need help getting started

[jrm]

I have just purchased the MBM bundle and sent my first mailing. I have some questions that span across a few of the products, mainly centered around MLM.

First, everything is set up and seems to be working properly. I have entered my activation key into all the products.

My mailing was done to several "remote" lists. MBM sent out all the emails as expected. eMail Bounce Handler is catching the bounces. Unsubscribe is working. All good so far.

I now want to take the list of bounced emails from "eMail Bounce Handler" and remove the bad address from my lists. I understand the process of exporting a "DELETE" file and dragging that into MBM.

Here are my questions:

- The list of email addresses showing in MBM are all from remote files. Does that make a difference? Will the deletes automatically go to the remote file or do I need to use the "Upload to MLM" function?

-How is the above process affected by unsubscribes? My understanding is that the MLM unsubscribe process has already deleted entries from my remote list. However, I believe these names are still in the local MBM document (under Recipients" tab). If I "Upload to MLM" won't I overwrite the remote file and bring back the unsubscribed names?

- Once the deletes are saved to the remote file, I would like to save a local copy of my list(s). MBM does not have a download from MLM function. Is this something I need to do manually via FTP?

- eMail Bounce Handler has a "Remote Lists" section in the Misc. prefs window. I filled in my information. What does this do/how do I use it? The manual omits any mention of this.


Thanks.

Joe

 

[stanbusk]

- The list of email addresses showing in MBM are all from remote files. Does that make a difference? Will the deletes automatically go to the remote file or do I need to use the "Upload to MLM" function?

You have to use the "Upload to MLM" function indeed, it is better and faster. You have a delete and unsubscribe functions. You can also load your remote list, process it locally and then upload it to MLM overwriting the existing list. The result is the same.

-How is the above process affected by unsubscribes? My understanding is that the MLM unsubscribe process has already deleted entries from my remote list. However, I believe these names are still in the local MBM document (under Recipients" tab). If I "Upload to MLM" won't I overwrite the remote file and bring back the unsubscribed names?

Unsubscribe addresses are not uploaded to MLM, only subscribed and active addresses.

- Once the deletes are saved to the remote file, I would like to save a local copy of my list(s). MBM does not have a download from MLM function. Is this something I need to do manually via FTP?

Each time you open a remote list MaxBulk Mailer creates a backup-copy here: ~/Library/Application Support/Maxprog/MaxBulk Mailer/Backups/Remote Lists or C:\Users\<your_account_name>\AppData\Roaming\Maxprog\MaxBulk Mailer\Backups\Remote Lists on Windows.

- eMail Bounce Handler has a "Remote Lists" section in the Misc. prefs window. I filled in my information. What does this do/how do I use it? The manual omits any mention of this.

This is to update the MLM statistics, to enter bounces into the statistics.

 

[jrm]

You have to use the "Upload to MLM" function indeed, it is better and faster. You have a delete and unsubscribe functions. You can also load your remote list, process it locally and then upload it to MLM overwriting the existing list. The result is the same.

Better and faster is always good.

My mailing was done to a selection of remote lists. My MBM recipients tab shows "Remote Lists" in the drop down, has a listing of all my remote lists in the top pane and all the addresses where messages were sent are in the bottom pane.

I created a "DELETE" list generated by eMail bounce Handler, dragged that on top of this recipients list and it removed those names from the list. My MBM window now shows a recipients list that is the original list minus the deleted names. So I am left with the name I want to keep.

Next...

Unsubscribe addresses are not uploaded to MLM, only subscribed and active addresses.

Looking at my online MLM page, the remote lists are smaller than the original mailing. The are smaller by exactly the number of "unsubscribes" shown in MBMs statistics page.

So now it seems like I have two lists...
1. Remote list with all original addresses, minus the unsubscribed names.
2. List in MBM waiting to be uploaded to MLM. This has all the original addresses, minus the bounced names.

If I use "Upload to MLM", it seems that the bounced names will be removed, but the unsubscribed names will be re-inserted into the remote file.

How do I reconcile the "remote" list I now see in MBM with the MLM list that is actually on the server?

