Email marketing...can someone explain?

[rossmc]

I'm thinking about starting an email marketing campaign but have no idea where to start!

I know I need to have people 'opt-in' via the contact form on my website, is there a programme that will automatically add these people's details into a database rather than me taking the info out of the email they send?

Also, roughly how many emails can I send at once via a standard email service? Am I probably going to have to get some kind of business-marketing email solution?

[Tim]

Originally Posted by rossmc

Am I probably going to have to get some kind of business-marketing email solution?

From what I've heard, I think you may possibly be well advised to do that at the outset, even if you don't really "need" it at that stage. For two reasons: first, having it in place before you start will avoid later complications of "changing things" and secondly, when you do any kind of bulk emailing, you can get a few complaints and spam reports, and your own everyday ISP's mail server is probably not where you want these ending up. Just a thought ...

I have heard of a service called "Aweber" (don't use one myself) which I think might include everything you need. Maybe worth a look, anyway. Meanwhile, I hope you get other replies from people with more experience of online marketing than I have!

[Peter Bowen]

Aweber works well - I use it and it's got everything I need.

Aweber has a fixed price for up to 10 000 people on your list so unless you're really fantastic this should keep you going for a while

You also get desktop solutions - I've used mailloop from internet marketing center but it's a little bit dodgy and not (IMHO) worth the cost - I bought it because they have really good sales copy on their pages.


Cheers

Pete

[Himore]

Yes, Aweber is one choice for an auto-responder. Another one is GetResponse, but I haven't personally used this. Heard good feedback from friends that have though.

regards,
Nick

[rossmc]

So I'd use Aweber as a mass-email marketing tool and keep my main email service for actual one2one contact with clients etc?

[Himore]

Correct.

If you give me another 30 minutes, I'm actually putting together a tutorial on how to get started with Aweber (for someone else on the boards).

If you're interested, I'll PM you with the link when ready?

cheers.
Nick

[Jack Hackett]

Have a look at www.mailingmanager.co.uk

[rossmc]

aweber certainly seems the most cost effective option

[Himore]

Originally Posted by rossmc

aweber certainly seems the most cost effective option

It certainly is, and seems to be the auto-responder of choice for most people.

I've put together a tutorial at the link below, showing how easy it is to set up your basic list. Thought it might be of interest.

Aweber Tutorial

cheers.
Nick

[rossmc]

Thanks!