SenderMatic

SenderMatic is Windows software for sending bulk email campaigns and newsletters from your own computer or company network, rather than from a hosted cloud service. It comes from UtilStudio, s.r.o., the company named on the site as the operator of its unsubscribe web service, and it is aimed at businesses that want to run their mailing list in-house: build a campaign, pick the recipients from a local address book, and send it through an SMTP server of their choosing. The homepage describes it as professional software for email marketing with automatic subscription and unsubscription of recipients to and from your address lists.

The program is available in Czech, Slovak and English, according to the homepage, and it currently comes in three versions: a free edition, Professional and Enterprise. The free edition is described as freeware with no time limit, so it is a free program rather than a trial that expires.

How SenderMatic is built

SenderMatic is a desktop application, not a website you log into. Its data sits in Microsoft SQL Server, using the free Express edition, which the homepage says runs without problems on a single PC or across your company's computer network. The help section carries a guide to installing SQL Server manually and a separate guide to installing SenderMatic Emailer Enterprise across a computer network.

On compatibility, the homepage says the software was tested against the technical requirements for Windows 8.1 and runs just as reliably on Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP with Service Pack 3. That list tells you something about the product's age and its audience: it is built for Windows offices, and the site gives no Mac, Linux or browser version.

Sending goes through SMTP. SenderMatic composes and dispatches the messages, but the actual delivery runs through an outgoing mail server you configure. The help section explains what an SMTP server is and which settings it recommends for email marketing, and a separate article covers signing outgoing mail with a DKIM digital signature, which the site presents as a way to improve delivery of your campaigns.

Building and sending a campaign

The homepage says creating a campaign is simple. A built-in HTML editor lets you write a new message from scratch or adjust one of the ready-made templates. If a web designer has produced the email in another program, you can load it from HTML or ELM files. The help section adds a video on creating your own template with the program's email designer, and a video that walks through sending a first campaign step by step.

Personalization pulls data straight from the address book into the message. You can also insert the results of your own functions, which the homepage says lets you build, for example, a different greeting depending on the recipient's gender or other data held in the address book. The help index lists embedded programmable scripts for better personalization, so this goes further than simple merge fields.

A scheduling mode handles timing. The homepage frames it around the idea that only you know your customers and the right moment to send, and says SenderMatic will send the campaign on any day and at any hour of the day or night you choose.

For measuring results, SenderMatic supports Google Analytics. According to the homepage, two clicks are enough to have every URL in a campaign extended with the utm parameters Google Analytics needs to track it. That is the reporting story the site tells: campaign performance is read in Google Analytics rather than in a dashboard inside the program.

Lists, filtering and blocking

The address book has no limit on the number of records. You can import addresses from several file types or directly from data stored on SQL servers. A filter selects the recipients for each send, and the homepage gives two examples: a newsletter for customers in your own city, or a birthday offer.

Blocking works at two levels. If a customer phones to say they no longer want your newsletter, you add them to the list of blocked addresses. You can also block a whole domain, and the homepage gives the example of a competing company's domain.

An incoming mail analysis function checks your inbox, ideally just before a campaign goes out. After reviewing each message, it decides whether it is a new registration, an unsubscribe from a subscriber, or a bounced message, so replies and returns feed back into the list.

Automatic import and company data

The feature the site explains in most detail is automatic data import. The help page on it says the import runs automatically before every campaign send and updates the address database with the latest subscriptions and unsubscriptions. You can set up automatic import from several sources at once. A source can be the UtilStudio unsubscribe web service or your own CSV, TXT and XML files in the required format. The homepage says this is what lets you connect SenderMatic to your company information system: if another system writes a file of current subscribers, SenderMatic picks it up before each send.

Subscribe and unsubscribe pages

SenderMatic includes a generator for signup and unsubscribe web pages. The homepage says you can create your own pages without knowing any web page language, then copy the generated files to your web server. The help section has worked examples for handling subscribe and unsubscribe requests through web pages, and separate examples for doing the same through email messages.

The UtilStudio unsubscribe service

As an alternative to hosting your own pages, UtilStudio provides a free unsubscribe web service. Recipients click a link in the email instead of sending an unsubscribe message. The help page lists its advantages: you can put unsubscribe links in your emails without building your own pages, your customers' email addresses do not travel over the internet and are not stored in UtilStudio's database, and an unsubscribe cannot be lost to a spam filter or a failed delivery the way an unsubscribe email can.

The mechanics are specific. Each unsubscribe link carries an identification code (a GUID for the address) in place of the email address itself. To match those codes back to your list, you have to keep your original address database. The service is free with limits on the number and age of stored records: at most 250 records, kept for at most three months, and the page says you can extend the service if you need more. Because the archive period is limited, the page tells you to run the import often enough that no unsubscribe data is lost.

Using the free service requires registering your email address with it, and by using it you agree that UtilStudio may send you emails that can include advertising; you can cancel the account at any time. The service is provided as is, without warranty, and the page limits UtilStudio's liability to the license fee actually paid. The same page says the new service replaces an earlier free service that worked by forwarding unsubscribe emails.

Pricing and support

The site's pricing link leads to a page that still carries an unedited website theme rather than SenderMatic's own plans, so the site publishes no prices for the Professional and Enterprise versions. The free edition is the one version you can install at no cost. The footer links to download, buy and support pages, and the help section closes by inviting readers with unanswered questions to use the contact page. The help index also has articles on the legal conditions for bulk email, the difference between spam and email marketing, avoiding the spam folder, and uninstalling the program.

Who it suits

SenderMatic suits a small or medium Czech or Slovak business that runs Windows machines, already has an SMTP server or relay, and wants its address book on its own computers, not in a vendor's cloud. The free edition with an unlimited address book is a genuine starting point for a club or a small shop, and automatic import before each send is useful for a company whose customer data already lives in a SQL database or an internal system that can export files.

It suits a marketer who wants a hosted service with no installation much less. There is no browser version, delivery depends on your own SMTP setup, reporting runs through Google Analytics, and the site lists no connections to online shops or other cloud tools. Anyone on macOS or Linux is outside its range, since every compatibility statement on the site names a Windows version.