Can TFMail be used for unsolicited bulk e-mail (spamming)?
To send one million e-mails using TFMail would cost $20,000. TFMail was not designed as a SPAM tool, and it would be illogical for it to be used as such. TFMail has been designed as an online, value added service for a range of functions, including personalized opt-in marketing to clients and in-house communication with colleagues, as well as private use.

What is TFMail used for?
The TFMail tool is mostly used by corporations, associations, clubs, small businesses and private individuals. The uses are endless, but most people use TFMail to communicate with clients, staff, members, colleagues and relatives or friends. Private use would include invites, announcements, travelogues and family albums. Small businesses might use TFMail for press releases, newsletters, product launches, quotes, letters, proposals and more. Corporations, on the other hand, might have an in-house communications department that wants to send out internal newsletters, reports, memos and directives to other offices, as well as a range of opt-in or other marketing functions.

Does TFMail CC (carbon copy) or BCC (blind carbon copy) e-mails sent to multiple recipients?
No, when sending, each newsletter is addressed and sent individually. This is much more effective. When people see a single stock phrase in the "To" field of the received e-mail, they usually associate it with SPAM.

Can I personalize the e-mails or use different subject lines?
Yes, we offer a range of personalization functions. You can address the emails to individuals, based on fields you set up in datasets managed in the Manage Subscriber Info area. You can also personalize the subject with a data field representing each individual recipient, such as their name.

Can I do scheduled sends with TFMail, choosing the time I wish my newsletter to be sent out?
Yes, scheduled sends are part of TFMail's functionality. They can be sent by hours and days, up to one month ahead.

Can the recipient's name appear in the ‘To’ field?
The TO field has to contain an email address. If you want to add the recipient’s name, use our personalization tool.

Can I send out personalized emails?
Yes, TFMail allows you to personalize your emails and set up subscribe forms where your users fill in their details to populate sets of data that you can set up, with a choice in the type of information you wish to get from them. Go to Manage Subscriber Info and Create New (dataset). Full instructions are available in the help files. A small icon next to the subject line in the SEND area enables you to personalize the subject line.

Is there a limit to the size of my newsletter when sending?
Some email software freezes up when an email is too big. The limit, more a practical maximum, is 200 kilobytes. This is a very large file anyway, and we advise against sending so much data. 200 kb is 200,000 bytes, or about 25,000 words and 3,000 lines. This is without the pictures - remember that images are not embedded in the email, but exist externally, either in your TFMail folder or in a folder on a website. This means that your recipient must not only download 200 kb of (words and code) data, but also all the images. You are unlikely to endear customer to you or your product if you're subjecting them to that ordeal. We recommend that the size of a newsletter (words and code) does not exceed 70 kb, and that the newsletter links to a minimum number of small, carefully compressed images. There are many image editors on the market. Some, such as IrfanView (Tucows gives it a five cow rating) are freeware or shareware and are free or cheap to use.

Can TFMail deliver statistics (such as open rates and clicks) on text e-mails sent instead of HTML messages?
No. Our reports depend on an action being taken (such as a image being downloaded) or a click through. One way around it is to design the newsletter in HTML but make it resemble straight text by using only text in a simple table structure (in a font such as Courier New).

Does personalization work with plain text newsletters?
At this time personalization only works in HTML and not in text-only emails. However, a work-around is to design a text-only e-mail using HTML, but choose a plain text font such as Times Roman. This way, you can personalize the e-mail as well as track clicks and other useful statistics. HTML contains code that communicates with our server to register these stats, whereas text-only e-mails do not.

How does personalization work?
Under Enhanced mode – Manage subscriber info, you can create your datasets there. Help files are available. You can personalize your TO field and the SUBJECT, as well as a range of other options.

Is there a cost involved in personalizing emails?
Personalization is one of many useful features that come free with TFMail.

Does TFMail automatically send the correct version (HTML or text) to recipients?
Yes, TFMail is reverse MIME compliant and will automatically determine whether an e-mail client can read HTML. If it cannot, TFMail will deliver the text version (a setting that can be turned on or off in your TFMail account).

My newsletter was sent successfully, but no-one has received it?
This could mean that either our server are busy, or you have a big file so downloading takes at longer.