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With the recent launch of Windows 7 we have included a short overview of what's in the new operating system, and some thoughts about how Google might be trying to compete in the space.
In this issue:
- What's in Microsoft Windows 7?
- Client Spot: PSG Print - custom shopping cart.
- Client Spot: Glow Women's Fitness Online
- Why do I need an Email Service Provider, when I can send emails through Outlook?
Best wishes,
Heather Maloney
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Contact Point News - helping businesses keep up to date with changes in internet-based technology and how it can be used for business growth.
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 What's in Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System?
Microsoft launched Windows 7, the new 64 bit operating system, on October 22nd. Windows 7 is said to provide:
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a faster operating system, particularly if you have 4Gb of RAM or more on your computer; Windows 7 will actually enable to you utilise the extra RAM
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easier search for files and emails, straight from the Start button
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pin and jump lists to help you quickly access programs and files you use most often
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aero snap feature that allows you to easily put two windows side by side to compare their contents
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aero peek feature allowing you to see what's on the desktop without minimising everything; the open windows are made transparent. Similarly an aero shake feature, to minimise all the windows and then bring them all back again to their previous position by shaking a window from side to side
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a stronger firewall, anti-virus and anti-malware solution
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tools for creating and sharing videos on YouTube
In addition, Windows 7 takes up 1/2 the room on your hard disk compared to Windows Vista. Developers and manufacturers are expected to be interested in Windows 7 because of the many new capabilities it provides, including touchscreen support. For more information you might like to read the Top 10 reasons to buy Windows 7 put together by Microsoft. In addition, Microsoft has a new section of it's website dedicated to Windows 7.
Unfortunately, you can't upgrade directly from Windows XP to Windows 7, so if you're like me you would need to do a fresh installation of Windows 7, which will probably give you a better result anyhow. You could of course temporarily upgrade to Vista, and then upgrade to Windows 7.
Some analysts are suggesting that this could be Microsoft's last operating system, with the prospect of operating-system-less computers becoming more likely. Perhaps the question should be, will Google be successful in bringing out their Google Chrome operating system to replace the heavy-weight Windows operating system? You might like to read Google's vision for their light-weight operating system.
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 Client Spot: PSG Print - custom shopping cart
We have enjoyed the challenge of working with PSG Print in Ballarat to re-design their website, simultaneously implementing the Contact Point Content Management System and Shopping Cart. PSG Print provides a group printing process, whereby people belonging to a chain of companies can obtain discounted stationery and other marketing material, when orders are placed within a specified print run timeframe.
As with most of our shopping cart implementations, there was an element of customisation for PSG Print including:
- Allowing particular products to be flagged such that customers are required to add details to the product, for example, contact name, title and address details can be added to a business card.
- Automating the approval of artwork which is created as a PDF, sent to the customer via email through the online administration, allowing the customer to then approve the artwork electronically.
- Depending on which chain a particular customer is attached to, only show products relevant to that chain when the customer logs in.
- Shipping costs calculated depending on the size of the order as well as the method of payment.
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 Client Spot: Glow Women's Fitness Online
Last week the Glow Women's Fitness Online website was re-launched, sporting the Contact Point Shopping Cart System which greatly improves the shopping capability of the site, as well as Contact Point Content Management System. Glow Women's Fitness Online provides a full range of fitness programs using a mix of online tools and real life support that meet the needs of busy people who simply need direction, encouragement and follow-up to help them achieve their health and fitness goals. Aside from the online delivery of the product and services provided by Glow Women's Fitness Online being quite novel, the website now includes some additional functionality that may be useful for your business:
- Logged in customers can also get access to special resources, such as PDF files. If you aren't an existing customer or member of the site, and try to access such resources, you are invited to register first to gain access. Of course as part of registering for the resources, you are setting up an account for future purchase activity, and can also elect to receive product and news emails which is integrated with eNudge. The site supports both customer and member type visitors.
- To allow Glow Women's Fitness Online to obtain important information for the delivery of their services after sales, upon successfully paying for certain products, the customer receives a link to the download information within their confirmation email and also on the payment result screen.
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 Why do I need an Email Service Provider, when I can send emails through Outlook?
I was recently asked by a client, who has used eNudgeŽ from time to time to deliver both email and SMS campaigns, "tell me why, again, that I need to use eNudge rather than sending my emails from Outlook?" So I thought it was high time to give a quick list of reasons why you'd want to use an email service provider, such as eNudge, rather than sending bulk emails from Outlook:
- It's much easier to create a professional looking HTML email with a tool such as eNudge, compared to trying to use Outlook for this purpose.
- Your messages are sent one at a time from the eNudge server (but still using your email address as the sender of course), so it doesn't tie up your own computing power or internet bandwidth in the process. Also your messages don't look like spam, which can happen if you send the same message to hundreds of recipients by adding their email addresses to the BCC box.
 You can track who has opened your emails, and track click-throughs on any URL [website address] contained in your message. Then it's easy to grab the contacts that have, say, clicked on a particular URL and attach them to another campaign which might contain a special offer related the clicked on URL.- eNudge provides you with the ability to bulk email or sms all within the one solution, allowing you to easily see details of all the messages that have been sent to a particular contact.
- Un-subscribes are handled automatically for you, both [separately] for email and sms, ensuring that you don't accidentally email or sms anyone who has un-subscribed.
- It's easy to target just a subset of your contacts for a particular message through the use of unlimited categories per contact, and with eNudge's advanced multi-criteria search tool.
- It's easy to personalise your email or sms, to an unlimited degree, including inside the email subject.
- Bounces are managed for you so that you don't keep sending to invalid email addresses, which can increase the likelihood of your email address being flagged as a source of spam.
- You can track the results of your campaigns, comparing trends on open rates and click-throughs between similar campaigns over time. This will also help you to identify the most successful email subject lines.
- There are many other features of eNudge that can help you plan your communications, and achieve greater business productivity in the delivery of messages, such as the message series feature, the campaign follow-up manager and the reminder type campaigns for bulk appointments.
- You can integrate your website subscription / purchase forms with your eNudge account, allowing your website visitors to place themselves in your database, attach themselves to a series of messages, and also manage their own contact data when it changes.
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