Desktop Alert Software FAQs for Notification Alerts | Email Notification

Alerts FAQs

Alert Group Owners Alert End Users

FAQs for Desktop Alert Notification

What are Desktop Alerts?: Desktop Alerts are messages delivered to a users computer desktop directly from your Control Panel. These messages are nearly instantaneous and do not require any thing more than your internet connection to work. Besides being spam and virus free, the branded application allows you to keep your brand identity distinct while delivering your messages.

See Whole feature list Here.

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How i can i get started ?: To get started, you can first signup at this url
http://www.alertsdesktop.com/v5/desktop_alert_signup.php

After signup, you will be taken to "New Alert Group" page where you can put in Desktop Application Title, Website URL, Application icons etc. If you do not have icons ready, you can still continue with default icons and get application ready. Later on, when you have the icons, you can re-customize the Alert group and add the new icons. There is no limit or charges on any number of re-customizations.

After entering all these values, you can click "Preview Alert Group" and then click "Confirm Alert Group" on the next page and you will see the Progess bar for the new application. Your application will be ready to be downloaded within few minutes.

You can download the application and install it. After installation, application will show Activation screen asking for Email and Password. Please DO NOT use your members area email and password for this because application is asking for Alert Group Member Email and Password.

So, in order to activate the application, you need to add yourself to as an Alert Group Member, click "Alert Group Members" and then "New Member" and add your email , any password and even mobile no etc. (in case you want to use SMS alerts later on) and click "Add Group Member". Now you can use this newly added email and password for activation of application.

For any new member who wants to receive your alerts, you can repeat this process of adding new member. In case you want to automate this addition, please look at API section of this form for "Custom Pages API"

Now, you can just click "Send Alerts" , write down the alert message and click "Send Alert"

That's it. It won't take more than 5 minutes to get everything going.

Have any question?

How much time does desktop application development take?: It only require a few minutes for your custom desktop alerts application to compile and be available for download on your "Alert Groups" page. You should keep that page open and it will automatically show the download link when application is available for download.

For desktop alert applications with any additional requested features, the time taken will be longer and you will be notified by email when your application is ready for download.

Have any question?

Can i create more than one Alert Group ?: Yes, you can create as many Alert Groups as you require.

Just go to "Alert Groups" page and click "Add New Alert Group", fill in the application parameters and submit the order. Your group and its apps will be ready to go within few minutes.

Each New Alert Group is charged a development fee which is mentioned on Charges page.
Each Group will have its own Desktop Alert Application and you will be able to manage all these groups independently.

Have any question?

What is Alert Group member and how can i add it ?: Alert Group member is a user who receives your alerts via Desktop, Email or SMS.

To add an Alert Group Member, you can click "Group Members" and then "New Member". You can enter new member name, email address, password and cell phone no, select the type(s) of alerts it would receive (Desktop / Email / SMS) and click "Add Group Member".

You can now send your member a link to download the Desktop Alert application plus this email and password to activate that application.

Have any question?

How can i add large no of Alert Group members easily ?: To add large no of alert group members, click "Group Members" and then "Upload Members File" and you will be taken to page where you can upload a single text file containing details of all the members you want to add. You will be able to select the Type of Delimiter used in text file, exact Fields used in the text file, Type of Alerts you want your users to receive (Desktop / Email / SMS) and if these members subscriptions should expire at the end of expiry period.

You can prepare the text file in any text editor like Notepad.

E.g. text file can consist of lines like

name1,email1@domain.com,password1,cellphoneno1
name2,email2@domain.com,password2,cellphoneno2
name3,email3@domain.com,password3,cellphoneno3
...and so on..

On submitting the form, you will be taken to "Confirm Upload Member" page where you will see how new users will be added. If you see that everything is all right, you can go ahead and confirm. Otherwise you can go back and repeat the procedure after rectifying any flaw in the file.

Have any question?

What does Multiple Use mean in context of Group Members ?: You would see an option called as "Multiple Use" wherever you want to add an Alert Group Member or its subscription.

