What is Topica's Online Marketing and Sales Solution?
It is an end-to-end marketing solution that addresses all stages of online marketing: prospecting, conversion of prospects to customers, customer retention, and customer cross or up-selling.

Is Topica's system compatible with the new anti-spam laws?
Yes. Topica is completely compatible with the latest anti-spam laws. Our solution includes a CAN-SPAM compliance package that automates many of the requirements mandated by law. For more details, please see our section on best practices for legal compliance.

Do I need my own customer list to start using Topica's Online Marketing and Sales Solution, or does Topica supply the addresses?
It's your choice. You can generate your own prospects and use the Topica application to generate prospects for you through our online data-capture forms. If you already have a list of prospective customers, you can easily import them.

How many prospective customers can I have per account?
Your database can include an unlimited amount of prospective customers. Topica will charge one cent for each prospective customer, with a minimum charge of $49.95.

Does Topica‘s Online Marketing and Sales Solution enable me to collect prospective customers directly from my Web site?
Yes. With Topica, you can create any number of forms that you can place on your Web site (or other Web sites) to collect information on prospective customers.

Can I collect and segment demographic information about prospective customers?
Yes. You can collect any demographic information you desire. You have an unlimited capacity to create database fields and can change the type and name of these fields in order to get different types of information. You can also build audiences from any of the fields you have defined.

How quickly can I expect messages to be delivered to prospective customers?
Most messages are delivered by Topica email servers within minutes of sending your email. The arrival into your prospective customers' inbox will depend on their ISPs infrastructure and receiving capacity.

Does Topica add anything to the content of the email message?
Yes. Topica adds a short text tag line and our Web site URL (shown below) that can be removed on request. As part of our CAN-SPAM compliance package that's included in our solution, every message will also feature the mandatory "unsubscribe" link.

Update your profile or unsubscribe here:
http://topica.com/survey

Delivered by Topica, http://topica.com/

Topica may also add:

Report unsolicited email here:
http://topica.com/unsolicited/

Can I get a trial of Topica's Online Marketing and Sales Solution?
Yes. Topica offers a free, 14-day trial of our Online Marketing and Sales Solution. This is a limited trial which gives you access to many of our basic features. For use of our more advanced features we recommend customizing your solution and purchasing or requesting a quote online. The first 30-days are risk free, with a full money-back guarantee.

Do you require a long-term commitment to start using Topica?
No. Topica is available on a monthly basis, however, many of our customers choose our 6- or 12-months plan to take advantage of special discounts.

What kind of customer support is available?
Email Customer Support is available Monday-Sunday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM (PST). In addition to email support, you can request phone support, dedicated account management, or assisted account set-up. If you have not already selected one of our customer support packages when signing up, please contact our Customer Success team.

How safe is my contact data in your system?
We host our servers with a top-tier provider, in a state-of-the-art network operation center, giving your data the highest level of safety. Our backend systems ensure full security, redundancy, backup and high-speed network connections. A dedicated staff of expert technicians maintains our systems 24 hours a day. If you would like more information on the security of your account, please see our privacy policy.

After I sign up, can I start right away?
Yes. As soon as your credit card is approved, you can immediately begin using Topica.

Can I send HTML emails?
Yes. The Topica interface provides complete flexibility with the type of email format, supporting both text and HTML messages.

Do you have pre-formatted templates?
Yes. We offer professionally designed HTML templates that make it easy to send polished graphical emails. They're perfect for product promotions and content messages. Just select your template, enter content elements (text or graphics), and we'll automatically create both HTML and text versions of your email message.

I create an email message once per quarter. Do I still have to pay a monthly fee?
Yes. The monthly fee still applies. However, you can choose a plan that charges bi-annually or annually, which makes it easier to manage your payments.

If I have an existing list or database, can I import it without losing data?
Yes. Topica allows you to import lists of prospective customers and data associated with those customer names. Our data import process is easy and flexible, and accommodates a range of data types and formats.

How will I know when the email message or mailing reaches prospective customers?
There are two ways to be notified about delivery. First, we recommend that you always include yourself on your mailing list so you will receive the email message. Second, the Reports section tracks and reports delivery, in real time.

When an email message is sent, can people see who else is receiving it?
No. Recipients only see their information, and can't see the other email message recipients. Because each email is sent to an individual's email address, it appears as though it is a one-to-one communication, from you to them.

Can I confirm that my prospective customers have given permission to me to send them emails, even if they have signed up on my Web site, or I have added them directly to my list?
Yes. You have the option to send confirmation emails to all prospective customers, to ensure that they've truly given you permission and protect against accidental subscriptions due to typo or forgery.

Can I send automated Welcome and Goodbye messages to my prospective customers?
Yes. You can use our automated messaging technology to send automated Welcome and Goodbye email messages to your prospective customers, which you may also customize. A Welcome message is an email sent to all new users who subscribe to your list, and a Goodbye message is an email sent to all users who unsubscribe from your list. Automated messaging can also be sent in response to a previous campaign or a transaction.

How long does it take to import new contacts?
If your list is less than 500 contacts, it will import quickly in real time. The Web page will show when the import is complete. For larger lists, the time depends on the number of prospective customers you are importing, but may take up to twenty-four hours. You will receive an email from Topica when your import is complete.

In order to facilitate large imports and ensure that they meet our Permission Email Policy, Topica monitors imports and may flag large imports so that our Customer Success team can review them. If your import requires our assistance, we will notify you as soon as you submit your import, and we will provide further instructions for processing your import quickly and efficiently.

Can I use my own branding on messages and forms?
Yes. You define your branding as a list preference, which can be a simple logo or HTML headers and footers. Your branding is used whenever possible in customer-facing material such as messages, forms, landing pages, error pages, forward to a friend, etc.

Can I personalize my messages?
Yes. You can place references to any fields in the customer profile within your message.

If I stop using my account will I still be billed?
Yes. You will be billed for subscription fees on a monthly, bi-annual or annual basis (depending on what plan you signed up for), until you cancel by using the cancellation form.