Sometimes you want the program to download all mail from the mailbox and then react to only a subset of new messages. For instance, you may want it to opt-in everybody who sends a message with “subscribe” in the subject.
You can use conditions with both autoresponders and mailing lists. An autoresponder lets you tell to which messages you want it to reply to. With a mailing list you can define conditions an incoming message must meet to be recognized as an opt-in or opt-out request (see Handling Opt-In Requests and Handling Opt-Out Requests).
This functionality is accessible via the “Conditions” button. In case of an autoresponder, the button is located near the bottom of the “Reply” tab. A mailing list has two such buttons; one on the “Opt-In” and another on the “Opt-Out” tab. Clicking the "Conditions" button brings up the window entitled "Conditions".
The left part has the various conditions you can select, while the right part contains a large "Sample message" text box you can use to text how the conditions work with a sample message:
Defining Conditions
To define conditions click the “Incoming messages that match...” radio button, and mark one or more check boxes located below.
If you want to messages to match just any one of the conditions you specified, turn on the option labeled "Any conditions above (OR)", otherwise all conditions must be met for a match. For instance, you may want to specify that a sender must type "SUBSCRIBE" either in subject or in body of his message to get added to the mailing list; in this case you should use the "OR" option. Clicking "All conditions above (AND)" instead, will require "SUBSCRIBE" both in the subject and in the body.
If you want the incoming message to have certain words in the subject, mark the check box labeled “The Subject line contains specific words”. Below you can see the “Subject Words” window that is displayed after you click the “words” link. Use the window to enter words that must be in the subject in order for a message to be accepted.
To search for words or phrases in text (body) of incoming messages you need to follow the same steps but use the check box labeled “The body contains specific words” instead.
If you want the autoresponder/mailing list to process messages sent from certain email addresses, mark the check box labeled “The message is sent from one or more specific addresses”. Then click the “addresses” link to bring up the “Addresses” window (below). Use the “Add” button to add email addresses to the list.
To process only messages that have specific addresses in the “To” line, use the check box labeled “The To line contains specific addresses”. This option is very useful if you use an email account with aliasing, i.e. one that allows you to use multiple email addresses all pointing to the same account.
Testing Conditions with a Sample Message
You can use the "Sample message" box on the right to see if the conditions match the messages they should.
There's an easy and bullet-proof way to do just that. Simply have a sample message sent to the correct email address (by submitting your signup form with test data, placing a test order in your online store etc.), have FollowUpExpert download it, and automatically check if it matches the conditions you defined..
Here's how you can do it:
1. Click the "Import" button above the "Sample message" box.
2. It opens a menu containing the available import options. Choose "Download sample message".
3. The program opens the window you can see below. Simply follow the prompts.
Note: FollowUpExpert downloads the message list from the incoming mail account you selected for the current mailing list/autoresponder. Make sure messages you want to test are sent to the correct email address.
4. After you click "OK", the program will paint a border around the "Sample message" box. A red border indicates there's no match, while a green one means the message matches the conditions. Example: