5 Things you didn’t know about JangoSMTP

Written by: Erica Melzer
Account Executive


Think you know everything about JangoSMTP?  Think again.

1.  We were the world’s first.

Did that hiring manager see your resume yet or is it time to give her a call? JangoSMTP was the first to make it possible for you find your answer to questions like that. While we weren't the first to offer transactional emails to the world, we were first to track those opens and clicks. This means that you can keep using your current email client such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Gmail to send your messages and, using our relay, you can see how well they perform.

2.  Our support team is the fastest in the business. 

According to ZenDesk, our third-party ticketing system, we respond to support tickets within three hours on average. Seventy percent of our tickets this year have been answered within the first hour. These figures include tickets that come in overnight, on weekends, and on holidays. They all count. Compare that to the response time of others web applications in the industry; it takes them 20 hours on average to submit their first response. Those numbers speak for themselves, I think.

3.  We've got girl power on our side. 

Did you know that statistically speaking, successful tech start-ups employ twice as many women in senior roles than their less successful competitors?  (Dow Jones) According to Fortune Magazine, within the Fortune 100 tech companies, only four women fill CEO positions.  Women are consistently underrepresented in tech industries. This is NOT the case at JangoMail, where women represent 52.6% of our nerd-force. Jack and James may be boys, but JangoGirls provide tech support, develop our platform, and manage our marketing, customer service, and accounting departments. Even our President and COO is a woman.

4.  There’s a side to us you haven’t seen. 

JangoSMTP is all about transactional, but we do broadcast messages, too, at www.jangomail.com. JangoMail is an email marketing platform that gives users the tools you need to create, manage, send, and track email marketing campaigns. With JangoMail you can manage your lists and take advantage of powerful automation tools like autoresponders, and behavioral triggers. We support advanced personalization and dynamic content. The best part is, all JangoMail accounts can send transactional messages, too! If you’re interested in converting your JangoSMTP account and gaining access to the full range of JangoMail features, call 1-888-465-2646 ext.819 and speak with me, Erica Melzer.

5.  We’re not only the first and the fastest…

We’re also the best. JangoMail and JangoSMTP are consistantly rated highest among our peers.  Check out the JangoSMTP reviews over at GoogleApps where one user says that he:

"ENCOUNTERED SOME DIFFICULTIES DUE TO MY SOMEWHAT NON-STANDARD SERVER SET-UP, BUT I RECEIVED VERY PROFESSIONAL SERVICE, GOOD ANALYSIS THAT HELPED ME IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM, AND A SERIES OF AMAZINGLY QUICK RESPONSES."

Also check out our way above average ResellerRating’s reviews.


If you have any questions about the best ways to use your JangoSMTP account or if you’re interested in trying out JangoMail, give us a call at 1-888-465-2646 between 7 AM and 7 PM (US/EST) to talk to one of our knowledgeable sales and support reps.

James Explains: Name Recognition

Who is James? Name Recognition Explained.

Have you received an email lately from a specific person?  If it made it to your inbox you probably didn't open it because you didn't recognize the name.  A week or so later it caught your eye again, because this time the subject line read, “Hi, it’s Casey Green from blank business”.

In my last post, we spoke a little about being personable and polite in our messages. You may be tempted to use a real person’s name as the sender of a transactional message, in fact, it seems to be a new trend lately. However, we caution against doing so.

Why?

Because we do not expect everyone to remember who Casey Green is from blank business.

While there is nothing about this that will seem impolite to a reader, it could confuse them a bit.  All of our customers, for example, know exactly what JangoSMTP is, but few of them would recognize my name by itself.  James could mean a number of people.

Name recognition can only help you when it comes to enticing a recipient to open your message.  Remember, often times, they are already expecting your transactional message…and they’re expecting it to come from your company, not an employee.

It’s okay to open using their name, or close your message with a personal salutation from a member of your team.  However, it’s your company name that should be visible from the inbox.

Special thanks to JangoSMTP Account Executive, Erica Melzer, for helping me with this post!

Cheers,

James The Jangolope
Department of Awesome
JangoSMTP

About James

James the Jangolope is our JangoSMTP mascot. Each month, look for our new “James Explains” emails and blog posts on transactional email advice, trends, and quick tips. James will offer insight on how to improve your SMTP plan and how to use your JangoSMTP account to the fullest  

What is a Jangolope? Find out HERE

We want to hear from you. Have a topic you would like James to cover? Email us at marketing@us.jangomail.com with the subject line: James Explains. Follow James on Facebook

Subscribe to James Explains

James Explains: Transactional Email

Hi Ladies and Gents! Wishing you a Happy Spring from the JangoSMTP headquarters in Dayton, Ohio.

