ENewsletter Services

[rom...@verizon.net]

Hi,
Although not directly on topic for either group, I would appreciate suggestions of a choice of ENewsletter service. I know IContact integrates with Joomla well - but my current need is for a site that is not yet (but hopefully later will be) a Joomla site.

The list will be a few thousand names I think, and newsletters might be sent about quarterly (for now there is only 1 Newsletter planned, but hopefully, if it goes well, there would be more). Some requirements would be: a nice choice of templates to use (perhaps easily customizable, too). The purpose of the newsletter will be to highlight about 4 recent award-winning projects the company has worked on.

I think I should look at IContact and MailChimp - any thoughts will be helpful. I realize this is not an issue for most people who have already figured out how to do this, but a little advice would be great.
Thanks.
Romola Chrzanowski

[Thomas Bunnell]

At UMass, we're pretty fond of Constant Contact - http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp

[rom...@verizon.net]

Thanks, Thomas. I will definitely look at Constant Contact.
Romola

[Neil Giarratana]

I think you're on thr right path. We make use of MailChimp for a couple reasons: 1. it integrates nicely with Drupal which is what we do 95% of our sites in at this point and 2. our clients find that it is a "friendly" interface which eases adoption. (Pretty interesting approach of complimenting the user as they progress). The analytics in there are quite good and integrate with Google Analytics.

Regards,
Neil

--
Neil Giarratana, President
Lucidus Corporation - Internet Strategy & Services
http://www.lucidus.net 603-852-2286 ne...@lucidus.net
Web Sites - Web-Based Software - Hosting - Training

Read My Blog: http://www.lucidus.net/blogs/neil
View my LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/neilgiarratana
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[Cam Howard]

Hi Romola,

 

I have set up Constant Contact for several clients. They are reasonably priced and easy to work with.

 

Constant Contact is fairly large and has become one of the standards in the field. This means they are white listed by most major mail servers and can work fairly quickly and easily with any mail servers that may block messages sent through their system (an ongoing issue when sending bulk mail).

They have excellent customer support both through their online help files and the few times I have needed to call them for phone support.

They offer a wide variety of templates for different types of mail campaigns and also provide the option to edit the templates if needed. Someone with no HTML or CSS experience can send out good looking mail and newsletters and someone who can write HTML or CSS code can create a custom template to match the organization's web site if desired.

They offer good stats on the number of e-mail messages that have been opened, which links were clicked on in the message, and whether any notes were forwarded or bounced (and why).

Names can be added to the "Contacts" list by typing them in one at a time or by uploading an Excel file to add many people at once. You can have different interest lists for different categories of people or interests. When people are on more than one list, Constant Contact keeps track of that and sends only one note to the person, rather than multiple copies for every list receiving the message.

They offer a 60-day free trial so you can experiment with their system and see how you like it before spending any money.

All in all, I've been very happy with their service and have no complaints.

Hope this helps!

Cam

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cam Howard
Design and Development
  for Web, Multimedia, and Print
http://www.camhoward.com

[e-tegrity consulting llc]

Romola, also include in your comparison:
-- MyEmma www.myemma.com
-- VerticalResponse www.verticalresponse.com

I agree with Thomas about ConstantContact - easy to use, stable, good features.
Tina

--
Tina DuBosque, M.S., Internet Strategies Management
etegrity consulting llc
PO Box 102
North Stonington, CT 06359
860 705 3151

[Chris Luksha]

I use both constant contact and campaign monitor depending on the needs of the client.  If you are not doing monthly email - then campaign monitor is worth looking into however it can be costly at a penny for each email address per mailing.

 

so

 

CM:  .01 * 3k emails = $30 + $5 base fee  ($35/email blast once a quarter)

CC: 2501-5000 emails = $50/mo

 

The only real barrier in using CM might be that there is no pretty email creator.  You develop the email in a wysiwyg editor then import it with a click.  A little more on the back end to get a template set up.  But once you have one - you edit it yourself in notepad/dreamweaver etc to create each consecutive email.

 

So if you really are doing a one up email every few months it might be worth looking at campaign monitor. (http://www.campaignmonitor.com/)  BUT once you decide to email more frequently - DEFINITELY move to constant contact or mail chimp   it costs less in the long run and is fairly simple to use.

 

another interesting point for anyone - mailchimp offers up to 500 email address for FREE if anyone has a small list.  Then you can send up to 3000 per month.  What's that - 6 emails to 500 people in one month - not bad!!!

 

http://www.mailchimp.com/features/compare_us/ 

 

From: ne...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ne...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of rom...@verizon.net

Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:35 AM

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.421 / Virus Database: 270.14.16/2435 - Release Date: 10/14/09 06:33:00

 

---

I am using the Free version of SPAMfighter.
We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam.
SPAMfighter has removed 16851 of my spam emails to date.
The Professional version does not have this message.

[Meg McCarthy]

And Romola, Dave Weisberg is going to be giving us a presentation on email marketing with services like Constant Contact, possibly in December.

Meg McCarthy

Design for Print and Web

http://designforeverything.com/

802.464.3238

[Romola Chrzanowski]

Meg McCarthy wrote:
> And Romola, Dave Weisberg is going to be giving us a presentation on
> email marketing with services like Constant Contact, possibly in
> December.
>
> On Oct 14, 2009, at 10:48 AM, rom...@verizon.net

> <mailto:rom...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> Thanks, Thomas. I will definitely look at Constant Contact.
>> Romola
>>
>>
>> Oct 14, 2009 10:43:48 AM, ne...@googlegroups.com

>> <mailto:ne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>
>> At UMass, we're pretty fond of Constant Contact
>> - http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----

>> *From:* rom...@verizon.net <mailto:rom...@verizon.net>
>> *To:* joom...@googlegroups.com
>> <mailto:joom...@googlegroups.com> ; ne...@googlegroups.com
>> <mailto:ne...@googlegroups.com>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:35 AM
>> *Subject:* [neaug] ENewsletter Services

>>
>> Hi,
>> Although not directly on topic for either group, I would
>> appreciate suggestions of a choice of ENewsletter service. I
>> know IContact integrates with Joomla well - but my current
>> need is for a site that is not yet (but hopefully later will
>> be) a Joomla site.
>>
>> The list will be a few thousand names I think, and
>> newsletters might be sent about quarterly (for now there is
>> only 1 Newsletter planned, but hopefully, if it goes well,
>> there would be more). Some requirements would be: a nice
>> choice of templates to use (perhaps easily customizable,
>> too). The purpose of the newsletter will be to highlight
>> about 4 recent award-winning projects the company has worked on.
>>
>> I think I should look at IContact and MailChimp - any
>> thoughts will be helpful. I realize this is not an issue for
>> most people who have already figured out how to do this, but
>> a little advice would be great.
>> Thanks.
>> Romola Chrzanowski
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> Meg McCarthy
> Design for Print and Web
> http://designforeverything.com/
> 802.464.3238
>

> Thanks, Meg, Neil, Cam, Tina. I appreciate your advice.
This article about benchmark testing of the major browsers is
interesting:
http://sixrevisions.com/infographics/performance-comparison-of-major-web-browsers/

I find, though, that firefox is an intense CPU hog. Maybe that is
because of the number of instances and tabs I have open -- but sometimes
I just need to kill it. Google Chrome seems to merit more use.

Romola Chrzanowski
> >
>
> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus
> signature database 4455 (20090924) __________
>
> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>
> http://www.eset.com
>