HTK has worked with major internet email providers to ensure the best possible email deliverability rates. This is achieved by belonging to email white lists, bulk sender lists and feedback loops. By doing this, Horizon is able to maintain an average email delivery rate of 99%.
Email deliverability is also directly affected by your message content, so it's worth using our SPAM scoring tools and reading our resources on best-practice email marketing.
Yes you will, but as soon as you cancel your subscription (which you can do at any time) no further payments will be taken.
You will still have you access to your HTK Horizon account until the end of your subscription period (normally the end of that month).
Yes. For security purposes, HTK Horizon will automatically log you out after around twenty minutes of inactivity.
You'll get the best experience with these web browsers (they're the ones we test against):
- Internet Explorer 8 or above
- Firefoox 6 or above
We also support Chrome and Safari, and most features will work on an iPad.
All of our systems and data are hosted in the UK at secure Tier-4 (the best) data centres, certified to ISO 27001 - the internationally recognised standard for information security.
And did you know... everyone in our team is security cleared to UK 'SC' level. Data security is VERY important to us!
A pro-rata amount will be charged when you subscribe, for the remainder of that month. Full monthly charging will start at the beginning of the next month.
"Top-up" payments for SMS, email or telephone call credit can be made at any time, and will be charged straight away.
You'll receive a detailed invoice by email whenever a payment is charged.
A 'delimiter' is a character that is used to separate each of the separate pieces of information you're importing.
When importing contacts into Horizon from a CSV file or Spreadsheet, the file needs to be formatted in a specific way to ensure that the import is successful.
For example, the file might include firstname, lastname, date of birth etc. A correctly formatted template file can be downloaded from the Import Contacts screen to help you get this right.
In most cases, using a comma as the 'delimiter' will be fine. But in some cases you might want to import several different pieces of information into a single Horizon field. In this case you would use a 'primary delimiter' (usually a comma) to separate the different fields, and a 'secondary delimiter' to separate any individual pieces of information that need to be imported into one of those fields.
Data import can be quite tricky the first time you do it, but once you have imported your data into Horizon once you can save all your Horizon settings so that it's much quicker the next time!
De-duping ("de-duplicating") ensures that your contact data is clean and does not contain duplicate contact information - preventing your messages from going to the same recipient more than once.
When you import a contact list into Horizon, you can choose to de-dupe the data on one of the pieces of information that you would expect to be different for each contact; for example their email address or mobile number. If Horizon finds an existing contact record with the same details as one you're importing, it will automatically update the existing contact record rather than creating a new (duplicate) one.
The group builder is a more visual way to create Combined Groups for targeted marketing. It lets you:
1. See how many contacts belong to (and don't belong to) several different groups.
2. Create a new Combined Group containing just the contacts you want to target for your campaign.
For example, you might have a Map Group covering the Ipswich area, and a Rule Group that selects contracts whose job title contains the word "executive". You could use the Group Builder to create a new segment that contains just the executives who are located in the Ipswich area (or just the executives who aren't).
Depending on what you want to achieve, this can be much easier than trying to create a complex combined group from scratch!
In the Group Builder, click the 'Add group' button to add two or three of your existing groups to the Group Builder tool, then highlight the segment you want and click 'Generate from highlighted'. This will create a new segment, which will appear in the list below the group builder.
To create a new Combined Group from this segment, select it in the list and click "Create selected". You can then use the new Combined Group in your campaigns!
The term "super role" refers to a HTK Horizon user who has full administrative control of the application.
No more slicing and dicing of spreadsheets!
A Horizon Rule Group is a group that automatically works out which Contacts should be included in it, rather than containing a fixed list of Contacts.
In general, Rule Groups are far quicker and easier to maintain than List Groups, because you don't need to do anything to keep them up to date
When you create a Horizon Rule Group, you're actually building a set of rules that tells Horizon which contacts should be included in the Group. Every time the Rule Group is used, Horizon automatically works out which contacts match the rules and will include only these contacts in the group.
Rule Groups are really useful if you have different segments that you want to use over and over again, because you can define these segments once (as a Rule Group) and Horizon will automatically take care of the segmentation for you each time you add new contacts or change their details.
To add more than one rule to a Rule Group, just click the "+" icon beside the first rule and a new one will appear.
To check which Contacts are included in a Rule Group, either edit the group and click the "Check Rules" button, or view the group in read-only mode and expand the "Contacts" section.
Note: Right now Map Groups only work with UK locations.
A Map Group is an area drawn on a map that tells Horizon which contacts should be included in the Group. Every time the Map Group is used, Horizon automatically works out which contacts have a location that is inside the area and will include only these contacts in the group.
To create a Map Group, wait for the map to load and then select the circle, rectangle or polygon drawing tool at the top-right of the map. Then click and drag the mouse to create a circle or rectangle area, or click on each corner to create a polygon (double-click on the final corner to complete the shape).
To zoom into the place where you want to create the shape, click on the 'Locate Postcode' tool, or move around using the mouse and the zoom controls. To erase a shape and start again, click the trashcan icon.