If "Multiple Use" is Yes, then that Group Member Email and Password can be used by any number of people to get alerts. In other words, the principle of "One Subscription - One Alert" won't apply to this Group Member.

Normally this option is used for creating a single Trial Group Membership whereby anyone are free to try the alerts for a limited time period after which the alert delivery stops. For setting up such a trial, another option "Expires" should be set to Yes and proper Trial Expiry period must be given.

This option should be set to NO for usual individual group members.

Have any question?

What does Expires mean in context of Group Members ?: "Expires" = "Yes" means that this Group member will STOP receiving alert after the specified time period.

"Expires" = "No" means this Group member will CONTINUE to receive alerts indefinitely till it is expired / deleted manually by Alert Group Owner.

Have any question?

Can i get Group Member registered directly from my website ?: Yes, you can use Alerts API for creating Self Registration pages which can be put up on your website or combined with other pages on your website.

Please refer to "API Pages for Auto Registration" under "Custom API Pages" in API Section of this forum

Have any question?

Can i send Alert Message directly from my website ?: Yes, with the help of Alerts API you can send Alert Message directly from your website or from your computer or from anywhere in fact.

Please refer to "Custom API Pages" under "API Topics" in this forum for further details.

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How do i know when my customer installs Alerts Application?: When your Alert Group member installs desktop application, you will see a text like "Installed & Active: 1" against that member on the "Group Members" page in your members area.

You may even see "Installed & Active: 2" or more if your member has "Multiple: Yes" setting.

Have any question?

Can i see the Demo before signing up for Desktop Alerts?: Yes, sure you can see the demo of Desktop Alerts before signing up for your own Customized Branded Desktop Alerts.

You will find the Members area demo and Application demo at the below url.
http://www.alertsdesktop.com/v5/desktop_alert_demo.php

Have any question?

Can i try the software before buying it?: Yes, you can try for free our full featured software for 15 days.
If not satisfied, you can delete your Alert Group and no charges will be there.
If you continue, you will get invoice for the alert group on the 16th day.

Have any question?

How much does Desktop Alert costs?: Charges are calculated for Each Alert Group.

One time Alert Group Development charges: $47.89

Monthly Usage charges: 5 Free Group Members. Thereafter, 50 cents / Active Group Member / Month

Invoice for previous month is sent on 1st of Next Month. E.g Invoice for Feb is sent on 1st March.

Please refer to charges at this url
http://www.alertsdesktop.com/v5/desktop_alert_charges.php

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What to do when Update for Desktop Application is available: If an new update is available for the Desktop alert application, you can simply go to your members area and re-customize your Alert Group by clicking re customize application and submitting the request.

After your application is recompiled (as indicated by availability of download link on Alert Groups page and Email confirmation too), all current users of the previous version will automatically get the Update Notification accepting which application will automatically update itself. Of course, New users can download and install the new version.

On rare occasions as indicated by the announcement, some versions may require full uninstall and reinstall of the application.

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What are Alert Templates ?: Alert Templates are a feature to help the Alert Group Owners to keep Design elements of the Alert separate from the actual Alert Data.
So the Static Design Components like CSS, Font colors, Tables etc. can be put in the Template while only the actual Alert Message is send from the "Send Alerts" page.

Each Alert Group has a "default" template which just has a single word "". This means that entire alert message is sent from the "Send Alert" page.

Alert Group Owner can create a New template which has all the design elements which it wants to appear in the final alert but it puts the word "" in the place where actual alert message was there. Now, it can just select this template on the Send Alert page and write only the text of the alert message in the text box. System will substitute the "" word in the template with the actual alert message and final alert message is constructed and sent.

So, Template is just a scaffolding into which Alert message (and other optional variables) are placed to create the Final Alert Message.

Have any question?

Can i use an RSS Feed for my Campaign Messages?: Yes, you can use RSS Feed from your website or any other source to feed messages to your Alerts Group.

To do this, go to the "Alert RSS Feed" page under the "Specials" menu and click "New RSS Feed" button. It will take you to RSS Feed form where you can add the Feed Title, URL and Template.

Subsequently, all New Feeds from RSS Feed will be automatically inserted into your alert group messages.

