Campaign Monitor Blog & Gallery

Campaign Monitor in 30 seconds

Mathew Patterson — 2009-07-17T00:23:29+10:00

As part of the Campaign Monitor Giving Back program, we're sponsoring Ignite Portland, which is on right about now. As part of the deal, we were invited to create a 30 second promotional video that will be played at the event.

With only a day or so to make it happen, we had to make the most of our available tools. We put together a video for web designers who haven't really heard of Campaign Monitor before:

Special thanks to the office whiteboard, our Flip Mino HD and a couple of free sound effects for their contributions!

THEORY11

Jarrod Taylor — 2009-07-15T05:23:19+10:00

Is it OK to include a design in our gallery just because it looks so damn cool and stylish? Well, there are some other features we think are pretty great and deserve a mention:

It's good practice to have a permission reminder and unsubscribe link right at the top of the email. This instantly reminds the subscriber how they gave permission, and an immediate option to unsubscribe if they choose to.
Inclusion of a table of contents before the fold provides an overview at a glance, especially in pesky preview panes, and an easy way to jump down the page.
We also thought the addition of the "featured products" column was a nice way of including more products/secondary content whilst balancing the overall design.

Built by WA007 for theory11.

Sending a final message to Microsoft about Outlook 2010

David Greiner — 2009-07-14T06:43:20+10:00

It's been just shy of 3 weeks since we launched fixoutlook.org, and it's safe to say the project has been a phenomenal success. Almost 25,000 people have joined the chorus to send a unified message to Microsoft about their lack of web standards support in Outlook 2010. On top of this, there has been considerable coverage across the web from small blogs to major news sites. We've even had some fantastic, thoughtful responses from another member of the Office team (who officially filed a bug about the lack of standards) and a Microsoft MVP.

To bring this great project to a close, we wanted to make sure the Outlook team had a constant reminder of just how strongly we all feel about their lack of standards support. Trending topics on Twitter come and go, we wanted something a little more permanent we could send their way.

The fixoutlook.org Mosaic

In his reply to the fixoutlook campaign, Microsoft's William Kennedy told us that there "is no consensus" about what standards apply to email and that he'd work with the industry if a consensus arises. Luckily for us, these standards already exist. They're called web standards.

To make sure William got the point, we figured we'd send him a "consensus" from 25,000 of us, many of who (myself included) are Outlook customers. From this idea, the fixoutlook.org mosaic was born. In a single image, it includes almost all of the 25,000 people who joined us in asking Microsoft to fix standards support in Outlook 2010.

Here's a preview of the mosaic. You can click it for the full sized version, which is a rather large 20MB and might take a while to download.

We've used the different colored avatars from everyone who contributed to spell out a final message to Microsoft. We figured saying please this time couldn't hurt our chances.

As I write this, the 2m x 1m mosaic is just boarding a plane on it's way to Redmond, personally addressed to Mr Kennedy on behalf of everyone who contributed.

To give you an idea of scale, here's a shot of us holding the mosaic.

A big final thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about the importance of the fixoutlook campaign. On a more personal note, it was a pleasure to be involved from start to finish, and hopefully it will contribute to making life easier for email designers and Outlook users alike.

Update: 17 July A few clever people have taken the mosaic to a whole new level creating zoomable versions you can easily move around in.

The first is an AJAX-based version from Kyle Mulka.
Here's a fullscreen version using Deep Zoom from LobsterPot Solutions (requires Microsoft Silverlight). Make sure you zoom in about the "l" in fixoutlook to see a special message.
The last one is also full screen and a slick combination of Deep Zoom on Colaab and also requires SilverLight.

It's interesting to note that all 3 of these projects were built with Microsoft technology.

Graphic Leftovers

Davida Fernandez — 2009-07-14T01:25:54+10:00

This member newsletter was immediately striking, especially because of the dynamically designed asymmetrical header. The content flows nicely and is absolutely relevant to their members, such as announcing their new website and pricing structure.

