Sending 100,000 opt-in subscribers a newsletter.

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Sending 100,000 opt-in subscribers a newsletter.

What AFFORDABLE services will let me do this?

HyperGeek

4:19 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

We have an opt-in list of subscribers who LOVE our WidgetsMonthly Newsletter.

The problem is, our list is getting too big.

Tipping the 100k subscriber scale, who can we have host our outgoing e-mails without breaking the bank?

Any suggestions?

I notice most of these services are geared towards spammers, and even more of them are geared towards high-end spammmers who can pay $399 to spam.

This is our problem. We don't have to hide our IP or anything, and we refuse to upload our e-mail list to a service provider.

We simply need an outgoing SMTP that allows 100k e-mails being sent... or as close to this as possible. I have little experience sending mass mail projects of this size and scope, so any advice would help.

dmorison

4:33 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Hi HyperGeek,

It sounds from your post that you are doing it yourself at the moment - so what problems are you now finding that make you want to consider outsourcing?

Is it simply bandwidth?

You say you refuse to upload your mailing list to a service provider. Remember that anybody who provides an SMTP service for you will have easy access to your entire mailing list anyway...

HyperGeek

4:38 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

I am able to send 500 a day via my web host. This is a very nice thing for them to let us do, however, our subscriber list has grown faster than we can send the e-mails!

You say you refuse to upload your mailing list to a service provider. Remember that anybody who provides an SMTP service for you will have easy access to your entire mailing list anyway...

Yeah, but it's not like I'm handing them an MS Access file of our e-mails. If they are that desperate to "pluck" a 100,000 e-mail addresses from each e-mail, then I guess they'll have the list - but only after way too much work.

I mentioned that since some online services are like, "For $50 we'll send 250,000 emails for you - just give us your entire list (ahem!,so-we-can-resell-it,ahem!) and..."

NeedScripts

4:43 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

You might wanna check out Group Mail by Infacta, I think that should solve your problem. :)

or you can get a dedicated server for US$ 250.00 and if your list is not spam, then I don't think the hosting company will have any problem.

Hope this helps.

Need Scripts

HyperGeek

4:54 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

We have, and use, Group Mail. It's excellent, but as far as I know, you must specify a SMTP server or AT LEAST an IP address to send "direct" (no SMTP).

This is where the problem lies. If we send either way, we're sending via our web host - and they only allow 500 per day, max.

Is there something I'm missing about Group Mail maybe?

cfx211

4:56 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

If its a matter of trust you can always step up and use one of the larger mailing houses out there like cheetah or doubleclick. Depending on the deal you get, I think it is between a half cent and a cent per email sent out. The only problem with a place like that is that you will have to sign a contract.

dmorison

5:13 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Why not run your own SMTP server?

Plenty of free choices available for both Linux and Win32 platforms...

NeedScripts

5:16 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Hi HyperGeek,

If I am not wrong Group Mail Plus/Pro comes with SMTP server, that starts on its own, when you want to send emails, and is pretty neat too.

Need Scripts

HyperGeek

5:31 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Okay, so let's say that I setup PostCast Email Server (for instance).

Does this mean that these e-mail broadcasts will not slam my ISP or my Web host?

jaski

5:38 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Does this mean that these e-mail broadcasts will not slam my ISP or my Web host?

I guess there must be a mechanism (config option?) to slow down the process to complete it in a few hours instead of as fast as possible ..

cfx211

5:52 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

If you plan on doing this yourself make sure that you have reverse DNS set up on the IP's. Some people like AOL won't accept email if they cannot figure out where it is coming from.

HyperGeek

6:36 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Okay, so I've installed the above mail server and I think it's a little beyond what I'm looking for. To be specific, we need:

A service host that will allow us to send anywhere from 2000 to 100,000 email newsletters. Does not need to be bullproof since we have nothing to hide. Does need to have a configurable IP or SMTP setting for use with Group Mail Pro.

Please remain within the parameters of WebmasterWorld's TOS.

Either e-mail me (contact@hypergeek.com) or stickymail me with any info that would not be suitable for a public post.

NeedScripts

6:52 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

I would say dedicated server is your best bet.

Need Scripts

Mardi_Gras

11:02 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

I notice most of these services are geared towards spammers, and even more of them are geared towards high-end spammmers who can pay $399 to spam.

I'm sorry to disagree with your assesment, but companies like Vertical Response are not geared towards spammers - they are geared towards people like you who have a legitimate need to send large numbers of e-mails quickly.

With a list of 100,000, I suggest you take your mailing off your desktop and consider trying Vertical Response or JangoMail. I think you'll be happy you did.

Others you may want to try include E-Mail Labs and Lyris.

killroy

11:32 pm on Jun 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Also, if you're sending to a list of 100000 of opt-ins, and you'Re not making the $399 out of it, then you might consider not sending it in the first place, unless you're a REALLY REALLY nice guy... just my opinion ;)

Mardi_Gras

12:52 pm on Jun 24, 2003 (gmt 0)

By the way, out of curiousity I checked pricing for 100,000 mails on Vertical Response and JangoMail - you're looking at about $800. However, I suspect you could negotiate that down a bit with a commitment for say, 1 million mails.

If you're really price-sensitive, you could try MojoMail. I know WestHost offers it for free, and I imagine lots of other hosts do as well.

HyperGeek

5:29 pm on Jun 24, 2003 (gmt 0)

It's amazing the response we recieved in less than 60 days.

We went to small, related WidgetFun sites and bought $20 month banners, ect.

Out of an accumulated 2 million users between about 30 sites, we went from -5000 to 100,000+

And, yes, there definitely is a marketing plan behind it, but we're in development so everything's been planned out to the smallest detail until we get some ROI.

As soon as we do, of course we will find more efficent means of sending these newsletters.

sharbel

6:42 pm on Jun 24, 2003 (gmt 0)

Hi,

I am a programmer and I can tell ya that if you have this list in a database of any kind you can have a guy like me develop you a mailer in about 2 hours of work..

With that size, I would make it a multi-threaded mailer so it doesnt take a year to finish btw..

My point is, smtp is easy to set up, and an app that sends out email from a database is pretty damn simple to make...

You can sticky me if you want me to give you some links to tutorials on how to make a mailer.