ec4b:Centralized eCard tutorial

Welcome to the pingg Create-an-eCard tutorial. We’ve made creating and sending an eCard a breeze with our unique, user-friendly application. All you need to do is choose a design, enter your details (e.g. card title, message to recipients), add your contacts and you’re ready to send. Please note: If you have not already created a free pingg account, you will be prompted to create one as the last step before you send your eCards. As a centralized service administrator, you should enter your company's name when creating the account, rather than your own name. In this way, all eCards created under this account will display as having been sent from your company name, rather than from you personally.

Hint: to print any tabs in the tutorial, go to the tab and hit control + P (Windows) or command + P (Mac), or select File>Print from your browser's menu bar

Let’s get started and Choose a Design

The first step in creating your eCard is choosing a design.

To see the available eCard designs:

1.Click the “create eCard” button on the splash page you received from us; you will see your customized gallery of eCard designs on the left-hand side of the page, and the pingg gallery of premium images on the right-hand side.

2.Click on a design to see a larger preview of that design.

3.To select a design, click on the “Select this Image” option located on the upper left-hand side of the preview window; to see the previous or next design, click the arrows on the upper right and left-hand sides. To exit the preview without selecting the design, click the “Close X” option on the upper right-hand side of the screen.

Once you have chosen a design it will be displayed under the “layout” tab for your eCard. To expand or collapse this or any of the horizontal tabs, simply click on the tab itself. Next, Add Details.

Once you have chosen a design you can add your details. Click to open the “details” tab and you can then choose a theme for your card (optional), name your card (e.g. Happy Holidays, etc.), indicate who it’s from (you, your department, etc.) and write a personal message to your recipients.

Once you have added your details, click the “save” button beneath the message window. Note the blue progress bar along the bottom of the screen. This will tell you what steps you have completed and what remains to be added to your ecard before you can send. Also note you can preview your eCard at any time by clicking the blue “preview” button located on the right-hand side of the progress bar. In preview mode you can see how your eCard will look as an email (default), SMS (text), print, and on your eCard web page. Use the badges across the top of the preview window to see how your eCard will look in that medium.

Now, all you have left to do is Add Contacts.

To add your recipients’ contact information, begin by clicking on the “list” tab to expand it:

There are several ways to add contacts to your list. One is to type a recipient’s name and email address in the appropriate fields, as in the above example, and click the “add” button to add them to your list. Or, if you have many contacts to add, you can use any of the methods indicated in the four badges under the “Add recipients from a list” heading. The four methods are:

• Import from a previous event or eCard (only useful if you have already created and sent an eCard)

• Cut and Paste from a list of email addresses

• Import from an online account (e.g., gmail, Yahoo!, evite, etc.)

• Import from a .vCard or .csv file

Click on any one of the badges and you will see detailed instructions on how to use that method of adding contacts. Also under the “list” tab, you can choose to post your eCard to social networks Twitter and Facebook—just check off the box beside the social network you want to use, and you will be prompted for your log-in information for that network when you send your eCard.

Program specific instructions

Here are instructions on how to extract contacts from common contact management programs:

Mac OSX Address Book

• Select the contacts you would like to export
• Select "Export vCards..." from the File menu
• Choose a filename and a place to save the file (for instance, "Contacts.vcf" on the Desktop), then click "Save"
• you can now upload the .vcf file to pingg (see above)

Microsoft Outlook

• from the File menu, select "Import and Export"
• select "Export to a file" and click "Next"
• select "Comma separated values (Windows)" and click "Next"
• select the Contacts folder you would like to export and click "Next"
• choose a file name and a place to save the file (for instance, "Contacts.csv" on the Desktop), then click "Next"
• make sure the checkbox next to "Export..." is checked and click "Finish"
• you can now upload the .csv file to pingg (see above)

Microsoft Outlook Express

• Select "Export" from the "File" menu
• Click "Export", and then click "Address Book"
• Select "Text File" (Comma Separated Values), and then click "Export".
• Choose a filename and a place to save the file (for instance, "Contacts.csv" on the Desktop) and click "Next"
• Click to select the check boxes for the fields that you want to export, and then click "Finish".
• Click "OK" and then click "Close"
• you can now upload the .csv file to pingg (see above)

