Question 1

Is MailAdx free to sign up?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Creating a publisher, advertiser, or agency account is free and does not require a credit card. After signup you verify your email; our team typically reviews and activates accounts within 24 hours on weekdays.

Question 2

What account types can I choose?

Accepted Answer

Publisher (monetise newsletter inventory), Advertiser (run campaigns across the network), and Agency (manage multiple advertiser clients from one workspace). Pick the role that matches how you will use MailAdx at signup — you can contact support if your needs change.

Question 3

How long does account approval take?

Accepted Answer

Most accounts are reviewed and activated within 24 hours on business days. You will receive an email when your account is ready. Until then you can explore the dashboard in a limited state depending on your role.

Question 4

Why do I need to verify my email?

Accepted Answer

Email verification confirms account ownership and is required before the team can activate your account. Click the link in the verification email sent after signup. Check spam if you do not see it within a few minutes.

Question 5

Where do I sign in after approval?

Accepted Answer

Use the Sign in link on mailadx.com to open the MailAdx dashboard (app.mailadx.com). Use the same email and password you registered with. Password reset is available from the forgot-password flow if needed.

Question 6

What is the difference between an agency and a network?

Accepted Answer

An agency account manages multiple advertisers under one login — ideal for marketing agencies. A network account is for operators running ad sales across many publishers and requires a custom contract. Contact sales if you operate a multi-publisher network.

Question 7

Can I explore the platform before adding credits?

Accepted Answer

Yes. After approval, publishers and advertisers can configure placements, campaigns, and settings before reloading prepaid credits. Credits are only required when you are ready to serve or buy live impressions.

Question 8

What is MailAdx in simple terms?

Accepted Answer

MailAdx is a newsletter ad stack: an SSP for publishers to sell inventory, a DSP for advertisers to buy it, and an open-time ad server that decides which ad to show when a subscriber opens an email. Reporting and billing are built in.

Question 9

Why open-time instead of send-time ad serving?

Accepted Answer

Open-time serving records impressions only when a subscriber actually opens your email. Send-time approaches charge for every subscriber on your list — including those who never open. Open-time also keeps campaign pacing and frequency caps live at the moment of delivery.

Question 10

How is an impression counted?

Accepted Answer

An impression is counted when a subscriber opens your email and their client loads the ad image from MailAdx. If nobody opens, no impression fires and no credit is deducted. You never pay for unopened sends.

Question 11

What is the ad decision waterfall?

Accepted Answer

When someone opens an email, MailAdx checks eligible direct-sold line items first (highest priority wins). If nothing fills and programmatic is enabled for that placement, OpenRTB demand can bid. Remaining inventory can fall through to a house ad. See our architecture docs for the full flow.

Question 12

Do subscribers need cookies for ads to work?

Accepted Answer

No. MailAdx uses a privacy-safe hashed email identifier (when your ESP provides it) plus coarse signals like country and device class. Ads work in email without third-party cookies or cross-site tracking.

Question 13

How fast is the ad decision?

Accepted Answer

The ad server is designed for sub-10ms decisioning on the hot path so the subscriber's email client receives a creative quickly. Programmatic auctions run within a strict deadline so opens are not blocked waiting on bidders.

Question 14

How do I monetise my newsletter with MailAdx?

Accepted Answer

Create a publisher profile, add an ad unit (placement) with your preferred size and floor price, publish your configuration, then paste the open-time ad tag and EMAIL_SHA256 merge field into your ESP template. Send a test email and confirm an impression appears in your portal.

Question 15

What is an ad unit or placement?

Accepted Answer

An ad unit is a defined slot in your newsletter — for example a header leaderboard — with format rules, floor CPM, and optional programmatic settings. Each unit gets a unique ad tag URL used in your template.

Question 16

What is a floor price?

Accepted Answer

A floor CPM is the minimum price you accept for that placement. Direct deals and programmatic bids must clear your floor to win. You can set different floors per ad unit based on placement value.

Question 17

Do you take a revenue share on my direct deals?

Accepted Answer

No. MailAdx charges a platform fee per impression delivered — not a percentage of sponsor revenue you negotiate. What you earn from direct advertisers is yours; the fee covers serving and platform infrastructure.

Question 18

What is fill rate?

Accepted Answer

Fill rate is the percentage of ad requests that return a paid or house ad. Low fill often means floors are too high, limited demand, or targeting is narrow. Your publisher reporting shows fill and unfilled requests per placement.

Question 19

Can I run only direct-sold sponsors?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Direct line items are prioritised in the waterfall. Programmatic OpenRTB is opt-in per ad unit — leave it disabled if you only want sponsors you book yourself plus optional house ads.

Question 20

What ad formats are supported?

Accepted Answer

Newsletter placements typically use image-based creatives sized for email — leaderboards and similar static image formats. Creatives must be email-safe (no JavaScript). Your ad unit configuration defines allowed sizes.

Question 21

How do I get the ad tag for my ESP?