Have any question?

Can i post alerts on my Facebook page ?: Yes, you can post desktop alerts to your Facebook wall with the help of Facebook Application for Desktop Alerts.

To do this, go to "Facebook Account" under "Specials" menu and click "Add Facebook Account". It will take you to series of steps which will give permission to Desktop Application to post alerts to your Facebook wall. After process is completed, you will see your Facebook Account ID on the "Facebook Account" page.

To send alert to the Facebook, you just have to check the check box next to "Facebook" on "Send Alert" page and you will see the Facebook Message box appear on the page where you can write the alert message for the facebook wall.

Have any question?

Can i post alerts on my Twitter page ?: Yes, you can post desktop alerts to your Twitter feed with the help of Twitter Application for Desktop Alerts.

To do this, go to "Twitter Account" under "Specials" menu and click "Add Twitter Account". It will take you to series of steps which will give permission to Desktop Application to post alerts to your Twitter feed. After process is completed, you will see your Twitter Account Username on the "Twitter Account" page.

To send alert to the Twitter, you just have to check the check box next to "Twitter" on "Send Alert" page and you will see the Twitter Message box appear on the page where you can write the alert message for the twitter feed.

Have any question?

How do i send Alerts to Mobiles?: Alerts to Mobiles are sent in the form of SMS.

To be able to send SMS Alerts, you need to have pre-paid SMS Credits in your account. You can purchase SMS Credits from Buy SMS page under Account section. SMS packages are available in different denominations starting from 300 SMS pack to 50,000 SMS pack. Large volume packs offer significant discounts.

For any Group member to receive the SMS alert, you must add its full mobile no (country code + mobile no without prefixing any 0 or +) and enable it to receive SMS alerts by checking the check box next to SMS while adding the new member. For existing members, you can edit the member and add only the SMS Subscription in the form provided at the bottom.

To send SMS alerts, you just need to check the check box next to SMS on Send Alerts page and you will see an SMS Text box to fill in the SMS message. Please remember that SMS message length is restricted to maximum standard sms message i.e 160 characters. Any word more than 160 characters will be truncated.

Please refer to "Mobile Alert Topics" of this forum for more details.

Have any question?

Can i send alert message to just one member?: Yes, you can do so by using feature called Personal Alert Message.

Personal Alert messages are special kind of alert message which are delivered to one or few of the Alert Group members and NOT to the Whole Group.

Purpose of these messages is to provide an medium to the Alert Group Owners to communicate with their members one-to-one. Please remember that these personal alert messages are not instantaneous like normal alerts, rather they may take upto 5-10 minutes to reach the member. So, these are not the alternative to usual alert message but can serve purpose in special circumstances.

To send "Personal Alert", go to "Personal Alert" page under "Specials" menu. There you can select Group Members , enter the message and send it.

Have any question?

Can i use mailing group to send alerts?: yes, you can use an feature called "Email to Alert" where an email can be converted into alert.

"Email to Alert" feature allows Alert Group Owners to send email to a per-designated email address and that email is converted to an alert and sent to all the Alert Group Members.
So, this feature is another way to send alert (in addition to "Send Alert" page in members area, Desktop Admin App and Custom API pages) to your members. This feature can also be utilized in special cases where you can send emails but can't open members area on the website.

To use this feature, you need to go to "Email to Alert" page under "Specials" menu. There you can define the Alert Type, Template and Expiry period and click "Get Email Address" button. This will give you an specially designed email address to which you can send the email to be converted into an alert.

Please note the following points while creating Email.

1. Subject of Email will become Desktop Alert Title / Email Alert Subject
2. Body of the Email will become Desktop Alert Message / SMS Message / Email Alert Message
3. Email must be in Text only mode. Mixed or HTML emails can lead to unpredictable results.

IMPORTANT: Before using this feature please tell HelpDesk the Email address which you will use for sending these alert emails so that your Email address can be added to contacts list and your email is not classified as Spam.

Have any question?

Do you offer any app for smartphones running Android OS ?: Yes we do offer custom branded mobile app for Android smartphones.

