Author: Tesiah Frame

How to send a recurring email [TUTORIAL]

I feel sheepish. Let me explain. We run a recurring email service over here. Recurring texts and polls are bonus features, but the primary function of Sendrecurring is emails. I realized recently that I wrote a tutorial a while ago explaining how to create a recurring poll, but never made a tutorial explaining the main ability of the site: emails! Duh, Tess.

I figured that Sendrecurring’s really user-friendly format and intuitive interface meant I didn’t need to explain how to create an email. Only, of course I think it’s intuitive because I’ve seen it built from the ground up, and it’s hard to see flaws in your baby, et cetera. Right? This post will explain the simple process of scheduling a recurring reminder email, and if you already knew how to do it, hopefully you’ll learn something new that will help you get the most out of all of Sendrecurring’s features.

Without further delay, we’re off.

First, login to your account. Once you’re in your account’s “Manage” page (or home page), click “New Email” as shown below.

Click New Email

You’ll be taken to the email form, where you should fill out the form according to the numbers below.

Create a new email

 

1. Enter your recipients into the “To” field. Make sure to use proper email address format (example@email.com), and separate email addresses with commas.

2. Enter the subject of your email into the “Subject” field. This is what contacts will see in their inbox.

3. Select your send preferences.

4. Compose your email in the composition box.

5. Save your email and it will send according to the date and time you indicated.

Pretty easy, right? You can customize fonts and select various send options. Happy sending, and don’t hesitate to send questions to conrad@sendrecurring.com.

Exciting NEW UPDATES You’ve Been Requesting!

We’ve received several emails lately requesting some new recurring time options:

Hello Conrad,

Is it possible to send non recurring email? I’m planning to setup an IT calendar with all the deadlines for user accounts, license expirations etc…

I don’t need recurrence of email but an email sent as a reminder.

And another,

I am having one issue and this is purely the way I schedule jobs and not an issue with your software. What you have is the ability to send every (1), (2), (3) or (4) weeks. Sometimes there are extra days and even a fifth week that throws everything off. What I need and would like to see as an addition to your software is a way to schedule by choosing first, second, third or fourth followed by the day of the week. So what you would end up with is “first Wednesday” of the month, “second Monday” of the month and possibly “first and third Tuesday” of the month etc…

And another,

What would actually work best for us is to be able to send an email on say a specific Tuesday of every month as an example. These emails are for monthly server updates and our schedule adheres to that. 3rd Wednesday, 4thTuesday, etc. If I could send the emails like this that would work best. As is, I will have to log in every month and reset the days they send out.

We figured for every person who asked, there were at least 50 others who could use the feature but wouldn’t ask for it. So Conrad got to work immediately and added two new timing features that we think are great.
One time only send
The first is a one-time send option. If you have a non-recurring reminder or email, you can now click the “One Time Only” box on your toolbar and… yep. It will only send once.
The other feature he added was a bit more complicated, but opens up a whole slew of new send options.
First Weekday of the month
Now you can select the first, second, third, fourth, and even fifth weekday of the month (example: first Sunday, third Thursday, Fifth Saturday, etc.).
Already, we’ve received several emails expressing thanks for the service and these new features.
Dear Conrad,
I just wanted to thank you for sendrecurring.com. I need to track a few things and I created forms to do it, and I just send the URL to myself every day. That way I fill out the form every day and I never forget!
I’ve been using it for months now and I have a great dataset.
Thanks so much.

And another,

Wow, lighting fast. Well done!

Really appreciated.

And another,

Wow, that was pretty fast. I was expecting a much longer delay.

Thanks for that really super fast update, that was fantastic.

Guys, here’s the thing. If you send Conrad an email requesting a new feature, expressing a concern, or asking a question about Sendrecurring, he’ll get back to you really fast and fix the problem. Usually within a couple hours, but if not, it’s almost always the same day. So shoot your questions (and compliments?) over to conrad@sendrecurring.com and he’ll send a speedy reply. If we’re able to fix a bug or add a feature because you brought it to our attention, we’ll probably feature your question on the blog, which actually ends up helping lots of people!

Sendrecurring’s Press Release, plus upcoming news

Hey Sendrecurrrrs. Long-time no…blog?

We recently submitted a press release (in February, right after we implemented the paid package options, so… not that recent) to help spread the word about this awesome recurring reminder and email (and text and poll) service you all have been using so loyally. You may have seen it around the web; it was featured on several PR sites including prbuzz.com and emailwire.com, among several others.

