Tags in autoresponder subject line

[Theo Kiers]

I saw that more details can be entered when you use turboautoresponder.com (nice upsell) as a third party autoresponder.

I happen to own and work with AutoresponsePlus.com. Additional details can be added with an email subsciption when you enter tags in the subjecline.

Can you enter tags like #{User.fname}in the subject line for third party autoresponders? If it is not a feature, it should be.

Theo Kiers

[Mark Fisher]

I would like this feature also.
I have setup my aweber lists to store the referral code using a custom field and calling "insert hidden aff_id" insinde the submission form. I can sotre customer ID and referral ID using this method.
I need to be able to move customers to and from my aweber lists and keep the additional fields,
or update them.
Can delavo keep this information when it moves them to another autoresponder list?
Perhaps using tags in the signup message would solve this problem.

[Brian Collins]

Hi,

I can't speak for arp but with Aweber - put the hidden fields inside the autoresponder section of the package - that will pass the information to Aweber - then you can do one of two things, use aweber to pass the info from one list to the other or enter a different list name in a different package.

Brian

[Theo Kiers]

Hi Brian,

By 'autoresponder section', do you mean the 'enable TurboAutoresponders.com integration' checkbox?

Am I right in supposing you can use any autoresponder there and not just TurboAutoresponders.com?

Theo

[Brian Collins]

Hi Theo,

Yep that is the section I mean, as I say I don't really know ARP but it may be possible - if you change the default turboautoresponders.com to yours and get the correct fields in the box below - it may work.

Brian

[Theo Kiers]

Hi Brian,

I guess it should be possible because the ARP code I generate for an autoresponder form has a lot of similiarities with the form code that is generated for an Aweber form to put on your website.

<code>
<form method='POST' action='http://www.MYWEBSITE.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3-formcapture.pl'>
<div align='center'><center>
<p>First name<br><input type='text' name='first_name' size='20'></p>
</center></div>
<div align='center'><center>
<p>E-mail address<br><input type='text' name='email' size='20'></p>
</center></div>
<input type='hidden' name='subscription_type' value='E'><div align='center'><center>
<p><input type='submit' value='Go »'></p>
</center></div>
<input type='hidden' name='id' value='2'>
<input type='hidden' name='extra_ar' value=''>
<input type='hidden' name='first_name_man' value='1'>
<input type='hidden' name='notify_email' value='admin@MYWEBSITE.com'>
<input type='hidden' name='notify_subject' value='New MYWEBSITE.com Subsciption'>
<input type='hidden' name='notify_include_form' value='1'>
</form>
</code>

Now the only thing left for me to do - being a non-coder - is figure out what to put in the parameter field.

Regards,

Theo

[Donna Walsh]

You can use the TAR integration for any autoresponder that accepts subscriptions by
email.

Donna

[Theo Kiers]

Hi all,

I am having some difficulty figuring this one out. Can someone show me what you put in the parameter field in case you use Aweber as the autoresponder. I know Aweber and it will help me explain things to the ARP helpdesk.

Thanks,

Theo

[Brian Collins]

http://www.aweber.com/scripts/addlead.pl

unit=myaweberlist
from=#{Customer.email}
name=#{Customer.name}
custom Affiliate ID=#{Customer.id}
custom Package=#{Package.baseLink}
custom Referrer ID=#{Customer.referer_id}
redirect=#{Sale.thankLink}
meta_redirect_onlist=#{Sale.thankLink}

I have changed the unit= from my actual listname

Brian

[Theo Kiers]

Great Brian,

Thanks a lot. That's just what I needed. Hope I can make things clear now to the ARP helpdesk.

ARP should work as far as I can see. It is just things like "unit=" and "from=". This is the same for both TS and Aweber but I think it needs to be someting else for ARP.

Thanks again.

Theo

[Theo Kiers]

Hi,

Just to round this discussion of (I hope).

I don't know why it did not function the first time around but ...

I tried again. I created an email autoresponder in "Other Settings". It sends the email to arplus@mydomain.com. In the subject line I put the tags as per Auto Response Plus instructions like so:

owner=MYUID+password=MYPASSWORD+action=subscribe+n ame=#{User.fname}+email=#{User.email}+autoresponde r=MYAUTORESPONDERNAME

And lo and behold it worked!

But now for the mysterious part. In the autoresponder I did not only get the user firstname but also surname and complete name filled in. I am not going to try to figure this one out. I am happy.

Conclusion: An Autoresponse Plus autoresponder that is installed on your own server or hosted account, is a certain alternative to the autoresponder services. Especially since people that sign up for a membership or buy a product are less likely to accuse you of spamming. Which is one of the main considerations for using an autoresponder service instead of jeoperdizing your own domain.

Moreover autoresponder signups from within Delavo will have the same IP address (so I read) and Aweber for instance does not like that. ARP doesn't give a rats behind about IP addresses. And ... you are not obliged to use double optin.

[John Geary]

Thomas, there are many issues with ARP integration that I still do not understand, but one that I do is that where Aweber uses a listname for what Delavo calls the unit, ARP calls 'id", and instead of 'listname' the 'id' is the number that ARP assigns your list.

Thus, if you create an autoresponder with your ARP called 'info', the address is info@yourdomain.com. With Aweber (I think), only one account holder can use a list name; if someone is using the name 'turbo' (turbo@aweber.com), no one else can use that name. But since ARP is on your own domain, you can use any list name you want. But each list is assigned a number in the order that you create new autoresponders. The form code uses the number assigned to your autoresponder series as the 'id'; so where the Parameter in Delavo says 'unit'=#{list_name} (or whatever) you would insert id=x, where 'x' is the number assigned in ARP for the responder you are using.

BTW, good luck with ARP support. I have written several times and all they will give me is the link to the "integrating.php" page. That link is at the bottom of Page 83 of the pdf instructional manual, if you are using Version 3. I don't find that page helpful because it was written by a coder for a coder.

John Geary

[Theo Kiers]

@ John

You wrote about ARP in another thread and I thought it would be better to react in this thread to keep the AutoresponsePlus issues in one place. You wrote:

I have a comment and a question. I have an ARP3 account and my licensed Delavo on a shared server at Hostgator. The Hostgator smtp is 500/hr per domain. I don't know whether this is per primary domain or add-on domain. However, even if it is "primary", meaning that to get the 500/hr per domain you have to have 5 separate accounts, that still only amounts to approximately $35/month, which is far less expensive than a dedicated server or a virtual dedicated server. It gets you up to 2,500 emails an hour and the 5 domains is the number of domains onto which you can deploy your ARP as part of the license.

I don't quite understand what you write here. First of all I have had a look at Hostgator in the past and yes they allow for more emails per hour than most other ISPs I know of. This is what I wrote about Hostgator to another ISP I work with and had a bit of a discussion with because of unclarities in the TOS about maximum emails:

"
>Can Spam compliance, mailing list up to
> 5.000, throttle 1 email per 6 seconds (= 600 p/h), mailings over 900
> to be sent during off peak hours on Saturday, Sunday and weekdays
> between 1 and 8 am. So effectively you could send up to 4200 in a 24
> hour period any day of the week before you need to switch to a vps or
> dedicated server
"

What I can't follow in your remark though is the stacking of allowances. The e-mail policy states "hourly limit per domain". And since your are going to install your autoresponder on one domain the limits you have to deal with are the ones metioned above.

I don't quite understand your stacking theory. If what you mean is Reseller Hosting with more than one domain in the account I don't believe your stacking theory correct. You also have to realise that it is not only the mailings you sent out that are counted but also the system emails that are sent out by scripts (confirmation, welcome etc.).

Meanwhile Donna and Brian are trying to convince me to get a VPS and I am looking into that. You can get a vps for far less that $ 35. Maybe not as good as Liquidweb but you have to make a choice that fits your budget.

That's the comment. Now for the question. Have you been able to figure out how to integrate your ARP with Delavo so when Delavo sends your subscriber contact info to your ARP account after the 2nd order page, then ARP automatically redirects the subscriber to the Delavo Thank-you page? My ARP goes to a default confirmation page that is static and tells the subscriber to click on their browser's back button to go back to the site from which they came.

When I test, clicking on the back button goes to the Thank you page, but I cannot figure out how to set it to go automatically. There is a way to enter custom confirmation page in ARP, but to do it, you have to enter the url of the page to which you want the custom confirmation redirected.

I am trying to have customers from different affiliate groups that are assigned to the same package be included in the same ARP responder series. But it seems that the code that Delavo creates for the thank you page is different for each affiliate, (the basic url is the same--it has the domain, the product id, but the different affiliate id) so it's impossible to populate the custom redirect url in ARP. (Maybe impossible is the wrong word; but, so far, impossible for my limited technical skills).

If you (or anyone else) has a solution, I'd sure appreciate hearing about it.

I must admit I haven't delved in this thing as far as you have. What I do is just send subscriber/customer data to an IM autoresponder in ARP. In the confirmation email I just tell them that their name and email have been added to a seperate autoresponder that will be used to send them news and marketing info and freebies.

I let delavo do the job of directing customers to the thank you page not my autoresponder.

Also when I want to send mailings to a very specific group within the Delavo database I will use the mass mail function of Delavo because it has all the right parameters to send a very targeted mailing.

The help desk at ARP tells me to ask Delavo support and Delavo support tells me to ask ARP support.