Welcome to the fist James Explains post. As you may have guessed, I'm James, the new JangoSMTP mascot. I'm so excited to be here and help you boost your sales with transactional email tips and best practices. Today we're going to review the basics so everyone new has a little background.

So, let me explain: Transactional Email
The CAN-SPAM act defines a transactional message as one that “facilitates an already agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer about an ongoing transaction.” The list of possible examples is a long one and includes things like order and shipping confirmations, invoices, receipts, appointment reminders, backorder notices, and username/password retrieval messages – all have some of the highest open rates out there!

An emailed appointment reminder is just
one example of a transactional message.

While the primary purpose of a transactional email is not to promote products or services, they are an excellent opportunity to do exactly that. Transactional messages experience open rates that are nearly twice the average open rates for traditional email marketing messages like a newsletter.

Recipients are often anticipating these messages before they even arrive. A customer is inherently interested in opening a transactional message, too, because they know it will contain information pertinent to a purchase they've just made or a password they've just requested. Are you ready to start taking strategic advantage of the unique opportunity to engage a customer who's already waiting for your message to arrive?

There are a few transactional email musts that you should keep in mind along the way. Tune in for my next post when I explain why you should NOT use a no-reply address.

Special thanks to JangoSMTP Account Executive, Erica Melzer, for helping me with this post!

Cheers,

James The Jangolope
Department of Awesome
JangoSMTP

About James

James the Jangolope is our JangoSMTP mascot. Each month, look for our new “James Explains” emails and blog posts on transactional email advice, trends, and quick tips. James will offer insight on how to improve your SMTP plan and how to use your JangoSMTP account to the fullest  

What is a Jangolope? Find out HERE

We want to hear from you. Have a topic you would like James to cover? Email us at marketing@us.jangomail.com with the subject line: James Explains. Follow James on Facebook

Subscribe to James Explains

Happy New Year

By: Melonie Mottice
Marketing Specialist

Today is New Year's Eve, which means 2013 is almost over. It's also a good time to sit back and reflect on the year.

In 2013, JangoSMTP has continued to grow. We have a lot to celebrate as we look back at our many accomplishments.

Here is a list of our top five blog posts of the year:

Top 5 JangoSMTP Blogs of 2013

5. Hey Griswold, The Little Lights Aren't Twinkling

4. For Maximum Visibility, Push Events To Your Own Server

3. This message opened by ... Anonymous

2. 2 Cool New Features You Should Know About

1. Upgrade your emails with vBulletin

JangoSMTP is getting better every day, and 2014 will be no different. Our team is not only bright, but driven to provide you with the best transactional email service out there.

Don't see what you need? Just ask. Contact us at: 1-855-709-4099, or submit a ticket at jangosmtp.com/support.We're always open to new ways to stay ahead.

Thank you for your business in 2013 and Happy New Year!


-The JangoSMTP Team

For Maximum Visibility, Push Events To Your Own Server

If you haven't made use of this cool JangoSMTP feature, you should give it a long, hard think.

Our transactional email event API is a system that can call a web service or web page on your server when triggered by any of these transactions within and around your emails. (And we're sure you're watching these pretty closely):

• EMAIL SENT
• OPENS
• URL CLICKS (interior content)
• UNSUBSCRIBES
• BOUNCES
• COMPLAINTS (via Feedback Loop)

This key event data in the life cycle of your email is pushed - in real time - directly to your server. So, you're always in the know about the overall success of your transactional email. Plus, you can make adjustments and improvements on the fly to strengthen ROI.

How to set up your event-based push

1. Go to Settings > Advanced > Transactional Event API
2. Click on the tab for every event you want a call to your web service or page
3. Enter the details for your web service or page

Try this while you're there
Custom coding can be used to create unique notifications, logging or custom integration into your own back end. We're always up for developing new ways to help you make JangoSMTP your own - so ask us to jump in and help any time.

For the record
Transactional email event API is a relatively new feature for JangoSMTP. We've had a Standard email API, which you can learn more about in this PDF tutorial.

Here's the key difference between the two: The Event API pushes event data (opens, clicks, etc.) to your system as the event occurs. The Standard API needs to be pulled by your system to retrieve open or click data. Before you consider the new API a "lazy man's lobster" version of the old, remember that technology evolves. And as it does, we're on the lookout to bring it to you fast. But everyone has a preference, so it's up to you to choose what works best for your company.

If you have any questions about Event API or any other JangoSMTP features, hit us up. We'd love to hear from you.

Until then, have a great rest of the week!

