Recommend a mailing list service?

Kerwin · Nov 8, 2022

I need to create a mailing list from a website. I've been looking through some available options, but I was curious about what people would recommend.

I had my eyes on Send In Blue because they charge by emails sent rather than the number of people on your mailing list.

My big problem is I have a couple of domains associated with different projects, and I would like to have a mailing list for each domain. Is that possible with one account, or would I need to pay for two accounts to have the option of two mailing lists?

Uwe (Invoiceberry) · Nov 17, 2022

Hey Kerwin,

There are actually two different kinds of email service providers – transactional providers and marketing providers.

Transactional email service providers such as Send In Blue, Mandrill, Sendgrid are mainly used for transactional emails (think password forgot email, sign-up confirmation, etc.). They require some additional technical understanding and charge per sent email.

Marketing email service providers such as MailerLite, Mailchimp and Send in Blue often charge per subscriber/contact but they are easier to set up for non-techies and offer additional features such as templates and segmentation, etc.

Send In Blue sort of offers both things, but at least when I tested them last (a few years back), they seemed to be not as user-friendly for the marketing part as some other providers.

If price is of the essence, I'd have a look at MailerLite. My team last year published a tutorial on how to get started with MailerLite that you can find here.

MailerLite definitely offers multi-domain usage, as that's what I am doing myself with them. A few other providers I've tried in the past also offered to use different domains within the same subscription. Just make sure to create separate subscriber groups to not mix up your email subscribers.

Kerwin · Nov 17, 2022

Uwe (Invoiceberry) said:
Hey Kerwin,

There are actually two different kinds of email service providers – transactional providers and marketing providers.

Transactional email service providers such as Send In Blue, Mandrill, Sendgrid are mainly used for transactional emails (think password forgot email, sign-up confirmation, etc.). They require some additional technical understanding and charge per sent email.

Marketing email service providers such as MailerLite, Mailchimp and Send in Blue often charge per subscriber/contact but they are easier to set up for non-techies and offer additional features such as templates and segmentation, etc.

Send In Blue sort of offers both things, but at least when I tested them last (a few years back), they seemed to be not as user-friendly for the marketing part as some other providers.

If price is of the essence, I'd have a look at MailerLite. My team last year published a tutorial on how to get started with MailerLite that you can find here.

MailerLite definitely offers multi-domain usage, as that's what I am doing myself with them. A few other providers I've tried in the past also offered to use different domains within the same subscription. Just make sure to create separate subscriber groups to not mix up your email subscribers.

Thank you. That is really useful information. MailerLite looks good. I'll do some more research on them.

Uwe (Invoiceberry) · Nov 18, 2022

Kerwin said:
Thank you. That is really useful information. MailerLite looks good. I'll do some more research on them.

Sure thing. Let me know if you've got any questions. I've been using them for probably 1-2 years now.

fantheflames · Nov 29, 2022

You can do this in Active Campaign.

It's great for email marketing, marketing automation and CRM.

I use other softwares, but this is the main one I use.

Good luck!

fisicx · Nov 29, 2022

I use mailchimp because the API is so simple. Add the signup form to your website and it automatically builds your list.

I’ve played with the APIs for most of the others and mailchimp is the simplest. The performance cost is also minimal, subscribers won’t even notice. ActiveCampaign is one of the slowest and adds a noticeable performance cost.

wayzgoose · Nov 30, 2022

Always used YMLP. Reasonably priced and good performance.

fantheflames · Dec 1, 2022

fisicx said:
I use mailchimp because the API is so simple. Add the signup form to your website and it automatically builds your list.

I’ve played with the APIs for most of the others and mailchimp is the simplest. The performance cost is also minimal, subscribers won’t even notice. ActiveCampaign is one of the slowest and adds a noticeable performance cost.

I like Active Campaign as it gives you more CRM features.

I also prefer Active Campaign's customer service to MailChimp.

fisicx · Dec 1, 2022

fantheflames said:
I like Active Campaign as it gives you more CRM features.

I also prefer Active Campaign's customer service to MailChimp.

Absolutely. You use the service that best suits your business. But @Kerwin just wants a mailing list so they may not need anything extra. Or any customer service.

Kerwin · Dec 1, 2022

fisicx said:
Absolutely. You use the service that best suits your business. But @Kerwin just wants a mailing list so they may not need anything extra. Or any customer service.

That is true, but it would be good to know if there is an upgrade path if more is required in the future.

KeithGreen · Dec 1, 2022

I use Send In Blue as it seemed to offer the most straightforward service without jargon and fiddly menus. It's also free to send up to 300 emails per day.

Obviously many others are available but my limited experience is that they are over complex to use.

Kerwin · Dec 1, 2022

KeithGreen said:
I use Send In Blue as it seemed to offer the most straightforward service without jargon and fiddly menus. It's also free to send up to 300 emails per day.

Obviously many others are available but my limited experience is that they are over complex to use.

Thank you.

fisicx · Dec 1, 2022

Kerwin said:
That is true, but it would be good to know if there is an upgrade path if more is required in the future.

It all depends on how much integration you need. ActiveCampaign is very good but to make full use of everything it offers you need to build it into the site structure.

Starting with a simple mailing list will identify future needs. You can then choose the CRM that meets those needs. Exporting lists from one platform and importing into a CRM is simple.

Kerwin · Dec 1, 2022

fisicx said:
It all depends on how much integration you need. ActiveCampaign is very good but to make full use of everything it offers you need to build it into the site structure.

Starting with a simple mailing list will identify future needs. You can then choose the CRM that meets those needs. Exporting lists from one platform and importing into a CRM is simple.

I'm building my website 100% myself using Node.js, so integration shouldn't be too complex, assuming the documentation is good. I see your point about starting simply and then seeing the future requirements.

ValenDigital · Dec 1, 2022

+1 for Active Campaign. A loto f our clients use it mainly for marketing and the fact that its a very reliable service!

fantheflames · Dec 2, 2022

Kerwin said:
I'm building my website 100% myself using Node.js, so integration shouldn't be too complex, assuming the documentation is good. I see your point about starting simply and then seeing the future requirements.

Good points on here.

Mailchimp is easy to use and it's targeting tools are great.

If you're looking at the monthly emails, MailerLite is probably your best option.

So you're just starting and have 2,000 or less contacts than MailChimp is good.

But you'll get more from the likes of MailLite, Sendinblue and SendPulse for less.

Good luck!

SumoMedaGroup · Dec 2, 2022

Hey Kerwin

I was in the same scenario a few years ago, multiple domains growing email lists and trying to find a balance between features and cost.

If you don't mind getting your hands dirty I would suggest Sendy. You wont find cheaper on the market as it is a one off cost and uses Amazon SES to send the emails.

Its actually not that difficult to setup but happy to help if you need. They have great support and saved me thousands of pounds over the years

Cheers

Marc

Uwe (Invoiceberry) · Dec 2, 2022

SumoMedaGroup said:
If you don't mind getting your hands dirty I would suggest Sendy. You wont find cheaper on the market as it is a one off cost and uses Amazon SES to send the emails.

I used Sendy in combination with Amazon SES in the past, and while it is the cheapest option, the deliverability seemed relatively poor.

I think MailerLite, Mailchimp or any of the other mentioned options have higher delivery rates. Then again, I might have gotten unlucky with my sending server at SES.

Active Campaign is a great product but might be overkill for the OP's use case.

Kerwin · Dec 2, 2022

SumoMedaGroup said:
Hey Kerwin

I was in the same scenario a few years ago, multiple domains growing email lists and trying to find a balance between features and cost.

If you don't mind getting your hands dirty I would suggest Sendy. You wont find cheaper on the market as it is a one off cost and uses Amazon SES to send the emails.

Its actually not that difficult to setup but happy to help if you need. They have great support and saved me thousands of pounds over the years

Cheers

Marc

Oh. Sendy looks amazing. I couldn't find this answer on their website, but do they support static IP addresses on Amazon SES for sending?

I will go with Sendy as it looks the best in terms of price and features.

AnastasiaC7 · Dec 6, 2022

Kerwin said:
I need to create a mailing list from a website. I've been looking through some available options, but I was curious about what people would recommend.

I had my eyes on Send In Blue because they charge by emails sent rather than the number of people on your mailing list.

My big problem is I have a couple of domains associated with different projects, and I would like to have a mailing list for each domain. Is that possible with one account, or would I need to pay for two accounts to have the option of two mailing lists?

Hi Kewin! You can scrap mails from Social Media by Prospectss and send it by Sendinblue - I use these tools

Kerwin · Dec 6, 2022

AnastasiaC7 said:
Hi Kewin! You can scrap mails from Social Media by Prospectss and send it by Sendinblue - I use these tools

Interesting. Thank you.

SumoMedaGroup · Dec 20, 2022

Kerwin said:
Oh. Sendy looks amazing. I couldn't find this answer on their website, but do they support static IP addresses on Amazon SES for sending?

I will go with Sendy as it looks the best in terms of price and features

Hey Kerwin

Yes it does but I think you se that up in Amazon SES

Kerwin · Dec 20, 2022

SumoMedaGroup said:
Hey Kerwin

Yes it does but I think you se that up in Amazon SES

Awesome. Thank you!

Paul FilmMaker · Jan 15, 2023

Uwe (Invoiceberry) said:
Hey Kerwin,

There are actually two different kinds of email service providers – transactional providers and marketing providers.

Transactional email service providers such as Send In Blue, Mandrill, Sendgrid are mainly used for transactional emails (think password forgot email, sign-up confirmation, etc.). They require some additional technical understanding and charge per sent email.

Marketing email service providers such as MailerLite, Mailchimp and Send in Blue often charge per subscriber/contact but they are easier to set up for non-techies and offer additional features such as templates and segmentation, etc.

Send In Blue sort of offers both things, but at least when I tested them last (a few years back), they seemed to be not as user-friendly for the marketing part as some other providers.

If price is of the essence, I'd have a look at MailerLite. My team last year published a tutorial on how to get started with MailerLite that you can find here.

MailerLite definitely offers multi-domain usage, as that's what I am doing myself with them. A few other providers I've tried in the past also offered to use different domains within the same subscription. Just make sure to create separate subscriber groups to not mix up your email subscribers.

This is a fantastic response and there's one tiny, little nuance I'd add to this which I found to be incredibly important for my business. And that is Mailerlite contains something which cannot be turned off that messes up my email sends. This is something called a 'tracking pixel.'

The reason is in B2B, a professionally configured email account detects tracking pixels and shoves anything with this into spam. As a B2B seller (my customers have included the UK govt, huge manufacturers etc...) so the people I want all have professionally configured emails. E.g. Office 365 automatically detects tracking pixels and puts the messages into spam. It's even configured that way as a default setting and my gmail pro account is similar.

Also, these email systems take it one step further and automatically click on any links in the email. The reason is they're testing to see if the links are dangerous so this messes up my tracking.

So this is why I use Octopus and not Mailerlite. The reason is this tracking pixel which in the B2B world simply means recipients get my emails in their spamboxes with a 'do not open' message attached to them.

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Recommend a mailing list service?