Developing Direct Mail Content

Direct Mailer can construct message bodies from either Web pages or static files. You can also extend Direct Mailer to construct messages using other sources, such as SQL Server templates, by adding custom components to the Direct Mailer pipeline. For more information about adding custom components to the Direct Mailer pipeline, see Using the Direct Mailer Pipeline.

The only way to send individually personalized mail is by using a Web page. To deliver personalized message bodies, you must first develop the personalized Web page. You send targeted e-mail messages with Direct Mailer by using customer information and custom Active Server Pages (ASP). Direct Mailer acts similarly to a Web browser by gathering the UserID for the customer from a cookie, using the profile service to obtain the user profile, and finally, personalizing the page.

Note

• If you specify a text attachment when sending a mailing in MIME Encapsulation or Aggregate HTML Documents (MHTML) format from Direct Mailer, the personalized Web page will show up as an attachment when viewed with Microsoft Outlook. This issue applies only with Outlook, not with Microsoft Outlook Express.

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