Suggestions please:

We have tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of once only customers that we want to target again by email.

So I am looking for some sort of bulk mail programme capable of the large volumes of emails, be able to customise each email, track opening and conversion rates. manage the list with valid email addresses and opt outs

[I am part of a highly competent, cutting-edge web development team with 3 programmers, 2 designers, an SEO specialist (me) a marketing guy and 2 copy writers.

(this means we don't need anything that comes with templates, template builders, free ebooks, etc - I am looking for something made by a professional software house, not a clickbank-type one man band!)]

sounds to me like you've more than enough experience in house to be able to develop something that fits the bill.

mobtex wrote:

sounds to me like you've more than enough experience in house to be able to develop something that fits the bill.

Yeah, I could probably do it myself.

Will need to look at url re-writing for the images, but I've got a plan for everything else........

Maybe package it up and sell it as well!!!

Hey North.. WTF is this - "cutting-edge web development " -- ?? Sounds like yer advertising copy man..... ha ha ha ha ha....

( Good morrow to u as well M8 )

i use 1-2 broadcasting from activecampaign which is decent but not OS

the big thing to worry about is not the program but  delivarability

have these people opted in to receive your emails and are they used to getting them?

if you are going to start sending bulk emails, 10's of thousands at a time you will start raising some serious flags with all  the email providers and you will likely find yourself blacklisted very quickly

and this is not one of those instances were you would rather ask for forgiveness then permission

i would spend a lot of time making sure everything is set right with your mail server, your emails themselves and possibly getting 3rd party verification

I have a checklist of things you should do if you plan on sending bulk emails- if you want it just PM me

Try www.apexeurope.co.uk they have a prog Mail Communicator , we use it with no problems.

Northie wrote:

Suggestions please:

We have tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of once only customers that we want to target again by email.

So I am looking for some sort of bulk mail programme capable of the large volumes of emails, be able to customise each email, track opening and conversion rates. manage the list with valid email addresses and opt outs

[I am part of a highly competent, cutting-edge web development team with 3 programmers, 2 designers, an SEO specialist (me) a marketing guy and 2 copy writers.

(this means we don't need anything that comes with templates, template builders, free ebooks, etc - I am looking for something made by a professional software house, not a clickbank-type one man band!)]

If your going to setup a dedicted mail sever this site has helpful review:

http://www.serverwatch.com/stypes/index.php/TWFpbA==

Northie wrote:

Suggestions please:

We have tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands of once only customers that we want to target again by email.

So I am looking for some sort of bulk mail programme capable of the large volumes of emails, be able to customise each email, track opening and conversion rates. manage the list with valid email addresses and opt outs

[I am part of a highly competent, cutting-edge web development team with 3 programmers, 2 designers, an SEO specialist (me) a marketing guy and 2 copy writers.

(this means we don't need anything that comes with templates, template builders, free ebooks, etc - I am looking for something made by a professional software house, not a clickbank-type one man band!)]

I just setup PHPList it is open software that manages the list for permission and is easy to send out emails for multiple lists. The amount of email you are talking about MUST be on your own dedicated mail server.

As noted by another commenter your biggest problem will be to NOT be labeled a SPAMMER.

Zepop
[edit: please use the signature panel for your urls only]

The likelihood is that I'll get a dedicated server just for the bulk mailings.

I asked how may people we'd be mailing to, the answer i got was "easily in the thousands". So I asked "Into the millions?".

The response from that was "I'll have to find out for you"?

When sending out hundreds of thousands of emails the mail server has to be throttled and easily stopped. The best solution I've found so far is 1-2-all from activecampaign, as mentioned by Nic as it had all the features I was going to build in myself.

I've also bee reading about sending to AOL users, http://www.sitepoint.com/article/format-html-email-aol.

Ideally I'd do a test on the user's domain.

if aol - one format
if hotmail then another, etc

Also I'd try to spread out the sending to ISPs so that aol didn't get 100 000 then hotmail get 100 000, then gmail.... etc (you get the point)

So intelligent queuing is something I may have to build in myself...

The search continues..........

if you want to send to AOL make sure to apply for an AOL whitelisting BEFORE you start sending bulk mail

AOL: http://www.postmaster.aol.com/tools/whi … uides.html

Yahoo Whitelist application (u have to ask for it): http://help.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_bulkmail

MSN offers no Whitelisting services but they do have a feedback program worth joining to see how they are treating your mail: http://postmaster.msn.com/

Hi Northie,

Personally, I use Aweber.  It has all the safeguards and none of the headaches of doing your own thing and its pretty cheap - especially compared with the effort required to program and manage your own.

Call me simple - but simple is often best.

jmac wrote:

Hi Northie,

Personally, I use Aweber.  It has all the safeguards and none of the headaches of doing your own thing and its pretty cheap - especially compared with the effort required to program and manage your own.

Call me simple - but simple is often best.

Thanks - but it just doesn't offer enough

And it's too expensive for what it is