Using TouchBasePro’s online email marketing software to send messages to your subscriber list is easy, fill in the required information in the 5 step campaign editor above and then click “save and approve for delivery”. Don’t worry, if you make a mistake the system will pick it up and tell you to correct it.

Try it out - click here

Once you login to TouchBasePro and start setting up a campaign, TouchBasePro is going to prompt you to upload a subscriber list and campaign content (your newsletter design), so get these ready before you login to save time.

1. Get your opt–in subscriber list organized

The easiest way to upload your opt in list is, as an excel, or CSV file. You can either start a new excel file customer list with columns for Name, Cell Number and Email address and then type in all the subscribers. If you have a number of different excel files for types of customers this is also fine, you will just upload each file separately and to different lists in TouchBasePro.

If your contacts are in your Outlook address book then you can export Outlook address book directly into an excel or CSV file as follows:
1. On the Outlook “File” menu, click “Import and Export”.
2. In the Import/Export Wizard, click Export to a file, and then click Next.
3. In the Export to a file dialog box, click Comma Separated Values.
4. When you are prompted to Select a folder to export from, click the “contacts” folder, and then click Next.
5. When you are prompted to ‘Save exported file as’, choose a location like the “desktop” where you can easily find it again. And give it a name like “Client-List-Nov”.
6. You may be asked to choose the fields you want to export, make sure first name, cell number and email address are ticked, and click next.
7. Click to select the ‘following actions will be performed’ check box, and then click Finish.
You will be able to open this exported file in Excel and type in other addresses if you need to.

Your subscribe list should look something like this:

If you have other columns of information as well it’s not a problem. TouchBasePro will find the columns that contain the name, numbers or email addresses and ask for your confirmation.

2. Get your email newsletter designed

Maybe you have an in-house designer at your company who will layout your e-mail newsletters. If not you can do this yourself in Microsoft Word (or a program like Dreamweaver if you know how to use it for HTML newsletter design). There are some free email newsletter design templates to get you started under the "Email Marketing Resources" section on this site.

Here are a few important points to remember for your newsletter email marketing strategy and email newsletter design:

• Use text combined with images, if your email newsletter marketing does not contain enough relevant text and only has images then your spam rating will be very high (you can test this in your campaign preview on TouchBasePro).
• The top 3 inches or so of the newsletter is all that will be seen initially when your subscribers view it in their mail client (Outlook). Make this space count! Use images and interesting and relevant headings in this space to entice you readers to scroll down.
• Give thought to the subject line you choose for the email campaign, it should be interesting as well as relevant to the content of the email newsletter it heads.
• Work in a SEND TO FRIEND link, this can stretch the reach of your campaign and helps you add new subscribers and drive word of mouth type referrals.
• Visually appealing newsletters are more effective than boring ones, subscribers are less likely to ignore or unsubscribe from an exciting looking newsletter. Perhaps think about using a freelance designer if you don’t have someone in-house.

3. Login to TouchBasePro & send your campaign

TouchasePro will guide you step by step through seting up your email marketing campaign, and scheduling your bulk delivery. TouchBasePro’s more advanced features give you full creative control and allow total customization of your bulk messaging campaigns. Advanced features include, list segmentation, custom fields, auto-responders, and website plug-ins.

Read the Tips and Tricks below for some ideas on how to make your advertising email marketing online more effective.