FIDO Support

E-Mail Writing Tips

Subject Line: The Key

People open e-mail for three reasons:

1. They know who it is from.
2. The subject line has meaning to the reader.
3. The subject line drives curiosity to explore further.

Make sure your subject line clearly communicates the message inside. Keep the subject line concise and make it relevant to the reader.

EMAIL BODY: Three Questions

Keep your message concise and direct, making it more effective.

1. Who is the e-mail from?
2. What's in it for the recipient?
3. What do you want the recipient to do?

Work Hard to Disengage “E-Mail Reading Mode”

The goal of email is for recipients to click through to a website. In other words,get them out of “E-Mail Reading Mode”. E-Mail Reading Mode is where people sit at their computers, see they have 17 new messages and try to get through all 17before they do anything else. If your message is in that list, you want them to stop at your email. In order to do that you have to disengage them from E-Mail ReadingMode. The E-Mail Reading Mode behavior is replaced with a click-through to your website. You need to disengage E-Mail Reading Mode by engaging them with some action or information on your website. Once they are on your site, your e-mail recipient is no longer in E-Mail Reading Mode but now a Web Visitor, searching to do or find something specific on your site — exactly what you want. Congrats!

Less is more

People view e-mail differently than other media. As a matter of fact, they don't read e-mail — they scan it. For best results, write short summary or“teaser” sentences which link back to your website for more information. As we like to say “Pithy is Preferred”. Let the reader get the details on your site. 

An e-mail communicates best when the reader can make a quick decision to

• Click a link to get more info
• file the e-mail for later or
• Delete (due to lack of interest)

Helping the reader make this decision efficiently will enhance your brand and message.

Use text and not a web address as a link

When linking to a website, use text as the link and not the actual web address. MostSPAM filters will mark the message as possible SPAM when a web address is used as a link. For example, don't do the following:

Visit our website at  www.wrinkledog.com >

For best results  avoid using the web address as the link. Instead use text like this: 

Visit wrinkledog’s website >

Don’t “Click Here!”

Avoid using the phrase “Click Here”. The “click here” phrase is used by amateurs who don't know how to create proper links. Instead use action-phrase (verbs) to create links. For example instead of writing, 

Click hereto learn more.

Use an verb/action-phrase like this: 

Learn More >

List Format

FIDO List Order

FIDO lists must be in the following order: (Excel is a simple way to quickly organize lists)

• E-Mail Address *
• Edition¹
• First Name
• Last Name
• ID#
• UserField 1²
• UserField 2²
• UserField 3²...

Note to Mac Users: Excel and Numbers save files with Mac CarriageReturns and Line Feeds. Therefore you need to use a program to convert these file types to a unix format. You can use Text Wrangler (free from Barebones software) to do this.

FIDO List Format: Tab-Delimited Text File

FIDO lists must be saved as a tab-delimited text file (*.txt). Excel is an easy way to quickly save a list as a tab-delimited text file. Use Excel's Save As operation to export the list to a "Tab-Delimited Text File". Then, import the TXT file (not theExcel file) into the FIDO publication.

FIDO List Import

After lists are prepared in the right order and right format, they can be imported into FIDO. To do so

1. Login into the FIDO Administration Site
2. Click the Lists link next to the publication you want to import the list to.
   
3. You can upload:
   • Subscription List: merge or replace to list of email recipients.
   • Unsubscribe: makes the e-mail addresses in your list "neutral" — as if they have never subscribed to this publication.
   • Optout list: marks email addresses so they never receive an email from this publication again.
   • Global optout list: marks email addresses so they never receive an email from any publication again.
4. You can choose to:
   • Merge lists: your imported list will deduplicate against current FIDO subscriptions and only add new email addresses.
   • Replace list: removes all subscribers and replaces the list with the one you are uploading.
5. Overwrite personal information fields?: replaces custom data such as name and userfields with what is contained in your import list.
6. Click Choose File or Browse
7. Find the list on your computer and press the Upload button

Depending on how large the list is, importing may take a few moments.

Text Formatting

FIDO Styling Tips and Macros

Use the following chart to give your e-mail some UMPF!

Creating a Table in FIDO

Use the following syntax to build a table inside FIDO

{table}
Sport|Team|Position|Years
Football|Cowboys|Quarterback|5
Basketball|Lakers|Point Guard|3
Baseball|Red Sox|1st Base|1st Base
{table}

Editions

What are Fido Editions?

FIDO Editions allow the customization of content target (via an article) to a certain subsegment in a list. This is like the “West End Edition” of a newspaper, where articles and advertisement are specifically targeted to "West End"residents.

HOW TO MAKE EDITIONS WORK

First, go to the Publication Details section and add your Editions(segments). Note: leave the General edition alone — do not delete or change it's name. All Publications must have at least one Edition — and that is the GeneralEdition.

In this example, there is a NW Edition, SE Edition, a Central Edition and a NEEdition is being added. After creating Editions, press the submit button for thePublication Details page.

Second, from the Edit Articles page, select which Edition the article is intended for. It is possible to send an article to:

• All Editions (everyone)
• Only one Edition
• To everyone EXCEPT one Edition

Finally, edit the publication's list to match each record's second column with the proper Edition.

If there are some entries that don't belong to a specific edition, leave that field blank and they are automatically assigned to the General Edition.

User Fields and Customization

What Are User Fields

User fields are an easy way to customize and personalize each FIDO e-mail.

How to Make Use of User Fields

Each publication can have as many user fields as necessary, this example has just three.

In this example, there are three user fields: Columns F, G and H.

• Column F (User field 1): a favorite food
• Column G (User field 2): a favorite side dish
• Column H (User field 3): a favorite beverage

To make use of this information, go to the Edit Articles page and use the following syntax:
{userfield:1}

Here is an example:

Salutation Macro

It is nice to start out an e-mail with someone's first name. To do so, use the salutation macro, by typing the following:
{salutation}

Glossary

FIDO Terms

Publication— A FIDO Publication is the theme to a series of e-mail issues and has one particular subscriber list associated with it. Think of aPublication like Time-Life, Sports Illustrated, or Home & Garden magazines. These are thematic publications, each with a particular set of subscribers.

Issue— A FIDO Issue is what actually gets sent from a publication. Thinking about magazines, you receive an Issue of Time-Life, SportsIllustrated, or Home & Garden each week or month. An Issue is the actual e-mailsent on a specific date.

Article— A FIDO Article is the content inside each issue.Sometimes they are called stories, an Article contains the actual words and pictures. AFIDO Issue must contain at least one Article.

Edition— A FIDO Edition is way to subsegment a list and provide specific content (via an article) targeted just to each subsegment. This is like the“West End Edition” of a newspaper, where articles and advertisement are specifically targeted to "West End" residents.

Stats Glossary

Total sent— Total number of e-mails that fido sent.

View events— Total number of times the e-mail has been viewed(someone may view an e-mail more than 1x).

Unique emails viewed— Unique number of people (out of the Total sent) that have looked at the mail at least 1x.

Raw click-throughs— Total number of clicks on each link (someone may click on a link more than 1x).

Unique user click-throughs— Unique number of people who have clicked on a link at least 1x.