To check which Contacts are included in a Map Group, view the group in read-only mode and expand the "Contacts" section.
Note: Map Group features may be limited in certain editions of Horizon.
A List Group is a list of individual Contacts. The members of a List Group will only change if you manually add or remove Contacts; they're not updated automatically.
List Groups are best when you have just a few Contacts who you want to group together; for example your colleagues in the marketing team or key staff members who need to be alerted during an emergency. List Groups can also be useful if you want to import some contacts from a spreadsheet or .csv file for a one-off campaign.
If you have a lot of Contacts and you want to segment them in different ways, or if you want segmentation to take care of itself automatically when contacts' details are changed or new contacts are imported, you should take a look at Rule Groups and Map Groups.
'I-Modules' are optional ‘add on’ functions for Horizon - much like adding an app on your smartphone.
Right now we have these I-Modules thadd to your Horizon account:
- Appointment Reminder
- SMS Opt-in
- SMS Opt-out
- SMS Auto Responder
- SMS Conversation Manager
- SMS to Email
- Email to SMS
- IVR Call Attendant
- IVR Call Queue
- IVR Play Message
- IVR Record Message
Note: Certain I-Modules may not be available in some editions of Horizon.
A Horizon "content block" is an editable area within a Horizon email message or a web page. These editable content blocks are defined in the HTML email layout or web publication layout on which the email or web page is based.
One very neat feature of Horizon is the ability to change the content within each content block, depending on the preferences of the target audience. This enables you to send messages that create more of an impact, because the content is more personal and relevant to each recipient.
Combined Groups are a way to combine other groups together; for example to include all contacts who match the rules in a Rule Group AND have a location within a Map Group area.
Combined Groups can contain any combination of other groups, including other Combined Groups, and can be set up to include:
- All the Contacts who belong to ANY of the included groups (for example all prospects and all contacts in the Ipswich area) or
- Just those Contacts who belong to ALL of the included groups (for example just the prospects whose location is within Ipswich).
Combined Groups can also be set up to exclude contacts; for example to create a group that contains all prospects EXCEPT those in Ipswich.
To check which Contacts are included in a Combined Group, view the group in read-only mode and expand the "Contacts" section.
CSV file: Comma Separated Value file. This is one of the file formats that you can use to import your contact lists into Horizon (we also support Microsoft Excel format).
The top row of a CSV file usually contains the name of the different 'columns' of data, and the other rows contain the actual data.
An example might be:
Title, First_Name, Last_Name, Email
Mr, John, Spencer, john.spencer@gmail.com
Ms, Theresa, May, tmay123@yahoo.co.uk
, James, , jamesaston@hotmail.com
We hope you'll upgrade to a paid subscription :)
When your free trial expires you won't be able to login as normal, but you will be able to upgrade to a paid subscription and any data you have entered during your trial will be kept.
If you're not sure how to get the most out of Horizon during your trial, be sure to check out one of our regular free webinars.
IVR stands for "Interactive Voice Response". Here's the Wikipedia article (opens in a new window).
Horizon's IVR features are quite a lot better than those you may have come across in the past - quite possibly as a frustrated customer caught in "touch tone hell"!
Horizon IVR lets you use your customer data to automatically give each caller a more personalised experience, with information and touch-tone menus that are most relevant to them.
IVR doesn't have to be bad!!!
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has issued rules against marketers who send unsolicited commercial content without the explicit content of recipients and with misleading e-mail headers, in breach of the CAP Code. Please see the following website for further information around any rules: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2426/contents/made (opens in a new window).
Horizon profiles let you store detailed information about your contacts. In some other systems, this information is referred to as 'custom fields'. This detailed information can then be used to segment your contacts for very targeted marketing.
A Horizon Profile is a set of one or more custom fields. It can contain as many custom fields as you need, and you can create as many different Profiles as you like.
To use a Profile, you just attach it to a Directory. The custom fields will then be available for any Contacts that you add to that directory.
Each Custom Field that you create must be given a name and a data type:
- A textbox (free-form text), or
- A dropdown list (containing a list of values from which one can be selected), or
- A checkbox list (containing a list of tick-boxes from which several can be selected), or
- A date, or
- A number
You can also choose whether each Custom Field must have a value (mandatory), and the order in which they are displayed. For dropdown list and checkbox list Custom Fields, you can also choose the order in which the individual options are displayed.
Note: Profiles can also be used to store extra information about your Groups, Message Content and Users, making it easy for you to categorize and search for them (using Advanced Search).
You've probably seen a web form before on a company's website, that asks you to tick a box to confirm that you are happy to receive emails from that company? That's just what Horizon 'Opt-in categories' are for.
But with Horizon, you can give your subscribers one or several different tick-boxes, putting them in control of the types of information they receive from you.
Opt-in Categories are the easiest way to make sure your contacts only receive relevant emails, so they'll be happy to stay signed up to your newsletters and marketing campaigns.
Here's how it works:
1. You create some Opt-in Categories in the 'Admin' section of Horizon.
2. When your contacts subscribe, they tick the Opt-in Categories they're interested in (giving you permission to contact them).
