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Welcome to ShortStack! We’re here to help you build the kinds of landing pages that will help you meet your goals – whatever they may be. With ShortStack, you can engage with existing and potential customers, collect leads, send re-marketing emails to those leads, increase sales, and maximize your social media presence.
The products and features we offer — including contests, landing pages, email marketing, quizzes, data collection and analytics — will turn your website and social media channels into marketing powerhouses. And of course, everything we offer is mobile ready.
If you get stuck, we’re here to help! Just email theteam@shortstacklab.com.
Ready to get to work?
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2. Creating Your Landing Page
When creating your landing page, you can use a template from our Template Gallery.
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To create a landing page from a template:
- Locate and click the Campaign button in the dashboard.
- You may preview a template by hovering over the template thumbnail, and clicking the eye icon. Select Learn More for additional template instructions and examples. Template categories include Giveaways, Contests, Leads, UGC, Quizzes/Games, and more.
- When you have found the template you would like to use, click the Use this Template button.
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Each of our templates is fully customizable. Templates are composed of widgets, which are the functions and features of your ShortStack landing pages. You can edit, add, remove, or rearrange any widget added to a landing page. For example, you would add a Video Widget to show a YouTube or Vimeo video; you would add a Form Widget to display a contest entry form.
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To edit a widget, open the Edit Widgets Panel by clicking the Edit Widgets Panel icon on the left side of the Campaign Builder, then click on the pencil icon associated with the widget. You can also hover over a widget in your Campaign Preview, and select the Edit icon in the upper left corner. Once you’re done changing content, click Save & Exit to apply your changes.
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To add a widget to your landing page, open the Add Widgets Panel by clicking the Add Widgets Panel icon, then click on the icon of the widget you wish to add. When you add a widget, the Edit Widget window automatically opens so you can start adding your text, videos, photos, etc to customize the widget. Once you’re done adding content, click Save & Exit to apply your changes.
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To remove a widget, select the widget in the Edit Widgets Panel, then select the trashcan icon at the bottom of the panel. Alternatively, you can hover over the widget in your Campaign Preview, and select the Delete icon in the upper right corner. A popup will appear asking you to confirm the deletion.
Note: When a widget is deleted, it can be re-added to the landing page later. However, the settings from the deleted widget won't be saved. You will need to update the new widget you added to include the settings from the deleted widget.
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To rearrange widgets in your landing page, click the widget you want to move, drag it, and drop the widget in place.
The widgets included in your landing page will appear in both the Edit Widgets Panel and the Campaign Preview, where you can edit, rearrange, and delete them.
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*Tip: Click here to learn more about each widget’s capabilities.
Form Setup
How to set up a Form
To add a form to your landing page, select the Form Container in the Add Widgets Panel.
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To add and edit Field Widgets:
- Click and drag the Field Widget icon in the Add Widgets Panel into the Form Container in the Edit Widgets Panel.
- Select the field type you want from either the standard or custom field type list. Click Next.
- Adjust the settings to include instructions and additional information for the field.
- Optional: Adjust the Visibility of the Field Widget. Tip: This is used when you want to show certain fields to certain audiences based on previous selections in the form.
- Save and exit.
- Repeat Steps 1-5 until your form is complete.
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Making additional form changes:
- To set up entry restrictions (how many times a person can enter your form): Open the Form Container Settings (pencil icon), click the Entry Restrictions tab on the left side of the pop-up. Under Email Address, set the entry allowance.
- To receive email notifications for your entries: Open the Form Container Settings, click on the Approval/Alerts tab, and put your email address into the Email alerts to field under Email Settings. Feature only available on paid plans.
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Viewing list entries:
- You can see the entries within the Lists/Entries section of your account. Just find the list that you want to see the entries for, then click the down arrow and choose View Entries from the dropdown.
- You can also click on the mail tray icon in the Form Container to be directed to the entries in the Entries Manager directly from the Campaign Builder.
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Once you’ve created your landing page, you can use the Style Panel to customize the design. To open the Style Panel, click the Style Panel icon in the left side of the Campaign Builder.
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To use a Style Panel theme:
- Select Change under the current theme icon at the top of the Style Panel. This will open the Theme Selector.
- Click on a theme to apply it to your landing page.
- When you are happy with the theme, select Save.
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All themes are fully customizable within the Style Panel.
