Mass emailing

UKSBD

Moderator
  • Dec 30, 2005
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    I have a MySQL database of approx 70,000 and want to send an email to
    all of them.

    Every listing has a unique ID number, but not all listings have entered
    email addresses.

    I don't particularly want to send out all at the same time, probably spread
    it over a week.

    Any suggestions?
     
    Is it a one off email or frequent?

    If its frequent you need to have your email infrastructure setup properly or you will end up black listed i.e. AOL/Yahoo/Hotmail feedback loops in place, sign all outbound emails with DomainKeys (+ DKIM if you have support for it), SPF and RDNS need to be correct.

    AOL and Yahoo do offer whitelisting but its dependent on number of emails inbound to them.

    We have a client sending 200k per day using mail manager pro (Gold Version), note its not the best piece of software ever built and some mods have been made to make it perform better but so far so good :)

    If its a one off we can do the sending if you want? 70,000 will work out to £100 for a one off shot.
     
    Upvote 0
    Thanks, it is just a very simple, plain text, one-off initially.

    The first 20,000 in the MySql database don't have emails, but I have a
    seperate Access database for these listings which does.

    I would also like to convert the whole MySQL data base in to Access, as I
    would feel more comfortable editing a backup in Access ofline.
    Anyone recommend the best way of converting from MySQL to Access?

    If you did it for me, I assume you would have to gain access to the DB
    and all the email addresses?

    No disrespect and sorry for asking, but what would stop you harvesting all
    the information?
     
    Upvote 0
    its the classic trust situation. There is nothing to stop anyone you hire other than their professional integrity which hopefully you can rely on.

    Another option for you if its a one off is a windows app called Gammadyne mailer which I used to use quite effectively about a decade ago but I'm sure it still works fine.

    http://gammadyne.com/mmail.htm

    I still have a valid licence key for it which I would be willing to pass on for a nominal sum. PM me if you want.
     
    Upvote 0
    If you did it for me, I assume you would have to gain access to the DB
    and all the email addresses?

    No disrespect and sorry for asking, but what would stop you harvesting all
    the information?

    We don't touch your DB.

    If the emails aren't going to have the customer’s name in you simply add the list to SmarterMail and then send one email to the list and it will send the emails out at a steady speed.

    If you need the client's name within the email it’s not as simple, you would need a bit of code to cycle through the email addresses and send the email through us. This could be done directly off your website. The email would be queued at our end and sent in intervals.

    We have been in business for 5 years we aren't going to harvest email addresses.

    The only condition to send out through us is you will have to make some DNS alterations at your end i.e. add a SPF record which includes our main mailserver, add the relevant domainkey's signing records. We can guide you through the process.

    There are places like ConstantContact that requires less work on your part but you will pay double if not more to send 70k.
     
    Upvote 0
    Thanks, that looks a lot simpler, still a bit overkill for what I need though.

    All I really want to do at the moment is send one plain text email to
    the 50,000 thousand in the MySql databse.
    Probably in batches of 5,000 a time (twice a day)

    One problem is that there will be a % of fake or old email addresses
    and I don't particulary want to receive thousands of delivery failure
    messages.

    I tried a sample using Word mailmerge via Access (sent 100) and got
    about 20 delivery failure bounces, are there settings in Word I can
    look at, or shouldn't I even bother trying it using Word?
     
    Upvote 0
    We don't touch your DB.

    If the emails aren't going to have the customer’s name in you simply add the list to SmarterMail and then send one email to the list and it will send the emails out at a steady speed.


    Thanks, I'll bear you in mind if I get stuck, but really it's something I would
    like to know how to do, (if possible) rather than ask someone to do for me.

    It doesn't really need to add their name (or be personalised in any way)
    biggest problem I forsee is the large amount of fake or old email addresses.
     
    Upvote 0
    Thanks, I'll bear you in mind if I get stuck, but really it's something I would
    like to know how to do, (if possible) rather than ask someone to do for me.

