Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is a smart list?

A. Smart Lists are live segments. You can generate a smart list using specific criteria (such as openers, or people located in New York City) and each time a user comes on to the source list with matching criteria, they are added to the appropriate smart lists.

Q. How do I create a Smart List?

A. Under your lists tab, select Query Builder and choose "create smart list." Here, you can choose the source list, name your smart list, and build your query string.

Q. Is the Link Domain required, and what are the consequences of not using it?

A. It's not required, but is highly recommended; if you choose not to use it, rewritten links within your emails will point to http://link.sailthru.com instead of your own domain.

Q. What is a beacon?

A. Beacons are used to track opens. Without a beacon in place, it is not possible to measure who is opening your emails and Sailthru will show N/A in your open reports. See more on beacons here.

Q. How can I change the beacon?

A. Go to your settings tab and select the top settings option. You can upload a new beacon image (most clients use their logo). Once you have your image in place, you can put the beacon code snippet {beacon} anywhere in your campaign that you'd like.

Q. Why does Sailthru advise including opt-out links in transactional emails, even though they're not required for CAN-SPAM compliance?

A. We believe in always considering the end-user experience; asking ourselves how we would like to be treated if we were the receivers of a message. As part of this philosophy, we think it's important to always give a user the opportunity to opt out of communications that he or she doesn't wish to receive. There is very little downside to the inclusion, but a great deal of upside in the form of increased delivery rate and positive brand interaction. A person may wish to opt out of emails for any number of reasons. Opting out doesn't necessarily signal an end to a relationship with a brand, and we don't want to damage that relationship with a negative experience.

Q. Do I need to update my SPF record in order to send through Sailthru?

A. Yes. Before we can approve your campaigns for mailing, you'll need to update your SPF records to verify Sailthru as an authorized sender. You can read more about updating your SPR record as well as adding a CNAME here.

Q. Do I need to tell Sailthru when I'm ready to launch?

A. Yes. Before you send through Sailthru, we must test and approve your campaigns/templates for sending. There is no need for us to do this before each send, but each time there is a new template introduced we must run it through our internal QA process. Typically, if there are no issues with delivery or compliance, testing is quick. You can reach out to support@sailthru.com when you are ready for us to begin testing your campaigns.

Q. Can I use the API to set or change the subject line, or to and from addresses, of an email?

A. Yes. These and other parameters can be set and updated for blasts and templates. You can also pass variables through those fields. For example, filling the subject field with {subject} will allow you to pass that var. You can read more about creating and updating blasts and templates.

Q. Can Sailthru track pageviews with Horizon?

A. Yes. User pageviews are automatically tracked for sites with the Horizon snippet on its pages. Read more about Horizon.

Q. How can I send an email coming from an end-user's "From" email address?

A. If using a Reply-To header is not an option, use the behalf_email option. This parameter tells Sailthru to use the from email as the Sender header, and the behalf_email as the From. On most email clients, this will render the way you want. (A few clients, like Microsoft Outlook, will render this as "fromemail@example.com on behalf of behalfemail@example.com".) This option can have negative delivery implications, so this is best used for internal support emails and similar.

Q. Does the Sailthru API allow for adding a BCC to an email?

A. No, it doesn't allow for a BCC, but if you send to multiple recipients each recipient gets the email individually to them and can't see the other recipients, so it accomplishes the same thing.