Which Bulk email program to use to contact my leads?

[ps123]

I have accumulated 6800+ email addresses of subscribers to a newsletter in a mySQL database for one of my sites. Now I am thinking of sending them promotional email once every 15 days. A search on google brings many options like autoresponder ASPs (e.g. aweber), who charge on monthly basis and number of subscribers handled. There are also several programs/softwares that once purchased can be used with multiple domains and large lists of emails but emails are sent from my server.

Anyone here who has the experience of working with email promotion please suggest What email tool should I use?

What are the pros and cons of using both methods?

 

[deepstar]

I like www.netatlantic.com

Eric

 

[Sharpy]

http://www.bulk-email-worldwide.com/prospect_mailer.html

I use this software all the time. Works well for me. Sends text or html.

Turns your pc into a personal email server - no outgoing mail server is needed.

One at a time mailings. If you need an auto responder with unsubscribe etc that's a whole other ballgame.

 

[ps123]

Originally posted by Sharpy
http://www.bulk-email-worldwide.com/prospect_mailer.html

One at a time mailings. If you need an auto responder with unsubscribe etc that's a whole other ballgame.

Yes I will give an option for unsubscribe in email as I have to. The software or autoresponder has to offer that option to me.

Anyway I went to the site you mentioned. To quote a line from that site "Instant access to our database of 33 million email addresses. A FREE copy of our bulk list CD containing a further 57 million email addresses."

To move away from the point a bit, I was just wondering have you ever tried that kind to mass mailing using that many email addresses from that list. What were the results like and what were the problems (spam complaints, angry webhost etc.)? A few months ago I was seriously thinking of buying one such CD containing a few million email addresses but the recent spurt in legal cases against the email spam are holding me back.

 

[Jack Gordon]

DO NOT SEND SPAM

That is a no-win situation. If you are going to be in business, do it legit by earning your customers/subscribers. Spam complaints get taken very seriously these days. trust me - it's not worth it and I hear it doesn't even work anyway.

I use subscribe me pro from www.siteinteractive.com - I think it will do everything you need quite well, and there is a free version which you might be able to get away with using.

 

[Sharpy]

I bought the software to use with my own lists.

The 57 million email addresses came on a cd. From what I could tell most were AOL addys and Delphi. Pretty much useless. I would not recommend using such lists. The names on that list, if any are valid, most likely did not opt in. They will not be happy.

You should buy lists that are opt in or double opt in. The problem is finding an opt-in list vendor that is honest. The mailing list industry, from what I can gather, is not very trustworthy.

 

[WebMomentum]

if you have your leads in a db .. you can create your own scripts and send emails based on queries....

ie if you had a record store and wanted to email all the buyers of Madonna CD's that she had a new release you could do so.

ASP - [cdonts] www.asp101.com has an easy to follow tutorial on regular emails and html emails

CFML - [CFMAIL]

etc

 

[ps123]

www.siteinteractive.com looks Ok to start with. Will check it throughly when I get time on Sunday.

WebMomentum: ASP101 has some good tutorials. I have bookmarked that site also to study all the tutorials when I get time.

Thanks for the fast reply people.

 

[Jack Gordon]

Originally posted by ps123
www.siteinteractive.com looks Ok to start with. Will check it throughly when I get time on Sunday.

I neglected to mention earlier that I send out 65,000+ html e-mail newsletters to a variety of different lists every Thursday with this program. It works quite well.

 

[Togoodhlth]

The huge lists have to be filtered! In many cases they are stripped from newsgroups and are full of "spam bait".

You can buy good lists of verified opt in subscribers from companies like ProStep who actually phone verify their most expensive leads.
I have used several lists like this and if you have a good offer and have honed your email marketing campaign, have really good content and a really good follow up system they are well worth the cost.

Good luck.

 

[ps123]

Right now I with stick to my small list of 6800+ addresses only because It is free for me and it contains the email IDs of only those who have visited my site at least once and hence are more likely to buy if contacted in a proper manner.

 

[mole]

Buzzcast is pretty reliable, and has a nice opt-in and opt-out feature.

http://www.infopop.com/products/buzzcast/

 

[Togoodhlth]

PS123

Do you have a followup system in place?
Remember the secret of 7?

A good list of 6800 customers or people that have visited your site is very valuable to your business. If you plug the names into a follow up system you should be able to make a ton of sales!

GOod luck.

John

 

[ps123]

Originally posted by Togoodhlth
PS123

Do you have a followup system in place?
Remember the secret of 7?

A good list of 6800 customers or people that have visited your site is very valuable to your business. If you plug the names into a follow up system you should be able to make a ton of sales!

GOod luck.

John

I think you are talking about autoresponders here. No I don't have any follow-up mechanism in place as of now. The people just entered their email addresses to subscribe to my newsletter in last few months and then confirmed their subscriptions by clicking on a link sent in an email. I have never contacted them by email. I hope to have a system in place to do so in next 7-10 days.

Originally posted by mole
Buzzcast is pretty reliable, and has a nice opt-in and opt-out feature.

http://www.infopop.com/products/buzzcast/

Aweber appears to be cheaper for the features that I would be looking for in a hosted (ASP type) solution. Although infopop is used by several big website owners.

Thanks for the info. everybody.

-ps123