Microsoft Address Book

• From the "File" menu, select "Export", then "Other Address Book..."
• When the "Address Book Export Tool" dialog opens, select "Text File (Comma Separated Values)" and click "Export"
• Choose a filename and a place to save the file (for instance, "Contacts.csv" on the Desktop) and click "Next"
• Click to select the check boxes for the fields that you want to export, and then click "Finish".
• Click "OK" and then click "Close"
• you can now upload the .csv file to pingg (see above)

Once you’ve added your contacts your eCard is ready to go. However, your ping eCard comes equipped with additional features you might want to take advantage of Before You Send.

The default way to send your eCard is via email, but you also have the option to have your eCard printed and sent. Also, each pingg eCard comes with its own eCard web page, which you can further customize and personalize. These options are explained more fully below.

Print eCards—25% off

In addition to sending your eCard by email, pingg offers you the option of having your eCard professionally printed and delivered by first class postal mail to any address in the world. This service normally costs $1.50 US per eCard plus $0.44 US postage for US addresses ($1.94 US total per eCard), or $0.98 US postage for international addresses ($2.48 US total per eCard). However, as an eCard for business customer you can use this service for 25% off the normal price.

Under the "print options" tab you can select each recipient to whom you would like to send a printed eCard. Alternatively, you can select the 'print' option for each recipient under the "list" tab. You can also send out printed versions of your eCard after emails have already been sent out by selecting which recipients should be sent a printed version and then clicking the "send print" button in the "print options" tab. Please note that the print option will be disabled if the design you are using is from an uploaded PDF file or if the image uploaded or the area selected is too small for print.

Print invitations and eCards are generally mailed within 1-3 business days of submitting your order. With regards to delivery time, once we mail the eCards we cannot track them because the USPS does not provide tracking services for First Class mail. However, based on past experience we have a general idea of when they should arrive. We've found that they are generally delivered to guests/recipients within 2-10 (business) days. Delivery times for international orders may be longer, depending on the destination.

eCard Web Page

Each eCard you create comes with its own eCard web page. In your list of horizontal tabs for your eCard you’ll see a “web page” tab (if you don’t see this tab click the “additional options” tab and it will expand to reveal 3 more tabs, including the “web page” tab). Under the “web page” tab you’ll find a variety of ways to customize your eCard web page even further. You can add an additional message, customize your eCard web page URL, and add up to 10 external links to the web page.

Your eCard web page also comes with an Event Stream. The Event Stream is a list of your eCard activities such as new contacts added, photos added, and recipient comments. By default, the Event Stream appears both in the event report tab (viewable only by the sender) and on the eCard web page. Certain items in the Event Stream are only viewable by the sender. If the Event Stream is public - that is, visible on the eCard web page - recipients can subscribe to its RSS feed and can post comments which are then added to the stream.

Also, to make your Event Stream more interactive, you can search for terms on Twitter where all tweets related to your search terms will be added to your Event Stream. You can search for tweets to add in the same way you would search for tweets on Twitter. For example, enter a single search term, e.g. martini, or combine terms to filter your search, e.g. gin martini (returns tweets with both); "gin martini" (returns exact phrase); gin or martini (returns either or both).

Under the “photos & videos” tab you’ll find the option to add up to 10 images to your eCard web page, add photos or an album from a Flickr account, and you can even add a YouTube video.

We’ve also made it easy to integrate a gift registry within your eCard web site. We have built a system that allows you to setup a gift registry from either "Changing the present" or "Amazon.com". To set this up, click on the "charities, gift registries and event fund" tab and click on the registry you would like to add.

Now, you’re really ready to Send.

To send your eCard click on the “review & send” button located on the lower right-hand side of the screen. This will take you to the Confirmation Page.

