Revamped Project Planner with (Helpful) Supplement Guides

With the recent release of the new Mailchimp, we decided it was time to revamp our Mailchimp Project Planner, a quick guide to getting started. But we didn’t stop there! We decided to re-release the project planner with a host of helpful supplements that cover topics like the Expert Exchange Program, variant selectors, and our new template quick start guide (with screenshots!).

Our new project planner and supplements are great tools to help you get the most out of Mailchimp and working with our agency. The new guides are available for download at checkout for new projects and for those clients who place their order via phone or email they can be found in your project workspace within Basecamp.

mailchimp-project-plannerThe project planner and supplements cover

  • Getting Started
  • The Expert Exchange or EEP! Program
  • Navigating Basecamp
  • Granting Account Access
  • Layout Guidelines
  • Variant Selectors
  • Merge Tags
  • and our Template Quick Start Guide

for a total of 8 documents in all!

If you have ideas on additional supplements you’d like to see drop us a line in the comments section; we’d love to hear from you!

Editing Hard Coded Social Media (and other) Links in your Mailchimp Template

Editing Hard Coded Links in Mailchimp

When we create your template if we have access to your web site containing your social media links or you have provided them to us via Basecamp we’ll go ahead and link your icons to their respective profiles. But if we didn’t have access to this information at the time your template was coded you may need to update the social media links yourself. Read more

Uploading your Template ZIP File to Mailchimp

uploadingyourtemplatezip

Upon completion of your project, our team will install your template to your Mailchimp account, provided you’ve granted us access, allowing you to get going with your template quickly. We also provide you with a zip file version of your template in the event you ever need to restore your template for any reason (or if you’d rather handle upload of the template yourself). Read more

Scaling Images Proportionally on Mobile Devices using Mailchimp

scalingimagesmobile

If your Mailchimp template includes mobile integration allowing your email to scale automatically based on the device it’s being viewed on you may have noticed an issue pertaining to the height of your scaled images. Mainly disproportionate scaling of your image resulting in a too tall height in relation to the scaled down width. Read more

Top 5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Mailchimp in the New Year

Now that the holidays and the subsequent email fatigue have passed it’s time to shift gears and focus on your email marketing strategy for 2013. Here are a few tips from our experts to help you start the new year on the best  foot possible.

unsubreason5. Focus on unsubscribes. A few years back Mailchimp added the unsubscribe exit survey, a great way to poll outgoing subscribers on what you could have done better. While it’s always a bummer to loose subscribers, the brief exit survey is a great tool to help you improve your content for your current subscribers, giving them more of what they want and less of what they don’t. Get key, actionable insight into the reason folks abandon your list, at the moment they choose to do so, giving you honest, valuable information on potential improvements.

4. Optimize your campaigns for images off. Do your emails maintain their hierarchy and pertinent information when images are disabled (or before they’re allowed by the user)? Optimize your email campaigns by maximizing smart use of image alt tags to ensure key details, such as your call to action, are viewable (and actionable) even when in an images-off environment. Keep your image alt tags short and descriptive so recipients aren’t left guessing as to a links’ destination, or what action you’d like them to take.

3. Put an emphasis on social sharing. Make it easy for subscribers to share your campaigns utilizing a mix of Mailchimp merge tags and sharing specific calls to action. And then track those shares using Mailchimp’s Social Stats reporting tools. Social Stats, serves up insightful statistics such as who likes you and how many of your subscribers’ friends do too. Coupling email marketing and social networks together allows you to harness the benefits of each tools individual strengths and amplify them as they work together.

2. Prevent unsubscribes in forwarded emails. You’d hate to put an increased emphasis on social sharing just to have a long time fan accidentally unsubscribed when he excitedly forwards your latest campaign to a friend (or an entire group of coworkers). By introducing an original-only variant* into your template’s coding you can control who your subscriber’s unsubscribe link is shown to and more importantly keep it from being shown to receipts of a forwarded message. Additionally serving up conditional content gives you the unique ability to present potential subscribers (those your message is shared with) with inviting calls to action, such as opting in to your list, that recipients of your original message will never see.

mobileopens

Connections 2012 Key Takeaway: Design for ALL Inboxes
Copyright © Salted Services, Inc. 2005-2012. All rights reserved.

 

1. Make your messages mobile friendly. Mobile opens have increased a reported 138%(!) in the last 18 months, with a 48% increase in 2012 alone. But designing emails that look great no matter what platform they’re viewed on can be tricky. Fortunately, Mailchimp makes it easy to serve up the right version of your content ensuring your message looks good no matter what. The magic lies in the mobile responsiveness of the template language which relies on media queries to seamlessly shift your content to a more mobile friendly layout when needed and back to the standard desktop version when it’s not.

Looking for more ideas? Check out our previous post, Top 10 Ways to get the most out of Mailchimp (and your email marketing efforts), for ten more ways to maximize your email marketing efforts.

 

*Unfortunately, this technique doesn’t fully work in Gmail since display: none isn’t supported, and inlining display: none !important can’t be overridden later.

Happy Labor Day from Blueprint Media Studios

Please note that Blueprint Media Studios will be closed beginning at 2 pm Friday August 31st, 2012 in observance of Labor Day. We will reopen Tuesday, September 4th at 10 am MST.

Live support will be unavailable during our closure. Messages received during our closure will be returned in the order they were received upon our return. Emergency hosting and domain support requests should be routed through our 24/7 Sales & Support number at (480) 624-2500. Again this is for hosting and domain related support only. All other inquiries should be routed via our toll-free number or using our web site contact form.

We wish all of our clients a very happy and safe Labor Day holiday. We look forward to working with you when we get back from a well deserved long weekend. See you next week!

P.S. Now through midnight MST Monday, September 3rd (Labor Day here in the US) receive $75 off your Mailchimp package purchase of $375 or more when you use the coupon code LABORDAY at checkout.

Now’s the perfect time to kick off your email marketing efforts just in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season!
Compare our Mailchimp packages side by side

* One offer per client. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Not valid on previously purchased packages.

New Basecamp Brief

Last week we rolled out a long awaited and highly anticipated update to our project management system, Basecamp, by 37signals. For those who have worked with Basecamp previously you’ll notice an immediate difference when logging into the new Basecamp for the first time, if you haven’t already. Modern and clean the new layout is reminiscent of Pinterest with board like organization of projects with a dash of Facebook like timelime, time stamp, and social features.

So what’s new you ask? A lot! We’re going to briefly touch on the major changes in this brief with plans to re-release our Getting Acquainted with Basecamp guide, revised to reflect working with the new Basecamp.

Gone are the multiple navigation tabs which have made way for a simple primary text based navigation consisting of “projects”, “calendar”, “daily progress”, “everyone”, and “me”. Basecamp single page projects keep everything together with secondary categories divided into areas comprised of “discussions”, “to-dos”, “files”, “events”, and “text documents”.  Top primary and secondary navigation make it easy to jump to the area you are looking for – think table of contents.

Your “me” page shows you every to-do that’s assigned to you, as well as all the to-dos that you’ve completed. You can also view everything assigned to others in your project, by person, via the “everyone” page allowing you to see what’s getting done, and who’s getting it done.

The “catch up” link found in the upper right hand corner of each project allows you to page through a project – or all your projects – one day at a time. It’s never been simpler to catch up on what you missed. The “upcoming events” area located to the right of your project details contains a listing of your upcoming events allowing you to view important project details at a glance.

Utilize the calendar page to view a timeline of your project deliverables once scheduled by our production team. This is one of the most widely used features of our project management system and a key component to understanding your project’s timeline and delivery expectations.

Check on the “daily progress” of your project for a timeline like view of your project happenings. As you scroll down the daily progress timeline you move back in time allowing you to see exactly what happened in the order it happened. Large circles denote dates and every event is time stamped down to the minute.

Take advantage of the search box located in the upper right corner (Basecamp wide) to search across all projects for the information you’re looking for. Quickly and easily search discussions, to-dos, and files for key details.

Ultimately we hope you’ll find the new streamlined Basecamp easier to navigate with an emphasis on key project information and collaboration between our team members and yours.

Posting Messages to Basecamp: A How-To Tutorial

Goodbye email. Hello Basecamp.

 

August 31, 2012: Basecamp has changed a lot since we originally published this post in December of 2011. We’ve updated this article to reflect the latest changes to Basecamp.

Pop a tent and stay awhile.

As most of our client’s know we’ve been using Basecamp for the last couple of few years to track our clients’ projects from conception to completion.

But inevitably, from time to time, we hear from folks that they’re just plain confused by the technical jargon and certain finesse that is required when using Basecamp to track their project.

In their frustration they simply gather up their documents, files, photographs, and questions, and fire them off to us via email in hopes that we will receive them and can sort them out. This is bad for a number of reasons.

  1. Firstly: Accountability. How do you know your message(s) reached the intended recipient? And when?
  2. That all your files were in fact still intact once they arrived and in the order they were intended?
  3. And, finally it’s just plain easier to track everything all in one place without all the hassle of back and forth with email communication and who said what to who when and where last Tuesday with the umbrella.  Use Basecamp messages to keep all the discussions about a project in one centralized location.

And if you’re a lover of all things email you’ll appreciate the tips and tricks below that will help you get the most out of your experience in working with our agency. We’ve also published a companion PDF guide, Getting Acquainted with Basecamp (which you’ll find in the “Files” area of your project), to assist you in getting started with Basecamp.

If at any time you have any questions please feel free to drop us a line; we’re always so glad to hear from you.

There are one of two ways to use Basecamp which we’ll outline below.

The Old Fashioned Way (also known as “by hand”)

When you login to Basecamp for the first time you’ll notice a series of navigation links located below your project name and details. These are your lifeline in Basecamp and grant you access to everything related to your project in one place.

Under the “Discussions” area you can post messages and reply to threads similar to a forum type setting while the “To-Dos” and “Dates” features allow you to track your project and gauge when you can expect your project to be completed.

Files and design collateral can be uploaded manually one of two ways. The first being under the “Files” link and the second being attached to a message. Drag and drop individual or groups of files to your project space easily. There are no limits to the number of files you may upload.

The New Fangled Fancy Way

Just fire off an email to your unique Basecamp email address and you’re on your way. No pain. All gain. Sweet.

Need to send off a project update, message, or other project related message, or materials? Using your unique Basecamp email address allows you to send an email to Basecamp containing all the pertinent details to get started on your project. You can even attach files to your emails which will be uploaded alongside the email message body.

To find your unique Basecamp email address login to your Basecamp account using your chosen login credentials.  Navigate to the project you wish to email content to. At the bottom right corner of every project you’ll see a link that says “Email content to this project”. Clicking this link will present an array of icon options on how to add content to your Basecamp project via email. Clicking any one of those icons shows you the simple steps for each feature.

Discussions aren’t the only things that can be created  via email. Basecamp gives you the ability to make to-do lists, create documents, upload files, or simply forward related emails (handy for looping our team in on internal emails from your company). And if the email is a HTML email, Basecamp shows the full HTML email too! Perfect for forwarding email newsletters that inspire you or sharing your current newsletter with us.

When Basecamp receives your email and posts your content to the project, it immediately sends you an email receipt letting you know it worked. And for most content, the email also includes a link to let you notify others on the project letting them know that you just added something to the project. No need to follow up with your project staff to inquire if they received the latest round of revisions or feedback from you team.

Another great feature that Basecamp recently unveiled is The Daily Recap. The Daily Recap report hits your inbox at the start of each day allowing you to start the morning by reviewing everything that happened yesterday – right from your inbox. Coffee not included.

In the event you would like more in depth up to date tracking clicking the “Catch up” link located in the upper right corner of your project space will give you a birds eye overview on what you missed.

The run around on email collaboration; forgetaboutit.

Say goodbye to lost emails forever.

Top 5 Ways to Expedite Your Project Process

Create a profile identity you’ll easily remember.

Within 24 hours of payment receipt you’ll receive an email inviting you to join our project management system, Basecamp. Basecamp is an easy to use web based project management system allowing you to track the status of your project every step of the way. Your log in credentials are key and give you access to everything you need to get your project underway.

Visit the files area to download your important documentation, if you haven’t already.

In the files area of the project management system you’ll find documentation pertaining to your project including agreements, worksheets, guides, questionnaires, how-tos, and more – some of which may  need to be signed and returned to our office.

 

Carefully read, review, sign, and return your completed documentation to our office as quickly as possible.

The sooner you return your completed project documentation the quicker we can get your project underway. Your thorough review and completion of project questionnaires and worksheets is vital to the positive outcome of your project.

We invite you to review these documents thoroughly and in their entirety to ensure you’re getting the most out of our services. Documentation should be returned within 7 days of purchase/invoice payment. Make sure you tick the box to alert us to the fact that you’ve uploaded your documentation and design collateral .

 

Upload your design collateral to our project management system for our design staff to use during the design and development phase.

Design  collateral is anything pertaining to your business that may help us in our current project. This could be your company’s logo artwork, other graphical elements that represent your business, corporate stationary, publications, etc.

 

Log in to Basecamp and review your upcoming tasks, milestones, and calendar events.

Within Basecamp you can access and review your upcoming tasks and milestones, marked by a label with your company or organization name or a person within your agency who is responsible for completing said task. When you’ve completed listed tasks and milestones be sure to tick off the items as completed in your To-Dos section alerting our agency to move your project forward; along to the next phase.

In the Calendar area of your project you’ll find a delivery timeline which adjusts in real time and will reflect the latest on your project status dependent on the status of your returned documents, payment receipt, etc. Check often to ensure that documentation, collateral, and feedback are all provided in a timely manner. You can even activate email updates to receive a daily digest notifying you of any to-do items or milestones that were added or completed in the last day.