E-Mail Offers

[Shaggy]

I want to be able to send our latest offers and news pages by e-mail to our selected customers, and without having to outsource this to a third party company, I want to be able to do it myself.

Any suggestions on how and what software I can utilise to produce these e-newsletters??

Our database of customers comes from Outlook so we can easily collate a mass e-mail group, but it's designing the actual e-mail with embedded links etc.

I have Frontpage, Publisher etc etc....

[eMarketing Mark]

If you prefer not to pass this out to someone to do it for you then you have two main options:

1. Run the email campaign in house using a purchased desktop / server software system

If you have the necessary in house resource, then buying a system could be an option but do make sure that the software supplier includes upgrades in the purchase price. The market is still developing and the services offered are getting better as well as prices coming down.

A couple of suppliers that offer a service worth looking at are given below, but it is worth comparing the services they offer as this will change, particularly in the tracking arena:

Broadcast (from a company called MailWorkz) (http://www.mailworkz.com)
Gammadyne (http://www.gammadyne.com)
Lyris (http://www.lyris.com)

When considering this option, elements that you will want to bear in mind are your internal capabilities in terms of designing the email and working with the software, and your IT set-up including whether bulk email going out through your ISP is something that they will be open to, together with the online processing of bounced emails, unsubscribes etc.

2. Run the email marketing in house and use a hosted / online system

This is probably the simplest method in terms of IT set-up although there is still a learning process with regard to learning the system you select. The system is hosted externally by a company specialising in email marketing and you pay a monthly charge to use the system - this charge is generally either dictated by service level, size of mailing lists or number of emails sent. It is good to check the exact charge configuration if cost is a major issue.

You would import the contacts from your own database or Excel spreadsheet (usually through a CSV format). create the emails within the system and then send out the campaigns from there. Some will offer tracking as part of the package while others offer this as an upgrade so it is worth checking it out if tracking is a key element to your campaign. Some recommended suppliers offering this set-up are:

Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com)
Mailer Mailer (http://www.mailermailer.com)
AWeber (http://www.aweber.com)
Vertical Response (http://www.verticalresponse.com)

If you are combining two or more lists, then you may also wish to consider cleaning the list of email addresses before using it. The basic action will be to “de-dupe” it, which means to remove duplicated addresses or multiple addresses for the same person. Most of the email marketing systems will have a simple de-dupe facility which is probably all that you need – once the system is automatically adding email addresses, then again all of them should do verify current addresses on an ongoing basis before adding a new one.

If you have an old list or are unsure about it, then it would probably be wise to verify the recipients as a double opt-in if you want to do this properly, which is what I would recommend.

Good luck with it all.

[clairemackaness]

Rather than use a conatct programme do what I do. Design the newsletter in frontpage and simply copy and paste it into an e-mail. It looks professional and all your links work.

Good luck

[Shaggy]

Rather than use a conatct programme do what I do. Design the newsletter in frontpage and simply copy and paste it into an e-mail. It looks professional and all your links work.

Good luck

Just the answer I needed.....Cheers....

[confused]

That works fine of course, but I think Marks reply was assuming a lot of mail where it just wouldnt be practical to c&p.