Upgrade your emails with vBulletin

The first step to maximizing the effectiveness of popular forum software, like vBulletin, is to enhance them through configuration with JangoSMTP or JangoMail.

vBulletin is a helpful forum software package that facilitates online community discussions related to your business. The system also sends a variety of transactional emails: new registration confirmations, topic reply notifications, PM notifications, and more.

So how can JangoSMTP improve your vBulletin account?
JangoSMTP offers more email reporting features than what you will find in vBulletin's package. JangoSMTP's email delivery and tracking capabilities ensure that your signup confirmation emails will go through the first time and be open and click tracked. It's a common issue with forum software - if a user doesn't receive their confirmation email, they can't use your forum. As a result, users need to contact your forum administrator to activate their accounts manually, which is not ideal, especially if you have a large forum.

Here's how to set it up:
1. Log into your vBulletin Admin CP
2. Go to Settings - Options - Email Options - Edit Settings
3. Scroll down to choose the following settings:

• SMTP Email: Yes
• SMTP Host: relay.jangosmtp.net
• SMTP Port: either 25, 2525, 587 or 465 for SSL/TLS connections
• SMTP Username: use your JangoSMTP username
• SMTP Password: user your JangoSMTP password
• SMTP Secure Connection (can be enabled if port 465 is used)

vBulletin can also be used to send mass email newsletters to your users, to keep them engaged. To do so, go to Users - Send Email to Users within your Admin CP and configure it with a JangoMail account.

As always, if you have any questions or need extra help configuring your vBulletin account with JangoSMTP, contact us at any time.

JangoSMTP: We’ve got your back.

Want to make sure your email is safe? We know you do. That’s why
JangoSMTP’s got your back.

Wielding an unbeatable combination of superpowers, cutting edge email deliverability
tools, and a new interface as sleek as her outfit, JangoSMTP is your email’s
superhero.

You can stop worrying now. With a transactional service this bad ass, kick back and relax. JangoSMTP’s got your back, so your email will get where it needs to go.




JangoSMTP: Your email’s superhero.

Not a customer yet and want to see just how bad ass transactional email marketing
can be? Be our guest. Sign up for a free JangoSMTP account at http://www.jangosmtp.com/Free-Account.asp.

Using JangoSMTP in ASP.Net

Microsoft provides classes for sending SMTP emails using the .Net Framework. This example uses System.Net.Mail to assemble then send an email using JangoSMTP.

Download the source code for this example, insert your own JangoSMTP username/password/etc and start sending tracked transactional emails in your asp.net application.

MailMessage mailMsg = new MailMessage();

// set the from address
// this must be stored in your from addresses
mailMsg.From = new MailAddress(
    "YourEmail@YourDomain.com", "Your Name");

// recipient
mailMsg.To.Add(new MailAddress(
    "ToAddress@Domain.com", "Recipient Name"));

// set the subject and message portions of the email
mailMsg.Subject = "Test Email Subject";
string text = 
    "This plain text email was sent from an ASP.Net script.";
string html = 
    "<p>This html email was sent from an ASP.Net script.</p>";
mailMsg.AlternateViews.Add(
    AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(
        text, null, MediaTypeNames.Text.Plain));
mailMsg.AlternateViews.Add(
    AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(
        html, null, MediaTypeNames.Text.Html));

// set up the SMTP client with relay.jangosmtp.net
SmtpClient smtpClient 
    = new SmtpClient("relay.jangosmtp.net", 25);
System.Net.NetworkCredential credentials = 
    new System.Net.NetworkCredential(
         "Your JangoSMTP Username", "Your JangoSMTP Password");
smtpClient.Credentials = credentials;

smtpClient.Send(mailMsg);

Sending Transactional Messages from a Ruby Application

Do you need to send transactional emails from a Ruby application? Do you need open tracking, DKIM signing and easy to read reports? If so, then JangoSMTP is your solution.

This example demonstrates how to send messages using JangoSMTP from within a Ruby application. You will need the Mail gem, which can be installed with the command gem install mail.

After the mail gem is installed, download the source code for this example and insert your own JangoSMTP username/password/etc. It's as easy as that!

require 'mail'

Mail.defaults do
  delivery_method :smtp, { :address   => "relay.jangosmtp.net",
                           :port      => 25,
                           :domain    => "YourDomain.com",
                           :user_name => "Your Username",
                           :password  => "Your Password",
                           :authentication => 'plain',
                           :enable_starttls_auto => true }
end

# Set up your email
# The from address must be stored in your list of from addresses
# see Settings > Advanced > From Addresses
mail = Mail.deliver do
  to 'To@EmailAddress.com'
  from 'From Name <FromAddress@YourDomain.com>'
  subject 'This is the subject!'
  text_part do
    body 'This plain text email was sent by Ruby!'
  end
  html_part do
    content_type 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
    body '<b>This HTML email was sent by Ruby!</b>'
  end
end

Your transactional email data will now last longer

I've spent the last few days analyzing and re-tooling our algorithms which purge data from your account after its reached a certain age.  In the past, we've had some hard rules where data was deleted after it reached a certain age.  While this kept the size of our database manageable, it was frustrating to lower volume users who needed the data longer than we made it available.