There’s nice touches all through the email, and even though the email is all about graphic art, it functions fairly well with images off, too. Always a plus.

Reselling Campaign Monitor to a niche market: Meet Scoutmailer

David Greiner — 2009-07-14T01:21:01+10:00

It seems like every day of the week we're seeing an interesting new approach to reselling Campaign Monitor. While the majority of rebrands are small to large design firms and marketing agencies selling their own email marketing platform on to clients, a recent standout for me was ScoutMailer. ScoutMailer is a rebranded version of Campaign Monitor targeted specifically at the scout industry.

This approach resonated with me because of our original decision to target Campaign Monitor specifically at web designers. Looking back, this decision was one of the best calls we made. Selling something to a niche market with unique needs makes it much easier to target both the feature set, and your message to that market.

Chris Monnat, the brains behind the rebrand realized this and was very careful to make sure ScoutMailer was pitched to the needs of his audience. Here's what Chris had to say...

Scouts don't do "email marketing" so I needed to present Campaign Monitor as a more generic tool to help them communicate with their members.

It's a smart approach. So smart that I recently caught up with Chris to ask him the full story behind the rebrand. Check out the the full interview.

Kibbn

Davida Fernandez — 2009-07-10T01:01:19+10:00

We really liked this sweet and whimsical newsletter for Kibbn as designed by J3 Productions; especially the hand-drawn touch of the header and how that design element is brought through to the footer, tying it all together. The little clear tape headers in the left-hand column help bring the whimsy into the body of the message as well.

What’s also great is that the three articles don’t overstay their welcome, they are just long enough to give their readers the latest scoop.

How to add a newsletter signup form to your Facebook fan page

Mathew Patterson — 2009-07-10T00:53:47+10:00

It has always been easy to put a signup form onto a standard web page, just by copying and pasting the form code from your account. Now it is almost as easy to add the same signup form to your Facebook fan page, and let your Facebook friends join your list. Our thanks go to the Return on Subscriber blog for providing the general instructions.

Here's what you'll need:

The Static FBML application
The signup form for the list you want people to join. See our help page for where to get it

Add the Static FBML application to your page

Go to the Static FBML application and choose to add it. It will ask you which page you want to add it to:

Basically it is just a container you can add your own HTML into.

Edit the FBML application and rename it

Click on 'edit page' from your pages profile, and find the FBML box. Click the pencil edit icon in the header.

Now you can paste in your form code, and add any introductory information, images or other design touches to your form.

Add the signup form as a tab on your page

To make it easier for your fans to find the form, you can add it as a navigation tab. Just click the "+" icon in the top navigation list, and select your new form from the list.

Now it is a standalone tab, and people can signup at any time.

To see it in action, visit the Campaign Monitor fan page. When we have our new shirts we'll give a few away to our Facebook fans too, so it could pay off to add us. We're not too proud for blatant bribery!

Easily email your contacts with TactileCRM integration

David Greiner — 2009-07-09T01:04:51+10:00

The fine folks at Tactile CRM have just announced a fantastic new integration into Campaign Monitor. Tactile CRM is slick web-based contact and sales management system that lets you easily share your sales, contacts and notes within your organization.

One of our biggest problems with CRM integration to date is that just because someone is in your contacts, doesn't mean they've given you permission to send them commercial email. Simply dumping all your contacts into a Campaign Monitor list and sending away can land you into all sorts of permission problems (we've seen this happen on many occasions).

The awesome thing about Tactile CRM's approach is that you can just sync subscribers that have been tagged in a certain way. For example, you might have a tag called "newsletter", and only sync those contacts that have this tag present to ensure you're only ever sending to those contacts that have specifically opted in.

Here's a quick demo video the Tactile CRM crew put together so you can see it in action, and you can read more about the integration on their blog.

Right now, they are looking for feedback and suggestions on any improvements customers might like to see, so head on over to their feedback form if you have any ideas on what might make this integration even better.