I know the situation. But I kept sending the ARP helpdesk replies to their replies telling them my question concerned ARP and not Delavo. I needed spedific info about ARP. The help desk guy didn't understand me an finally refered the questions to the big ARP cahuna himself. Here's what he wrote back:

"
Hello Theo

arp3-formcapture.pl cannot accept GET requests therefore the URL version is not relevant.

arp3-formcapture.pl accepts POST requests only.

[Comment Theo: As I understand Delavo uses POST so the alternative (the include Turboresponder option should work. But I haven't had the time to try.]

---unit=LIST_NAME
arp3-formcapture.pl requires the id number (2) (not the name) of the autoresponder. The field name expected is "id".

---from=#{Customer.email}
arp3-formcapture.pl requires that the subscriber's email address is in field "email".

---name=#{Customer.name}
arp3-formcapture can accept any of the following fields:

first_name
middle_name
last_name
full_name

---redirect=#{Sale.thankLink}
Redirect links cannot be accepted through arp3-formcapture.pl. Custom redirect pages are done with tracking tags.

1. In AutoResponse Plus, create a tracking tag and name it (eg HOME). In its settings, put the URLs of your custom redirect pages.

2. Send the field "tracking_tag" with the name of the tracking tag you created.

Regards

Neil Morgan
Creator of AutoResponse Plus
AutoResponse Plus Support
"

Hope this is helpfull,

Theo

[John Geary]

I made some progress since I wrote that response and have started a thread addressed to you in the General board. I was able to figure out how to integrate ARPlus with Delavo and how to create an automatic redirect in ARPlus so that the integration is seamless.

I still don't have a good response to the email limit issue. I was just trying to suggest that since Hostgator allows 500 emails per domain, it may be better than an ISP that only allows 100 per hour.

What I meant by using extra domains is this: my ARP3 license says I can install it on up to 5 domains. If you had 5 hosted domain accounts in Hostgator and paid monthly (instead of annually), it would cost about $35 a month. If you install ARP3 on each of those hosted accounts, you could be sending out 2,500 total emails an hour without violating Hostgator's smtp policies.

Obviously, I do not know how you are marketing; but you could have different traffic sources go to different landling pages, each offering the same thing. Those who sign up in Delavo could be funnelled through the five different domains so that a relatively equal amount of the traffic gets subscribed to each of your ARP accounts. You can duplicate the autoresponder messages so that all the prospects get the same message, but you do not have to worry about the smpt limitations.

I looked into the reseller accounts (at least in Hostgator) and they have the same smpt restrictions. If you used a reseller account, each of your clients would get the maximum number of emails per hour, but your account would still have the same basic limit.

John Geary

PS Got the the General board to see how to integrate ARP3 with Delavo.

[Theo Kiers]

Hi John,

First of I am sorry that you opened a new thread (with the best intentions I am sure) as I was trying to keep all ARP related stuff in this one thread. Now we have three!

As you could see from my last post I arrived at the same conclusions as you about hooking up ARP with Delavo. Great thing it works. Now I can limit the burden on my Aweber account.

About the email limits. I understand now what you are saying about using more domains. I myself can install ARP on ten domains. But that would totally go agains my fierce whish to centralize. The main reason why I got Delavo in the first place.

It's far too complicated having to use different domains and different autoresponders.

Soon after I bought ARP I already came to the conclusion that Hostgator would be the prefered ISP because of their competitive email limits. The present provider where I have two instances of ARP installed promised 500 /h per domain in their TOS but had an extra limitation down to 100 /h in their FAQ.

I have since arrived at the conclusion that the only way to use ARP to it's full potential is to install it on a VPS with no email limits. Dreamhost for instance (not the isp I was refering to earlier) has the same limits for its VPS as for standard domains (100/h). They will increase this number for you (don't know how much) if you can prove you totally comply with their email policies. As Delavo itself does not use double optin I dropped that as an option.

Another thing is that Delavo will let you send very targeted mass mail and that is a feature I would really like to use myself and offer to my clients. So (like Donna and Brian mentioned in the other thread about the throttle feature) VPS is also the prefered solution for Delavo so I am looking into that now.

Remains the fact that for those who want to use Delavo as their personal ecommerce solution this throttle feature would be great because that will keep your domain from being shut down if you send out too many emaills (including system emails like welcome, login details etc.). One successful campaign and your'e in trouble if you don't watch out.

Theo

[Russ Reynolds]

three quick questions for the integration with aweber...

1. is the email sent through before or after purchasing?
2. is it sent right away or only when the cron job runs?
3. how do you make sure you get the double opt-in or do you only go with single?

Thanks,
Russ

[Donna Walsh]

1) The email is sent after the purchase. It is sent at abut the same
time as the emails sent through Delavo.

