it can also be located under the e-mail marketing tab, under create campaign in the left menu and under the new campaign option. If you scroll down the page past campaign information, message information and list information, you’ll see a drop down menu labeled “advanced features.” Click on it, and you will find the option to use a portion of a list to create a campaign that is based on filtering by the column value of your choice.

Image Browse Function

Yet another addition for the e-mail marketing portion of Simplicity deals with image hosting within Simplicity marketing software. However, this Simplicity modification only applies to those clients who subscribe to our image hosting service. The advantage of this feature is that it allows the Simplicity user to browse for images in the image hosting account in the message editor. It’s now much easier—all you have to do click a button to add an image to your message!

VIP List Creation

One last addition that was made to the e-mail portion of the software was that you’re now able to create lists based on recipients who have viewed one of your messages, clicked through one of your messages—or both. By using this feature you can create a “VIP list,” which you’ll be able to send specific content and offers to. Something else you can do with this feature is create a list of recipients who are engaged by your e-mail marketing—meaning they’ve read or clicked past e-mail marketing messages—and send messages only to them. This is something that might be useful if you’re looking to cut costs, and not pay to send to those who have not read your messages in the past.

To find and use this feature, it can also be located under the e-mail marketing tab, under view lists in the left menu and there you’ll see a button marked “actions.” Click on it, and scroll down to the option “create.” There you can select between “clicker list,” “opener list” and “clicker and opener list.” By doing this, you’ll then have an additional list that will pretty much ensure results from your e-mail marketing campaign.

Domain Status Notification

This isn’t as much of a software modification as it is a monitoring system we’ve put in place for our clients’ benefit. As it is common with e-mail marketing, domain names can be blacklisted after a certain amount of time. Being blacklisted undoubtedly affects your e-mail marketing deliverability rate. This is exactly why we are taking precautionary steps regarding this matter. When situations like a blacklisted domain are caught as early as possible, we are able to notify you before it becomes too much of a problem. To rectify this matter, we’ll assist you with registering a new domain name, ensuring better deliverability for your subsequent e-mail marketing campaigns. This is something we’re going to do further development of in the future, as well.

We’d also just like to take this opportunity to remind you that we truly do value your feedback and opinions, and that you’re always welcome to submit comments and suggestions through the support tab located in Simplicity. 

We are looking for our clients to tell us what you want to learn and read about. Any topic—big or small—that has to do with Web design, Internet marketing or e-mail and SMS marketing, we are here to help! Please send your questions and ideas via e-mail to enews@expeditemg.com, or click here for our quick contact form.

For more information on Expedite's products and services, please click here.