Pink Sherbet

Davida Fernandez — 2009-07-08T23:46:30+10:00

Look look look at this gorgeous design from Thom Shannon at Glow New Media. The stunning attention to detail is evident from head to toe in this newsletter, from the lovely patterned background, which is oh-so-hard to pull off, to the little ribbon touches, something that is also an integral part of the product being featured.

Beyond the lovely graphic elements and colors, the layout facilitates an easy reading flow, and the content is well organized. An excellent job from start to finish.

Typetec

Jarrod Taylor — 2009-07-08T06:19:27+10:00

Wow! It's not that often that you see a campaign using this much HTML text so effectively! Where many designers would have opted to use images, Ingage has created this layout for Typetec using text for almost every word in the entire email.

Inboxes must have loved when this campaign arrived - the design is light and fast-loading, and no key communication is lost if images do not load. The only downside to the design is that that there is an image as the call-to-action in the bottom right corner, however if this doesn't load, the phone number to the left is still visible.

How Performative Web uses our API to build and send dynamic emails

David Greiner — 2009-07-08T06:03:04+10:00

Hot on the heels of our latest API updates released yesterday, I figured now is a good a time as any to highlight some of the interesting ways customers are using the API for their own benefit.

Performative Web is a powerful tool built for design agencies who want to offer dynamic web sites (such as a CMS, blog or web app) without the need for an in-house development team. The Performative Web team recently integrated Campaign Monitor into their suite allowing their customers to quickly build newsletters using content from their web site and automatically deliver it to their subscribers via Campaign Monitor.

By combining a simple editor with the power of the Django templating system (the framework their system is built on), users can create beautiful emails that combine their own content with dynamic content from the site. For example, recently added products or the last 3 stories from their blog.

In effect, the Performative Web team have built their own version of our editor to make it easy for their clients to build emails based on existing content in a couple of clicks.

They even complete the integration by including basic campaign reporting right in the Performative Web interface such as the number of opens and a list of everyone who bounced. If you're interested in reading more about this integration, Ben Eliott from the Performative Web team has put together a much more detailed post on their blog.

If you're doing anything interesting with the Campaign Monitor API and would like use to share your hard work here, we'd love to hear from you.

BKWLD

Blake Haswell — 2009-07-07T04:57:18+10:00

This is an awesome looking newsletter designed in-house by the guys at BKWLD.

We’re really digging the layout – their featured work is displayed prominently and takes the full width of the newsletter, while their other recent work is displayed in a 2 column layout. It’s a really well executed design that lets the content speak for itself.

Another nice touch is that they’ve included a table of contents at the top of the newsletter so that recipients can see what the email is about even from the preview pane.

Winning slogans from our t-shirt competition

Mathew Patterson — 2009-07-07T04:56:37+10:00

Votes have been cast and tallied in our recent t-shirt slogan competition, and we have your winning favourites. Over 1,000 votes were cast, and in the end the results were very tight.

We'll be taking the top 3 ideas, and turning them into t-shirts that are actually worth wearing. If you've seen our existing shirts you know we aren't going to cover them in Campaign Monitor branding.

Thanks so much to everyone who voted, and double thanks to those who made suggestions, funny, quirky, nerdy and downright odd as they were. Our winning authors were:

Please unsubscribe me from this conversation — This was actually my entry, but I promise there was no vote fixing!
You are reading the text only version of this t-shirt — by Doug Neiner
G'day [firstname,fallback=mate] — by Ricky Cox

We'll be sending Doug a Flip Mino HD video camera, copies of each shirt when printed and also setting him up with a nice chunk of Campaign Monitor email credits too. Ricky will be receiving one of each shirt too, as well as his choice of awesome Blik decals and some Campaign Monitor credits.

