Exercise 7: AutoresponderAs you already know, autoresponders are powerful tools used for communication with your clients. The principle is elementary. You simply leave your e-mail address backed by the autoresponder. It responds to each received message using a pre-prepared message. In such a way, you can automate a part of your work, thus leaving you spare time for other, personal messages. PostCast possesses options which take you a step further. It can send an utterly private message to someone who had filled a form at your web site, help the sender reach a database, process the newsletter subscribe/unsubscribe requests, and so forth. Now I am going to show you how to set up the program so that it may simulate the autoresponder - in a few elementary steps. I shall assume that you had read Exercise 3 and set up the program to extract data from your web forms. We will be using the same Customers table and the same project this time as well: Customers.poc 1. We shall set up the autoresponder using the 'Reply with message' Message ruleMessageRules. Select 'Tools/Message rules' menu option first. Click the 'Add' button to add a new message rule. Use the 'Enter the keywords for this rule' text box to type: Order #in it. Click the combo box at the bottom of the screen, above which 'Action to take' and select the 'Reply with message' option. Look at the figure below to see what it should look like: 
2. Click the 'Settings' button next to the combo box. A window will open up, and we shall use it to define the message. The Subject space to type: 'Thank you for registering PostCast' whereas the message Body to type: --------------------------------------------------------- Dear [First Name: ], thank you for registering PostCast. Your data has been processed to the registration service. Once everything is checked and the money drawn, we shall receive a confirmation of your purchase. As soon as it takes place your registration data and the serial number which unlock the program will be sent to you automatically. Here is the information sent by you: Contact address: [Street: ] [City: ] [Country: ] Tel: [Phone: ] Fax: [Fax: ] --------------------------------------------------------- The message text can be found in 'Exercise 7.txt' file, which can be found in the PostCast main folder (usually 'C:\\Program Files\\PostCast'). Here is what it is supposed to look like: 
Click the 'Save' button from the toolbar and then 'Apply' to save this Rule. 3. Now, everything is ready for testing. I repeat that this technique would work only if you had set up the program to extract data from your web forms, as in Exercise 3. Send the e-mail message to the address whereby you receive messages from PostCast. As Subject, type: Order #162709 In the Body of the message you are sending, type: --------------------------------------------------------- Registration fee: US$ 179.95 Number of licenses: 1 Shipping & handling: US$ 5.00 Total: US$ 184.95 Last Name: Johnson First Name: Rick Company: Advanced Communications Street: 10235 Panorama Ave City: Portland, OR 97233 Country: USA Phone: 444-317-4937 Fax: 444-317-4939 --------------------------------------------------------- Wait for the message to reach its destination, and then click the 'Start' button from the toolbar in order to receive the message and send a reply. Once you receive the reply that had been sent, it should look like this: --------------------------------------------------------- Dear Rick, thank you for registering PostCast. Your data has been processed to the registration service. Once everything is checked and the money drawn, we shall receive a confirmation of your purchase. As soon as it takes place your registration data and the serial number which unlock the program will be sent to you automatically. Here is the information sent by you: Contact address: 10235 Panorama Ave Portland, OR 97233 USA Tel: 444-317-4937 Fax: 444-317-4939 If you experience any problems or have any questions you should e-mail us at sales@postcast.com --------------------------------------------------------- I have just showed you how to use PostCast in order to send effective automatic replies. You have just imported the new order data into the database, as well as informed the client that you had received the order - SIMULTANEOUSLY AND AUTOMATICALLY. Of course, you may freely combine other tools as well as use other Message Rules to forward the received messages, save, place message senders in the mail list, etc. | 