Please visit this page for all the details of Android app , its demo and screenshots
http://www.alertsdesktop.com/v5/android_app.php

This app will allow your clients to receive the alerts on their android smartphones as well. You can get this app branded and customized as per your needs. You can even publish this app in Android marketplace or you can use our account to publish it.

To order android app for your alert group, please go to "Android Application" under "Specials" menu and click "New Android Application" button. You will then see the Form (similar to Desktop App customization form) where you can enter parameters needed for creating an Android app like App Title,Icon and Graphics etc. On submitting the form, you will be taken to the payment page to complete the order.

After the payment, our team will begin creating the application and contact you when application is ready.

Have any question?

Can i send alerts from my desktop without logging in ?: Yes, you can use Desktop Alert Administrator for that purpose.

Desktop Alerts Administrator is an windows desktop tool for Alert Group Owners to send alerts without going to the members area.

You can download and install this application from this link
http://www.alertsdesktop.com/downloads/DesktopAlertsAdmin.exe

After installation you will be asked API Username, Password and Signature. You can get these from Settings page under Account section. First time you will have to accept the agreement and generate api codes but from next time you can just unhide the info by clicking the show buton.

Application will ask for these values only once and will remember it for future usage.

Application will allow you to create alert in WYSIWYG (rich text) editor , preview it and send it to desktop / email / sms / twitter / facebook subscribers.

Have any question?

What will happen when member subscription expires ?: When any member alert subscription expires, that member will receive a short message on its desktop that its application copy has expired and it can contact the Alert Group Owner for renewing the subscription if required.

No alert message will be served to the member whose subscription has expired.

If Alert Group Owner renews the subscription after its expiry, member will have to activate the application again by entering its credentials (email and password).
But if Alert Group Owner renews the subscription before its expiry, member won't be required to take any action. Application will continue working as before in this case.

Please note that if Alert Group Owner has selected "Expires: No" while creating the member subscription, then the application won't expire till Owner itself expires / deletes it manually.

Have any question?

Can users reply to the Desktop Alert message ?: Yes, starting with version 4.9 , we have introduced the "Alert Reply & Rating Feature" as an option for the interested Alert Group Owners.

In this feature, there is an button called "Reply" available on both the Alert Window and the Log Window.
This button opens up a new window to Rate the Alert as Excellent / Average or Poor along with the Comments.

These ratings and comments are available only to the Alert Group owner in its members area on "Active / Expired Alerts" pages.

Have any question?

FAQs for Email Notification

How can i send Alerts in Email to my customers?: 1. Firstly you will need to add the subscriber email address to the Alert Group on the Alert Group Members page. You can add Email subscription alone or in combination with Desktop Subscription.

2. To send Email Alert, make sure to check the Email checkbox in Delivery Modes on Send Alerts page. Then your alert will be sent as Email also to all the Email subscribers.

3. For any problems in delivery of emails, please refer to the "Email FAQs for Alert End Users"
Have any question?

How can i have the highest possible delivery rate?: For 99.99% delivery, you can choose "Premium Route" for any Email Subscription. To do that, go to Alert Group Members page and click on the Email subscription which you want to upgrade. On Alert Group Members Details page you will see Premium Route (Yes / No), select Yes and Update the Subscription. All Future emails to that subscription will be routed via Premium Servers which ensure highest possible delivery rates.

Have any question?

What are costs involved in sending Email Alerts?: 1. Standard Email Subscription charges are $0.1 / Active Subscriber / Month.

2. Premium Email Subscription charges are $0.5 / Active Subscriber / Month.

Have any question?

Are there any limits on no of emails sent?: No Limits whatsoever are there. Charges are per Subscriber and not per email.

Have any question?

FAQs for SMS Message

How can i send Alerts using SMS?: 1. Firstly, add the Cell Phone number to which you want to send the sms alerts to the Alert Group Members page. You can add a new subscriber for SMS only subscription or add the cell phone number to existing member. Proper format for cell phone no in alert system is country code followed by full cell phone number without any prefix like + or 0 or any spaces
e.g. If country code is 1 (US) and area code is 773 (Chicago) and cell no is 338-7786, then the number you enter in alert system is 17733387786

2. Add SMS Credits to your account. SMS works on pre-paid SMS credit system where you buy the SMS credits in advance and balance goes on reducing as and when the sms are actually sent. You can buy SMS credits from Buy SMS page in Account section of Members area.
Have any question?

