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Preview E-Mail Options for Masters
Added: 8/5/2003
Article ID#: FC000006
Overview
The e-mail screens for guests, groups, agents and owners have options for previewing e-mails. There are check boxes in the "Show Recipients" area of the screen. These options put focus on invalid e-mails and allow them to be fixed prior to sending out e-mails.
| Show valid E-mails |
When "Show valid e-mails" is checked, the "Preview E-mail" button in Reporter will only display e-mail addresses that are "valid". A "valid e-mail" is one that has an address using the proper e-mail syntax. "Test@@noplace.com" is not valid because two "@" signs are not proper
e-mail syntax. A "valid e-mail" address does not guarantee that an e-mail can be delivered. For example, "Test@Noplace.com" is a valid e-mail, but cannot be delivered because "noplace.com" is not a legitimate domain. When mass e-mails are sent you should always check "show valid e-mails", as this will prevent invalid e-mails (such as "Test@@noplace.com") from showing. |
|---|---|
| Show Invalid E-mails |
When "Show invalid e-mails" is checked, the "Preview E-mail" button in Reporter will display e-mail addresses that
have an invalid syntax. See above for a definition of an "invalid e-mail address". Use this option to find all e-mail addresses with invalid syntax so they may be corrected. |
| Show Blanks | When "Blanks" is checked, the "Preview E-mail" button in Reporter will display master records that have a blank e-mail address. This option can be used to track down all master records without an e-mail. |
| Check for Mail Server |
When "Show Valid E-mails" is selected, the "Check for Mail Server" box is enabled. Click the "Show" button to verify the domain of the e-mail address can be contacted. For example, on the e-mail "test@noplace.com", the Reporter attempts to contact the domain "noplace.com". The status of each e-mail is displayed on the Recipients tab. |
| Duplicate E-mail Addresses |
The reporter screens duplicate e-mails by default. When two or more guest history records have the same
e-mail address, the address only displays once. Duplicates are
eliminated when sending mass e-mails. To clean up your database, run the "GuestEmailDupes" report in the Reports10/GuestHistory folder. |
| Name Does Not Exist |
The Reporter
cannot determine
if the e-mail name actually exists at the domain. For example, "Test@Resortdata.com" will pass the "valid e-mail test" because
the format is correct. It also passes the test for the domain mail server because the domain "Resortdata.com" can be contacted. However,
an e-mail cannot actually be delivered to "Test@Resortdata.com" because the e-mail name "Test" does not exist at Resortdata.com. When e-mails are sent with Reporter, the e-mail to "Test@Resortdata.com" will be sent. When it arrives at "Resortdata.com", it will be rejected by that mail server since "test" does not exist, and an "undeliverable" e-mail return message will be sent to you. These should appear in your inbox when outlook express is used to fetch e-mail from the machine used to send the e-mails with Reporter. |
Best Practices for Mass E-mail
- Always include an option to "opt-out", which allows the recipient to no longer receive your e-mails. This follows proper anti-spam rules. Just check the "Don't Mass E-mail" box on the guest history record to prevent unwanted e-mails from being sent to this recipient in the future.
- Always preview e-mails before sending. If not the Reporter will send no e-mails.
- Always select "show valid e-mails". This prevents the Reporter from trying to send e-mails with non-valid syntax.
- As a general rule, do not check the "Test for domain's mail server", when sending a mass e-mail. A given mail server could be valid, but may be "down" at the instant the test is conducted.