How to set up bulk emails
Bulk emailing is the process of sending large quantities of emails at once. This is made possible with the help of email service providers like MailerLite, Mailchimp, ConvertKit etc.
To set up bulk emails on onlinecoursehost.com, you need to own a domain name, and activate it as a custom domain on your website.
After activating your custom domain, be it a subdomain or a main domain name, you must then create an email address with the main domain name (bulkemail@exampledomain.com). Afterward, kindly log in to your account => click Admin => on your left-hand side, scroll down, and click Bulk Emails.
Please note that your email address has to carry the domain name you have activated as a custom domain; else, it won't work.
Step 1: Verify your sending email address
Your sending email address is the one that your students would get the emails from, so in the box provided, you are to input the email address you created with your domain name, and click Verify Sending Email.
An email with the verification link would be sent to the provided email address. After verifying your email address, go back to your website and click, “I verified my email.”
Please note that the email address you verified on this page would be used as your drip schedule sending email as well.
Step 2: Activate your bulk email
After verifying your email address, you will be redirected to a page where you will be given 5 DNS records to add to your DNS Manager for the domain name you activated.
These DNS records are TXT, MX, and CNAME records. After adding the records to your DNS Manager, you can then click the refresh icon in front of each record to confirm it is propagating well.
A record that is propagating well will show as valid, while a record that is not propagating or has not been correctly added will show as pending.
Please note that clicking the Activate Bulk Emails button or the refresh icon for one record will automatically refresh the other records, and if all the records display as valid, you will be redirected to your bulk email page, where you can create new emails.
Step 3: Create a new email
Now, it is time to create your first bulk email. To do this, click Create New Email.
=> Send From: This box comes prefilled with your verified bulk sending email address, and this is what your students will see as the sender when they receive your emails.
=> Recipients: Confirm if you want to send emails to every student enrolled for all your courses. If yes, leave the box empty.
You can also exclude the students signed up for a particular course if the email to be sent is peculiar to some courses. To do this, click the select all eligible courses button and select the courses that are eligible for the email.
=> Email leads via newsletter: If you want to include all email leads, collected via the newsletter popup and other forms, tick the box assigned to it.
=> Subject of the email: Include the subject of your email.
=> Body of the email: Type in the body of your email
Note: You can use the AI feature (Improve this email button) to improve your email before you send it to your students.
Step 4: Send your email
Scroll down the body of your email and send your email. The Send Preview Email button would send the email to the website owner's email address so that you can see how this would appear to your students and make necessary corrections if need be, while the Send Email button would send these emails to the recipients.
Can I change my verified sending email address?
Yes, you can. To change your sending email address, login to your website => click Admin => on your left-hand side, scroll down, click Bulk Emails => click Email Settings.
On this page, you can change your sending email, and click Save Email.
Please, note that if the new email address has the same domain name as the previous one, you would not need to add new DNS records.
However, if you try to add an email address that is not the same as the custom domain you activated, you will get an error, and will not be able to proceed, unless you change your custom domain to the new domain name.
What happens if I reset my custom domain?
There are 7 records needed for your bulk email to work. These records are the 2 CNAME records you added to activate your custom domain, and the 5 TXT, MX, and CNAME records you added to activate your bulk email settings.
These 7 records must not be deleted, and they need to work for your bulk email to work. Therefore, when you reset your custom domain name, your bulk email will cease to work until you reactivate it.
Also, if you change your custom domain name, your bulk email will not work until you use another email address with the new domain name.
I have multiple academies, can I use the same email address for all of them?
Yes, you can use the same email address for all your academies if they match the custom domain you have activated under each academy, and you will not always have to add the 5 records all over again.
With these simple steps, you are ready to start sending bulk emails and newsletters to your students.