Curious about what Communications Professional updates are scheduled for release in the near future? If so, you've come to the right place.

List page enhancements

RELEASE DATE: Released on December 10, 2020.

Two enhancements were introduced in the Admin interface.

• Web Version - This new option is available in the More menu on the Messages > List > Sent page. Click a message to select it, and then click More > Web Version to see the web version of the message in a new tab.

• This also works for messages that are based on a deleted template.

• Column Resize - As an Admin, you can now click-and-drag a column divider in the list header to resize the width of the column; the new widths will remain in effect until you change/re-size them.

• This functionality is available on the Templates > List page and all five of the Messages > List pages.

Best Practice Campaign Starter Kits

RELEASE DATE: Released on July 26, 2020.

These new starter kit campaigns simplify creating an organization's most-often used campaigns.

These ready-made campaigns take some of the guesswork out of campaign design. The pre-configured -- but completely customizable! -- campaign workflows will enable you to more quickly manage your memberships and promote your organization's activities.

Although customizable, the campaigns are pre-populated with recommended messages, decision points, and send intervals to speed up your campaign design and creation efforts. When you start the campaign-creation process, choose one of the following campaigns so that you hit the ground running.

• Welcome Campaign for your organization's new members
• Renewal Campaigns to remind current members of upcoming membership renewals
• Win Back Campaigns to target prior members and those whose membership renewal is past due by:
  • 3 to 6 months or
  • 7 to 24 months
• Promotion Campaigns to get the word out about your organization's:
  • Small & mid-sized events
  • Large events
• Fundraising Campaign to solicit donations

TIP: Visit the knowledge base to learn more about the Best Practice Campaign Starter Kits.

Auto Resend

Auto Resend is new Mailing Designer 2 (MD2) feature that enables you to easily and automatically resend a message to contacts who did not open the original message. You must configure this option while creating a (original) message; it cannot be set up after a message has been sent.

NOTE: The Auto Resend feature is currently not available for Landing Page and Campaign messages.

The Auto Resend feature is in the Send section of the Review & Send tab and is available for the Send Message Now, Schedule One-Time, and Monthly scheduling options only.

To learn all about this new feature, see Auto Resend.

Terminology updates

As we prepare MA Professional (powered by Informz) for the New Admin Experience, we are making some naming convention changes.

What impact will our terminology changes have on you?

You will start to see updates to various MA Professional pages. These updates will be iterative. You may see some inconsistencies across pages as we work through updating each individual page, but this will ultimately help unify your new admin experience.

What terminology will be changing?

Great question! Here's the list of the key updates you will begin to see.

• Mailing(s) will become Message(s)
• Subscriber(s) will become Contact(s)
• Virtual Inbox will become Inbox Preview
• Target Group will become Group
• Target Group Name will become Name
• System Settings will become Account Settings

NOTE: For more information, see this HUG post.

Advanced Image Editor

NOTE: The updated Advanced Image Editor was released in June 2019 and is available now.

The Advanced Image Editor enables you to change the appearance of the images that you insert into your templates and include in your messages. The editor offers a range of editing features that you can use to manipulate your images, helping you add a touch of professional quality to your email messages.

Accessing the Image Editor

There are two ways to access the Advanced Image Editor; both entry points are within Mailing Designer 2 (MD2). When editing either a message or a template, add an image or select an existing one.

1. If adding an image, click choose another image, and in the resulting image manager dialog, click an image's edit image button.

2. If editing an existing image, select it and click the edit image button.

Interface Overview

The Image Editor interface has three primary sections:

Features Menu

The features menu on the left is where you select a feature set. Hover anywhere in this column and the fly-out panel displays the feature set names. Click one to select it.

Palette

When a feature set is selected, its title and associated options are displayed here, in the palette. Many feature sets include more options than can be displayed at once, so use the scroll bar to access any additional options.

Canvas

The canvas is your image-editing work space. All changes made via the features are shown in real time on the canvas.

At the top of the canvas are several universal controls and options that remain in place, irrespective of which feature set is in use:

• On the left are the undo and redo controls.
• The number in the center is the size-percentage of the image on the canvas, in relation to the actual size. Use the minus (–) and plus (+) controls to re-size the image (i.e., zoom out and zoom in) on the canvas. Zooming does not alter the size of the image file; it only changes your perspective.
  The minus (–) and plus (+) controls do not decrement and increment the image by 1% or 10% with each click; there are preset display percentages.

TIP: You can "zoom" to more than 100% to isolate an area of the image for more detailed editing. If the image is larger than the canvas, use the "cross hairs" to drag the image left, right, up, and down to the area that you want to focus on.

• Click Save to preserve any changes that you make (you have the option to either overwrite the original image file or save a copy).

• Click Close to close the image editor. If you have not saved your changes, you can either discard them (click OK) or return to the canvas and save your changes (click Cancel).

NOTE: See Advanced Image Editor for even more information about the updated Advanced Image Editor, including editing images using its various feature sets.