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Help! I Need An Email Marketing Program That Does.

Posted by ipsmarxsocialmedia on 9/21/2011 at 3:16 PM ET 25 Points

Hi Everyone!

I am looking for an email marketing program that will help me with the following:

#1. Contacts: Will let me important contacts that are like info@websiteurlhere.com or sales@websiteurlhere.com

I have found allot of programs don't let me do this because they try to rule out possible spamming. But my clients actually have these email addresses.
I have found these issues with the following programs: iContact, ConstantContact, Mailchimp and much more.

#2. Label/Senders message: Having my existing email .com show as the senders email address and not have the email marketing programs
lets say my email is ashley@ashleysdesigns.com some email marketing programs will replace this with something like response@verticalresponse.com

and they make you upgrade a big fee to upgrade to your domain/url.

#3. Easy on the spam filters... the less likely to send it to spam.
I have found some email marketing programs better for this than others.
Some you have to dance around the words to get them delivered to web based email as well
4. Free trial would be nice to see if these things actually work :)

Please help I would appreciate any suggestions.

Posted by darcy.moen on 9/22/2011 at 4:30 AM Accepted

In answer to question #1

There is a reason why certain email companies and email marketing software WILL NOT allow you to blatantly import email addresses willy-nilly. That reason is because SPAMMERS have abused the privilege and wrecked it for legitimate senders. Of course, by setting this bar in place, it makes it just difficult enough so that folks who really don't know what they are doing, won't be able to inadvertently abuse the system. According to the anti-spam laws (and good old common etiquette), you should be able to produce permission of the email address owner that you DO in fact have permission to send people email messages. If you can't (or don't have) such proof, you shouldn't be sending email to that list. These systems have a fail safe built in that anytime you upload a list, it will verify permission, or deny you uploading crappy lists. I for one am very thankful for this feature because I don't think you completely understand the concept of permission based marketing. Please go and buy a copy of Seth Godin's book called 'Permission Marketing' and read it, follow it!

In answer to question #2

There is all kinds of software (both commercial and open source) that you can install on your own website that would allow you to send and receive email using your own email address on your own domain. But I'm not going to tell you what that software is because once again, I don't think you have the fundamental basic education in place to be allowed to use such tools. Just because you might be given crayons, it still doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't even be allowed to draw. If you want to use the big boy tools, you either have to learn the big boy lessons on how to use them properly, or pay the big boy fees to get you what you want.

In answer to #3

Again, if you want to be able to send messages, you better know how to send them correctly. Please, by all means, abuse the system by trying to get around the basic protections that the rest of us professionals put in place to keep unwanted email away from people who don't want it. Again, these are professional tools, to be used in a professional manor. If you want to use the big boy tools, learn to abide, follow, and work within the big boy rules.

Those word filters are there for a darn good reason. Please feel free to use the word 'FREE' in your subject line and sprinkle it liberally throughout your email message. Also, use the words 'Viagra', 'Cialis', and 'Canadian Pharmacy' as much as you can, it really helps with delivery and open rates.

As for the free trial...heck, if you don't want to learn the tools, learn how to use the tools, and learn how to work within the rules, why bother actually paying for the use of them either. Please, do us (and the rest of the world) a favor, DON'T put your hands on any email product. Stay away from using email. Just because you have a computer, I don't think you've acquired enough skill or knowledge to be able to use it properly.

Darcy Moen
Customer Loyalty Network
Posted by ipsmarxsocialmedia on 9/22/2011 at 4:46 PM Author

Hi Darcy,
If you actually read my email you would see that our customers are actually on our list and do have these emails. We are not soliciting anyone with random emails. I and our company are well aware of "restrictions" and the laws of email marketing.

You should read someones requests before posting a generic response as this information is obvious and everyone know this about email marketing programs.

I actually found an email marketing program since I posted this request that helps us with this and they simply asked us where we got our customers information. So there are ways to use our clients who have these types of email addresses.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Posted by Theresa H. on 9/23/2011 at 9:55 AM Accepted

So sorry about your first response. I am shocked and embarrassed.

I loved your question and had hoped to learn something from the responses. I, too, am looking for an e-mail marketing "provider" and have similar issues with my customers' e-mail addresses as well as with the possibility of my efforts falling into SPAM folders.

We run several Adult Day Service programs for frail senior citizens, but the word ADULT seems to get kicked into SPAM folders...and when you pair it with SERVICE it just does not fly in the cyber world. In addition, my company is a non-profit so a free trial would benefit us tremendously as we have limited resources to purchase and maintain this effort. We need to be cautious as we step into e-mail marketing.

I would like to know what product/program you decided to use as it may help me with my efforts and decision making. I also hope that others would still respond to your question.

Theresa
Posted by darcy.moen on 9/24/2011 at 12:28 AM Member

Just because you 'have' someone's email address, it does NOT mean you 'have' their permission to send them email. That's the point of Seth Godin's permission marketing book (spoiler - sorry Seth). I don't see anywhere in your question WHERE you state you have records indicating you have informed consent from the email address owners.

You are required to have proof that these people have 'opted in' to be on your list. That's why these systems have internal processes that when you upload a list, these services will verify with the owner of the email address that you DO in fact have permission to send them messages. For everyone else reading this thread, here's a link to an explanation of what is required of the CAN-SPAM act.

http://www.webpronews.com/canspam-act-implications-and-actions-for-permissi...

Your question is asking 'How do we get around those systems?'. If you know the rules, then you would also know that you DON'T try to bypass the rules and systems in place to ensure that you DO have permission. Well, at least the professionals & systems I know and work with won't.

I had a couple clients who felt the same way as you do about emailing but they were using those phone systems that dial everyone you have a phone number in your database for(Robocalling). These clients began using robodialing phone systems to dial all their customers, even though the Government has outlawed such Robo-Dialers (see: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/08/robocalls.shtm). I advised my clients to conform to the law, but they refused. Of course, lots of customers called back to complain about the calls because they found them a nuisance. These two clients of mine insisted that they had every right to keep making phone calls and persisted to phone. Eventually, the customers who were ticked off, voted with their feet, and simply stopped buying from my clients. Even those customers who didn't complain and suffered silently, left too.

So, I'm glad you found your system. Time will tell which one of us is right.

Darcy Moen
Customer Loyalty Network
Posted by carrie77 on 10/3/2011 at 8:13 AM Moderator

Hi Everyone,

I am closing this question since there hasn''t been any activity in 10 days.

Thanks for participating!
Carrie (Production Editor)

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