Who can receive my SMS?: SMS delivery is all across the globe and most of the cell phones can receive our SMS. But you can check the specific coverage at this page.
Have any question?

How much does it cost?: Each SMS can cost different amount depending upon Region, Network, Subscription plan etc. We only know the exact charges after sending it and we deduct those charges from your pre-paid sms credits balance. On the average, each international sms cost anywhere between 8-12 cents. You can check the specific costs at this page.
Have any question?

FAQs for iPhone App

How can i offer my Alerts on iPhone / iPad?: 1. After creating and registering the Alert Group, you will see the button to Activate the iPhone app for that group on the Alert Groups page. You can also use the Navigation bar "Specials" >> "iPhone App" to activate the iPhone application for your Alert Group

2. After activation, you will see the Download "iTunes App Store" App Link on "Alerts Groups" page as well "iPhone App" page under "Specials" Menu.

3. Add the iPhone subscriber from the Group Members page. You will see the option to add the iPhone subscriber (in addition to Desktop, Email and SMS) on the New Group Member page

4. You can provide the "iTunes App Store" App Link link along with the Subscriber info you just added to your member who wish to install and get alerts on their iPhone / iPad.

5. For purpose of sending alerts, Desktop Alert should be treated same as iPhone alerts. In other words, every Desktop Alert will be sent to iPhone / iPad as well.

Have any question?

How much does it cost?: Cost per member is same as the Desktop i.e $0.5 / Active Member / Month

Have any question?

Can i have an separate Customized iPhone App just for my Alert Group?: 1. You will need an iPhone app in the Apple App Store which your subscribers can install and get your alerts. For this please get in touch with the Help Desk who will get all the information required and proceed to develop the app and submit it for approval to the App Store.

2. Charges for development of Custom App starts from $250 onwards depending upon features required and time required for development and submission. You will be provided exact quote before commencing development.

3. Apple takes few weeks to review the app before it decides to accept it or suggest changes. So please take a time period of 2-4 weeks for final app launch.

4. iPhone app will behave the same way as the Desktop App as far as sending of alerts is concerned. However, iPhone subscribers will be showed separately with iPhone marker on the Alert Group Members page.

Have any question?

FAQs for Android App

How can i offer my Alerts on Android Phone / Tablet?: 1. After creating and registering the Alert Group, you will see the button to Activate the Android app for that group on the Alert Groups page. You can also use the Navigation bar "Specials" >> "Android App" to activate the Android application for your Alert Group

2. After activation, you will see the Download "Google Play Store" App Link on "Alerts Groups" page as well "Android App" page under "Specials" Menu.

3. Add the Android subscriber from the Group Members page. You will see the option to add the Android subscriber (in addition to Desktop, Email and SMS) on the New Group Member page

4. You can provide the "Google Play Store" App Link link along with the Subscriber info you just added to your member who wish to install and get alerts on their Android device.

5. For purpose of sending alerts, Desktop Alert should be treated same as Android alerts. In other words, every Desktop Alert will be sent to Android device as well.

Have any question?

How much does it cost?: Cost per member is same as the Desktop i.e $0.5 / Active Member / Month

Have any question?

Can i have an separate Customized Android App just for my Alert Group?: 1. You will need an separate Android app in the Google Play Store which your subscribers can install and get your alerts. For this please get in touch with the Help Desk who will get all the information required and proceed to develop the app and submit it for approval to the App Store.

2. Charges for development of Custom App starts from $99 onwards depending upon features required and time required for development and submission. You will be provided exact quote before commencing development.

3. Approx. time period for development and app launch is 3-4 days.

4. Android app will behave the same way as the Desktop App as far as sending of alerts is concerned. However, Android subscribers will be showed separately with Android marker on the Alert Group Members page.

Have any question?