As for me, I'll be receiving a pat on the back and a temporary increase in social standing. I'll also award myself some bonus ranking points in our internal ping pong tracking application. Watch out on the blog for the shirt designs over the next couple of weeks.

Keep in mind we won't be selling these ones, only giving them away to people we spot sending great campaigns, helping out in the forums or otherwise grabbing our attention.

Sioux Chief

Jarrod Taylor — 2009-07-07T04:44:07+10:00

Just in time for US Independence Day, we spotted this creative campaign from Sioux Chief, a manufacturer of plumbing products in Peculiar, Missouri.

It may not follow all the best practices for email construction, but hats off to the clever idea, something not seen often enough in email design.

Automatically manage templates via the API

David Greiner — 2009-07-07T04:36:28+10:00

Since we added the ability to manage your clients via the API back in February, we've seen a huge stack of customers creating clever, automated ways to manage their clients. One of the most popular uses was to automate the process of letting new clients sign up to your rebranded version of Campaign Monitor. This included a simple sign up form on your site, creating the client, setting their billing options and the features they can access.

The only thing missing from this process was the ability to load templates in that client's account. Today I'm happy to announce the final piece of the puzzle has been added with the following new methods now available in our API:

Template.Create - Add a new template for any client.
Template.Delete - Delete an existing template for any client.
Template.GetDetail - Get the full details of a template, including a preview and screenshot URL
Template.Update - Make any changes to an existing template.
Client.GetTemplates - Gets a list of all currently installed templates for a client.

To make it as easy possible to get started with these new methods, we've also updated the PHP API kit and .NET API kits to support all of these new methods right out of the box. A big shout out to new Campaign Monitor developer James Dennes, who was responsible for these handy new methods from start to finish.

Citrine Jewelry

Blake Haswell — 2009-07-02T22:44:02+10:00

This campaign from Citrine Jewelry really leaps off the screen. We love how the large product images break out of the main column. It really adds interest and draws your eye.

The colors are also nice and neutral, in keeping with their website, and the elegant typography ensures the e-mail still looks great even with images off.

Blynk Organic

Blake Haswell — 2009-07-01T03:01:37+10:00

Studiobanks is behind this excellent newsletter designed for Blynk Organic. The branding is consistent with their website, but the design has been simplified to be more suited to the restrictions of e-mail.

The large amount of whitespace really lets the content stand out on its own, and we think it works really well with the organic theme.

The footer is a nice final touch, and really ties the whole newsletter together. Overall a very well executed design.

Enjoy Ticino

Stig Morten Myre — 2009-06-29T23:46:56+10:00

Boy, does this campaign from Enjoy Ticino make our mouths water. The colorful edibles really pop off the monochromatic layout. The design looks very sharp, and we love how the photos and logos are combined to separate the three sections of the email.

While most attention is drawn to the menus, the contact info and addresses are easily available in the right column. An impressively sharp and timely email.

New SOAP-based Ruby Gem available for the API

David Greiner — 2009-06-29T23:40:31+10:00

All you Ruby developers out there will be pleased to know that a new SOAP-based Ruby gem has just been released for the Campaign Monitor API. The gem is the work of clever Campaign Monitor customer Marcelo Menezes, who was kind enough to open source his code and make it available to all at GitHub.

You might remember that we already have an existing Ruby gem available for the API. This gem uses the HTTP protocol to interface with our API and covers most, but not all of our API methods. Marcelo's gem instead uses the SOAP protocol and also covers every method currently available in the API. A big thanks to Marcelo for his hard work and generosity in sharing it with the Campaign Monitor community.

Batlow Bites

Jarrod Taylor — 2009-06-25T06:27:45+10:00

This newsletter for Batlow, does a good job of organizing a decent amount of content without sacrificing design aesthetics.

The earthy tones and wood textures combine with the bright, chirpy colors of the logo and text to create an elegant, well-structured newsletter design. There are some nice image headings and buttons throughout the design, but these do not need to be relied upon, as the email is still legible when images are turned off.