Here are answers to some commonly asked questions about email marketing on Gist.
When are ongoing email messages sent?
Each ongoing email messages sent to your users is different and depends on a few factors:
- When you first put your message live: As soon as you set your message live we will immediately check for matching users and queue messages to be sent to them whenever their actions or behavior match the conditions set by you.
- Once each hour: In the case that your user hasn't logged in or if the user had their data updated since the creation of the ongoing email message, Gist checks once every hour to see if there are any messages that now match that user and their data. Time-based messages frequently are sent under this condition.
- When the messenger loads or a call to Gist('update’) is complete.
If you use the REST API to send either data updates or event calls and want to trigger an immediate email message, you can make this call after your update or event call to trigger messages to be checked for that user.
Ongoing email messages in most cases are sent by Gist only once per user.
Is it possible to recall an email once it's been sent?
No, it's not possible to delete or recall an email once it has been sent. You can delete manual in-app messages to prevent them from sending to any users that have not yet received them.
But in the case of emails, once they are sent by Gist, they cannot be deleted. You can only pause ongoing email messages to stop it from being sent to any additional users, but those that have already been sent cannot be recalled.
How quickly does Gist deliver emails?
Gist delivers all emails (automated campaigns or manual one-off email messages) to your target user segments as quickly as possible.
How long it takes to deliver your message to your users, is based on two major factors:
1. The number of users you're messaging
If your user segment contains thousands of users, then it obviously takes more than if you only have a few dozen users. The more targeted your messages are the quicker they’ll be delivered.
But if you have a huge user segment, then take into consideration the fact that not all users receive your email at the same time. Emails will be sent in batches and some users may get the emails before others.
This fact must be kept in mind if you’re planning to send an email campaign that involves a limited offer.
2. The state of our queues when you hit the send button
If a number of our customers send emails to large user segments at the same time, the emails are added to a queue.
Why do emails to smaller groups of users deliver faster?
We batch message delivery into several logical units of work and each stage is processed on a queue. Messages sent to a smaller number of users get placed into higher priority queues. Therefore, the more targeted your messages are the faster they’ll get delivered.
How to schedule my emails right?
It is important that you send your emails at the right time because no matter how good the content of the email is, you must ensure that the emails reach their intended recipients at the right moment. With Gist, you can schedule your emails to go live by a certain time, and Gist will buffer the emails and launch them at the exact time you want them to reach your users' inboxes.
Whether it is an ongoing email message or a one-off email message or a campaign, you can decide the times when your emails should go live.
How does Gist deliver push, and email notifications?
Gist sends push and email notifications to your teammates and your users, in order to keep engagement high at all times.
Browser push notifications
Browser push notifications are sent when there is a new message on the Gist messenger.
Both your users and your teammates receive these notifications, and they are sent immediately.
Along with the browser push notification, an audio or notification sound is also triggered to alert the user or your teammate, of a new message. Notification sounds are triggered even if someone is viewing the conversation.
Browser tab alerts also appear in all tabs that contain your website.
Email notifications
If a lead or user goes offline and does not come back to read your messages, then after 2 minutes of delay, Gist sends all unread messages together in one email to the user so they’re not bombarded with multiple emails.
But note that each conversation is considered separate and as such is sent as a separate email. If you have multiple conversations with a user, or if a user talks to more than one of your teammates, then each conversation is sent as a separate email to the user.
If a user sends a new message or responds to an existing conversation, and none of your teammates view the message within 2 minutes, then Gist automatically sends the unread messages to everyone on your team.
Remember that even if one of your teammates views the incoming message within 2 minutes, no one receives an email notification from Gist.
How to remove Gist branding from emails?
You'll need to subscribe to the Growth and All in One plan to remove Gist branding from Gist emails.
Can I A/B test emails on Gist?
Not right now. We're working on releasing an update that will allow you to A/B test multiple variants of your email campaigns.
How good is your email deliverability rate?
We use Sendgrid and Rackspace's mail service Mailgun. Both are extremely reliable, fast and secure. Companies such as Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, and Heroku use them, among many others.
Why was my email sent to the promotions folder?
Gmail delivers messages to tabbed inboxes based on complex and changing algorithms that consider subscriber engagement, content, and sender information. Marketing and bulk emails often have a higher chance of being delivered to the Promotions tab. Unfortunately, Gist has no control over the placement of emails in Gmail, and there is no proven way to "hack" Gmail's algorithms. Only a subscriber can move your emails from the Promotions tab to the Primary tab. To get your email delivered to the main inbox, make sure your email content is clean, helpful, and exactly what your subscribers want to read.
Can Gist deliver my emails to my customers' main inbox?
The only way to improve your campaign's chances of landing in the Primary tab is to maintain a healthy subscriber list and to avoid overwhelming subscribers with emails. Writing engaging emails without spammy or sales-y content can help too. An engaged subscriber would be willing to teach their Gmail account to move your campaigns to the Primary tab. You can also ask your subscribers to add your email address to their contacts list or mark your emails as important.
Are the emails send from Gist mobile responsive?
Yes, any email that you craft on Gist is fully mobile responsive. You can even preview how emails look on desktop and mobile devices, while writing the email, and also send yourself a test email before finalizing everything.
Can I manually add a user to a campaign?
Yes, we have both a server-side REST API and a client side JavaScript API that allow you to add subscribers. You can also add subscribers, tags and custom events through the Gist web interface by CSV import using Imports/Bulk Ops. And you can always export your subscribers to CSV from the Campaign → Subscribers tab.
How are unsubscribes handled?
Our emails keep with CAN-SPAM compliance by providing an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email and you’ll not be able to disable it. We also give you the option to setup automations to unsubscribe users from a campaign when they take a particular action - like clicking a link. You can set this up in the Automations page.
What is preheader text?
A preheader is the short summary text that follows the subject line when an email is viewed in the inbox. Many mobile, desktop and web email clients provide them to tip you off on what the email contains before you open it. When creating an email in Gist, you can customize what to appear in the preheader text.
Does Gist replace typical email service providers or work alongside them?
Gist is a full-featured email service provider and is designed to handle all of your email marketing and marketing automation needs, from tracking users, creating targeted segments, sending marketing sequences and one-off broadcasts, sending emails to trial/demo users, and paying customers. Gist also has advanced automation features like tags, custom events, and custom fields/attributes.
Can one-off email messages be queued up to go at a later date?
Yes! You can schedule one-off email messages to be sent at a time of your choice and can send a one-off email message to multiple segments as well.
Can I send individual emails and email sequences based on actions a user performs in my application?
Definitely. In addition to marketing emails, Gist can be triggered to send emails based on events in your app such as creating their first project, tracking their first minute of time, or viewing your upgrade page.
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