Which email marketing company or software should we use?

Check out GetResponse.com. They're very reliable.

Paul I know aweber is popular here on the forums but I am currently trying Get Response. They allow you to export explicitly opted in lists and at the back end they do not insist on double opt in from new subscribers.

Almost all companies - Get Response. icontact, Aweber and Constant Contact have tools that allow you to track opens and clicks.

Barry

I am not sure what place you are talking about, but most places DO NOT allow you to import any lists of contacts. The default action when you import a list is that all the contacts receive an email to verify the action. If I recall, they also require each contacts IP address and date of entry with the import details.

When I joined GetResponse, I had setup a few lists, campaigns, and started to get some leads into their system. I wanted to show that I was taking action, and will do things legit. Giving them some data to look at of my normal routine. After I few hundred leads came in, and a couple lists, I then called them up and talked to them. I explained I had pre-existing lists that I wanted to import. I had some contacts from Aweber to do first. Usually importing from one major company to another, they accept right away. Like export from Aweber or iContact into GetResponse, is like a golden ticket. You can simply transfer all your contacts from one place, to another, and I am pretty sure will not have to double verify them (so long as you call the company FIRST and talk to them!).

I also explained I had x amount of contacts from x number of lists that I mail to from my server. I told them the number I wanted to import was not ALLLL of them, but only those who have clicked a link in any of my emails in the past 3 months, or who have opened an email within the past month. I expressed that I felt this was the best I could do to help work with them. I didn't want to import everyone, but only those who have shown a RECENT interest! They said they understand, and thanked me for being considerate of their system, reputation, ect.

They are just trying to protect their emailing server reputation. They don't want people importing scraped and illegally obtained lists. So their verification on the imports, is to protect that.

I have had Aweber, GetResponse, ConstantContact, and MailChimp. In my opinion, GetResponse is the best.

Hi OSH,

I respect your preference, but I would like to address a couple of points...

Actually, we integrate with a number of top ecommerce solutions (shopping carts) from OSCommerce to Zencart. As Barry500 mentioned, single optin is available via API or by contacting our compliance team. Of course we recommend double optin as a best practice and it's the default, but the option for single optin is certainly available.

In the end though, it's really about what fits your specific needs. I always suggest people contact the email service providers being considering and ask them some good questions. If you are satisfied with the answers and (just as importantly) the way the answers are provided, then you probably have the solution which is right for you.

Thanks Barry500, PerformanceMan and Shudogg for the nods . Paul, feel free to contact me via Twitter or Skype if you have questions.

Regards,
jim

Check this out:

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...te-thread.html

Hi OSH,

Thanks for the kind words. Perhaps I could have worded my inital reply better. I definitely wasn't trying to challenge (but I can see how it read that way) your recommendation. I thought a couple of points were worth clarifying regarding our services.

Regards,
jim

After trialing Get Response I have found a little problem which has stopped play for us. It has to do with what appears in the display name from field on received emails. Where it should display your chosen from address; eg@eg.com it displays campaign_name@getresponse.com on behalf; eg@eg.com which for us is a no go. I am looking to have as little branding as possible and this appears right in the face of everyone receiving the email. I contacted their support today and was unfortunately told that this could not be removed. Support appeared very good and live chat was quick to respond. Platform is really nice too, but seems to have a tad too much of their own branding about it. I noticed on the unsubscribe page for customers that there were adverts too. Not sure if they appear when you upgrade to a full account. May trial mailchimp next. Anyone tried YMLP before?

Thanks,
Paul.

After trying MailChimp and seeing the same problem, I did some reading up on the subject. The header is apparently added to help ensure deliverability of emails as opposed to them being spammed. Because the emails originate from a different domain to that used in the reply-to / from address, they are often classified as spam or seen as potentially unsecure if the message 'on behalf of' and the senders domain is not included within the header. I have found one company who allow the removal of this feature from their settings menu, but they do say that in doing so it may impact the deliverability rate of your campaigns. I will have to think about this and balance up the importance to us. I can see in the marketing world that it wouldn't matter a great deal, but I feel in an eCommerce one it does, am I wrong to think this?

I checked a number of other marketing emails from big brand names which I have and none had similar headers. When I looked further I could see that they were all using very expensive marketing companies to produce and send their emails.

Thanks again,
Paul.

Adding this link for completeness: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...nt-before.html

Apparently GMail appends 'on behalf of' on all emails which do not originate from the domain specified in the reply-to field. I haven't personally tested but that's what I read.

Thanks,
Paul.

Hi Fuzzydude,

The co-reg ads you mention are voluntary and you can simply turn them off in your account settings.

Regards,
jim

interspire + mandrill
or
interspire + amazon
= win

Icontact will be easy to convince with sub 2000 emails. Otherwise Aweber is fine if they allow you.

GVO is the best!!!

I've used Constant Contact for years, and have always had great success.

They actually have a very good email building that is very user friendly.

You can check out Comm100 Email Marketing. It is easy to use and has good inbox delivery.

I am using send grid service with 100k mails per month and they have everything you need

Wow, thanks again to everyone for their helpful advise.
Paul.

We have been using MailChimp for a couple of years for our ecommerce sites and have had good luck with them. I wouldn't use them for anything IM related but for ecommerce they are a solid choice.