Creating an Invitation Newsletter

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Introduction

Newsletters are an easy way to keep your customers informed about new products, upcoming sales and more! Auctiva members on the Pro Plan have access to this useful feature.

Getting started is simple:
  • Create and send an email invite to your previous buyers that contains a sample of your newsletter and the option to sign up to receive future newsletters.
  • Once you have subscribers opted-in, you can create a newsletter that will showcase up to 13 of your eBay items. Add your own custom message, text color and logo.

If you're on the Pro Plan, go to the Create Newsletter Invitation page and follow these steps:

Step 1: Customize your invite message.

The first part of the message will pre-fill your buyer's eBay username and the name of the item they most recently purchased from you. This is not editable.

In the text box, there is a pre-filled message describing the benefits of your newsletter. You can edit this message by clicking in the box, if you wish. Just make sure you let buyers know what the purpose of the email is for and what they're subscribing to.

Figure 1. Customize your invite message.

When you are happy with the text in the invite message, click the "Next" link at the bottom, or click on Step 2 to the left.

Step 2: Create a sample newsletter.

This is where you can add your logo, Emporium name and title for your newsletter.

To add or edit the logo, click in the box that reads "Select Newsletter Logo" (Figure 2-A). The logo selection window will appear and you can select from images you have already uploaded. You can also click the blue Upload Images button at the top-right to upload a new image, if needed.

To edit the title of your newsletter, click the box that reads "Sample Newsletter Title" (Figure 2-B) and type in a new title.

Your Auctiva Emporium name is automatically inserted below your logo. To edit your Emporium name, click in the box that reads "My Store Name" (Figure 2-C) and type in the Emporium name you want to appear in your newsletter.

The default text color for your newsletter name, Emporium name and other content for your newsletter is set to black, but you can change it, if desired. Click on the box that reads "Select your text color" (Figure 2-D) to open the color selector box.

Figure 2. Customize your sample newsletter by inserting your logo (A), giving your newsletter a title (B), customizing your Emporium name (C) and selecting a font color (D).

When you are done adding a logo, Emporium name and title, click the "Next" link at the bottom, or click on Step 3 to the left.

Step 3: Create a custom message for your sample newsletter and choose a product to feature.

In the text box, there is a pre-filled marketing message for your newsletter (Figure 3.1-A). You can edit this message by clicking in the box, if you wish. This is a great place to mention upcoming sales or discounts, or to announce new products that you have in stock.

Figure 3.1. Create a custom message (A) and select a featured product (B).

To the right of the text box, you will select a product to feature (Figure 3.1-B). Click in the box that reads "Featured Product" to open a window of your active eBay items. If you have more than 50 products, you can use the drop-down menu (Figure 3.2) to bring up 50 listings that are the ending soonest, or 50 listings that are newly listed.

Figure 3.2. Select a product to feature.

When you are done entering your custom message and have selected a product to feature, click the "Next" link at the bottom of the page, or click on Step 4 to the left.

Step 4: Select up to six additional products to highlight in your newsletter.

In addition to the product you are featuring, you can choose up to six more products to highlight in your newsletter.

There are two ways to select the additional products:

  • Bulk: To select them all at the same time, click on the "Select up to 6 products" link (Figure 4-A). A list of your active eBay items will appear. Check the box next to each item you want to feature (up to 6) and click the blue Apply button at the top. You can click and drag the items (Figure 4-B) to rearrange how they will appear in your sample newsletter.
  • One at a time: To select items one at a time, click on each individual box to open the list of your active eBay items. You can click and drag the items to rearrange how they will appear in your sample newsletter.

Figure 4. "Select up to 6 products" link (A). Drag image boxes to desired location (B).

When you are done selecting up to six additional products to feature, you can click the "Next" link at the bottom of the page, or click on Step 5 to the left.

Step 5: Name, preview and send your newsletter invitation.

Before sending out your email invite to buyers, you will need to preview it, give it a name and save it. You will see the preview of your email invite when you first go to Step 5. If there's anything you want to change before sending it out, you can always click on the previous steps, make your edits and then return to Step 5 to preview it again.

To name your email invite, type the name into the text box at the bottom of the page (Figure 5-A).

Figure 5. Name your newsletter (A), agree to the Newsletter Terms of Service (B) and send a test email to yourself (C) or send it to your buyers (D).

When you are ready to send a test email of the invite or send it to your buyers, you will first need to agree to the Newsletter Terms of Service at the bottom of the page (Figure 5-B).

To send a test of the newsletter to yourself (optional), click on the Send Test button (Figure 5-C).

Note: This test will show you the placeholders for your buyer's username and the last item they purchased from you. The "subscribe" links also will not work in your test email.

When you are ready to send the email invite to your buyers from the last 90 days, click the Send button (Figure 5-D). A confirmation window will appear indicating the total number of emails you are about to send. Click the OK button to confirm and send the email.

Once you have buyers who opt to receive your email newsletter, you can begin creating your newsletter.

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