Post-Master Express Quick Walk-through Training

Brief Overview - (read first)

To begin, you need to understand the basic flow of Postmaster Express before you start setting it up. Read through this brief overview of Postmaster Express before going through the step-by-step instructions below so that you have a better grasp of what Postmaster Express is and how Postmaster Express works.

Postmaster Express can handle 100% of your email marketing for you 24/7. It will handle your email marketing campaigns seamlessly and with the addition of IES (the part of the software that automatically adds, removes contacts to the database), you can handle opt-ins, removes, and auto-responders as well.
The main key is to have a good understanding of what you are trying to accomplish and then set up the software properly based on your needs. When setting up and implementing a new aspect or part of a business there is a learning curve. Chances are, the same will be true when setting up Postmaster Express. But, if you follow our simple step-by-step instructions, you should have no troubles sinking in to email marketing/contact management using Postmaster Express. And, if you ever get stuck or cannot get something figured out, we have a well-trained support staff ready to help. Just call our toll free number (888) 793-2882. We ask that you read through this tutorial first before you call us about setup questions so we can help every one as quickly as possible.

Now for the basic flow of Postmaster Express...

Postmaster Express uses Categories to group contacts together. This allows you to send out targeted email campaigns. Thus, if you have contacts who don't know about your product and contacts who have purchased from you already, you can differentiate between them by putting your contacts into the appropriate category (Prospect or Customer for example).
You should first have a good idea of the categories you are going to create and use. You will set up a series of messages for each category from the Message Library (a central storage location where all messages are stored) to go out to contacts in each particular category over a specified period of time. Thus, each category has it's own series of messages that will be sent.
*Note* You can share messages across categories if you'd like also.

Once you have a good idea of the categories you will need to use Postmaster Express effectively, you will want to add all the messages  that will be used to the Message Library. 
Once you have added all the messages to the Message Library, you then need to add and setup up your categories.
Then, once you have your categories set up with their respective message series, you can add contacts to Postmaster Express making sure each contact goes into the appropriate category.
Finally, all you need do is Generate the email that needs to go out for the day and click Send. This is a simple process since Postmaster Express figures out who needs what email and when once you have your software properly setup.

To recap:
1)Add all your Messages to the Message Library
2)Add all your categories and setup a message series for each
3)Add your contacts to the appropriate categories
4)Once a day, generate and send out your email.


Now that we know the basic flow of Postmaster Express, let's set it up! Once you have installed the software, you can start from here.

To open Postmaster Express, go to the Start Button (located in the lower left hand corner of your screen) / Programs / Postmaster Express and Select or Click on Postmaster Express. (Don't worry about Incoming Email Solution (IES) yet. You should set up IES only after you have have a good understanding of Postmaster Express and it is up and running.)

You are now at the registration screen. Until you register/purchase our software, this screen contains the serial number you will need to send to mailto:mark@post-master.net?subject=PERegnumber to unlock your software package.

If you have not purchased, leave the registration box blank and just click on continue. Another window will come up telling you how many sends you have remaining in your trial version.
We will begin with Settings

1) Settings:

Your settings will give the software the information it needs to send out your email follow up. Click the words "Settings" in the left navigation bar on the Postmaster Express Screen.

The Settings Wizard will pop-up. All of the information you will need is explained by the wizard. READ CAREFULLY and follow the instructions in the wizard!!

2) Message Library:

Now you are ready to set up Postmaster Express. It is important to have your messages created before you intend to actually use this software for use with your business. If you are just looking to test the software you can create test messages.

In the upper left hand corner of the screen you will see 4 Icons. Click on the Message Library.

All messages that are sent out of Postmaster come from the message library.
To create a message, Click on "Add a message".
The Message ID number is assigned automatically.
The Title of this message is not seen by the recipient. It is so you can identify what the message pertains to for use later when you assign messages to a given category.
Now fill in the subject line for this message. This will be seen by the recipient as the subject of the email.

Now click on the button to Add or edit this message. You will have the choice to enter an html message, a text message, or both. If you create your message in html, just paste the source code into the html message box. If the recipients' email program is not set up to read html, it will be un-readable. This is why we give the option to send both html and text at the same time.
It will always try to display the html message 1st, if they are not set up to read html, the text message will appear.

When you have finished putting in the message, click the Done button in the upper right hand corner of the screen to return to the Add/ Edit message window and click on "save message".

Repeat this until all of you messages are entered.

Now click on the 2nd icon called "Categories".

3) Categories:

A category defines what type of follow up will be sent. You may have more than 1 category for each business.

Here is and example of 3 categories:

Postmaster Prospects
Postmaster Affiliates
Postmaster Customers


Each of these categories will have different types of follow-up messages assigned to them (the messages are stored in the Message Library).

To create a category, Click on "Add a category" and enter in the name you want for the category and click on the add button. Then, select the category from the list you just named and click "next".

Step 2 will allow you to set up a different signature line for this category. This will allow you to use a different from name, return email address, and signature line for all messages in this category.

*NOTE* Your ISP may have limitations on using a reply (from) email address not hosted on their mail server.

Click next

Now you will choose the message that you entered into the messages library for this category. Start with the first message you want in the series and decide how many days you want to wait until the next message is sent. Repeat this process until you have built your series. Then click on "next" and "save"

If you want to edit or add messages to this category later, you can add messages to the beginning or end of the series only.

4) Importing contacts:

Now you are ready to enter in your contacts. If you have a list of your contacts in a text file you can use the Import Mapper Wizard located under the Tools section located in the LOWER LEFT corner of the navigation bar.
Your list MUST be in tab delimited format.
If you don't have it in tab delimited, open up your file in a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel and save it as a tab delimited file.

Once you have the tab delimited file, click on the Import Mapper button under tools and proceed through the wizard.
Step 1 will have you browse for your tab delimited file.
Click next and click on the data in the table on the left and decide where you want that data in your Postmaster database. Once you have mapped all of your data click on "next".
Now choose the category from the drop down menu you want your contacts to be entered into. Now Click import.

You can also add a contact manually by going into the contacts screen. Click on the Contact Icon and select the add contact button. Fill in all of the info that you desire and add them to the category or categories that you want. Then click "Save" and you will return to the Contact window. You can search for contacts by full or partial information.

Most of the search features and functions in contacts, are self explained.

Now we are ready to send messages. Go to tools and select Generate/Send email.

5) Generate/Send email:

When you click on the button to generate category emails, Postmaster Express will look at each contact record and see what messages are supposed to be sent to each contact today. Once it sends the message it updates the contact record for the next message in the series and how many days it should wait to send it. Now just hit "send" and postmaster will do your follow up. DO NOT!! Close this window as instructed until it is finished sending.

Call our support line at 888-793-2882 if you need further assistance or would like to place your order.

Troy Miller
Online Automation, Inc
116 West Edmonton Drive Suite #224
Bismarck, ND 58503
888-793-2882
support@post-master.net