We've now changed our data retention scheme such that the less data there is in your account, the longer it will last.  Specifically, the following rules for data retention will apply:

1. Transactional Email Data: For users with more than 100,000 total transactional emails, this data will be available for 120 days.  For users with fewer than 100,000 transactional emails, this data will be retained indefinitely.  This includes the recipient address, from address, from name, subject, size, and other properties of transactional email but does NOT include the body of each transactional email.  We never store the content of individual transactional emails.  This also includes detailed open and click tracking data associated with transactional email.
2. Transactional Email Opens: This data will remain as long as the corresponding transactional email record remains, per item #1 above.
3. Transactional Email Clicks: This data will remain as long as the corresponding transactional email record remains, per item #1 above.
4. Transactional Group Definitions: Transactional groups will remain for the life of your account.
5. Unsubscribes, Bounces, and Complaints: This data remains indefinitely while your account is active.

We know that having access to historical data is important, as it allows our users to analyze data based on historical data.

We're always working on ways to improve our data storage and efficiency, and if you have any particular storage needs related to your account data, let us know, and we'll do our best to accommodate you individually.

Our new commercial! Your email's superhero.

Who wouldn't want their own personal superhero? Now your email has one!

With JangoSMTP, your transactional email has backup: a host of deliverability optimization tools and support that, quite literally, kicks ass. If email gets off track, it's JangoSMTP to the rescue.



JangoSMTP: Your email's superhero.

Configuring Eudora to send using your JangoSMTP account

Recently, we've had several customers contact us asking how to configure JangoSMTP with Eudora 7, so we decided we'd share it on our blog. Configuring an SMTP server with Eudora isn't quite as straightforward as you might expect with an email client, but we'll walk you through the steps necessary to get it working properly.

This guide was created using Eudora 7.1.0.9 and assumes that you've already set up an incoming mail server with your Dominant personality. This guide will cover how to set up an additional personality for sending emails through the JangoSMTP relay.

Getting started with Eudora 7 and JangoSMTP

1. In Eudora, select the 'Personalities' option from the 'Tools' menu. On the left side of the screen, you should see a list of your current personalities.
   
2. Right-click in the 'Personalities' box and click 'New'.
3. On the 'New Account Wizard' screen, select the 'Skip directly to advanced account setup' option and click the 'Finish' button.
4. Enter the settings for your account as follows:
   
   
5. Switch to the 'Incoming Mail' tab, and enter relay.jangosmtp.net in the 'Server' field. We don't provide an incoming mail relay, but this setting is required to use an external SMTP relay with Eudora.
   
   
6. Click the 'OK' button.
7. Send a test message through Eudora, making sure to select the personality you set up your JangoSMTP relay with as the 'From' address.

Setting the JangoSMTP-configured personality for use with any personality
Once you have set up a personality in Eudora that uses the JangoSMTP relay, you can set it to be the default personality to use for all outgoing messages.

1. Select the 'Options' option from the 'Tools' menu.
2. Click on the 'Sending Mail' option from the 'Category' menu.
3. Configure your settings as shown:
   
   
4. Click 'OK'.
5. Now all of the messages you send from Eudora will use the personality you selected.

Changing your outgoing SMTP port in Eudora
Many ISP's block port 25, which is the default SMTP server port that Eudora uses. If you try to send a message and receive the following error:

Could not connect to 'relay.jangosmtp.net' Cause: connection timed out (10060)

It may be the case that port 25 is blocked on the network you're using. To resolve this, you can change the SMTP port that Eudora uses:

Using Windows:

1. Close Eudora if it is currently running.
2. Navigate to the folder where Eudora is installed (by default, this will be 'C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Eudora\').
3. Open the 'extrastuff' folder.
4. Inside this folder, you should see a file name 'esoteric.epi'. Copy this file into the main Eudora folder.
5. Start Eudora again.
6. Select the 'Options' option from the 'Tools' menu.
7. Click on the 'Ports' option from the 'Category' menu. You will see this:
   
   
8. Change the port listed in 'SMTP Port (25)' to one of the other ports we make available (we accept connections on ports 25, 2525, 465, and 587 - we recommend starting with 2525).
9. Click the 'OK' button and try sending again.

And that's it! You should now be able to relay email through JangoSMTP using Eudora. If you have any problems at all, please contact our support team and we'll be glad to help!