Here it is:

Sendrecurring.com Announces New Scheduled Reminders Features to Help People Track Important Events

Sendrecurring.com Offers a Unique Service Allowing People to Send Recurring Emails to Themselves and Others on a Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly Basis

 

Sendrecurring.com, the website that allows users to quickly and easily set up a system to send recurring scheduled reminders to themselves and others by email, is pleased to announce that they have upgraded their service and are now offering new plans, pricing options and features.

Sendrecurring is the perfect tool for helping businesses run smoothly and efficiently, as it ensures that employees are following through on all the recurring tasks that are assigned to them. Sendrecurring also works well for helping people with hectic schedules or forgetful tendencies keep track of their responsibilities and stay organized.

Sendrecurring recently launched the paid version of their site, which features increased account options and a greater capacity to send reminder emails than the free version. Both the Pro and Basic packages are very affordable considering their capabilities; the Basic version allows the user to send 500 emails and 30 texts each month for $4.99 per month, while the Pro package allows users to send 5,000 emails and 300 text messages each month for just $14.99 per month. 

The Sendrecurring interface is intuitive and easy to use, letting the user customize each recurring email based on the desired frequency, start date and time of sending. Sendrecurring is the only tool of its kind for helping people keep track of recurring appointments, pay bills and remind others to pay invoices on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. All account options including the free version allow users to view the open rates and statistics for their sent emails and customize the interface according to their individual preferences. 

Sendrecurring prides themselves on providing outstanding customer support, and they welcome suggestions and feedback from their users so they can make adjustments to the site and improve the user’s overall experience. Sendrecurring offers their service at no obligation, as they allow the customer to cancel at any time and receive a full 30-day money back guarantee.

About Sendrecurring:

Sendrecurring is a website that provides scheduled reminders via email and text. It was started in Summer 2011, with limited free plans. Sendrecurring is designed to help people remember to pay their own bills, remind others to pay outstanding invoices, keep day-to-day todo lists that are editable and can be shared with others, and more. For more information, please visit www.sendrecurring.com.

Like any press release should be, it’s delightfully keyword heavy (a cheap tactic, I know, I know), informative about the service, and rather dry. Anyway, the point of this post is not to show you the press release, necessarily. If you’re already using the site and checking the blog, then the press release is of virtually no use to you. The point of this post is to tell you that we’ve made some changes that you’ve requested (which I’ll talk about in a separate post really soon), and tell you to keep your eye out for some BIG and exciting revamps we’ll be working on in the near future.

Over and out! And as always, send testimonials, questions and suggestions to conrad@sendrecurring.com.

Did your email bounce?

Did your email bounce? Sendrecurring just added a new feature for that! You can now see if any of your emails bounced. Login to your account, then click “View Details. A new category, “Bounces,” has been added, and you’ll be able to see all the emails that didn’t receive your email (usually due to typos). This will help you send emails more effectively and reach all the people you need to reach.

Bounced email image

Sendrecurring’s Official Launch of Paid Packages! Quotas will now be enforced.

As announced in the last post, we “soft-launched” Sendrecurring’s new paid package system a while back, and as of Monday (January 20, 2014), they are officially launched! There are a couple of announcements that go along with it.

First of all, SORRY ABOUT THE LITTLE CRASH WE HAD ON MONDAY! Somebody had to go and get all code-y and it messed stuff up temporarily. Who farted, right? No worries, we’ve fixed the problem and your emails should be sending like normal.

Second of all, here are the changes that accompany the Paid Package launch.

  • If you are using the free demo version of Sendrecurring but do not have an account, you will need to create one (totally free and easy). You will automatically be signed up for the free package. If you have an account already (regardless of package), great!
  • Limits will be enforced for emails, texts, and polls.
  • For the free package, if you send more than 100 emails per month, any number past 100 will not send. If you send to a recipient group larger than 100 people, it will not send to any of the recipients. For Basic and Pro account holders, the same applies, only your quotas will be higher according to your package.
  • For the free package, you will need to upgrade your account in order to send recurring texts (or increase email and poll allowance). View text limits here. To upgrade your account, login to your existing account and go to the Pricing page. It will show you the options you have for upgrading.
  • If you reach or exceed your quota of emails, you will receive a friendly email letting you know.

SR Over Quota

click image to go to Plans and Pricing in a new tab

 

Third of all, we’ve added a feature that many of you have been asking for: optional start dates! Previously, the recurring emails were sent based on “now” or whenever you created the email. Now, you can schedule them to go out in advance, which will hopefully make life a lot easier for you. When you’re creating a new email or editing an existing email, it will look like this:

SR Optional Start Date

When you click on the text box, a calendar will drop down and you can select your desired send date.