2) Immediately after purchase

3) If you have double opt-in set through your autoresponder, it will
be double opt-in. If set as single, it is a single opt-in.

Delavo has nothing to do with the way your outoresponder runs.
The only thing it does is send a messagel to the list you specify
with the users name and email addy.

Donna

[Russ Reynolds]

Thanks Donna....

[PunctualDiva]

I came across this thread when trying to integrate Delavo + Autoresponse plus.

I want to distill down what I've learned from this thread and my own tests into one reference for anyone else who has this issue in the future.

There are three ways that you can integrate Delavo with arp3:

1. Through the email subscribe method. This has the advantage that you can subscribe someone "silently" so that they don't end up on "Thank you for subscribing" page. The disadvantage is that you're relying on your subscribe emails getting through every time - and if you want them to land on a "thank you for subscribing page" you have to do it in Delavo. It is also a delayed subscribe that can take up to 5 minutes depending on how you have your cron scripts set up.

2. Through the PHP "post" method. This has the advantage of direct integration that doesn't rely on functioning mailers and mail getting through. The subscribe is immediate and assured. It has the disadvantage that your person will end up on your "thank you for subscribing" page designated by arp3. You may not want this (I don't). There may be a way around this, but I haven't figured it out yet.

3. (I recently found this out) To avoid the problem of showing the subscriber the arp3 thank you page, you just use the "API Post Sale" notification inside the product settings. I am now using this option exclusively for my arp3 subscribes, so far it has worked well for around 400 people and counting :)


To enable either type #1 or #2 of integration, you will attach the autoresponder to a package. Go into the "edit package" screen, and scroll down.

For the email subscribe method, you use the package field called "Autoresponder(s)." Before you add a new one, here are a few things to watch out for.

It is vital that you have your catchall set up properly (which we didn't at first).

If you're using cPanel, you go there and set up a "catchall" address. Then follow the arp3 instructions to set up your popreader script as a cron job, to read emails from your catchall address. This is vital, if you don't do these steps right, this integration method will not work.

After you've done that, you create your list in arp3. You have to set a "subscribe" address for the list. For example, it might be "test@yourdomain.com". Pick some name for the list that makes sense. This is the email address you will use in Delavo for integration.

(CONTINUED NEXT POST)

[Andre Vas]

Looking forward for your next part for ARP3 Delavo integration. Thank you so much. :)

[PunctualDiva]

Looking forward for your next part for ARP3 Delavo integration. Thank you so much. :)

Hi, sorry for the delay. I'm having two major problems with this bulletin board system that won't allow me to post part II. I've filed support tickets with Construct Zero, and they're working on it, but the problems aren't solved yet.

- When I attempt to post Part II, it gives me a server error. Perhaps it doesn't like the hash tags or something

- After I tried that three times in a row, it locked me out of the system. Now I can only access it through a completely separate internet provider on my iPad.

It's not being very user friendly. But I'll keep trying!

Morgan

[PunctualDiva]

(Continued from Part I)
Now, back in Delavo, you hit "add new" under the Autoresponder(s). In the window that opens up, hit "add new" again.* Your list address is the same address you defined in arp3 as the subscribe address, for example "test@yourdomain.com".* Your subject field needs to specify your arp3 username and password, along with the information about the subscriber, like follows:
owner=myarp3admin+password=myarp3password+action=s ubscribe+name=#{User.name}+email=#{User.email}+TRA tracktag

Note that "id=" is not a needed (or useful) field, though someone else posted in this thread about using that.* I've tried mine both with and without the "id=xxx" and it doesn't do anything.* ARP3 figures out which autoresponder based on the address you send it to.* So if you send this message to "test@yourdomain.com" it will subscribe the person to the "test" autoresponder.* Theoretically you can do a different autoresponder by specifying "autoresponder=xxxxx" where xxxx is the name of the autoresponder.* I haven't tried that.

The field TRAtracktag specifies your tracking tag (TRA is fixed, "tracktag" is the variable part).

Before you close your Delavo screen, type some optional "admin notes".

(CONTINUED NEXT POST)

[PunctualDiva]

(I had to break this up in three parts for the forum to accept it. Read parts I and II before you read this)

Ok, now it's time to test.* Buy the product, then wait at least 5 minutes to see if the user shows up on your arp3 list. * There will be a delay because of how the email subscribe mechanism works.

2. The PHP post method.* For this you don't need to worry about the catchall or popreader stuff.* The most important parameter you must know is your "list id" from autoresponse plus.* Go select your list in arp3, and hit the "properties" button.* It will go to a new screen to adjust your list.* Now, look at the URL, something like this: "http://yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/arp3/arp3.pl?a0=aut&a1=edi&a2=pro&id=42".* It's that last number, 42, that you need for Delavo.

(I had to break it up again to get the system to accept the post, see part IV)