Please help us to get started with email marketing

by MikeWalker

Posted: 12 years ago 18 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Please help us to decide how to send out our new weekly newsletter.

During the past 6 months or so we have generated a list of about 3,000 paying customers and about 4,000 others who have just subcribed to a newsletter.

We haven't gotten round to sending out weekly newsletters and now we want to do it.

All names are single opt in, but as I mentioned many are also email addresses from actual customers.

I would say we will need to be able to import about 10,000 email addresses in a month or so. We want to send a message at least once per week. So to start with we will have a volume requirement of about 50,000 messages a month sent to the 10,000 subscribers/customers. Not having sent out emails like this yet, we want to avoid getting blacklisted or treated as a spammer by doing this wrong.

What is a good way to be able to start sending out newsletters with decent deliverability rates.

Our website is on a shared hosting account.

We tried to set up some recommended software from a company (who shall remain nameless) so that we managed our own list. Bad idea. Or at least a bad choice of software.

This turned out to be a complete waste of time and a few hundred dollars as it was very buggy, ate up disc space and we couldn't get it to run properly, despite many support calls.

I believe some services need lists to be double opt in. Ours isn't.

I thought mail chimp would be a good possibility for us and then I found out they don't allow businesses in our niche.

For some reason this is becoming quite a problem for us to get the ball rolling.

Please help!

Thanks,
Mike

#email #marketing #started

kingofthesouth 12 years ago

Try Email Marketing Software & Autoresponder from GetResponse or Email Marketing Software & Email Marketing Services from AWeber
You can upload your customer database into the autoresponder.
They will have you create a confirmation message to confirm double opt in
all the customers/prospects you have before you can start sending
broadcasts regularly to your list.
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jimkirk1943 12 years ago

Dam thats a problem i wish i had !! What you waiting for ... Aweber
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Troy_Phillips 12 years ago

This is get response's manager View Profile: JimDucharme

Jim is a great dude. I know they can sometimes get around the need to double confirm. not saying your case is one of those cases. I don't know.

If all else fails contact me at troyphillips@consultant.com and I can tell you how to do it.
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- Jill Carpenter 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Troy_Phillips
  
  This is get response's manager View Profile: JimDucharme
  
  Get Response will be best for you in your specific predicament (it will be too difficult to do Aweber on this type of import) , and Jim is the guy to talk to.
  
  I've sent him an email referencing this thread.
  
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Vikky B 12 years ago

I think your best bet is to use Aweber or getresponse. There are cheaper autoresponders out there, but would not recommend them. iContact is also pretty good. The main aim is to ensure that the email goes into their inbox, and not into their spam mail.

Where are you currently storing all the email addresses? Check to make sure you can transfer them to an autoresponder first, and if you can't, then start listing your subscribers and customers on your autoresponder starting today.

One thing you could also do is get in touch with the autoresponder service and let them know about the number of subscribers you are going to get, so that way they don't get suspicious when you get a large number of subscribers in a few days. Of course, they will ask you how you generated those leads, and as long as it is completely legit (as it appears to be in your case), then you should be fine.

One thing that most autoresponders are weird about is double optin. A ton of marketers use single optin, though since you have a large customer database, I would strongly recommend double optin as spam complaints can result in you losing your account and all your subscribers! Its a bit rubbish I feel. However, it is not essential, and a lot of people are doing very well with single optin, specially because they are looking after their list well and not bombarding them with emails everyday.

Hope this helps?
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OutsourceFactor 12 years ago

I'd also suggest Aweber. You'll have to import your mailing list and Aweber will send out a confirmation link to all of your customers. Just make sure the customized message that you send out is very clear, so customers will click on the link, and perhaps you should offer some sort of incentive to get them to opt-in.

Most of your customers, if they like your product, will optin.
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AndrewStark 12 years ago

What niche are you in? Do you have the physical address of the customers?

A direct mail shot to a customer only squeezepage may work best to get the old customers into either aweber or getresponse and get round the canspam issue of importing leads.

For new customers what script are you using to process the payments? You should be able to integrate both autoresponders into the process (or hire someone to do it - search warriors for hire).