3. When you create a campaign message, you tag it with the opt-in category or categories to which it relates.
4. When you run the campaign, your message will ONLY be sent to the contacts who have ticked at least one of the categories that you tagged the message with.
Opt-in categories are stored separately for each of a contact's media types; so for example they could opt-in to receive music and sport messages by email but only sport messages by SMS.
You can empower your contacts to self-serve their own opt-in preferences by adding the Opt-in Categories to a web Publication.
Directories are a way of separating your contacts into different types (for example your customers and staff), so you can use different Profile custom fields for each type.
For example, you might want to store custom field data like a 'Customer Reference Number' for your customers, but it wouldn't make sense to store this data for your staff. For those guys you would want to store custom field data like Employee ID and whether they're a temp or permanent employee.
To handle this in Horizon, you would:
1. Create two Directories, called "Customers" and "Staff".
2. Create two Profiles, called "Customer data" and "Staff data", with the appropriate custom fields in each of these Profiles.
3. Attach the "Customer data" Profile to the "Customers" Directory.
4. Attach the "Staff data" Profile to the "Staff" Directory.
When you create a new Contact, you're then able to select the "Customers" or "Staff" Directory for that contact. Depending on the Directory you select, the appropriate Profile custom fields will be shown.
When searching for contacts or creating a Rule Group, you can use the "Directory is..." condition to select contacts who belong to a specific Directory, and you can also perform searches and create Rule Groups using the Profile custom field data.
'Contacts' are (generally) people - for example your marketing prospects or customers.
The information you store about your contacts might include their name and address, their email address and mobile phone number, and their opt-in preferences for receiving marketing information from you. Contacts are stored in Directories (think of a Directory as an address book). Contacts can be easily imported and exported from MS Excel (.xls) and comma-separated value (.csv) files.
Contact Profiles can be used to store all kinds of other information about your contacts. Go to the Admin section to create a Profile and then attach it to a Directory. When you create a new Contact, select the Directory you want to store it in and you'll then be able to add the Profile information that has been attached to that Directory.
Once you have set up your Profiles and created or imported some contacts, the next step is to create some Groups. Groups are used to segment your contact database so that you can send different messages to different types of people; for example your marketing prospects and your existing customers.
HTK Horizon has been designed to be used from a PC or Laptop, but is supported to varying levels on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. HTK will be working on full support of mobile devices as part of the development roadmap over the coming few months.
We also support mobile-friendly HTML emails and web landing pages, so all the information you send and publish through Horizon can be seen by your subscribers on their smartphones :)
We'd love to talk to you!
Use the details on our 'Contact us' page to get in touch, or ask a question through our online community.
We take data security VERY seriously.
All data is stored in our ISO27001 certified infrastructure, which is only accessible by approved members of the HTK Operations team. And because we also work on projects for UK government and police forces, our team are government security cleared to UK "SC" level.
Horizon Lite: 1 user and up to 2,500 contact (subscriber) records.
Horizon Professional: 3 users and up to 50,000 contact records.
Horizon Enterprise: Unlimited users and unlimited contact records.
Horizon lets you make automated outbound phone calls, and receive inbound phone calls to a freephone, local rate, national rate or premium rate phone number.
Inbound calls can be answered with a simple pre-recorded message or can be handled with a series of messages, touch-tone menus and even speech recognition that uses a computer to recognise what the caller is saying.
Basic message recording and playback are available as standard in Horizon Lite and Professional on a UK 0844 number, and other types of numbers (for example freephone or premium rate) are available on request.
More advanced IVR functionality like touch-tone menus and outbound "appointment reminder" services can be added through add-on "I-Modules" like Horizon IVR Studio.
Log into Horizon and click the "Manage my account" button on the Horizon home screen.
Then select ‘change my payment method’.
There are several ways you can contact the HTK Horizon team for help and advice.
Our 'How-to' guide gives more details.
Horizon Professional lets you share information between different users within your Horizon account, and in Horizon Enterprise you can also share information across different Horizon accounts.
Sharing between users:
With Horizon Professional and Horizon Enterprise, you can have separate user logins for your Horizon account. These users can be given different permissions so that (for example) one users can only create and update subscriber records, another can create your message content and another can run campaigns.
Sharing between accounts:
With Horizon Lite and Professional, all your data is self-contained within your Horizon account, and can't be shared with other accounts.
Horizon Enterprise has been designed to support multiple accounts and organisational hierarchies. It allows one-way or two-way sharing and inheritance of data; for example to organisations that want to enable locally managed marketing campaigns but want to be able to aggregate campaign data at a national or international level.
Many types of information in Horizon, including contacts and messages, automatically go into a Recycle Bin when you delete them and can be easily recovered (data can also be permanently deleted from the Recycle Bin if needed).
If data is not in the recycle bin or is lost in any other way, it can be recovered from Horizon backups held by HTK, though a professional services charge may be incurred.
Sorry, not at the moment.
We only accept debit and credit card payments for Horizon Lite and Professional, and invoiced payments for Horizon Enterprise.