Mass Emailing...?

danke

danke

is Burrito Y
Apr 7, 2011
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I'm going to start hitting up a few lists I've been building of about 10-30,000 emails each. Problem is... I have no idea what's the easiest way to send out the emails to them...

I was thinking of setting up a Joomla install and using something like Acajoom unless anyone has a better idea.

Open to suggestions... Would post tetas, but the soon-to-be wouldn't be too happy about that.

:pimp:
 


Judging from your post, I'm assuming you've never done mass e-mailing before? If not, you're in for a learning experience, and there's probably more to it than you think, in order to get a good inbox rate.

Your best bet (for now) would be to use a 3rd party provider to send the e-mails for you.
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
Judging from your post, I'm assuming you've never done mass e-mailing before? If not, you're in for a learning experience, and there's probably more to it than you think, in order to get a good inbox rate.

Your best bet (for now) would be to use a 3rd party provider to send the e-mails for you.
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Never mass emailed before... Biggest lists prior to were a few hundred emails at a time through aweber... I'd rather do this without a 3rd party...
 
Does it look like most of your list is Big 3 or GI (General Internet, aka not big 3)?

In other words, do you see a lot of these: gmail, yahoo, hotmail?

Or a lot more like this: omgmyawesomesite.com, bitchesbecray.com, hoothootindapoopchute.com?

Places like Aweber/MailChimp make it just easier to start - but then again if you have a "few" lists of 15Kish each, are we talking like 200K total? That's a different game all together.

</2cents>
 
Bofu2U said:
Does it look like most of your list is Big 3 or GI (General Internet, aka not big 3)?

In other words, do you see a lot of these: gmail, yahoo, hotmail?

Or a lot more like this: omgmyawesomesite.com, bitchesbecray.com, hoothootindapoopchute.com?

Places like Aweber/MailChimp make it just easier to start - but then again if you have a "few" lists of 15Kish each, are we talking like 200K total? That's a different game all together.

</2cents>
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The list is a big mix of private domains and general mail services...

A few lists up to 30,000 in size being the largest one.
 
danke said:
Never mass emailed before... Biggest lists prior to were a few hundred emails at a time through aweber... I'd rather do this without a 3rd party...
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I haven't developed in this field for a few years, but I remember developing a back-end system that was sending 1+ million e-mails a day. Again, to do it with quality, there's probably more involved than you think.

Multiple servers, each has to have SMTP setup properly with rDNS, DKIM, etc. Throttling limits per day/week/month, automated testing & checking to ensure e-mails are getting inboxed with the major providers (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.), automated checks of black lists to see if any of your SMTP servers are listed, server load & resource worries, software capability, customizing the e-mails as best as possible so spam filters don't pick up on them, tweaking SMTP configuration for maximum performance, and so on.

Unless you want to get into all that, you're probably better off using a 3rd party service. Otherwise, you're going to waste alot of time and money, and 80%+ of people won't even see the e-mail.
 
danke said:
Another reason I don't want to do it...
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Yeah but sending out mail from your own server isn't easy not even just for GI. My suggestion would be the following.

Keep your lists all split up, 15K - 30K each.

The most important step is cleaning your data. You can process it through cleaning services or just cycle the data enough to clean it up with multiple ESP accounts (one for each list) and DO NOT allow the accounts to be cross referenced by using the same info or even IP.

Make sure that you setup a personalized unsubscribe link (meaning don't let the ESP handle this for you). This way those who unsubscribe do so directly on your site / database so you can maintain an up to date list.

Also if the ESP's you work with initially have an API to get the complaints that would be even better as those complaints are really people you want off your list immediately. Otherwise you'll need to do this manually daily (religiously).

Let me be clear about something. You ARE going to get kicked off quite a few ESP's until your data is clean enough to not red flag the account.

That is why having everything handled via your side is important so that when you get kicked off one ESP you move to the next with a cleaner list. Less and less complaints each time.

Normally it takes at least a few days for the complaints to go down enough.

