Help for Bulk Emailer Software

[ee222]

Hello,

My company wants to send out a news letter every month. The company has a big email list about 50,000 email addresses. Our web server is Linux. So, could someone tell me which software I should use? Where can I find the software or download it? Please give me some suggestions. Thank you very much.

[imsickofwebpro]

Do you want to send email from your desktop or do you want to create an application that sends it from the server?

These are two very different animals. Server side mailers are way more complicated. PHP and C# works, but if you're sending 50,000 emails at once, now you're getting into threading. I guess you could send one at a time, but that may take a while.

A quick fix:
1. -Hopemailer is the best desktop mailer I have used! ($499 or something)
- There's also 'mass mailer'. It's about $100 and it works fairly well. It uses multiple threads and is a desktop app as well.


2. There's tons of open source project's you can take 'mass mailers' from. Most open source projects either 'class' scripts or make scripts into separate modules.

-hope this helps a bit!

[wige]

My company recently started (finally) a monthly newsletter. Our experience has been that outsourcing the e-mails has been the most effective solution. There are a few companies that provide this type of service. Constant Contact and Vertical Response are two of the biggest.

The problem with doing the mailing yourself is that there is a lot of administrative overhead. Many ISPs use quantity-based checks as one of the many tools to combat spam on their systems, combined with "spam scoring" the actual content of the messages. Tripping either of these filters could result in your domain or IP being blacklisted. This could effectively cut off your contact with customers using these ISPs. You have to monitor your mailserver logs, determine which ISPs are rejecting your e-mails, and work with them to get removed from the black list. It can turn into a nightmare.

[nottheusual1]

You can use the ubiquitous MAILMAN that is all-but-native on current LAMP installations:

Mailman, the GNU Mailing List Manager

Once you get it working it is pretty painless. We have dozens of customers who take care of their own mail lists.

However, like wige said, having somebody else do it for you is totally painless.

[ronparrs]

I agree with WIGE above. The administrative end with Opt-Ins & the like are & can be a pain.

We've been using BenchMark for just about 1 year with good results. Their product also helps us keep the lists clean & up to date. That way you're not wasting your money sending emails to dead ends.

This is one project that you should outsource (even though you will be doing the designing).

[SuperBrain]

I too agree that outsourcing to email lists is the best way to go. I use iContact and they are so far doing well for us..

It can get messy when you start doing it yourself through your own linux box, and having to deal with white lists, black lists, and the many ISPs that sometimes block your IP because it looks like your sending SPAM. Email is complicated as easy as it sounds so let the experts do it, unless your planning on becoming an expert..

[spiderbait]

For clients with small mailing lists (under 10,000) I usually recommend phpList, which is fairly easy to install and is actually included on web hosts offering the Fantastico suite of server-side software.

For clients with more than 10,000 I usually recommend outsourcing for all of the reasons mentioned above. I've seen very positive results with Aweber.com.

[leslieposey]

From Leslie
I have the mailman
It Works verry well
Unix based and reliable

[Weedy Lady]

I use Your Mailing List Provider and am very happy with them. They have a choice of programs, with the new Professional program offering everything that any other company offers and probably at a better price. At least that has been my experience.

Their customer service is excellent. Anytime I've contacted them with a problem (often just something I didn't understand completely) they have replied very promptly - sometimes within an hour but always within a day at the very most.

The initial set up is easy and the rest is pretty much automated. Check them out at Your Mailinglist Provider - Professional yet easy-to-use mailing list hosting

[Orion]

Basically unless you want to spend a TON of time and money to properly set up a bulk mail server and agreements with spamcop and other block lists etc. you really should allow a professional bulk mail service to handle it for you.

That's what even large corporations like IBM, Amazon and the like do for marketing stuff.

I drive all my clients that have lists over about 2000 email addresses to companies like aweber.com they are set up to do it properly...

A normal web server can handle sending off about 50 emails at a time.. figure take up to a minute per batch... you're still looking at seriously taxing your website's server for over 20 hours to send each mail to a list of 50,000.

If you do decide on something to host yourself I would highly recommend going the text based email route including a link in the email to your website with a higher quality HTML page to read.

My 2cents anyway =o)...

[rem]

I used to send my ezine from my desktop, using GroupMail, however, when my list reached a certain number of subscribers, both my Internet provider and my hosting provider, refused relaying the newsletter to the subscribers, so I had to look for an outside company to do the job for me.

At first I worked with a certain company, and though they worked quite well, it seemed that many new subscribers did not respond to the validation email. This I believe happened, because of spam filters, or because the email address was not added to the white list of those you requested to subscribe. It was also odd that though the ezine was sent to more than 10000 subscribers, it was opened by only about 10%, which again I think is due to spam filters.

Recently I have moved my list to Aweber, and I am very happy with the way they work, and with the percentage of subscribers who open and read the ezine.

[danners]

I would agree - use a third party specialist service. They work with ISPs to whitelist their servers so your message doesn't get flagged to the junk mail folder.

If you must use your own I would get a hosting account on a separate server with new domain similar to the one you are using and then install one of the suggestions above (phplist.com : Homepage : home is pretty good too for nix boxes running PHP).
You would need to check the hosting companies terms to see if mass mailing is allowed.

Getting your primary business server flagged as a spam source would upset your day to day email correspondence and its not worth risking it.

[John]

We use Sendstudio, not free, but handles bounces etc to minimise emails being marked spam etc: Email Marketing, Email Marketing Software, Newsletter Software Solution

[sanver]

SugarCRM Open Source has a very good Email Campaign Manager with graphical campaign reporting system. One click unsubscribe option, amiling liast, cron jobs....and lot more.

We send around 20,000 emails every month. If the volumes are more you need VPS / Dedicated server.

[melon_sydney]

Hi ee222

A couple of things that you should consider:

1. It is possible to install and manage your own email broadcast tool, open source (eg php list) or commercial (eg Lyris). However you do need to have sufficient IT resources (eg bandwidth) and knowledge to baby sit the thing. Be aware of your IP getting blacklisted etc.
2. Check with your web host or ISP if they have some tools you can use.

2. Using a specialist email marketing provider tends to be easier and provides better results. When looking for the right supplier consider the following:
i) Give them a call on the phone and email them, see how quick they respond and the tone of their response. Choose a company that is approachable and values their customers. You would be amazed at how many email marketing companies understand the technology, but don't understand about customer service.
ii) Ask them about their commitment to developing their platform, some companies are selling platforms developed nearly 10 years ago.
iii) Check they don't lock you into a fixed term contract.
iv) Sounds like you need a little more than a straightforward account, in that case ask them if they can provide you with custom domain set up (ensures brand integrity), API (allows for any of your internal systems to talk with the email marketing system), deliverability tools.

I hope the above is useful.

Regards,
Kevin

--
Kevin Garber | General Manager
Email Marketing | Melon Media | Corporate Online Marketing Sydney Australia | Melon Media

Email Marketing Blog | Melon Media - Online Marketing Sydney Australia | Specialists in Email Systems & Services
Spam Analysis Tool | Email Marketing | Melon Media Sydney Australia | Free Tools Email Spam Check Stork

[webfooted]

I've been using Boomerang email marketing for about 6 months for all our newsletters and other email blasts. They're great with both a self-service product, and a full-service product that they do everything for you. Each ESP is going to have their own bells and whistle, you just need to find one that works for you. These guys work for me - Product is easy to use, pricing is competitive and customer service is great.

All of your top-tier ESPs have relationships with the ISPs, so if you have a legitimate list, your email will get through. Boomerang also has a free SPAM checker tool that you can test your email through even if you're not a client.