Best email client for ecommerce?

before i get started

[sniffer]

hi

i have set up a retail ordering system on my existing site (which up until now has been focused on wholesale sales)

given that a new set of emails will shortly be arrriving (hopefully!) i thought i might also choose a better email handling program

im currently using Outlook Express, but im starting to find that it hasnt got all of the features i'd like, and possibly in the future i may find that i need even more features - so where should i look?

Requirements i can think of:
- free
- windows XP o/s
- must have a good autoreply feature (and possibly 'rules' - this may be later on)
- will store lots of messages in easily managed folders
- must have a good search function
- is good for sending out newsletters to large email lists
- import/export from microsoft programs - outlook/express etc

(im not as fussed about html messages or spam filters at the moment)

[also, i just installed Outlook for XP and went to set up the autoreply feature, and the "out of office assistant" wasnt even in the Tools menu, despite the Help telling me thats where it would be. Any reason for this? (silly question!?)]

thanks :)

[sun818]

I think Outlook - the pay version - is suitable for what you want. Add Nelson Email Organizer (NEO) on top of Outlook and you the best e-mail client I can think of. NEO makes Outlook become an e-mail client on permanent steroids.

[Trucker]

Don't know if it's the best, but I use Eudora for all of my email. The sponsored version is free and fully functional. There is an unobtrusive ad in the lower-left corner.

I really like it for the filtering of messages. I have 25+ different mailboxes that I use to keep my mail organized.

I use the search function as a quick way to find email history with customers. It's also great to look at sales history (order notification emails) for specific time periods.

It even has a neat stats report. When I need a distraction, I can find out how much of my day is spent on email.

[bcolflesh]

Take a look at The Bat!:

[ritlabs.com...]

Not free, but cheap.

[gertrijs]

or look at PocoMail: www.pocomail.com

Gert

[Corey Bryant]

I use Outlook 2003 to check about 20 different e-mail accounts every few minutes. It sorts everything for me & helps me to maintain some sort of organization (as much I want to at this time :) )

-Corey

[webtress]

The full Outlook will give you the features you need. Eudora is also a good mail program, but the free version does contain ads.

Cory? -

It sorts everything for me

I'm currently moving to various folders is it possible that when the email arrives I can set it to automatically go to the folder for that account? or are you talking about the name,subject,date sort

[Corey Bryant]

I use it to sort to different folders for different (special) projects / websites. That way I know what to work on (or what I should be working on :) ) I do like Outlook 2003 a lot better than 2002 - that's for sure.
-Corey

[kjs50]

I used to use Outlook to mangage my emails, but then it was too hard to manage all the emails and keep track of which had been replied to or not. So I switched to a Help Desk Software that is web based. Now I can check my email anywhere and not have to worry about which email answered at home vs. work.

It really can't be beat.

[NeedScripts]

Any day any time.. I would say MS Outlook rocks and does all what you need and much more. (tons and tons of features)

[andy_boyd]

Don't forget Thunderbird from Mozilla.org. It's open source, free and constantly updated with new features. It also has a built in junk filter, straight out of the box.

[sniffer]

thanks for your replies :)

seems the free version of Eudora also installs Cydoor adware (?)

probably should buy a decent program and be done with it

[pff_iy]

I would just like to echo what others have already mentioned. All the features that have been asked for so far can be achieved by using MS Outlook (Not free comes with the MS Office suite).

Auto Reply!

Yes it does do auto reply although it is a bit tedious to set up. I am not at my PC at the moment but when I get back I will take note and post a reply that shows how to achieve it if somebody has not already :)

Automatic organisation of email.

I believe that there is a wizard (it is in the tools menu) that will allow you to set up all sorts of rules for organising mail. Including automatically sending received mail to a designated folder.

[Mozart]

I just switched from a very old Eudora version to the open source Thunderbird (from mozilla.org). Yes, like andy_boyd I am happy it has the open source spam filter SpamAssassin build in. After a short while of training it recognises the crap and the good.

It can sort in all ways possible, even for each personality/mailbox that you are checking differently. You can create custom filters to sort by. (And it comes with heaps of extensions, in case the normal functionality isn't enough for you)

So my anti spam strategy goes kind of like this: if the sender has not put me in the To: section there's a good chance it is spam or from a mailing list. If the sender is not in my own address book (check for mailing lists and friends) there is again a good chance it is spam or a new customer. If the subject of such possible spam is not the one you would get by clicking on my mailto: link on the websites then the message gets sorted into my possible spam folder. There, SpamAssassin takes care of the rest and is very accurate.

The other messages have been properly sorted into folders by now and I can work nicely away :-)

Thought I'd share this with you, as spam unfortunately still takes away too much time for most of us!

Mozart

[Mozart]

Oh, and did I mention, Thunderbird is free? :-)