Accepted Answer

In the dashboard, open Ad Tags for your publisher and ad unit. Copy the open-time embed HTML and the merge-field instructions for your ESP. Full walkthroughs are in our Mailchimp and Klaviyo integration guides.

Question 22

How do I run a newsletter ad campaign?

Accepted Answer

After account approval, create a campaign and line items with budget, schedule, targeting, and creatives. MailAdx serves ads at open time across publisher inventory you are allowed to buy. Monitor delivery in real time in your advertiser dashboard.

Question 23

What targeting options are available?

Accepted Answer

Typical controls include geography (country), device type, newsletter categories or topics, and publisher-level packages. Exact options depend on inventory and deal type. Private marketplace deals can lock exclusive access at agreed CPMs.

Question 24

How do budgets and pacing work?

Accepted Answer

You set daily or total impression goals and budgets on line items. Because MailAdx serves at open time, pacing reflects actual opens — campaigns slow or stop when caps are reached rather than overspending on sends nobody opened.

Question 25

What creative formats can I upload?

Accepted Answer

Use email-safe image creatives at the dimensions required by the placements you target — usually a hosted image URL or asset MailAdx serves at decision time. Avoid scripts, iframes, or relative URLs in email markup.

Question 26

How does prepaid billing work for advertisers?

Accepted Answer

Advertisers use a prepaid wallet. Reload credits when needed; MailAdx deducts spend as impressions are delivered. There is no monthly platform subscription. See our pricing page for minimum top-up and volume tiers.

Question 27

Can agencies manage multiple clients?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Agency accounts support multiple advertisers under one login with role-based access per client, consolidated reporting, and separate billing where configured. Enterprise agencies can request white-label options via sales.

Question 28

What reporting do advertisers receive?

Accepted Answer

Dashboards show impressions, clicks, CTR, spend, and delivery by campaign and line item. Data is based on open-time delivery — aligned with how newsletter performance should be measured, not inflated send-level counts.

Question 29

Do I need a webhook or send pipeline integration?

Accepted Answer

No. The standard integration is a dynamic image ad tag pasted into your ESP template plus an EMAIL_SHA256 merge field. No webhooks, no per-subscriber API calls at send time, and no changes to your sending infrastructure.

Question 30

What is the EMAIL_SHA256 merge field?

Accepted Answer

Your ESP substitutes a SHA-256 hash of each subscriber's lowercase email into the ad tag URL. This enables privacy-safe frequency capping and targeting without passing raw emails in URLs. Setup varies by ESP — see our integration docs.

Question 31

Which ESPs are supported?

Accepted Answer

MailAdx works with any ESP that supports custom HTML and merge tags — including Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Beehiiv (HTML sends), Campaign Monitor, and custom pipelines. Integration guides cover the most common platforms.

Question 32

How do I test that ads are working?

Accepted Answer

Send a test campaign to yourself, open the email on a real device, and confirm the ad image loads. Then check your publisher portal for a new impression on that ad unit. If the image is broken, verify the tag URL and merge field copied correctly.

Question 33

Why is my merge field empty in test sends?

Accepted Answer

Some ESPs only populate custom merge fields on live sends or require you to define the field in audience settings first. Follow the ESP-specific guide to create EMAIL_SHA256 (or equivalent) before the ad tag can personalise.

Question 34

Can quoted-printable encoding break my ad URL?

Accepted Answer

Yes — some ESPs encode special characters in URLs at send time. Use base64 encoding for URL parameters where your ESP allows it, or disable quoted-printable on the ad block. Our ESP docs note known pitfalls.

Question 35

How does credit-based pricing work?

Accepted Answer

Publishers and advertisers use a prepaid wallet. Reload credits when you need them; MailAdx deducts a small platform fee per 1,000 impressions delivered. Your effective CPM rate depends on volume — contact us for custom rates at scale.

Question 36

What is the minimum credit top-up?

Accepted Answer

When you are ready to go live, the minimum wallet reload is $100 USD (in $10 increments above that). Credits are stored in USD equivalent. INR top-ups via Razorpay include 18% GST as required for Indian businesses. You are never charged at signup.

Question 37

When is the platform fee charged?

Accepted Answer

The fee is deducted in real time per impression delivered — not per email sent. Only opens that result in an ad being served count as billable impressions.

Question 38

What happens when my balance runs low?

Accepted Answer

You receive an email alert when your balance drops below $5. Delivery continues until the balance reaches zero, then campaigns pause automatically. Top up any time to resume.

Question 39

Can I get volume discounts?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Larger top-ups unlock better per-impression rates at $500, $2,000, and $10,000+ tiers on the pricing page. Publishers and advertisers with very high volume can request custom CPM via contact or demo.

Question 40

Do credits expire?

Accepted Answer

Prepaid credits do not expire while your account remains active. Use them as impressions are delivered over time.

Question 41

How does MailAdx handle subscriber privacy?

Accepted Answer

MailAdx minimises data: hashed email identifiers when provided, coarse geo and device class, and contextual placement signals — not cross-site behavioural profiles. Raw subscriber emails are not embedded in ad URLs.