Once you have your complaints regularly at a low threshold, you should be able to find a final home at the ESP that you prefer. Just remember if you send out an email that is not engaging or of zero interest to the subscriber chances are very good you'll see a spike in complaints.
 
nickCR said:
Yeah but sending out mail from your own server isn't easy not even just for GI. My suggestion would be the following.

Keep your lists all split up, 15K - 30K each.

The most important step is cleaning your data. You can process it through cleaning services or just cycle the data enough to clean it up with multiple ESP accounts (one for each list) and DO NOT allow the accounts to be cross referenced by using the same info or even IP.

Make sure that you setup a personalized unsubscribe link (meaning don't let the ESP handle this for you). This way those who unsubscribe do so directly on your site / database so you can maintain an up to date list.

Also if the ESP's you work with initially have an API to get the complaints that would be even better as those complaints are really people you want off your list immediately. Otherwise you'll need to do this manually daily (religiously).

Let me be clear about something. You ARE going to get kicked off quite a few ESP's until your data is clean enough to not red flag the account.

That is why having everything handled via your side is important so that when you get kicked off one ESP you move to the next with a cleaner list. Less and less complaints each time.

Normally it takes at least a few days for the complaints to go down enough.

Once you have your complaints regularly at a low threshold, you should be able to find a final home at the ESP that you prefer. Just remember if you send out an email that is not engaging or of zero interest to the subscriber chances are very good you'll see a spike in complaints.
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This, plus, I will say that you get more lenience as you develop a relationship with an email provider.

Generally, they are super duper strict on the first few rounds/months. So shoot all your most recent/legit emails first. Then go for the older leads/more shaddy shit.

And talk to them. In my experience, you get more leniency (or at least so I felt) if you consult them and ask for advice, even if they give none. Remember, their ability to provide a service can be greatly harmed by retards not knowing what they are doing (too many people signs up for icontact and sends 10000000 spam emails = they have trouble)

After a few years with some of these companies (and have proven to be a good valuable, non-spamming customer), you would be amazed at what they let you get away with.
 
VPS or Dedicated provider that doesn't care about a list not being double opt in?

HostGator said they only allow Double Opt-in and it doesn't matter if I'm a VPS or a Dedicated customer. They just asked me to shut it down after I ran 5,600 emails through them yesterday.

Any other VPS recommended?
 
danke said:
VPS or Dedicated provider that doesn't care about a list not being double opt in?

HostGator said they only allow Double Opt-in and it doesn't matter if I'm a VPS or a Dedicated customer. They just asked me to shut it down after I ran 5,600 emails through them yesterday.

Any other VPS recommended?
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Call a 3rd party provider and ask the experts on how to best get these emails out the door until you learn how to do it efficiently yourself. You're messing with the potential for a huge revenue stream here... don't blow it!
 
1. Run your lists through a hard bounce checker. Just Google it. Remove any flagged except @yahoo.com emails because they don't show accurately without doing some extra work. You just want to be sure you aren't going to kill your account with a third party on day 1.

2. Then, sign up with a third party, no way in hell can you do it right on your own. These are good companies in no particular order: AWeber, Constant Contact, Vertical Response, Mail Chimp (<- No Affiliate links allowed), iContact

3. CALL your third party before emailing and listen to their advice. If they aren't a service you found dumpster diving on the internet, they will critique your first email to help you avoid excessive spam. This will also show them you are not some scam guy and when your first email bombs with bounces and spams, they will be more likely to be understanding because you explained yourself to them earlier.

4. Understand you will probably lose 10-20% of your list to hard bounces, unsubs, spams right off the bat if you never emailed to them before. Do not let anyone talk you into Double Opt Ins because you will most likely lose 40% more on top of what you already will lose... so keep that in mind. Trick though is to get more people signing up then unsubscribing... unless you are just milking some list you have.

5. Your list CAN dry up if you blast it like crazy! So don't start emailing them every day of the week or being too annoying right away unless you know what you are doing (which you admitted you don't)

Hope that helps...
 
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