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Hilltop-Mail - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
General
- How do I upgrade my account from a Trial Account to an Active account?
- Can I use Hilltop-Mail to send SPAM (unsolicited bulk email)?
- Can I migrate my contact lists from another provider to Hilltop-Mail?
- What help and support is available?
- Do I need any special Software?
- Do I need any special knowledge to use this product?
- Using the Wizard - Should I turn off my "Pop-Up" Blocker?
Billing/Invoicing
- Is there any set-up fees for the Hilltop-Mail service?
- How and when will I be invoiced for the Hilltop-Mail service?
- How is my monthly invoice calculated?
- How are Payments processed?
- What are the Payment terms?
- What is the account cancellation process?
Features
- Can I automate the Subscribe/Unsubscribe process?
- How will I manage "Bounced" Emails (no such email address)?
- Can I have a Newsletter Archive?
- Do I need a Website to make use of this service?
- Can I personalise my email Newsletters?
- Can I include social media updates when I send a message?
Reporting
- What information is contained in the Email Campaign statistic?
- How is the "Opened" or "Unopened" report generated?
General Questions FAQ
Q. How do I upgrade my account from a Trial Account to an Active account?
A. Once you have registered your Trial Account, you can go into your account settings and request an account upgrade to 'Active'. In doing so you agree to our Terms and Conditions and agree to pay for your Hilltop-Mail services based on the previous months transactions.
Q. Can I use Hilltop-Mail to send SPAM (unsolicited bulk email)?
A. No. Absolutely not. Spam is untargeted advertising. The Hilltop-Mail End User License Agreement prohibits using Hilltop-Mail for spam. If you want to spam, please go elsewhere (or just stop doing it). Follow the link www.acma.gov.au for more information.
Q. Can I migrate my contact lists from another provider to Hilltop-Mail?
A. Yes. Most email Newsletter software systems allow you to 'Export' or download your current contact lists which you can then easily "Bulk Upload" to your Hilltop-Mail account in a CSV format. If you have your contacts in an excel format you can just "Save As" and change the file type to "CSV (Comma delimited)" and then "Bulk Upload the file into Hilltop-Mail via the "Contacts" menu.
Q. What help and support is available?
A. You will have full access to the online 'Help/FAQ' section from within your Hilltop-Mail account including the facility for submitting support questions which will be responded to ASAP. Alternatively you can use our contact form to request more information on our services or if you have any general enquiries.
Q. Do I need any special Software?
A. No additional software is required as this online email marketing product can be accessed from any Internet connected device using a standard browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari etc. It is recommended to be using the latest version of your preferred browser to ensure compatibility.
Q. Do I need any special knowledge to use this product?
A. Hilltop-Mail Email Marketing Australia has been developed to be easy to use and will not require any special knowledge of HTML to create and send your first email Newsletter. The inbuilt WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor is no different than what you would be used to when sending a normal email or using a word processor (such as MS Word) with all the usual editing features such as changing Font, colour's or making text Bold and italic etc.
You can immediately start using the inbuilt templates (Click & Replace Templates) or for advanced users, the option is available to 'Copy & Paste' your existing HTML code created in such products as Dream Weaver, Frontpage or any other similar product and directly in the WYSIWYG editor (Change to HTML view first).
One you have created your first email Newsletter you can then reuse this as a template for future email Newsletter campaigns by using the "Save as New' feature.
Q. Using the Wizard - Should I turn off my "Pop-Up" Blocker?
A. Yes, you may need to turn off your Pop-Up blocker to use the Wizard which talks you through the setting up of your first Database and sending your first Message. If you are having problems, you will need to allow "Pop-ups" for this site. This can be done be clicking on the Pop-up blocker that you use, and then selecting 'allow pop-ups for this page/site'.
As sometimes you may have several add-on Toolbars which manages your Pop-up windows (stops some annoying advertising windows) you may need to allow Pop-ups for this site on each one e.g. Internet Explorer, Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar, MSN Toolbar.
If you are not sure how to do this, here are a few useful links for the more well known Pop-Up blocker programs:
Disable Pop-up Blocker resource links |
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Microsoft Internet Explorer Pop-Up Blocker: |
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Google Toolbar Pop-Up Blocker: |
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Yahoo Toolbar Pop-Up Blocker: |
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MSN/Bing Toolbar Pop-Up Blocker: |
Note: In some cases you may just want to remove unwanted Toolbars, which you can do via the "Add/Remove Software" icon in your Control settings page.
Billing/Invoicing FAQ
Q. Is there any set-up fees for the Hilltop-Mail service?
A. There is no set-up fee for creating your Hilltop-Mail account. You will only be charge the monthly access fee and per email send costs on a monthly basis.
Q. How and when will I be invoiced for the Hilltop-Mail service?
A. Invoices are emailed at the beginning of each month based on the previous months transactions i.e. the Maximum number of contacts in your combined databases and the number of emails sent (Refer: Pricing Calculator)
Q. How is my monthly invoice calculated?
A. As per the pricing schedule the total cost/mth is broken down into 2 components based on transactions from the preceding month and invoiced at the beginning of the following month:
1. Monthly Access Subscription Fee: Maximum or "Peak" number of contacts managed in one or several different database in your Hilltop-Mail account within that month. The Monthly Access Fee is always charged per month irrespective of any emails sent for that particular month.
Example: If the maximum number of Contacts held in your databases within the previous month was less than 1000 contacts then the Access Fee/mth component would be Aud$30 (Monthly Access fee dependant on number of contacts in Databases - Refer: Pricing Calculator)
2. Email Send Cost: Number of emails sent within the month (as per email rate - Refer: Pricing Calculator)
Example: if 500 emails were sent within that month, the total Email Send Cost component would be 500 emails sent x 3c = Aud$15.00/mth.
The combined totals of the above components constitutes your Total Monthly Fee. In the example above where you had a maximum of less than 1000 contacts in your database, and you sent 500 emails within that month, the total cost you would be invoiced would be $30 + $15.00 = Aud$45.00.
An invoice is sent to the account holder at the beginning of the following month based on the previous Months Access Fee plus the total number of Emails sent within that month (as per pricing schedule).
Note: Your Hilltop-Mail Account will be allocated 50MB of free file storage per month. Each MB over and above this charged at 10c/MB/Month.
Q. How are Payments processed?
A. Invoices are emailed to the account holder at the beginning of each month based on the previous months transactions which will include bank account details for direct deposit of funds (preferred) or for the sending of your payment by cheque. Automatic credit card deductions are currently not available at this time.
Q. What are the payment Terms?
A. Payment for the previous months transactions are due within fourteen days of receipt of your monthly invoice and are in Australian Dollars (Aud$). Non-payment of your Monthly fee can lead to your account being disabled until payment has been received and processed.
If you have a problem with particular payment you must advise us at the earliest opportunity and we will work with your to resolve before disabling your account.
Q. What is the account cancellation process?
A. You must request to cancel your account by email before the end of the current month so as not to attract the Monthly Access Subscription fee for the following month i.e. If the current month was August, you must inform us prior to the 31st of August that you would like to cancel your Hilltop-Mail account. Your final invoice would then be sent in the first week of September for your August transactions (Monthly Access Fee plus any Email send costs) and your account will be closed from the 31st of August i.e. this would be your final invoice based on the previous months transactions.
Once your account has been closed your customer Databases, Messages, Reports and user accounts will be deleted from our system. It is recommended that you download your current databases from your account prior to cancellation by clicking the Account Link at the top right of the page and select "Download Data" from the menu on the left.
Features FAQ
Q. Can I automate the Subscribe/Unsubscribe process?
A. Yes, your Hilltop-Mail accounts includes inbuilt Web forms which can be simply copied and pasted into your Website. When a person subscribes from your Web form they will automatically be added to your subscriber database and you will be notified of the addition with the persons details. As part of our Spam Compliance the bottom of the Newsletter will include a "Unsubscribe" link which if clicked, will deactivate the subscriber from future Newsletters but the contact information will still be retained but marked as "unsubscribed" for your records.
Q. How will I manage "Bounced" Emails (no such email address)?
A. The email campaign reporting feature will allow you to review and edit either 'Temporary Bounces' (emails sent to full inboxes) or 'Permanent Bounces' (sent to nonexistent email addresses) so that you can either update the contacts details or delete that contact from your database ready for your next email campaign.
Q. Can I have a Newsletter Archive?
A. Yes, when you preview one of your Newsletter campaigns in Hilltop-Mail, it will allow you to copy the URL (weblink) of your Newsletter so that you can use it on your website as a link to that particular Newsletter. As your Newsletters are stored on our servers and will also be eventually indexed by Search Engines such as Google or Yahoo etc and appear in search engine results pages (ranking will depend on content as per specific search engine indexing algorithms).