We’re really excited that Sendrecurring is as well-liked as it seems to be this early on! The service is for you, the user, so if there is anything that needs improving or a feature you’d like to see added, drop us a line (conrad@sendrecurring.com) and we’ll do our best to make you happy! And as always, if you’re happy with the service, send us a testimonial (conrad@sendrecurring.com)! We’d love to feature you (either by business name or personal name, or anonymously) on our coming-soon testimonial page.

Sendrecurring’s Soft Launch, Now Happening!

We’ve got two big announcements today! First, we’ve added recurring text messages to our list of awesome features (more on that later), and second, we have now entered the “soft launch” phase of our upgrade!

Over the course of Sendrecurring’s development, we’ve received some awesome feedback and suggestions, one of which was that Sendrecurring should be a paid service that offers levels of features. I know, you’re thinking “Who the heck would suggest making a free service into a paid service and ruin it for everyone?!”

“It looks great and seems to work well. Keep up the great work!! Make a few more tweaks and you can start charging for the service.  Fee should be modest for best results.”

“fyi, when this works exactly how I need it to, I’d gladly pay to use it.”

You got it, guys. So we fixed the bugs and added the features they talked about, and decided to come up with a few different packages to fit the users’ needs.

Well, here’s the great thing: It’s not going to ruin anything for anyone! As always, Sendrecurring is free to use for anyone. We’ve created some paid package options, which means we’ve put a limit on how many emails can be sent per month. Keep reading for our pricing information – it’s reasonable, we promise.

 

Price Package Info Image

 click image to view pricing information in a new tab

Since we’re fine-tuning some of Sendrecurring’s features and we want to give our users a decent amount of notice, we’ll be making the switch to the limited Free Package on December 1, 2013. No fees, no limits until then.

Starting December 1, 2013:

Account creation will be required for all users. This doesn’t mean everyone will have to start paying, it just means that everyone will need to create an account (free for everyone). Annoying, you say? We think spam is even more annoying, so by creating annoying accounts, we’re preventing even more annoying spammers from botting around and ruining people’s days.

Once you create your account, you’ll have free access to all of Sendrecurring’s Free Package features. Your account will only be upgraded if you say so.

We know that it can be tough to get used to changes, especially when you’ve been using the service for a while. The official launch of the paid packages will be in December, but we are now offering the paid service as an option before we start enforcing the limits. If you know you’d like to use the service through one of the paid packages, now’s the time to buy. Here’s why.

New Feature Texts

click image to view pricing information in a new tab

Upgraded accounts will have access to our newest feature, recurring texts! The free accounts do not (and will not) have any texting ability. Also if you sign up now, your transition on December 1 will be seamless (especially if you’re currently using over 100 emails).

We really hope you are as excited as we are about the new features! Go check them out and let us know what you think! Suggestions and feedback are the reasons we made these updates in the first place, so you should know that what you have to say really does matter!

Hop to! Set up your account if you haven’t already, and start exploring the new features!

How to Increase Your Email Open Rate

Hey Sendrecurrers! (recurrrrs? Flerb?)

First things first, we’re excited to announce the birth of Baby Frame, born EIGHT fabulous days AFTER his due date. Maybe if he ever checked his email, he would have seen the recurring one from me saying “Get out, we’re waiting!”

IMG_20130825_130646

 

Second things second, Conrad received a feedback email (which we love, seriously. We want to marry feedback emails) from a happy SR user who finished his email like this:

“The cherry would be to have a button to resend the email for those who have not yet responded.”

Then, while browsing Pat Flynn’s site Smart Passive Income during naptime (Have you seen this site? Chock full of business building advice and other online marketing tips!), I came across this article on increasing your email open rate, and thought it had some great advice for all of Sendrecurring’s users!

Some of the key points are to:

1. Have an eye-catching subject line. It should tease the recipients. Give them a taste of what the email contains. You’re more likely to get more opens with the subject “6 easy things you can do to increase sales” than you are with the subject “Your weekly newsletter.”

2. Re-send your email to those who didn’t open it. Sometimes emails get all tangled in the web (see what I did there?) and either never make it to the inbox or get overlooked due to bad timing or whatever. Send it again!

There’s more great stuff in the article and comments, but I don’t want to spoil the fun, so you can check it out by clicking here (SFW).

So we’re adding a resend button to our long list of features to add to SR, and we hope you’ll continue to send us marriage proposals, er, I mean feedback emails.

How to Send a Recurring Poll – New Feature!

Hi everyone! This week, we’re eagerly awaiting the birth of the Sendrecurring Family baby, who is officially overdue. I thought I’d throw together a little tutorial on using Sendrecurring’s newest feature, polls. They’re easy to create, send, and view results for!

Login to your account and click “New Poll.”

