on-site newsletter: pros and cons?

[esllou]

I have over 6000 subscribers to my monthly newsletter now and have always sent them it, via a host-provided mailing list manager.

With increasing problems with html mails or mails with images getting snagged as spam, I have decided that, from now on, I will send a plain vanilla text mail to everyone with the new newsletter's URL in it...and just do it on my site.

Will allow me to get past the html mail/images problem and allow me full control over the newsletter and allow me to use AdSense ads or whatever I want. Strikes me as a neat solution.

But there must be drawbacks...what are they? I realise it will stop people who usually take a few seconds to download their post and don't want to connect up to the web. My newsletter on-site page will be a clean 20k page and with a printable version too.

what other problems am I missing?

[karmov]

This is strictly speaking from an end user perspective, but I know one of the problems with your proposal is that it increases the number of steps for your subscribers to view the content. You're likely to lose a few that way because they'll simply forget. It's happened to me many times. I get an e-mail that links to a URL and I tell my self I'll go visit it later, and I never do... If the full content is in the e-mail the chances of me reading it right then and there increase significantly.

I'm not saying yours is a bad idea, but this is one downside that you should consider. All in all your plan sounds like a reasonable plan one to me, though you may lose some of your readers. How many depends on why they subscribed in the first place.

[esllou]

yes, I had thought about this.

I was thinking, the first time I send out the new format url-only mail to ask subscribers if they want to subscribe to a text-only newsletter.

so have the full bells and whistles version on-line and send those who want a text version a simple plain vanilla version of what's online. Anyone who doesn't specifically request a text mail gets the url-only version.

so anyone who wants to continue getting the newsletter in their mail box has that choice.

just thinking out loud really....

anyone else think that is a workable solution?

[henry0]

Clients I work for do not have this dilemma, I only do it on the site, my clients post it via a CMS and it creates a new link etc...
Most of them have long ceased sending even opt in mass mailing
Regards

<edit> forgot clicking on email notification</edit>