On this page you can verify all information for your eCard. Click on the email, print or SMS badges to see exactly which recipients you are sending information to and in what form. Click on the web badge to see the web address for your eCard web page or click on the social networks badge to see if you are sharing on Facebook and/or Twitter. Once you have finished reviewing, click the “personalize email” button to add a personalized message to the top of your email ecard or to change the email subject line. Click the “final preview” button to preview the eCard one last time. Once you are satisfied, click the “send now” button or the “continue” button if you have chosen to send print eCards.

Please note: If you are not logged into your pingg account or have not yet created one, you will be prompted at this point to either log in or create an account.

For print eCards: if you have chosen to send print eCards you will see a “continue” button, as in the example above, rather than a “send now” button. Click the “continue” button to see a final preview screen of your the print version of your eCard. Please check the box beneath your print preview to indicate you have reviewed and approved the print eCard and then click the “continue” button to proceed to the payment page. The 25% discount will be automatically applied and indicated in the “services” section of the payment page. Once you have entered your payment info click the “checkout & send” button to send your eCard.

Now check out what you can do

After you have sent your eCard it will appear in your dashboard with a status of "Sent", as in the example below. The dashboard is always the first page you will see after logging in to your pingg account.

Notice each eCard in the dashboard has a row of icons. You can use these icons to perform a variety of actions. Clicking the "web page" icon will open a new window displaying your eCard web page. Click the "copy" icon to copy the design, recipient list, and eCard details into a new eCard, which you can then edit to send to a new group of recipients. Click the "share" icon to send your eCard to any of several social networks, and click "delete" to delete that eCard from your dashboard. Clicking the "manage" icon will open the eCard report for that eCard as in the example below. You can also see your eCard report by clicking on the thumbnail image or title of your eCard.

eCard Stats

Your eCard report displays a variety of useful information in one convenient location. On the upper left-hand side there is a pie chart displaying the number of recipients who have viewed your eCard versus those who haven't. To the immediate right of the of the pie chart you'll see statistics related to your eCard: Total Emails Delivered, an estimate of how many were opened, and the number of times your eCard web page has been viewed. If any of your emails bounced, you will see a link at the top of this list you can click on to fix or delete the bounced email addresses.

Recipient List

Beneath the pie chart and list of stats is a list of all your recipients. Beside your recipients' names you'll see the status column. A "Viewed" status indicates the recipient has viewed either the eCard web page or the eCard or both. "Delivered" indicates the recipient has not yet viewed the eCard. "Delivered" with a yellow caution triangle beside it (as in the second list entry in the above example) indicates one of three things: the email has bounced; the recipient has unsubscribed from receiving any further communication related to your eCard; or the recipient has blocked any further communication from you entirely. Hover your mouse pointer over the triangle and a message will appear indicating whether the email bounced or the recipient unsubscribed/blocked further communication. If it bounced, click the "Fix Bounces" link described above to correct or delete the bounced email addresses.

Event Stream

To the right of the recipient list is your Event Stream. The Event Stream is a list of your ecard activities such as new contacts added, photos added, and recipient comments. By default, the event stream appears both in the event report tab (viewable only by the sender) and on the eCard web page. Certain items in the event stream appear only under the event report and are viewable only by the sender. These items include bounced email addresses, recipients added or removed by the sender, and private messages sent by recipients. If the event stream is public (i.e. visible on the eCard web page) recipients can subscribe to its RSS feed and post comments which are added to the stream. You can disable the option for the stream appearing on the web page by un-checking the box "Recipients can view Event Stream on web page" under the 'web page' tab.

Furthermore, you can add tweets (from Twitter) related to a certain search term to the Event Stream. To do this after you've already created your eCard enter your term in the text field below the Event Stream in your eCard report and click the <update> button. Adding tweets to your event stream makes your stream more interactive as the content will be constantly updated to reflect tweets found that include your search term.

You can delete individual line items in the Event Stream by clicking the red "X" beside the line item in the Event Stream in your eCard report.

Useful Icons

Above the Event Stream you will see another row of icons. Use these to add or edit contacts on your recipient list, visit your eCard web page, edit or resend your eCard, or display all your private messages on one page.