    It doesn't really need to add their name (or be personalised in any way)
    biggest problem I forsee is the large amount of fake or old email addresses.

    Bounce rate on first run through is usually between 20-30% it sounds a lot but not all will be hard bounces i.e. user unknown.

    After the clean up from the first run it should drop down to 5-10% soft bounces each run through. Soft bounce being inbox full, dns error basically temporary issues. But you should log every email then if you get 3 soft bounces over a week for example remove the address.

    I can give you some advice on the server side of things i.e. what needs to be setup, I mentioned the majority earlier in the thread. If you decide to do it off your own mail system you need to start slow as it will probably have next to zero reputation if you send 10,000 emails in one go it will show up as unusual behaviour which will not help your rep. Also be warned if you have no rep for sending email on the IP you are using MS, Yahoo, AOL give you a low send quota if you hit that emails will bounce constantly until the next day so going slow is the best way forward.
     
    Upvote 0
    I use three things.....

    Politemail and/or infusionsoft (expensive if your are starting out - but very very cool)to import my cold lists and automate the mail out. By cold I mean I bough the lists in.

    I also use aWeber (which I love). Aweber is very strict about permission/opt ins...but once you have an opted in list, it absolutely flies....I send the cold list to an opt in page. Then I have permission to mail them and of course split test.

    To warm up a list I give away free stuff (at least three times over 14 days) before I hit them with the offer.

    Hope this helps

    Hector
     
    Upvote 0
    or even

    PHP:
    <?php
    $mail_subject='blahblahblah';
    $mail_body='Yadda yadda yadda';
    
    $db_connection = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
    $db_select = mysql_select_db($dbname);
    $q = mysql_query("select email, name from table");
    while($r=mysql_fetch_assoc($q)){
        $email = $mail_body;
        if(!empty($r['name'])){
            $email = 'hi there ' . $r['name'] ."\n\n" . $mail_body;
        }
        send_email($to_email, $r['email'], $mail_subject);
    }
    
    function send_email($to_email, $email, $subject){
        $domain='mysite.co.uk';
        $our_email_name = 'NO REPLY '.$domain;
        $our_email = 'NO_REPLY@'.$domain;
        $email = '<font face="arial">' . $email . '</font>';    
        $headers = "From: $our_email_name<$our_email>" . "\n";
        $headers .= "Reply-To: $our_email\n";
        $headers .= "Return-Path: $our_email\n"; // these two to set reply address
        $headers .= "Message-ID: <".time()."@$domain>"."\n";
        $headers .= "X-Mailer: EdmondsCommerce Mailer Function"."\n"; // These two to help avoid spam-filters
        $headers .= "Date: ".date("r")."\n";
        $headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0" ."\n";
        $headers .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii" . "\n";
        mail($to_email,$subject,$email, $headers, '-f ' . $our_email) or die ('<h3 style="color: red;">Mail Failed</h3>');
    }
    ?>
     
    Last edited:
    Upvote 0
    phplist is an opensource php app but ideally you would use it to send emails from a server that has a domain registered to send emails so it can all be set up properly.

    can be run on a windows server as long as the server can handle php ok. not sure on the ins and outs of how well it woudl run on windows
     
    Upvote 0
    can be run on a windows server as long as the server can handle php ok. not sure on the ins and outs of how well it woudl run on windows

    It'll run fine on a Windows server.

    Also note they have an installation service, £75 p.h. and it should not take more than an hour.
     
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    yes to be honest its one of those things that once its set up right, actually using it is pretty straightforward. It automates all of the subscription / unsubscription side of things so all you have to do is actually create and send the newsletters.

    Recommended.
     
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    Oh, i feel tempted! I would like an newletter management program, my server is already set up for whitelisting etc, and sends out several thousand emails everyday, so there shouldn't be any issues there. Makes me reluctant to spend out a monthly fee on the web based applications.

    And I see there is a support forum there - do you think they'd give polite replies to basic php questions - as I really do have zilch knowledge. Is it a teach yourself kind of a set up?

    Is there are windows based self hosted alternative?
     
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