Yes – you read that right. CakeMail Version 3 is on it’s way!
We’ve been busy behind the scenes here putting the finishing touches on the next version of CakeMail and recently released a beta version of CakeMail Version 3 to a select group of customers to play with.
Those that have provided feedback on how the product works, excited emails with rave reviews and have otherwise jumped right in and started playing around with all of the new features (and there are a LOT of new features to play with) have been making our days here at CakeMail HQ quite happy.
Within 5 minutes of sending out links to everyone’s custom beta site, some great feedback was already coming back to us – and we can’t help but want to share it:
“LOVE the new interface – this is exactly what I was waiting for.”
“I love the new version. We can’t wait to upgrade.”
“Version 3 Beta is GREAT!”
We’re thrilled to see this kind of feedback (especially right away!) and can’t wait to share this new version with everyone else very very soon. Stay tuned for more details about all of the new features and some great examples version 3 in action that we’ll be posting over the next week or so prior to the official release in early August.
For those of you who were reading back in the fall, you might remember that we talked a little about Bill C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, a bill under review in Canada to deal with the issues of spam, phishing, spyware and malware. And now, an update!
Bill C-27: Electronic Commerce Protection Act is now Bill C-28: Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act. It was introduced in the House of Commons on May 25, 2010 and has passed first reading. To review the new bill click here.
The new act would establish a regulatory framework to protect electronic commerce in Canada and would:
If you would like to stay informed on the progress of this Bill and want to encourage the adoption of important anti-spam laws like this, feel free to sign up with CAUCE (The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email) here.
Stay tuned… and bye for now,
Kevin
If you are managing a list of prospects and clients for your business, chances are, you’re relying on some sort of CRM system to keep it all straight. And it may be even more likely that you’re using Salesforce to do so. As one of the leading CRM solutions for companies all over the world, Salesforce allows you to manage your customer base “in the cloud”, keeping track of customers (and all of your interactions with them) for big name brands like Motorola, Starbucks, and The Wall Street Journal, to name a few.
One of our most-requested features is the ability to import your Salesforce.com contacts directly into CakeMail, so part of those interactions you’re having with your customers can include well-designed and easy-to-execute campaigns and mailings that you create, on our platform. And today is the day that we make that request a reality!
Now you can easily import your Salesforce.com contacts directly into CakeMail, managing emails and tracking results like opens, click rates and conversions. To set up this new add-on, your account admin will need to activate it and you will need to have your Salesforce.com credentials and Salesforce Token ready to enter when prompted. To import your contacts, select the “Salesforce” button displayed as part of the Import/Upload a List page when you are creating or modifying a new contact list.
It’s important to note that in order for this to work, you must be an Enterprise level or higher Salesforce.com customer. Pro accounts do not have this kind of functionality enabled.
We’ve just released a new add-on module that integrates with Google Docs – letting you import list data directly into CakeMail from your Google Docs spreadsheets. If you’re already using Google Docs to store data in spreadsheets, or capturing data through their easy forms capability, you can skip creating .csv files of contact lists and just import them directly to CakeMail online.
This new feature is available to all CakeMail users and just needs to be activated by your account admin before it’s available as a contact list import option. When you’re creating a new list or adding to an existing one, simply click the Google Docs button displayed as part of the Import/Upload A List page. Grant permission for CakeMail and your Google Docs account to connect and you’re ready to go. As an added bonus, you can also opt to send an automatic (and customizable) “Welcome” email to your newly-imported list.
Many of our customers are already using the Litmus Add-On that’s available in CakeMail – giving them an easy way to test their email campaigns across different tools like Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, Mail.app and many, many more – and we’re excited to share the news that Litmus expanded their testing platform this week to include the ability to test campaigns for mobile devices!
This new functionality from Litmus includes support for four devices – iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian devices – with even more devices set to be added in future updates.
As the Litmus team mentions in their post on the Litmus blog:
You’re able to scroll down your email, exactly as you would on the device if it was in your hands. This is incredibly important—the experience of reading on a mobile device is of course significantly different from a desktop computer screen. By offering these scrolling views we’re able to give you the most accurate experience—the exact same experience your recipients will have when they receive your email.
Take a look at the sample test they’ve posted using their own newsletter to get a sense of the new functionality. Now you’ll be able to see how your mobile users will actually see your email in their mobile inbox without having to test it manually with your collection of smartphones (or not testing it at all!).
If you already have the Litmus add-on activated for your account, this new testing functionality is available as of today – the mobile results will be automatically included when you run a Litmus test.
If you haven’t yet started using Litmus to test your emails before sending, now is the time (and really, what have you been waiting for?)! Just have your account administrator or reseller activate the Litmus Add-On for your account and you’ll be able to use it as part of the testing process for existing or new mailings that haven’t yet been sent. You should know that there is an additional fee for using the Litmus Add-On (most other Add-Ons are free), but it’s well worth it!