Also create a thank you page where you put up a video explaining that they will have x number of emails, and if you're using double opt-in they will have to click a link to get updates and the weekly newsletter.
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Steadyon 12 years ago

I would be surprised if you can get any where close to 50% re-opting-in.

Not impossible, but from what I have seen it can be 20% to 30% only as it could be months ago that you sold to them. Even if they liked your stuff, many won't overcome this.

So if you can find a single opt in service you can add your list to, you will probably get more luck in generating more sales from your list in my opinion.

I wish I could recommend something to you but I don't know of any service that will allow an imported list without a double opt in. I'm sure it exists somewhere???? (We host our own software and our tests have shown to us that it is easier to generate more sales to existing single opt ins than to try and get a list to double opt in and then generate sales).

So if anyone knows of reputable email hosting companies that allow single opt in let me know too.

Cheers,
Sam
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paul nicholls 12 years ago

Aweber all the way

it`s my most important tool in my entire business and the same goes for most other people

go and sign up it will be the best investment you will ever make

paul
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- Steadyon 12 years ago
  
  All those people recommending aweber make sense, but I think he may be best served by some single opt in service if it exists. (Does it anyone?)
  
  He probably should use aweber going forward for his new sign-ups and customers for sure.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  malcsimm 12 years ago
  
  Hi Mike
  
  The thing is, autoresponders are a nightmare.
  
  All the people here saying how Aweber is fantastic: well, AW are OK. Same as Get Response. Not much diff in my opinion. And I have now dumped them both.
  
  The thing is both of these will give you hassle if you come to them with a list you simply want them to import - unless you have time-stamped double optins.
  
  All the popular services have various restrictions.
  
  I had a similar situation to yours - many customer emails who I didn't want to double optin as I figured that having bought they were an ok target to send mail to.
  
  This would not have been possible with AW or GR.
  
  So I had this list I was sending mail to every week for 5 years - using Groupmail on my own in-house server. No complaints etc. But still not acceptable to AW or GR.
  
  But I did manage to import it to my new autoresponder service: Office Autopilot.
  
  Now, OA is not just an AR it has many other functions which justify it's high price compared to AW and GR. But at least they treat you like a grown up!
  
  So I suggest you check them out.
  
  The main reason I use them is because of their segmentation of customers and prospects. In other words, knowing their particular preferences and interests, you can plonk your list members on any lists you like (this is achieved in OA using tags instead of separate lists.)
  
  Sorry if this has added a complication :-|
  
  Bear this in mind: OA is Infusionsoft without the complications and expense of that platform. Worth looking into. Also their support for me has been absolutely stellar whereas I have found both AW and GR somewhat lacking and occasionally very poor over the past 5 years.
  
  Good luck!
  
  Malc
  
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Michael Ten 12 years ago

I'm planning to go with Get Response when I finally dive in. Although, maybe should you not take advice from me.
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gpwilson 12 years ago

Aweber is the one and only solution for you right now. Just sign up as quickly as possible.
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Spin17 12 years ago

I used Aweber..Great Company !
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Royce Space 12 years ago

I used aweber and it works just great before but right now, I don't know...
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- Barefootpainting 12 years ago
  
  That is awesome...3000 paying customers!
  
  You need to find something that will not cap the number of emails you send, thus you can email this group daily if you wanted to.
  
  Why wait a week or more so that they start to forget about you?
  
  I use GVO and can send a many as I want...I understand the idea of single verses double opt in, but if they are paying, you could pretty much assume their email is legitimate....You could almost have them opt in for a second list where they will stay up to date on your report/newsletter and gain another bonus for the trouble of having to opt in again.
  
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Zeus66 12 years ago

If you're fairly confident you won't get spam complaints, try Constant Contact. You can import the addresses and they will not be forced to confirm. But they are understandably picky about spam complaints if you import a list.

I would go slowly. Import 500 at a time, send a benign email that does not ask them to buy anything, and see how that goes. Do 500 more, same low-key message, and so on.

Good luck!
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JimDucharme 12 years ago

Thanks Jill and Troy for the nods!

Mike, I will drop you a PM with my direct contact info. Let's see if I can help.

Regards,
jim
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