Best options to email newsletter to 8000 people.

Suggestions please.

[thunderpaste]

Hi, This might sound dumb but i have never sent out a newsletter. I have collected the emails of all my customers for 3 years (almost 8000)

Now I am ready to do a newsletter. What are the options?

Should I use my server? A newsletter service?

If I use a service how do I know they wont sell the addresses?

If I use my server do I risk getting branded as a spammer?

[submitx]

Best thing is to buy Desktop based email software. We use Groupmail and I recommend it, but I am sure there are others out there. One thing to be careful is to try and stay away from marketing and sales language in your email and keep the REMOVE notes to a minimal or state it in a language so that spam filters don't detetc it as spam. This is a huge problem with all optin email marketers as their legit emails can get flagged as spam. Also, you can set your software to send it in slower intervals, so big mail providers such as AOL and Yahoo, won't flag it as spam.

[willybfriendly]

I have had good success with PHPList.

WBF

[thunderpaste]

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Durham_e]

I would go along with everything submitx advised.

Also be careful of what you put in the from line.
Let the recipient know clearly who it is from (your company domain mame) or you will get past the Spam filters but be deleted.

Good Luck

[houseofsecrets]

If I can butt in with a question...why not use a web-based email marketing service? I have run a legit and pain in the butt desktop campaign for 2 years, and I was definitely thinking about using a service to manage my next assignment. Is performance a big problem with those services? Because, the costs look quite reasonable to me.

[hannamyluv]

I would reccomend a third party over an in-house for email sending. Most of them will cost you a penny to a half penny per email. You will have better deliverability, CAN-SPAM compliance and a whole lot less headache in handleing your unsubscribes and bounces. Many also offer the ability to hook your sign-up on your site straight into your account with them so you your list is up to the minute when you send.

There are also other features, like forward to a friend (with a signup prompt for the friend) and email surveys that often come free of charge with the service.