BCC and watchers database: what they are & how to use them

Launching a mass email campaign, we want to be sure that the message reaches the recipient at the scheduled time and in the planned format. Some people are satisfied with the evidence received after sending a test email, while others go further and add themselves as recipients to the mailing list.

In this article, we will discuss where and how to view an already sent email in the platform.

Watchers database

Choose this option if you want to receive campaign messages alongside subscribers. This allows you to ensure that the campaign is set up correctly and sends the right template at the right time.

The watchers database is essentially the same as the profile database, with the difference that it contains the email addresses of your colleagues instead of subscriber contact information. These colleagues will observe the mailings, receiving them just like regular subscribers.

Creating an observer list is almost the same as creating a regular database. The only difference is that in the settings, you need to tick the "Watchers database" checkbox.

Add one or more profiles with work email addresses to this database. Subscriptions to resources are not taken into account here. Emails will be sent to the email address specified as the primary one.

After creating the watchers database, you can use it in any campaign. To do this, when configuring the campaign in the "Smart settings" section, select the database. When the campaign is launched, all profiles in the watchers database will receive the same message as the rest of the subscribers.

BCC

BCC, which stands for Blind Carbon Copy, refers to email addresses where copies of the email are sent without the other recipients being aware of it.

You can set up BCC addresses in the "Smart settings" of your campaign. Manually enter the email address where you want to receive copies of the sent messages. If there are multiple email addresses, place each email on a new line:

Each sent message will be duplicated to the specified email addresses. In other words, if the campaign sends a message to 100 subscribers, you will receive 100 emails.

In your email client, the "To" field will show the subscriber's address whose copy of the email you received. Therefore, BCC is best used when you need to precisely know who the messages were sent from and to whom.

Please note that any actions taken on the email received as a blind carbon copy are treated as actions of the profile to which the original email was sent. If you duplicate the email to your inbox and open it, it will be recorded in the profile's history as an open action.

Web version of the email

The web version is a version of an email message that a user can open as a web page in a browser. It is used in case the email template does not display correctly in email services.

Sometimes, the web version is saved to have the ability to see how the email appeared to the subscriber after some time has passed since sending. You can find the web version of the sent message in the profile's history.

The web version is saved only if you include the appropriate variable in the message template. There is an article explaining how to do this.

Conclusion

Let's sum it up. If you want to monitor the progress of your campaign, create a watchers database. BCC addresses will provide information about who the emails were sent from and to whom. And the web version will be useful for those who analyze profile history.