 

Send a New Poll

 

It will take you to a screen that looks very similar to the “New Email” page. From here, fill out your email as you normally would, making sure to include To, Subject, and send info. In the box below “Add Option Box,” enter a poll question or option.

To add additional options, click on “Add Option Box.” Empty boxes will appear where you can add your additional options.

 

SR poll how-to add option box

 

 

Since we’re waiting for our baby, Conrad put together a poll for me to answer each day. Here’s a peek at what your poll will look like to your recipients.

 

Contraction Poll

 

This email contains three poll options and some additional email text (Conrad specified to “Click one of the options to vote.” Ignore his typo). You can add text in the composition box if you need to send your poll with any instructions or descriptions, or just to send a regular message. The text you add in the email box will appear after the poll links, as shown above.

Once you send your poll email to your recipients, the poll options will show up as clickable links. The recipients will be able to click on their answer, and the data will be recorded. It is currently only an option for recipients to vote once.

When they click on their poll answer, a new tab will open in their browser that looks like this:

 

Poll Results

 

This new tab will display the current poll results (anonymously), as well as a “Thank you for voting” message or a “You have already voted” message.

As the owner of the poll, you are able to view more results. In your account, below your list of emails, you can view your polls and their data. Click on “View Details” to expand the box, and you can see the amount of recipients, opens, and votes per sent poll.

 

View Poll results

 

 

To view specific data such as which recipient voted on which option, click on the link for the poll under “Subject.” It will take you to a page like this:

 

Owner's Poll Results

 

Ways Sendrecurring’s poll feature could help you:

  • Keep track of daily employee tasks
  • Get feedback from employees
  • Yes/No surveys (easy!)

If you still have any questions, leave a comment or send an email to conrad@sendrecurring.com.

Guide to Time Zones: UTC numbers

We recently added Time Zone Detection to our email service (!), and it automatically detects which time zone you’re sending your email from based on your browser’s time on your computer. But sometimes, that time isn’t correct, or isn’t the time zone you want your email sent to/from (like if you’re travelling or daylight savings hits). So we made it so that you can change the time zone if you want.

To change the time zone on your email, login to your account and click on “Settings” (located in the

Click on the dropdown menu and select your desired time zone.

SR UTC Adjustment2

…

OK, so maybe we don’t all have our time zones and correlating positive or negative numbers memorized. So here’s a little guide to time zones and their numbers.

Time Zones

We found this awesome image here if you want to read up on time zones. It’s an exciting subject.

Hopefully this makes it easier for you to change time zones for your emails if needed!

Enjoy!

Improvements to Sendrecurring, part 2!

Hey everyone, Tess here, Conrad’s super-awesome, super-pregnant wife. I’m going to be contributing some content to the website and blog so I wanted to introduce myself and say hello! I hope you all think Sendrecurring is as awesome as I do.

Conrad recently posted about some of Sendrecurring’s new and upcoming improvements, and I wanted to just throw a cherry on top of that sundae and tell you a little more about the amazing things we’re working on to improve the user’s experience.

Website

We’re working overtime to create a great new design for the website as well as informative content that will help new and existing users. Here are some of the pages that will be coming soon:

  • Features and Benefits
  • Packages and Pricing
  • How it Works
  • Customer Stories
  • About
  • FAQ

Time

Conrad mentioned in his last post that he updated the time entry box so that you can send an email at any time of the day, rather than just on the hour. He also added a Time Zone Detection feature that lets you alter the time zone you send your email in. To view or edit your Time Zone, go to your account management page, click on Settings, and edit your UTC in the drop-down menu. More info coming on this feature soon.

UPDATE: Here’s a helpful post on how to adjust your time zone and a guide to time zone numbers.

Polls/Surveys

You’ll soon be able to send polls and surveys with your emails, and you can review the results in your email stats.

A little about the paid packages

One of our fears with creating paid account options was that some of our users would stop using Sendrecurring because they didn’t want to pay, so we made sure to keep a free option with slightly more limited features. Don’t worry – we won’t be making the switch right away, so continue using Sendrecurring! We’ll provide LOTS more information about the paid account options before we add them.

Customer Stories

We want to put together a page specifically for testimonials from happy users of Sendrecurring so that investigators can see what an awesome service it is! We can’t put this together without your help, though. If you’d like to submit a story or testimonial of how Sendrecurring has helped you, either personally or professionally, we’d love to share your story!

Just send us:

  • Your name (you can be as anonymous as you like)
  • Your business/website (we’ll share and direct some web traffic back to you)
  • Your story (tell us how Sendrecurring has helped you)

FAQ

I’ve updated the FAQ page so its answers are more current and relevant to the new features. If you have any questions about how Sendrecurring works, don’t hesitate to send your questions to us!