Bulk Email Software Program

Prospect Mailer was designed to be the most easy-to-use bulk email software program available on the Internet! Our software developers took great care in making sure that this bulk email program would allow even a computer novice to be able to master its format within minutes. Instead of loading Prospect Mailer with endless menus and confusing configuration screens, we developed a format that consists of four simple wizard screens that take you step-by-step through each process from start to finish. This approach allows users to focus on getting their mailings out instead of spending hours and hours learning a difficult new bulk email marketing program. Some of the features of the Prospect Mailer mass email program include:

• Easier to learn and use than any other bulk email program software available.

• Turns your computer into a personal bulk email server!

• Accurately sends out up to 50,000 emails per hour on a standard 56k modem.

• Uses multiple channels to send out your emails accurately at a very fast rate of speed.

• Sends email messages using either plain text or html (rich text and graphics).

• Imports email addresses from standard text files, word processor files, and database files.

• Features extensive logging capabilities to keep records of your email campaigns.

• Complete online help file with simple step-by-step instructions.

Let's get started!

Screen #1

When you open Prospect Mailer, the first screen you will see is this:

There are two ways to load email addresses into Prospect Mailer - by loading files that have email addresses in them and/or by adding individual email addresses on the fly. To load using files, simply click the "add file to list" button on the right panel of the screen and browse your computer to find the file(s) you want to load. These can be files you have saved that you collected with Prospect Finder or other email address collection programs, database files, email address lists, files that you have exported from your email program's address book, etc. To load multiple files to send, simply repeat this procedure until you have loaded all of your files. To remove a file, select the file in the window by touching it with your mouse pointer (which will highlight the file), and click the "remove selected file from list" button on the right panel of the screen.

To add email addresses one by one, click the "add address to list" button on the right panel of the screen and type in the address you want to send to. To load multiple email addresses to send, simply repeat this procedure until you have loaded all of your addresses. To remove an email address, select the address in the window by touching it with your mouse pointer (which will highlight the address), and click the "remove selected address from list" button on the right panel of the screen.

Screen #2

The second screen you come to has four options. The first one is designed to allow you to choose the "remove" file(s) with email addresses in them that you do not want to send to. These files can be filled with email addresses from previous mailings that you have created with Prospect Remover, and should contain email addresses that you do not want to send to. To add a file, click the button on the right panel of the screen underneath "Load exclude addresses from file". Note: This process accepts only one file at a time in order to reduce the load on your computer. If you want to load more than one remove file, we recommend using Prospect Manager to combine multiple remove files into one.

If you choose to load a "remove" file here, the Prospect Mailer removes all of the email addresses in the "remove" file(s) from your current mailing. For example, let's say you send out 50,000 emails on Thursday. Once this mailing is done, you either use Prospect Remover to automatically create a remove request file or you enter them into a file manually. Now you are ready to send out 50,000 more emails on Friday, but you want to make sure that you don't send them to any of the recipients that you sent to on Thursday. So, you simply load the "remove" file that you created on Thursday and it removes those email addresses from Friday's mailing.

The second option, "Restrict Individual Addresses", allows you to add individual email addresses that you do not want to send to one by one. To add email addresses one by one, enter the email address you do not want to send to and click the "add" button. To remove an email address from this window, select the address by touching it with your mouse pointer (which will highlight the address), and click the "remove" button. To remove an address, select the address in the window by touching it with your mouse pointer (which will highlight the address), and click the "remove" button.

The third option, "Restrict Domains", allows you to add remove domain extensions that you do not want to send to. For example, many commercial emailers do not want to send their emails to schools and universities, which usually have an .edu extension. By putting "edu" in this window, all email addresses with this type of extension will be removed from your mailing. This is very useful if you have particular domain types that you want to exclude from your mailings, such as .gov (government), wa-state-resident.com (Washington state residents), .mil (military), etc. To remove a domain, select the domain in the window by touching it with your mouse pointer (which will highlight the domain), and click the "remove" button.

The fourth and final option on this screen, "Restrict Containing Text", allows you to add text that may be found in an email address that you do not want to send to. For example, many ISP's have an "abuse" email address that is only for reporting abuse. This usually begins with the text "abuse", "spam", or "complaint", etc. If you want to avoid sending emails to addresses that have this or other text in them, simply type the text into this window and click the "add" button. To remove an entry, select the test in the window by touching it with your mouse pointer (which will highlight the text), and click the "remove" button.

Screen #3

This screen serves to prepare your email message body for emailing. The Prospect Mailer Email Composer allows you to use colored text, pictures, graphics, animated gifs, and much more. Its features work just like the most popular word processor programs. The toolbar above the composer window provides you with a full selection of creative tools to make your email message look much more attractive and appealing to the recipient as compared to a plain text message. You can also load an existing html file to use as your email message.

Below the composer window you will find four tabs that allow access to the following function modes:

Edit Mode - Allows you to edit your email message using the tools on the toolbar.

Source Mode - Allows you to view the html source code of the email message.

Preview Mode - Allows you to preview the html email message that you have created.

Plain Text - Allows you to enter a plain text message for those who cannot receive html emails.

Here is an explanation of the functions of each tool on the toolbar:

  Opens an existing html file to use for your email message.

  Creates a new html document.

  Saves your current email message to an html file.

  Removes the selected item and copies it to the Windows clipboard.

  Copies the selected item to the Windows clipboard.

  Pastes the item in the Windows clipboard into your document at the cursor position.

  Allows you to choose different fonts, font size, and font color.

  Changes the selected text to bold and back.

  Changes the selected text to italic and back.

  Changes the selected text to underlined and back.

  Aligns the selected text to flush left.

  Aligns the selected text to centered.

  Aligns the selected text to flush right.