Question 42

How is Apple Mail Privacy Protection handled?

Accepted Answer

MailAdx detects Apple Mail prefetch requests and labels them as AppleMPP in delivery reports. You can filter these from genuine human opens in analytics when evaluating campaign performance.

Question 43

Is MailAdx GDPR-aligned for EU publishers?

Accepted Answer

Yes. MailAdx supports consent-forward workflows, suppression lists, hashed identifiers, and documentation for DPA reviews. See our GDPR compliance centre for subprocessors and data subject rights.

Question 44

How can a subscriber opt out of ads?

Accepted Answer

Subscribers can use MailAdx Ad Choices to permanently suppress their hashed email from targeting. Opt-out is permanent until they contact support to reverse it. Publishers should link to Ad Choices from their newsletter footer where required.

Question 45

Does MailAdx use third-party cookies in email?

Accepted Answer

No. Email clients do not execute tracking cookies the way browsers do. MailAdx does not rely on third-party cookie sync for newsletter ad delivery.

Question 46

What is CAN-SPAM compliance for US sends?

Accepted Answer

Publishers remain responsible for list permission and commercial email rules. MailAdx supports clear ad labeling via Ad Choices, unsubscribe alignment with your ESP, and transparent impression reporting. See legal docs for detail.

Question 47

What metrics are available in the dashboard?

Accepted Answer

Publishers see impressions, fill rate, eCPM, clicks, and revenue by placement and period. Advertisers see delivery, CTR, spend, and pacing against goals. All metrics are grounded in open-time delivery.

Question 48

How are clicks tracked?

Accepted Answer

Clicks pass through MailAdx redirect URLs so engagement is attributed to the correct campaign and placement. Use the reporting overview in docs for macro parameters and testing guidance.

Question 49

Can I track conversions or leads?

Accepted Answer

Yes. MailAdx supports conversion tracking for lead and purchase goals via documented pixel and postback patterns. See the conversion tracking guide in documentation for setup by objective.

Question 50

Can I export reporting data?

Accepted Answer

Dashboard exports and API access depend on your account type. Developers can use the reporting APIs documented on the developers hub for automated pipelines.

Question 51

Why do my numbers differ from my ESP open rate?

Accepted Answer

ESP open rates include machine opens and prefetch. MailAdx impression counts reflect ad tag fetches at decision time and may label Apple MPP separately. Compare like with like when reconciling reports.

Question 52

What is OpenRTB on MailAdx?

Accepted Answer

When direct-sold campaigns do not fill a placement and RTB is enabled, MailAdx runs an OpenRTB 2.5 auction against configured demand sources at open time. The highest bid above floor wins and the creative HTML is returned to the email client.

Question 53

Is programmatic enabled by default?

Accepted Answer

No. RTB is off by default on every ad unit. Publishers opt in per placement and can set an RTB-specific floor CPM. Direct deals always run first in the waterfall.

Question 54

What creative rules apply to programmatic ads in email?

Accepted Answer

Winning creatives must be email-safe: typically a single HTTPS image tag at declared dimensions — no JavaScript, no iframes, and absolute URLs only. DSPs deliver markup in the standard adm field.

Question 55

How long do bidders have to respond?

Accepted Answer

Auctions run within a strict global deadline (on the order of 100ms) so subscriber experience is not delayed. Bids arriving after the deadline are ignored.

Question 56

Where do I configure demand sources?

Accepted Answer

Network operators configure RTB exchanges in the dashboard; publishers enable RTB per ad unit. Technical bid request/response formats and sandbox testing are documented on the OpenRTB integration page.

Question 57

My ad image does not show in the email

Accepted Answer

Confirm the ad tag URL is intact in the template, the EMAIL_SHA256 field is configured, and you published the latest ad unit config. Open the email on a device that loads remote images. Check for broken merge fields or URL encoding issues.

Question 58

I see impressions but no revenue

Accepted Answer

House ads and unfilled slots may register requests differently than paid fills. Check fill rate, floor price, and whether direct line items are active and within schedule. Programmatic needs RTB enabled and connected demand.

Question 59

My account is still pending

Accepted Answer

Verify your email first. If you verified more than 24 hours ago on a business day, contact support with your signup email. Weekend signups are typically processed the next business day.

Question 60

Campaigns stopped delivering

Accepted Answer

Common causes: wallet balance at zero, line item end date passed, daily cap reached, or creative rejected. Check pacing and billing sections in the dashboard and reload credits if needed.

Question 61

Fill rate suddenly dropped

Accepted Answer

Review recent floor price changes, paused campaigns, or disabled RTB exchanges. Seasonal demand shifts also affect programmatic fill. Lower floors slightly or add demand sources if programmatic is enabled.

Question 62

Where do I get more help?

Accepted Answer

Browse documentation from the Help Center topic cards, read integration guides for your ESP, or contact support via the contact form. Include your publisher or advertiser ID and a screenshot when reporting delivery issues.

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