Question

Topic: E-Marketing

What Is The Best In-house Bulk Email Software?

Posted by cread on 7/31/2014 at 5:25 PM ET 250 Points
I used Infacta's "Group Mail" in the past but now its documentation is 10 years out of date and the help when I could make it work stand alone does not even list unsubscribe.

I want a inside solution not a service. I don't want not pay thousands of dollars for something I can do in house. It just needs to be able to handle HTML emails, send then, track unsubscribes, a double opt in system would be nice.

Any Ideas??
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 7/31/2014 at 10:42 PM Accepted
    Here are some Self-hosted email providers I have heard about and/or looked into. You need your own email server. Or even better, use Mandrill.com to send out your emails for like $0.20/1k emails (first 12,000/mo free) https://www.mandrill.com .

    Self-hosted:

    1) Interspire : https://www.interspire.com/emailmarketer/features.php . Heard good things. Same company owns Big Commerce, a popular shopping cart. Various licensing options for under $1000.

    2) PoMMo - https://sourceforge.net/projects/pommo/ (free, open source program. Use with caution)

    3) MailPoet - https://www.mailpoet.com/review-newsletter-plugin-wordpress/ . Wordpress plug-in. Popular. Mostly free (kinda like "Mostly Dead"...anyone remember the movie that came from?)


    I know you asked for an inhouse provider, but there are some really good services out there nowadays (plus, they will save you from needing your own dedicated server or Mandrill.com account for emails). And they dont cost thousands. Especially if all you need is html, track, double opt-in, and unsubscribe.

    Here are some of the most popular:

    1) AWeber.com - https://www.aweber.com/ . Very popular. Very affordable. First month is $1. Plans go up to around $130/month for 25,000 subscribers.

    2) Mailchimp.com - https://www.mailchimp.com . Very popular and easy to use. Free account includes 2000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month.

    3) Madmimi - https://www.madmimi.com/service_agreements/choose_plan . Popular and more stylish than the others. Free up to 2500 subscribers & 12,500 emails per month.

    4) GetResponse.com - https://www.GetResponse.com . Again, very popular. Has some limitations with in-email links. Prices range from $15/mo for 1000 subscribers, to $450/mo for 100,000.


    You can check out this top 10 list here: https://email-marketing-software-review.toptenreviews.com . You may find a better solution.

    Good luck!

    -Blaine Wilkerson
  • Posted by cread on 8/1/2014 at 1:00 AM Author
    HOw about 300000 subscribers and 1MM emails a month?
  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 8/1/2014 at 3:32 AM Member
    In that case, I would go with a self hosted solution and use Mandrill.com as your server. 1m emails per month would cost $197.60/mo, or $227.55/mo with a dedicated IP (according to Mandrill.com's website).

    According to everything I have researched, the general consensus advises against trying to use your own smtp server. Mainly because of all the advanced spam filters, blacklists, whitelists, and laws.

    Same goes for using cheap VPS hosting, except the main reasons against VPS are call and bandwidth limits, and lack of good support for email routing.

    I remember hosting my own email newsletters and client outreach campaigns back in the day. There were free programs that let you use your computer as the host, and it was easy to set up. Those days are gone...at least for non-programmers/IT illiterates.

    So, if you know what you are doing and understand how to set up a modern day email server, and you can navigate through all the current anti-spam utilities, then proceed at your own risk. Just know that the spam fines can be hefty ($17,000), and a blacklisted IP can throw a huge wrench in your gears!

    Personally, I would use Mandrill (no vested interest). They are much cheaper than most of the other smtp/mail server providers. And tons cheaper than using a traditional service provider, which will definitely be over $1000/mo.

    Now, for the email program itself, it depends on how many features you need and how you want to set it up.

    Are you going to use WordPress?

    Are you looking for a PHP program? ASP.net? Java? There are lots of options to consider.

    For a Wordpress plugin, you can pay Mailpoet $99 year for one site. Or "MyMail" for $35 from Codecanyon.net.

    A fully loaded setup from Interspire, with all the bells and whistles, will cost $495 for a one time license (full software, not a plugin). I feel comfortable with Interspire. Primarily due to a good experience using their BigCommerce software. But they certainly are not the cheapest, and may be overkill for your needs.

    You should search through the options at Codecanyon.net. They have several email programs and plugins ranging from $5 to $65. I've bought code from them before and have no complaints. Just make sure to read the comments and ask questions before you buy.

    For Codecanyon, I recommend sorting the options by "sales". The more sales there are for a particular item, the better the support and updates. Here is a link to their list of email scripts/programs:

    https://codecanyon.net/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&term=email+

    I sure hope this helps. Your list of 300,000 subscribers is impressive. Good luck with your email campaign!
  • Posted by cread on 8/7/2014 at 10:30 AM Author
    It is 300,000 today and should be 2MM by middle of next year. Plan on sending about 1MM emails a month. Setting up a different server and computers is not a problem. This is all can spam compliant in the US which is the only place we operate. I don't care much about the price as long as in is under 10K ($US). But I don't want a service second guessing my emails, having a copy of my lists, or charging me up the wazoo to send emails.

    I use Wordpress on the sites it does not have to be on the email server.

    I will check Interspire, and Mandrill.

    I have 100 meg of outbound bandwidth at the office, it will be hard to overwhelm it.

    I need to be able to create HTML (and non HTML emails). Send them. Track bounces and unsubscribes. Get detail analytics on the emails sent. Do A/B test comparisons. This is not rocket science. Do I have to write my own software??????
  • Posted by telemoxie on 8/8/2014 at 7:31 AM Accepted
    cread, I share your frustration. for what it's worth, I used Gammadyne software several years ago, but I don't know enough to recommend an e-mail solution.

    However, the problem you describe seems to be similar to my frustrations with the CRM marketplace. In the not-too-distant past, used to be able to license software which would allow you to do what you want on your own computers without involvement or interference or charges or involuntary upgrades from vendors. Today, cloud-based " solutions" seem overpriced and overinvolved to me.
  • Posted by peg on 8/12/2014 at 6:50 PM Accepted
    At that email volume, what's missing in the equation is the in-house staff needed to keep that engine running. Being CAN SPAM compliant is, as you no doubt know, tricky; and one of the benefits of an external service is their ability to stay on the right side of those regulations without your staff having to invest the legal and programming hours required to keep things straight. Because they are laser-focused on keeping their server reputation clean to increase recipient delivery and readability, and because they have an army of people to do so, there are distinct advantages to using their services. Your server(s) can probably never achieve their reputations with recipients' email services, because their overall volume is so much larger. As you know, once your reputation gets dinged, deliverability takes a hit, which can end up costing more in sales than the send fee to get it right.

    No matter what external service you might consider, there's still a lot of in-house control. It's really a partnership more than an external effort.

    Have you looked at StrongView (previously StrongMail) or ExactTarget? I've had good luck with them in the past but not at the $2MM/monthly volume so can't speak to that pricing.

  • Posted by cread on 8/12/2014 at 7:34 PM Author
    Madrill seems the most cost effective solution but all these services want and want andarer basically unwilling to work with you. Their way or the highway. Your just a small piece and if they even think anything you do might interfere with their high and mighty (in their mind) reputation they will kick you to the curb in a heart beat.

    They are no better than pimps overselling worn and obsolete merchandise again and again instead of selling it once for a fair price. They want me to trust them with my lists and what guarantee do I have they won't steal them, zero!!!!
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(E-Marketing)