Mailing lists: Free and paid online services

[twistedAM]

Cheers - works out at $15 a month

Any others?

 

[eoin_k]

Recommend me an email list host thingy

So I want to set up a nice mailing list that is easy to administer and that people can subscribe to themselves and unsubscribe automatically....oh and that is free and compatible with lots of different email addresses...

Where should I go?

Thanks

Eoin

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

do you have hosting? if so mailman is pretty damn solid if a little dificult to use at first

dunno about third party stuff

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

google or yahoo groups are very easy for simple mailing lists

 

[AKA pseudonym]

google or yahoo groups are very easy for simple mailing lists

this or riseup lists, though would depend what the groups mailouts were about

 

[Pingu]

do you have hosting? if so mailman is pretty damn solid if a little dificult to use at first

dunno about third party stuff

aye mailman is good

 

[eoin_k]

Thanks peeps - gonna try to go with google - riseup not really appropriate and we don't host our own email.

 

[editor]

*Threads merged

I'm just gone through the limit of my mailing list host (YMLP) and they're asking for £70/year for 2.500 emails/month. The service is good - everything is taken care of when it comes to folks subscribing/unsubscribing etc - but £70 feels a little sharp for just text emails.

I'm taking a look around for alternatives now - http://www.campaignmonitor.com/ look good if you're after sending out more 'designed' mailouts - anyone know of any others worth considering?

 

[Crispy]

Is there not something you can install on urban's own servers?

 

[editor]

Is there not something you can install on urban's own servers?

I tried that (with help from LL) and it got very, very fiddly and crossed right over the pain threshold of effort. The interface was a dog.

 

[fogbat]

You might want to give Mailchimp a try.

The pricing looks a bit cheaper than YMLP - you're billed on a monthly basis based on your total number of subscribers, but can send out as many emails as you like in that time.

We use it at work to send out monthly emails to an 8,000-strong mailing list. Brilliant interface, nice preview and testing options, it does a load of stats for you, really easy to add subscribers in bulk or add signup widgets to your site.

 

[Crispy]

I tried that (with help from LL) and it got very, very fiddly and crossed right over the pain threshold of effort. The interface was a dog.

Really? That's insane. It's such a simple function, there must be something out there!

 

[editor]

Really? That's insane. It's such a simple function, there must be something out there!

It made me want to cry.

Maybe if I had more time to fanny about with bleak interfaces I might have got it all worked out, but promoting club nights is already a hideous experience, and battling with a circa 1988 interface made the job unbearable.

fogbat - cheers, I'll give mailchimp a look after my coffee!

 

[editor]

Mailchimp is leagues above YMLP - it's a far slicker package, with a lovely interface that throws up a ton of stats (even if some you won't want to see - like the percentage of your emails that remain unopened - ouch!).

It's totally free if you have under 1,000 subscribers and don't send out more than 6,000 mails a month. Highly recommended!

 

[ChrisFilter]

Yeah, MailChimp is a good solution. Campaign Monitor is the daddy for business use.

 

[fogbat]

Just found TinyLetter, which may be of interest to mailing listy people. Seems like a very pared-down, but entirely free, email newsletter service. You can even create a newsletter that people pay for.

 

[editor]

That TinyLetter looks perfect for my Residents Association website. Thanks for the tip!

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

Sure looks interesting
/bookmarks for future reference

 

[clandestino]

Mailchimp is leagues above YMLP - it's a far slicker package, with a lovely interface that throws up a ton of stats (even if some you won't want to see - like the percentage of your emails that remain unopened - ouch!).

It's totally free if you have under 1,000 subscribers and don't send out more than 6,000 mails a month. Highly recommended!

Just tried to sign up for this. It appears to want to add my address to end of emails sent out, in order to comply with spam regulations. Have you sent out any emails yet? Did it do this with you?

 

[clandestino]

Also, once you get over 1000 subscribers, it's about twice the price of YMLP. But I guess you can always switch over once your list has grown too big for the free account.

 

[dogmatique]

Another vote for Mailchimp. Great interface and templates, reporting is excellent too as noted. I'm pretty sure you can edit the template to remove your address should you want to - not an issue for me as I use it for work...

 

[fogbat]

Another vote for Mailchimp. Great interface and templates, reporting is excellent too as noted. I'm pretty sure you can edit the template to remove your address should you want to - not an issue for me as I use it for work...

As far as I can remember, it needs an address to use as the from address. I don't think it needs it in the template itself.

 

[twistedAM]

Just tried to sign up for this. It appears to want to add my address to end of emails sent out, in order to comply with spam regulations. Have you sent out any emails yet? Did it do this with you?

Yeah Mailchimp asked me too many questions when i tried to sign up. They looked at our website stats and said that the traffic via the signup button suggested that most of the names on the list were added manually and therefore didn't comply with spam regulations. I said we collected most names via the old school clipboard method and via ticketing agencies. They then sent me a plethora of info and I got recommended CONSTANT CONTACT who I explained the situation to and they said, "well if you are naughty and get lots of spam reports then we'll axe your sub" which is fair enough.

It's US$50 a month for 5000 names and unlimited emails (US$30 for up to 2500). They also provide stats such as opens, clickthroughs and bounces.

The templates are OK. More corporate than sexy but they seem to do the job and they integrate well with other functions such as website add-on buttons.
However they keep bombarding me with emails to sign up for events, surveys and other add-ons which is a pain.

 

[dogmatique]

I think Ianw's referring to the fact that it puts in your postal address at the bottom of the template. Yes, you are, needless to say, obliged to have a from address!

 

[clandestino]

I've done a test email and it didn't add an address to the end, although I supplied one.

For my main mailing list, I use YMLP. We have 5600 subscribers and I use the 20,000 emails a month package, which is fine to send out 3 mails a month, or if I want to do 4, then I can top up for £7 + VAT for 2000 extra credits. That's £13.30 a month plus VAT. So on a busy month £20.30 +VAT. Which is still a bit cheaper than twisted's $50 deal. Plus I don't get any emails, etc, from them at all.

Mailchimp charge $75 a month for 5000-10000 subscribers, and you can send unlimited emails. I quite like having the limit on YMLP though. It stops me from sending out emails all the time. Three or four a month is plenty anyway, I reckon.

 

[clandestino]

Plus Mailchimp made me jump through several hoops to add subscribers and then send out the test. YMLP is much much simpler. OK, so I don't get a cheery chimp cartoon telling me I've sent emails to my "peeps" after I've sent an email, but I think I can live with that.

 

[Fingers]

used mailchimp last week. the sign up was easy and the interface great.

our first mailshot of 750 got us a warning though. we have done the clipboard collection of email addresses at gigs and got a few abuse reports and a load of bouncebacks.

they suspended the account pending me filling in a form. we are now unsuspended and good to go.

i sent another mailshot yesterday and all was much better and no complaints from mailchimp

the good thing about it is it deletes any hard bounces from the database so you do not get the same problems the next time.

 

[fogbat]

I think Ianw's referring to the fact that it puts in your postal address at the bottom of the template. Yes, you are, needless to say, obliged to have a from address!

Doh

Sorry - that post was made while I really wasn't thinking straight

 

[twistedAM]

I've done a test email and it didn't add an address to the end, although I supplied one.

Is YMLP a British company?
Constant Contact are American and it might be some federal law thing they have to apply to. They introduced that specification of a physical address a few months ago.