Earlier this morning, we rolled out a major release that introduced our new sending/archiving framework for email.
When you first login, you'll notice the new 'Email' menu.
When clicked, you'll see our standard-looking grid showing your sent messages - in many cases, messages sent on your behalf by OwnerRez.
We've been working on this update for a while but most of the changes are deep down under the covers. At the moment, the only thing you'll notice in the interface itself is the grid of activity and, when clicked, the details of an individual email message.
Why is this new area important?
Up till now, OwnerRez emails were fired out of the system directly and nothing was logged or tracked. We've always used enterprise email service providers, but if a message bounced, the bounce was swallowed and no one was ever alerted.
Now, our entire delivery process has changed. Instead of sending messages directly while you work, the system records them in a queue and sends them in the background. This provides a number of advantages:
- If our email service provider is down or slow, it won't affect the delivery of OwnerRez messages since everything waits in the queue.
- All email messages are archived so you can look directly at your sent messages and see what the guest sees.
- Because messages are tracked, we can record feedback from the recipient such as bounces, opens and clicks.
- Based on the feedback, we can alert you if your messages fail to be delivered so that you can correct the email address or contact the guest an alternative way.
Before updating the various email forms in OwnerRez - adding things like customizable templates, tags and auto-responders - we felt it was necessary to first overhaul the sending process itself so that you can see what you're sending and so that we can support you when something goes wrong.
As OwnerRez continues to grow, transparency and scalability remain our most important goals. This update brings our email framework up to that standard.
