Easy Start Guide

Thank you for choosing Net Atlantic to send your email newsletters. This document provides instructions to get you started quickly.

For more comprehensive instructions please see our User's Guide.

Table of Contents

  1. Logging Into Your List
  2. Adding Your Subscribers
  3. Creating Your First Mailing
  4. Creating a "Join Mailing List" Form for Your Web Site
  5. Getting Additional Help

1. Logging Into Your List

  1. Go to our Customer Login Page
  2. Enter your username (email address) and password (case sensitive)

Please refer to your list name when contacting Net Atlantic Support.

2. Adding Your Subscribers

Note: By design, the software automatically checks for duplicate addresses. There will never be two of the same addresses on the list at the same time.

  1. Click Members for a drop down menu.
  2. Mouse-over Add Members.
  3. Click Add Many Members.
  4. Paste or type email addresses inside the Email addresses text area.

    Note: If you would like to import your list via .csv file (i.e., Excel or other spreadsheet application), please refer to our FAQ or User's Guide. Make sure each address is on a separate line before clicking Save.

  5. Click Save.
  6. Once complete, a dialogue box will confirm member import status. Click ok.

3. Creating Your First Mailing

  1. Click the Mailings button for a drop down menu.
  2. Click New Mailing.
  3. The Mailing name field is automatically filled in for you and can be changed. The To field is also automatically filled in with each recipient on your mailing list. [Do not change the To: field]
  4. Fill in the From address. By default, your email address will appear here. You may edit this field. We recommend: "Your Company Name" (youremail@yourcompany.com)
  5. Fill in the Subject of your message. Recipients will see this line as the subject of the email they receive. It is a best practice to use short, direct subject lines as more people will open your email.
  6. You are now ready to type in your message using HTML, plain text, or both. We advise sending both HTML and text parts. Recipients who can see HTML will only see the HTML message. However, if you send your messages in plain text format also, you will ensure each subscriber will receive it as you intended and will be able to read it properly. To do this, paste or type HTML into the HTML message area; and a plain text message into the text message area. You may also use one of our pre-built HTML templates, available under the content tab. Click view templates and choose Built-in Templates from the drop down menu to see various designs.

    HTML - This is where you can customize your message by changing fonts, font sizes and text colors, and by adding emphasis with bold, italic, bullets, hyperlinks, etc. It is a best practice to only underline links within your text. You can also add images using the image hosting library.

    Note: If you want to design your newsletter in Dreamweaver or another Web design program, click and then paste in your own HTML.We do not recommend creating email templates with MS Word, Excel, Publisher, or PowerPoint, because many email clients do not read the HTML properly. Even if these or other programs offer a “save file as HTML” option, the HTML created is a non-standard format that will not work with many email clients.

    Plain Text - This is where you can type in a plain text message. This ensures that those who cannot read HTML emails will receive your email in plain text format.

  7. Click Test and Save.
  8. Enter the email address to which you want to send the test email. (You can send the test to multiple email addresses by separating each address with a comma.) Click ok.


    Note: After clicking OK, a dialogue alert will appear indicating that the test message has been sent. It may take a few minutes for the test email to reach your inbox. Test messages substitute a random subscriber into the email to show what a sample recipient will see.
  9. Need Approval - Once you are satisfied with your test message and are ready to send your mailing, click the Send link located in the same row as the message you want to send. After clicking Send, you will be brought to a page asking you to confirm that you are ready to send your mailing. Click OK to send or click Cancel. Once you choose OK, a message displays briefly on your screen informing you that your mailing will now be sent.

    WARNING: Do not click "SEND ALL" unless you want to send all of the messages in the "Need Approval" section to your list.

    Note: If you have saved and tested more than once, you will see multiple tests in your approval queue. Choose your mailing carefully before you hit send. It is advised that you delete old versions.

Congratulations! You have just sent your first successful mailing.

4. Creating a "Join Mailing List" Form for Your Web Site

Here's how to get new subscribers onto your list by putting a subscribe form on your Web site:

  1. Click Utilities to get a drop down menu.
  2. Mouse-over Web Forms to expand the menu.
  3. Select New Subscribe Form which will bring you to the form creation page.
  4. Select the desired options for your subscribe form.
    • Ask subscribers for name - If used, this information can be required or optional.
    • Password Request - If used, this information can be required or optional. Passwords are used to protect user profiles.
    • Confirmation - When used, a message is sent requiring the user to confirm their email address before being added to your list. You can also send an email stating that a user joined the list, without requiring them to confirm their email address. It is a best practice to always send a confirmation message.
    • Destination URL - This is the Web page that users see after joining. We recommend that you create a "Thank You For Signing Up" page so users know their request was processed.
    • Demographics - You can choose to add additional fields to your form to get more information from the user. This information can help you target messages to specific segments of your list. You will be able to change the names of the fields once you have completed the form. Please see the "Demographic Segmentation Feature" page for a list of the available fields for mailing list records.

  5. Once you are satisfied with your subscribe form, click Get HTML to get the code for your Web site.
  6. Copy the source code and paste it into your Web site on a prominent page.
  7. At this point you can alter the titles of the fields so it doesn't say "field_1_" Look for the line: <font size=1>field_1_: </font> and you can change the titles to anything you like. Make sure to leave a space in between the title and the </font> tag so the title is not flush with the text box. ex: <font size=1> Favorite Food: </font>

Congratulations! You now have a subscribe form on your Web site. Sit back and watch your subscriber list grow.

5. Getting Additional Help

There are several ways to get help: