Look for an email program

Can anyone recomend a user friendly automated email program?

I've used PocoMail for years and love it. Has lots of advantages over other email programs. http://www.pocomail.com

Sandi Bowman

Originally Posted by Andy

Can anyone recomend a user friendly automated email program?

Sure, if you can explain just what you mean by "automated email program?"

Are you looking for a program to run on your computer and check your email accounts, looking for a program to send email newsletters to clients, looking for an autoresponder to send email to prospects??

My original post was made in a rush. What I am looking for is an email program that will help with this project. I have a DQ owner in need of a marketing program. I'm looking into a fishbowl type program to aquire email addresses. On a weekly basis, I will send weekly discounts to the opt in list I will collect through the fish bowl similar to a lunch fax program but using email.

I don't see why this program wont work for multiple restaurants but would need a decent email manager to put it together. There are several people doing a similar program but on an individual restaurant basis. My program will take advantage of multiple restaurants (and fishbowls) in the same community so if a customer signs up at one restaurant, they will get food specials from all participating restaurants in one email that will probably also link to the website.

Any ideas or comments are appreciated.

Hi Andy,

If you haven't read through the following thread, checkout my fishbowl posts and review their email systems and sign up on other Googling fishbowl type ideas to see what they're Doing...
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthre...ight=fishbowls

A few other email marketing options...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...G=Search&meta=
http://www.google.com/Top/Business/M.../Opt-In_Email/

Phil

Hi Andy,

Based on what you've said, I'd go with either Aweber or Constant Contact to manage your lists. They've both been around forever and have great reputations, but you should check them (and any others you find) out and compare their features and benefits to be sure they fit the bill for you.

Aweber's a bargain at only $20/month for unlimited lists and emails (up to 10k on a list) and CC is pretty cheap too, but their pricing is based more on the size of your list.

Oh, and if you want a real autoresponder that will send out a sequence of pre-written messages - Awebers the only contender as far as I'm concerned. Constant Contact doesn't do autoresponders, but Aweber does both AR's and your typical one time newsletter broadcasts.

HTH,

Steve

[Ankesh]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for thinking about the fishbowl approach.

I would suggest going with Constant Contact too.

While I use aweber.com - I'd say its not suited for your needs. Aweber requires double-optin if you import email addresses. So if you collect email addresses offline - and then import them to aweber - they'll send a confirmation email to those people. Which could lead to your losing 50% of your list.

(There is a way to overcome this double optin. But it requires a programmer working for a couple of hours. And the solution may be against aweber rules - not sure. Email me if you want to know what the solution is. I won't be posting it here as it's in the grey area.)

You could also go with running your own mailing lists. You could either go with PHPlist or Autoresponder Plus scripts. But you will have to invest in a dedicated server to send out the emails - once your list crosses 1000-5000 mark (depending on your web host). So thats a cost of $150-200 per month.

So I would suggest Constant Contact to you. Its affordable. And comes with no headache. Perfect for non-techies. Best of all, they take care of email deliverability issues.

One more Cheapo way of Doing it...

Here's some Landing Page info if you decide you need an Opt-in Page...

Although if you're only going to Collect Fish Bowl info with Pre-Agreed Permission on Email Marketing you may not require that Opt-in Page...

You'll have to Enter your Fish Bowl email address entries manually...

But you can then Use...

http://mail.google.com/
http://mail.google.com/support/

For FREE! And there's Nothing wrong with Free... if it works well... $20. bucks a month is $240 annually...

Lots of email marketers use Gmail... Because it's Google Great!

Here's some of the Best "Free" Landing Page information...
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthre...t=landing+page

And a few Email Marketing Articles...
http://www.emaillabs.com/email_marketing_articles/

Phil

Originally Posted by Ankesh

So if you collect email addresses offline - and then import them to aweber - they'll send a confirmation email to those people. Which could lead to your losing 50% of your list.

That's certainly possible Ankesh, but I always say if they won't confirm that they want to be on your list, you never really had 'em in the first place.

Since you pay based on the size of your list with constant contact, I'd rather have a smaller list of interested people who will read my emails than a larger list of folks who couldn't care less.

Just my take on things.

Steve

[Ankesh]

Thanks Steve.

With double-optin - its not about interest.

People may be interested in receiving discounts or coupons or local community news - but they may still not confirm their email addresses. The reasons are many:

* The confirmation email gets stuck in the spam folders
* People get confused by the confirmation email and think its a phishing attempt (especially if 3-4 days go by since they gave their email address in the fish bowl and they receive the confirmation email)
* They delete the email without opening it - if they don't recognize the name of the sender

So single optin is recommended for offline-to-online ventures.