  Changes the selected text to an ordered list using consecutive numbers.

  Changes the selected text to an unordered list using bullets.

  Removes the indentation from the selected type.

  Adds indentation from the selected type.

  Allows you to add a link to the selected text.

  Allows you to insert an image (photo, graphic, animated gif, etc.).

  Allows you to add a horizontal rule (line).

  Opens the color menu (see below):

Once you have completed entering your email message, click the "next" button to proceed.

Screen #4

This screen determines the following extended message options for your email:

Identity - This area allows you to choose the "from" information for your email. You can enter several different identities to use for this purpose. For example, if you want to send your newsletter from newsletters@your-domain.com, your employment offers from resumes@your-domain.com, your sales advertisements from sales@your-domain.com, etc., you can store these different identities by clicking on the "identities" button. This will open a window that will allow you to enter multiple identities and save them for future use. To use one of these saved identities, simply click on the "identities" button and select the identity you want to use.

Message Options - The first option is to create or select the subject line for your email. To enter a new subject line, simply type it in the "Message Subject" field. To select a subject line that was previously used, click on the arrow to the right of the field and select it. The "To Display Name" field gives you two options. The default option is to show the full email address of your recipient in the "To:" field of the email. The other option allows you to display only the username portion of the email in the "To:" field. For instance, the email address johndoe@any-domain would only show the johndoe portion of the address in the "To:" field.

Message Priority - Allows you to choose the message priority of the email: Low, Normal, or High.

Read Receipt - Allows you to request a read receipt from the recipient, letting you know the message was received.

Attachments - To add a file attachment(s) to your email, click the "add/remove attachments" button and select the file(s) from your computer to attach to your email.

Mail Server Configuration - To make changes to the mail server settings in Prospect Mailer, click on the "mail server configuration" button. This will open the following screen:

Mail Server Configuration Screen

This screen determines the send options for your email. The first section allows you to configure your Email Credentials... NOTE: ISP must have an open port 25, which is the default port used on Mail Servers to send email through. Some of the larger ISPs block this port, forcing you to send email only through their mail server. If that is the case, you must enter the mail server name that was provided by your ISP. Check your ISP documentation or ask your ISP if you are not aware of what the mail server name is. You will need it for any email software that you use, including Outlook and other email client software programs.

Some ISPs have a "pop before sending" feature that forces you to check your email before you are able to send email through their mail server. If this is the case, you will need to enter the mail server name along with your username and password which will then "pop" the account, allowing you to send your email without first checking your email account. If you're not sure, ask your Email Hosting provider or just leave it blank and see if your email will send without it. If so, your Email Hosting provider does not have a "pop before sending" rule.

In the "Extended Options" section you have three more options. To increase the speed of your mailings, you can choose to use the BCC feature (blind carbon copy). This sends the emails in groups determined by the number of recipients that you enter, and can help your emails be delivered at a much faster rate of speed.

The "Log all activity to a file" feature will create an smtp log of the mail server activity as your emails are being sent. This log can get quite large if you are sending a lot of emails, so make sure you have adequate hard drive space to accommodate it if you decide to use this feature. It can be quite helpful in determining any problems you may experience when sending your emails, as it shows the reason for undeliverable emails, trouble connecting to mail servers, etc.

The "Save failed addresses to file" feature creates a file of all the email addresses that are unable to be delivered during your emailing for whatever reason (unable to connect to server, invalid email address, over quota, etc.). This file can then be used to filter the undeliverable addresses out of your lists.

The "Save successful addresses to file" feature creates a file of all successfully delivered email addresses that can then be used for several purposes. For example, if you have not verified your email address list before you send it, this feature will save all of the valid email addresses to a file and exclude the undeliverable ones. You can also use this file as a "remove" file in order to keep from sending emails to these email addresses again.

Once you are finished on this screen, click the "next" button to proceed.

Screen #6

This screen processes your email address list, removing duplicate email addresses and other addresses based on the criteria that you may have entered on Screen #2. To proceed, you must press the "Process List!" button. This process may take a while depending on the size of your email address list and the amount of filter criteria that you may have entered on Screen #2.

Once you are finished on this screen, click the "next" button to proceed.

Screen #7

This screen allows you to view the process of your emails being sent and also offers a few final options regarding the emailing process. There is a "Send yourself a preview email" that allows you to send a quick email to yourself in order to preview what it will look like before you send it to your entire list in case you want to make any last minute changes. To use it, simply press the button and enter the email address that you want the preview email sent to.

The "Retry failed sends" allows you to determine the number of times you want your emails retried if they are unable to connect to the recipient's mail server on the first attempt. This feature can be very helpful because at peak internet usage times, many mail servers turn emails away from time to time, giving a "server is too busy at this time, try again later" message. If you do not use the retry feature, these emails will simply be dropped.

The "Number of channels to use" feature is a very important setting in Prospect Mailer, as it will ultimately determine the speed at which your emails are delivered. By default, it is set at two channels. This is because some slower dial-up internet connections will choke and bog down if you attempt to send your emails using more channels. In addition, some ISPs limit the number of mail server connections coming from one IP address, and will temporarily block your emails altogether if this limit is reached. The only way to find out how many channels that you can effectively use is through a trial-and-error process. If you have a fast internet connection, such as DSL, cable, ISDN, or a T1, you will be able to effectively use more channels - possibly even up to the maximum of 100. If you are on a slower dial-up connection, you will probably encounter a lot of connection errors if you increase the number of channels beyond that which your connection is capable of handling.

When you are ready to send your emails, press the "Go!" button. To stop your emails from being sent at any time, press the "Stop!" button (note: this will not pause your emailing - it will stop it completely and when you hit "Go!" again your mailing will start over from the beginning of your list).