August 22, 2019,
We have improved the setup process for Automaily but removing a DNS verification step making it optional. Some of our customers have been having a hard time getting set up with email sending and the large number of DNS records we require to send emails on your behalf correctly, so we have come up with an even easier way to get started. Each account now set setup with a your_product@automaily.email for example snapshooter@automaily.email. Which your free to start using right away and automating workflows. You can add custom emails via email validation, you add your address e.g. support@yourproduct.com and our email providers send you a verification email to follow. Once you do so you are free to use that address to send Stripe emails. Do we still have DNS Verifying? We do, setting up DNS is the best way to ensure email delivery rates, and our support is always on hand if you want to be walked through getting setup. We hope this improvement helps people start automating Stripe email even faster 🙂
August 2, 2019,
July 21, 2019,
Pre-Dunning emails are where you send an email to a customer before their card is expiring asking them to update it. It used to be key, as like the current day when a card expires services can experience interruptions. Stripe Card Auto Updater However today, ( I say today but Stripe introduced this in 2015) use a process called card updater, it communities with card providers like Visa and Mastercard and updates expired cards automatically. Last time I researched it 70% of cards were getting automatically updated. With this high rate of success with cards automatically updating the process of sending a Pre-Dunning email can have a negative effect on your customers. It’s more emails your sending them which 7/10 times was not needed. If you do want to remind customers it’s far better to send it with a message that offers real value and added it as a point. Read Stripes blog post on Card Updater Feature Make your turn off Stripes Automatic Email Stripe will send a pre-dunning email a month before, which if you want to brand them yourself with Automaily you need to turn off and also turn off if you don’t want to annoy your […]
June 26, 2019,
June 13, 2019,
Startups for the rest of us This week has to start with Startups for the Rest of Us. It was a brutal evaluation by Rob of Bluetick and the direction Mike is going. It was great to listen to and while Mike could have taken it all the wrong way he didn’t, in fact, Robs comments about the direction and velocity of Bluetick were already known facts. Great motivation, get past the obstructions in the way of your product and just DO IT. This week has to start with Startups for the Rest of Us. It was a brutal evaluation by Rob of Bluetick and the direction Mike is going. It was great to listen to and while Mike could have taken it all the wrong way he didn’t, in fact, Robs comments about the direction and velocity of Bluetick were already known facts. Great motivation, get past the obstructions in the way of your product and just DO IT. Founder Quest Another good podcast from the makers of HoneyBadger. Really enjoy and look forward to there podcasts. This week they talk about the benefits of staying small (team) and not just taking that VC funding in the hope of […]
June 9, 2019,
NUMBER 3D SECURE USAGE DESCRIPTION 4000000000003220 Required 3D Secure 2 authentication must be completed for the payment to be successful. Use this card to test that your integration is ready to supportStrong Customer Authentication requirements in Europe. By default, your Radar rules will request 3D Secure 2 authentication for this card. 4000000000003063 Required 3D Secure authentication must be completed for the payment to be successful. By default, your Radar rules will request 3D Secure authentication for this card. 4000008400001629 Required 3D Secure authentication is required, but payments will be declined with a card_declined failure code after authentication. By default, your Radar rules will request 3D Secure authentication for this card. 4000000000003055 Supported 3D Secure authentication may still be performed, but is not required. By default, your Radar rules will not request 3D Secure authentication for this card. 4242424242424242 Supported 3D Secure is supported for this card, but this card is not enrolled in 3D Secure. This means that if 3D Secure is requested by your Radar rules, the customer will not go through additional authentication. By default, your Radar rules will not request 3D Secure authentication for this card. 378282246310005 Not supported 3D Secure is not supported on this card and cannot be […]
June 8, 2019,
This is old news as I went on the podcast in April however I have not blogged about it on Automaily. I really enjoyed the back and forth with Ed in this podcast, we talked about how you can come up with ideas, how projects ideas can fail, some simple ideas for getting started.
June 5, 2019,
This is a new concept I have come up with, I listen to a lot of podcasts around startups, I am most interested in stuff that applies to myself with Automaily and with SnapShooter. Which tends to be the bootstrap related content. So I was thinking of doing a weekly roundup, let me know if you like the format. SaaS Reality Saddy this week we have been unable to record a podcast. I am unsure when we will be able to resume but we are still here and will have a lot to catch up on Listen here Startups for the rest of us This weeks podcast was great, mostly because my question which I submitted a couple of weeks was answered. I have since asked come up with a solution to my pricing problem, At least one I am happy enough with to get going. They also talked about the nightmare it is to get verified with Gmail. Which is a worry for any startup who is in that space and pretty much means bootstrapping a startup in that space is no next to impossible now. Listen Here Another good podcast from Bootstrapping Saas, after seeing Val a bit […]
June 5, 2019,
I am talking about website design here, not the actual product design 🙂 I am a backend developer through and through, and while I understand the importance of a good looking UI, I have avoided it like the plage, so much so I have avoided the great javascript framework wars of the last five years. This is not to say I won’t pick it up when the time requires it. I am fully aware that Automaily will at some point need the dashboard updated to improve usability. However, I thought I would write a little guide for backend developers like myself on how to build a product and avoid the topic. Split landing site/dashboard I think this is one of the key parts, define a clear separation between the landing site and the application. The application in the early days needs to be a purely functional plan. Customers will not mind about the appearance if the system is robust! As a Laravel developer, I build my first product dashboard using the Laravel default bootstrap theme. After two years it’s still going strong and I still get customers telling me how easy it is to use. Your landing site, unfortunately, you […]
June 5, 2019,
Strong title right! When I went to Laracon EU I gave my first public talk in the unconference section in front of about 30 people. I felt the presentation went really well and I got positive feedback and questions which I really enjoyed. Lots of people on twitter were asking if I could put my slides online, however, I felt most of the value of my talk came from my actual speaking. I decided to record it at home which, to be honest felt more difficult than giving it to a room of people. In the presentation I cover the following: My previous failed why they failed and how you should see them as experiments and not failures. Ways to come up with ideas. Some quick and simple validation methods. And briefly some tips on getting your product out fast. At the end of the presentation at Laracon EU I was asked by a member of the audience “If you could only give one point whats the single piece of advice you give”, and my answer was simple. Start really really small. I am going to cover the topic of starting really small in a follow-up post.