Maildrop

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should my business use the Maildrop email marketing system?

It goes directly to the inbox of its intended recipient and allows highly targeted and personalised messages to be sent.

In addition Maildrop is…

• Inexpensive - There is no comparison to printing & postage costs.
• Flexible - Changes can be made in minutes and databases updated easily.
• Measurable - Track and measure results enabling you to improve your marketing strategy.
• Instant - Over 80% of responses are received within 72 hours.

Is there training & support available?

Yes! Maildrop is simple to use & we’ll give you a link to a comprehensive online video training guide. On-site training can also be provided if you need it, and you live near Christchurch, New Zealand. And if you run into any problems along the way, we are here to help.

How long does it take to get an account set up?

Once you submit our request form, one of our team will contact you to complete the process. Generally, you should be up and running within a couple of business days.

How does Maildrop integrate with my website?

There are two main ways. First, you can put simple forms on your website to allow visitors to subscribe to your email lists. Second, you can automatically display all of your past email newsletters so that website visitors can see them. This display is handled automatically. Contact Catchlight for more information on this topic.

Can my newsletter look like my website?

Yes. Our design team can make you a Maildrop template that will ensure design continuity with your website. See our Pricing options for template designs.

Can I send my newsletter campaign to anyone I like?

The short answer to this is no. To send an email to anyone using Maildrop, you need to have obtained their permission. This is also a legal requirement in New Zealand since legislation regulating commercial email passed through the New Zealand Parliament at the end of February 2007 in the form of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act.

Obtaining permission could be done through:

• Placing an email newsletter subscribe form on your web site. (This is easily done using Maildrop.)
• Having an opt-in checkbox on all your company forms.
• Contacting customers who have purchased from you within the last 2 years and inviting them to receive the newsletters. Generally it's ok to contact via email if you have done business with them in the last 2 years but don't just add them to your email list without first contacting them and asking them specifically if they want to receive it.
• If someone gives you their business card and you have asked their permission - every time you receive a business card make a habit to ask if they would like to receive your newsletter.
• If they dropped their business card in a fishbowl at a trade show (with a clear permission sign).

Is there a limit to how many emails I can send?

No, you can send as many email campaigns to as many recipients as you like. Each campaign you send to more than 5 people will cost $20 plus 4 cents per recipient. If you have a subscriber list of over 500 people you will have to provide a short description stating how you obtained the email addresses and permission will be granted to start sending within 12 hours. This check is to ensure that none of our customers are sending Spam. We really don't like Spam.

Can I have more than one email template?

Yes, we can design as many templates as you need. This is useful if you need to send out different campaigns with different layouts, designs or for different brands. Fill out our enquiry form to discuss your requirements.

How do I export my Contacts from Outlook?

Relevant for:

Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003
Microsoft Outlook® 2002
Microsoft Office Excel 2003
Microsoft Excel 2002

The Import and Export Wizard in Outlook makes it easy to export contact information from Outlook into an Excel worksheet (worksheet: The primary document that you use in Excel to store and work with data. Also called a spreadsheet. A worksheet consists of cells that are organized into columns and rows; a worksheet is always stored in a workbook.).

Note: Before you use the wizard, it helps to understand the difference between the Outlook Address Book (Address Book: The collection of address books that you can use to store names, e-mail addresses, fax numbers, and distribution lists. The Address Book may contain a Global Address List, an Outlook Address Book, and a Personal Address Book.) and Outlook Contacts. Both are part of Outlook. However, the Address Book is a compilation of the different address lists you might have stored in Outlook, such as a Personal Address Book (.pab), LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): A protocol that provides access to Internet Directories.) Internet directories, the Global Address List (GAL) (Global Address List: The address book that contains all user, group, and distribution list e-mail addresses in your organization. The administrator creates and maintains this address book. It may also contain public folder e-mail addresses.), or other third-party address books. Contacts is just one of the address lists that make up the Address Book. Only contacts can be exported directly from Outlook to Excel.

1. In Outlook, on the File menu, click Import and Export.
2. Click Export to a file, and then click Next.
3. Click Microsoft Excel, and then click Next.
4. In the folder list, click the Contacts folder, and then click Next.
5. Browse to the folder where you want to save the contacts as an Excel file (.xls).
6. Type a name for the exported file, and then click OK.
7. Click Next.
8. Optional: To add or remove fields to determine the way the contact information is saved in the new Excel worksheet, click Map Custom Fields.
9. Click Finish.

Is my email list secure with Maildrop

Firstly, Catchlight Maildrop treat every list provided to us with the utmost confidence. We do not share lists with other clients, sell or rent your list out to anyone, ever!
Where Maildrop is hosted, we have several layers of protection around our servers.

These include; proximity cards with PIN required just to enter the building, fingerprint scan is to enter the data center, locked cages and cabinets to secure all the hardware, Video surveillance and vibration detection.

On the software front (the equally important stuff) we have data stored on servers behind a constantly maintained firewall. There is security built into the operating system preventing outside access, and all major security patches are tested and applied within 2 weeks of release. Beyond that, the databases themselves are secured by additional access restrictions, and more sensitive data is also encrypted within the database as an extra precaution.

SSL Certificates are used for passing credit card information between the client and our server so that it cannot be intercepted in transit.

Is my data backed up?

Without a doubt! Your data is constantly mirrored to a redundant backup server, meaning in the event of any significant failure we can instantly switch to this live backup without any data loss. All our hardware is also fully redundant so even if a disk suddenly dies, nothing will go down and no data will be lost. Further to these measures, all your data is backed up to an off-site location every night so that in the event of a system-wide disaster, we can perform a full backup recovery.