Hearth Bulk System Divisional Secretaries’ Briefing 2012

What is the Hearth bulk ? The Hearth bulk system allows you as an officer to send s with or without attachments to a large number of recipients.

How do I access the bulk tool? Log in to Hearth, on the left hand menu under ‘ Toolbox’, click on ‘Bulk ’

Where do I begin? Before sending a bulk you will need to upload or import a mailing list. Mailing lists can be uploaded or imported from –The officer address book –The officer reporting tool –Any other source such as your hard drive

Acceptable file type? The bulk system is compatible with any Comma Separated Values (.csv) file and must have the following fields : NAME ADDRESS MEMBERSHIP NUMBER Note: Excel list file must be saved as a.csv to upload

What is a.csv file? A.csv file is similar in appearance to Excel Lists obtained from the reporting tool on Hearth are in.csv format Lists obtained from RSS are in.csv format Alternatively you can create your own mailing list in Excel and select.csv from the drop down menu when saving it

How do I upload a mailing list from a PC? In the blue toolbar, click on ‘upload list’ which will take you to this screen:

Enter your list name e.g. full members list October Click the browse button to find and select the file on your PC, then click ‘upload mailing list’

You will need to refresh the page to see when the list has become available; this will vary depending on the size of the file, but should not take long. TIP: As you will see from the diagram, available lists are in blue, queued lists are in italics and rejected lists are in red italics.

How do I import a list from the officer address book? Go to ‘Lists And Addresses’, where you will see your contact groups listed. Simply click on ‘Import’ next to the required contact group.

How do I create a contact group in my officer address book? Instructions on how to do this can be found on Hearth at

Creating and Sending an Go to ‘New message’ and check the box next to the list you wish to send an to.

Enter the subject, and then type your text in the body of your . You can use the basic formatting tools at the bottom of the page to format your .

Can I add images or attachments? Yes, you can. If you wish to attach a file into your click the browse button next to ‘Upload a new image/file’ once you have selected it from your PC, ensure you click ‘Upload’ to add the file. Changes made to attachments, including removing attachments from an , are not permanent until you save the draft. Attachments appear as an embedded link within the body of your .

If you would like to send a test copy to yourself to see how it looks to recipients, check the ‘Send a test copy’ box. By default a test copy will go to your generic officer address. Alternatively you can enter any address you wish to use.

Click on ‘Preview’ to preview and edit your draft, ensuring you click on ‘save draft’ when you have finished. This saves your to the draft folder. If you are happy to send your , simply click on ‘send bulk ’, or you can leave it in your draft folder to send or edit later.

Your will be queued for sending, and sent shortly. Click on ‘Sent’ to view your sent items and check progress.

Managing your mailing lists To view people in a mailing list, or to delete one from the system simply click on its title. You can also export individual contacts to your generic address book by clicking on ‘Export’.

Any lists uploaded will remain in ‘list and addresses’. These lists can be deleted at any time and new lists can be uploaded. Please note that the data in the reports from the Officer Reporting Tool changes frequently.

Will I get any replies from members? To avoid your inbox becoming full, bulk s are sent from a ‘do not reply to’ address. In the recipients inbox it will simply say From: NUT - Division News do-not-reply- This means any replies, out of office, or delivery failure notices go to a separate, unmonitored inbox.

How can members get back to me? The following message appears at the end of the bulk for you to customize. ‘The mailbox this mail is sent from is unmonitored, so please do not reply to this address. If you would like to get in touch or reply to this , please contact me at

Do I have to provide recipients with an option to unsubscribe? This is included at the bottom of the bulk as follows: ‘To unsubscribe from this list click here’ here (Unsubscribe request is automatically deleted and blocked from any future bulk ).

Can I copy and paste to the bulk ? Try to avoid copying and pasting text from Word, as Word contains hidden coding which can corrupt the formatting. Best option is to copy and paste into a note pad and then copy to the bulk .

Tips on E-marketing! Grab attention with your subject line. Many readers are overloaded by the information they have to deal with on a daily basis. They do not have the time to digest any more. Readers tend to read 30 per cent slower online and on s – they skim and scan Deliver relevant content and keep concise. Have the most important part at the top. Link to your website to push users to your site but avoid too many links. Help readers to understand what your message is about in less than one minute of opening the .

Tips for getting through firewalls and spam filters Ask to be ‘whitelisted’ (added to address books). Avoid using all CAPITALS in the subject header as this scores high on spam filters and will stop your reaching your members. (example: all capital subject lines) Avoid inserting large images as these are usually slow to upload.

I have a query - who do I contact? Please use the Hearth ‘Feedback’ facility