This is to update the MLM statistics, to enter bounces into the statistics.

That make sense. However, the bounces listed in EBH do not match the bounce stats shown in MBM. It is off by a considerable amount. EBH list is over 1000 bounces and MBM list is only a few hundred.

On the topic of numbers not matching, the online MLM statistics do not seem to be working for me. My actual mailings have code numbers of "7" and "9". MLM is showing 6 and 7 along with a strangely named #1. All three deliveries show essentially empty statistics (see attached screen grabs). Also mailing "9" is completely missing from the list of choices.

Note that my MLM webpage does correctly show the lists and seemingly accurate numbers for each list.

 

[stanbusk]

How do I reconcile the "remote" list I now see in MBM with the MLM list that is actually on the server?

Select the 'Remote Lists' option again. This option connects to MLM and gets the lists of lists. Then selecting a list will download it from MLM.

That make sense. However, the bounces listed in EBH do not match the bounce stats shown in MBM. It is off by a considerable amount. EBH list is over 1000 bounces and MBM list is only a few hundred.

You may have soft bounces or hard bounces that are not caused by bad addresses. Such bounces are ignored for statistics. Note also that a single problem with an address can generate 2, 3 or up to 5 bounces. The last one only will be a hard bounce.

On the topic of numbers not matching, the online MLM statistics do not seem to be working for me. My actual mailings have code numbers of "7" and "9". MLM is showing 6 and 7 along with a strangely named #1. All three deliveries show essentially empty statistics (see attached screen grabs). Also mailing "9" is completely missing from the list of choices.

Just a question, did you reset the MaxBulk Mailer delivery number, the history or did you install MLM several times? I ask because it looks like files are not synchronized. That can happen as well if you use several copies of MaxBulk Mailer. Just asking...

 

[jrm]

Ah... that seems to have done it.

So the procedure is to essentially "reload" the MLM list which will take into account the MLM unsubscribes. THEN apply the delete file.
Then "Upload to MLM."

Thanks - it wasn't really clear how all that worked. When I re-selected "Remote Lists" my icons changed from "sent" to "unsent" so I thought I was doing something wrong. Looks like all is fixed not.



Soft vs hard bounces... understood. That would account for the difference in totals.

Just a question, did you reset the MaxBulk Mailer delivery number, the history or did you install MLM several times? I ask because it looks like files are not synchronized. That can happen as well if you use several copies of MaxBulk Mailer. Just asking...

Here's what I did.

1. Downloaded and installed MBM/MLM. Launched it in "trial" mode.
2. Created my mailing (actual one I planned to send).
3. Did some test mailings to a lists with 1-5 recipients.

After doing the above to see if MBM/MLM would fit my needs, I went online and purchased a reg number. That was about 1 or 2 days later.

4. Entered the reg code to active MBM/MLM in "full" mode.
5. Uploaded my actual lists to MLM (through MBM).
6. Did my mailing.


This is why my actual mailing numbers start at 7. 1-6 were tests to my own email addresses. Since these were not actual mailings, I deleted them (in MBM).

I am on a Mac - not sure if it is possible to run multiple copies of the same program. I only downloaded the one copy of MBM a few days ago. That is the only one I have run. First in demo mode, then activated.

How can I fix this to get things back in sync and have MLM show correct information?

 

[stanbusk]

This is why my actual mailing numbers start at 7. 1-6 were tests to my own email addresses. Since these were not actual mailings, I deleted them (in MBM).

Oh-oh... how did you do that?

 

[jrm]

I clicked the "delete" button (red circle with slash) on the MML-Deliveries web page.

Originally, I though I did this on the stats window of MBM, but it seems that is not possible.

I just tested it and the browser allowed me to delete #6. Attempting to delete the entry with the strange characters generates and error message. First it asks if I am sure I want to delete. After confirming the message states "Error - Impossible to remove the specified deliverie(s). Unhandled Error"

 

[stanbusk]

To delete a delivery in MaxBulk Mailer you have to open the delivery history. It is the 'Window > History' menu. What you should not do is resetting the delivery number except if you delete everything, both on MaxBulk Mailer and MLM.