FAQs

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about e-mailstudio. If your question is not answered here, please call our helpdesk on 0116 259 4426 or e-mail  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Q. Do I need software to run e-mailstudio?

A. No, our service is entirely web-based; all you need a PC/Mac and internet access.

Q. What are the limits of the free trial?

A. Whilst using the free trial, all of the features within e-mailstudio are available to you in order to properly evaluate if the product is suitable for your business. However, you will be restricted to sending e-mails to a maximum of twenty recipients, and the e-mail address from which you will be sending will not be personalised.  After 30 days, your trial period will end but upgrading to a full account is straightforward and can be done very quickly online or on the telephone.

Q. Who uses e-mailstudio?

A. We specialise in providing e-mail services to small-to-medium sized businesses in a wide variety of sectors, although as a company GI Insight works for businesses of all sizes. We are focused on helping our clients, whatever their line of business, to get the most out of email marketing by ensuring they make full use of the e-mailstudio system to correctly target, evaluate and tailor their campaigns.

Q. How much is e-mailstudio going to cost my business?

A. We aim to be totally transparent on price, with no contract and no unexpected surprises in monthly bills. We understand that as a small business you need to have total control over cost, but also be able to mobilise an e-mail marketing campaign with very little prior notice.

Once you agree to go ahead with e-mailstudio, you will pay a set-up fee depending on the package you select. Our standard package is priced at £100, and our advanced package comes in at £500, including initial support and your own specific customised email address from which to send your emails. You can then purchase an appropriate number of email credits depending on your expected usage, and make a payment with a credit/debit card online or over the phone. You can also buy support credits to give you access to our technical team as and when you need them. We aim to price transparently and with no hidden charges, allowing you to spend more time on making a success of your e-mail campaigns.

Q. Are there specific reasons why I should use a UK-based product such as e-mailstudio rather than an overseas service?

A. There are of course logistical reasons why a UK-based email provider is preferable (access to technical support in UK office hours, simplicity of payment systems, language, etc) but UK legislation such as the Data Protection Act means that in practice e-mail marketing is approached in an altogether different way in this country than outside the UK – for example in the USA because spamming is so prevalent systems are designed differently. In the UK, fewer UK servers are blacklisted with greater focus on deliverability.  

You should also carefully compare features between products - especially on the tracking/reporting front.

Q. I don’t have a list to work from. How can I get one?

A. We do not sell lists, but can provide advice on how, where and why to purchase data. Membership of the Direct Marketing Association is a good benchmark for a provider.

Q. What address will my emails be sent from?

A. During your trial, you will be provided with a temporary address (of the form  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Included in the Enterprise account set-up cost will be your unique ‘from address’ which can be fully customised to you, depending on availability of domain names. We advise against using the domain where your website is hosted, to ensure blacklisting does not affect it. Please note that standard users can also purchase a 'custom-from' address for a set price of £250.

Q. Can you help me produce a winning e-mail?

A. Of course. The e-mailstudio system provides a wide range of standard templates which you can use to create your own winning campaign. Alternatively you can simply upload an existing HTML document into e-mailstudio, and then edit/preview/spamcheck it before it is sent out to your list. We also offer a customised template design service. Please speak to one of our advisers for more information.

Q. Are there limits to how many lists I can keep on file within e-mailstudio, or to emails I can send from a Full Account?

A. It depends on your package. The standard package is limited to five address books, and 10,000 records. There are no such limits for the Enterprise package. Our packages have been designed to be flexible to the needs of different types of business. Just give us a call if you'd like to discuss which package is best for you.

Q. How can I avoid being blocked by Spamfilters?

A. All the large e-mail providers (Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, etc) have a series of golden rules when it comes to filtering and removing malicious or inappropriate e-mail (aka ‘Spam’) before it reaches user inboxes. For example, the use of attachments, large images or certain terms may result in an e-mail being flagged as spam. When creating the content that goes into your e-mails, you have to be mindful of these rules to avoid being scooped up by these filters as well. e-mailstudio automatically runs a series of checks once you have prepared your e-mail to ensure your content is appropriate, and makes suggestions for changes to layout, images and subject lines to ensure your email is delivered correctly.

We have created a series of tips to follow when you are writing your e-mail in our quick start guide, and our ‘resource centre'  page aims to bring together the huge amount of information available across the Internet on this subject.

Finally, from a technical perspective we work very closely with the email providers to ensure we are meeting their guidelines. Of course, our support team are always willing to give you advice if you have any questions about spam.

Q. What sort of response rates should I expect from e-mailstudio campaigns?

A. Every campaign is different of course, so it's very hard to say what you should expect. Depending on when you send the email out, the quality of your data, the nature of your content and a multitude of other factors, response rates can vary hugely. This does cut both ways, but if your first campaign gets a very low response then you shouldn't rush to change everything about the e-mail. Our experience in data insight and consumer behaviour has taught us that the only way to approach marketing data is over a significant period of time, and with a good slice of perseverance. The best thing you can do to boost response rates is to read up on the subject. Our resource centre (particularly the 'Best Practice' documentation) is a good place to start; of course our advisers can help to some extent but some time on the internet can really pay dividends in this area. 

Q. How do I get help?

A. Your first port of call should be the Quick Start Guide and the Advanced Features Guide, both of which have been written by our team of experts to help you get the most out of e-mailstudio. If you have other questions, we’d be only too happy to help. You can call us on 0116 259 4426 or email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  and one of the team will get back to right away