It is recommended to create Newsletters based on the previous Newsletter (open existing newsletter and "Save As New" so you can store and link to each new Newsletter on your Newsletter Archive page within your website.
Q. Do I need a Website to make use of this service?
A. A Website is not required to use this Email Newsletter service. Your images and documents (Such as PDF Brochures) can be uploaded to your account within Hilltop-Mail and be accessed by your potential clients.
Q. Can I personalise my email Newsletters?
A. Yes, by inserting a special field in your Newsletter you can have the persons "First Name" inserted automatically for each Newsletter.
Q. Can I include social media updates when I send a message?
A. Yes, you can have your messages provide social updates on your twitter, facebook and linkedin account when sending your messages. These can be sent instantly with the message or at a scheduled later time. With the built-in social media icons, you can also add facebook "Likes' to your messages to increase traffic and market visibility.
Reports FAQ
Q. What information is contained in the Email Campaign statistic?
A. The Campaign Statistics reports provide you with a wealth of information about the performance of your campaigns, and tools to manage and improve that performance over time. There is a lot of information contained within the Email Campaign Statistics and the following is a brief guide to what’s available, and what it all means.
| 1. Campaign Name | The name of the message you sent. Click Preview to view the preview of the message sent. |
| 2. Databases | The database you sent the campaign to. |
| 3. Send Date & Time | When you sent the campaign. |
| 4. Number Sent | How many contacts from your databases you sent it to. Click the View link to see the full contact list in a new window. |
| 5. Number Opened | How many contacts Opened the email (and percentage of total sent). Click the View link to see the full list of contacts who Opened the email. |
| 5.1 HTML | How many contacts received the HTML version of your email. |
| 5.2 Plain | How many contacts received the plain text version of your email (A plain text version is automatically generated by the system when you use the Click and Replace Wizard or Multipart options to create your email – see Section 7.1.1 New Email Message). |
| 6. Number not Opened | How many contacts didn’t open the email (and percentage of total sent). Click the View link to see the full list of contacts who didn’t open the email in a new window. |
| 7. Number Bounced | How many emails were unable to be delivered. Click the View link to see who didn’t receive the email |
| 8. Number Unsubscribed | How many people have removed themselves from your database. Click the View link to see the full list of contacts who have Unsubscribed from your database. |
| 9. Updated Profiles | How many recipients updated their profile (and percentage of total sent) (Including an “Update Profile” link in your emails is an option you can choose when you set up the email) Click the View link to see who has updated their profile. |
| 10. Send to Friends | How many recipients forwarded the email to friends using the “Send to a Friend” function (and percentage) (Including a “Send to Friend” link in your emails is an option you can choose when you set up the email) |
| 11. Click Through Rate | Percentage of recipients who Opened the email who then clicked at least one of the links in your email (and total number) |
| 12. Click Throughs (Total: X URL's) | The total number of links included in your email. |
| 12.1 Link Clicked | The links you included in your email. Click the link to see the destination of the URL. |
| 12.2 Total Clicks | The total number of clicks on each link contained in your email. Click the View link to see the full list of contacts who clicked the link. |
| 12.3 Unique Clicks | The number of unique contacts from your database who clicked on each link (note some may have clicked a link more than once to make the Total Clicks larger than the Unique Clicks). Click the View link to see the full list of contacts who clicked the link. |
Q. How is the "Opened" or "Unopened" reports generated?
A. The Opened Report is indicative of the number of recipients of your Newsletter campaign who opened your Newsletter and clicked an image or link which has been downloaded when the email has been opened (this is how they are registered as Opened).
As some online or Web mail products do not open images you will find that a recipient has actually read or previewed your Newsletter but will not appear in the opened list (but it has been delivered). As long as the recipient is not in the 'Bounced' report you know your emailed Newsletter is in their Inbox.
The unopened statistic basically means that the recipient has not Opened the email. You cannot tell if the recipient has deleted the email from their inbox, or if the email is in the inbox but just has not been Opened i.e. the email may have been "previewed" or read in some Web mail services which do not download images for a record of that email being opened to be registered by the reporting system.
The only way to track email open rates is through images downloaded and links clicked on. So if a recipient receives your HTML email but either can only receive plain text emails, or cannot download images, and no links are clicked on. Then it may get tracked as unopened.
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