To change the design of your landing page without using a theme, click on a widget to open the corresponding widget tab in the Style Panel. Each widget has its own design settings, including background color, button style, typography, borders, and more.
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Testing your landing page before you publish can help ensure that the landing page functions and appears as you expect it will.
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To test how a landing page will function from within the Campaign Builder:
- Click the Preview button at the top of the Campaign Builder.
- Click the Limits button to show Ø Limits to test that any restrictions you set up on your Form Widgets or Voting Widgets are functioning as desired. Click the button again to show Ø No Limits to submit entries without any restrictions. Note: When the Limits setting is off, restrictions will only be turned off in the Campaign Builder and will not affect your live landing page.
- To submit test entries, ensure that the Entries button shows Test Entries. Test entries will not display on the live landing page. If you wish to submit live entries via the Campaign Builder, then change the Entries button to show Live Entries.
- If you have time-based visibility settings in place, you can use the Time Simulation dropdown to choose a time from the list of options based on the time-based visibility setting you have set.
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To test the appearance of the landing page at various widths:
- Find the ruler above the preview in the Campaign Builder.
- Click the dimensions you would like to test within the ruler, or drag the ruler arrows to test a custom size. (Note: Adjusting the dimensions of the landing page with the ruler does not permanently change the width of the landing page itself.)
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*Tip: Our team is happy to review your landing page before it goes live; just send an email to theteam@shortstacklab.com.
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Our email marketing tools allow you to create automated emails to be sent to people as soon as they submit an entry to your ShortStack list, or scheduled emails that are sent immediately to an entire list, or scheduled for sending in the future.
There are two ways to access the Email Builder – via the Emails link in the main menu or via the Campaign Builder.
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To access the Email Builder via the Main Menu:
- Click Emails in the main menu/navigation bar at the top of your ShortStack account.
- Click New Email.
- Choose between the Autoresponder, Follow-up Email and Scheduled Email options.
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To access the Email Builder via the Campaign Builder:
- Open the Campaign Builder.
- Click the Email icon in the upper right area of the Campaign Builder.
- Click +New Email beside one of your lists.
- Choose between the Autoresponder, Follow-up Email and Scheduled Email options.
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Creating Follow-up Emails:
A follow-up email is sent automatically a certain number of days after someone subscribes to your list. You can combine multiple lists and filter the entries within your lists at the time you create the email. When you have finished designing your email, you will be asked to choose the number of days after subscription the email will be sent.
For a detailed look at how to set up a follow-up email, check out this doc.
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Creating Scheduled Emails:
A scheduled email allows you to send an email to a list of entries that you have collected via a ShortStack form. You can combine multiple lists and filter the entries within your lists at the time you create the email. When you have finished designing your email, you will be asked to schedule it. You can choose to send the email immediately, or schedule it to send at some point in the future.
For a detailed look at how to set up a scheduled email, check out this doc.
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Setting Up Autoresponder Emails:
An autoresponder email is sent to a participant immediately after they submit a form.
For detailed instructions for creating an autoresponder email, check out this doc.
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To publish your landing page, click on the big blue Publish Campaign button above your ruler.
Choose from the following publication types: publishing a landing page we host for you (recommended) or embedding your landing page on your own website (or as a pop-up on your own website).
Your landing page is now published!
For detailed step by step instructions on how to publish your landing page, check out this doc.
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Making changes to published landing pages:
- Open the Campaign Builder for the landing page that you want to edit.
- Make your edits.
- Click the blue Publish Changes button when you are finished.
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Note: If you do not see Publish Changes, it means that your landing page has no unpublished changes.
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ShortStack provides you with a unique landing page URL for every landing page you publish. Using the URL we give you ensures your audience will automatically see the version of your landing page that’s tailored to whatever device they’re using – mobile or desktop. Your URL is what you should use to promote your landing page.
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To locate the landing page URL:
- Open your landing page in the Campaign Builder.
- Click on the bookmark icon to open the Publications Manager.
- Click the copy icon next to the URL for the publication you wish to copy.
- Paste the landing page URL in Facebook status updates, in tweets or in your Instagram, Twitter etc. profiles.
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The key to a successful landing page is promoting it. Without promotion – including advertising – even the best landing pages can see very little traffic. Not all landing pages require the same effort, but here’s a great resource that will help you create a promotion plan:
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If you need anything, our top-notch support team is always here to help 24/7. Get in touch by emailing theteam@shortstacklab.com.