OT - bulk mailer software (for club)

[David]

Posting here because all the usual suspects seem to frequent this group.

I need to distribute some details to all registered members of a club. Only around 60 at the moment, but it should be scalable.

Two obvious options:

(1) Send a single email with all the addresses in the BCC field. Offloads the processing to the mail network. However there is the risk of a mis-op (as regularly seen in the press) where CC instead of BCC is used.

(2) Send one email to each recipient. This puts more load on the mail originator and need to be throttled to avoid SPAM black listing but this removes (hopefully) the risk of revealing email addresses.

I could hand craft this (memories of building utilities using Perl and Blat in my mis-spent youth) but if possible I would like a generic solution for any Windows user and using a Gmail account so that it can be handed over to the less computer literate in the longer term.

My first hits on Google seem to resolve around Outlook and Office, which not everyone has.

I suppose a web based solution would be best, because you do get the occasional Apple user and support of Apple tablets would be a bonus.

Asking the question whilst I research in case anyone has already solved this.

Failing memory suggests that Mailchimp has been mentioned before. Looking at it I see that it is free for less than 2,000 subscribers and

12,000 emails per month. This seems to fit nicely. Anyone using it?

Cheers

Dave R

[Jonno]

David scribbled

Will your mail provider allow you to send bulk mail ?

[GB]

We have friends who regularly send round-robin emails (informing us of their family news) to 30 or 40 recipients. I know how many, because as likely as not they forget to use the bcc field. They are on gmail, IIRC. I am not sure what the upper limit is on gmail, but it's at least 30 and it would be easy to split the email list up and send two or three emails if necessary.

[GB]

Found the limits on gmail.

Turns out to be 500 in one email and 10,000 per day.

[Adrian Brentnall]

Hi Dave I'd recommend Mailchimp. You can send plain text or html emails, they handle all of the sending, unsubscribing, and (if you want) signing up to the list from your website.

I've done it 'the other way' with scripts etc - but it's a heap of hassle, and I'd use Mailchimp in future.

You also get to see who's opened their emails - which can be handy when folks say 'I never saw that'.... Adrian

[Tim Watts]

Christ dear god no. Totally the worst option in the universe!!!

I am surprised you didn't a link to GG (below) or mailman.

mailman is the traditional way - it's a bit "old" but it is competent. However, IMHO GG is better VVV

For your needs, I would suggest Google Groups.

It gets a bad press because the NNTP2GG is s**te - but as a mailing list it is extremely powerful and friendly. You can have public lists and private lists (only members can see the archives). Easy to moderate if desired and the SPAM filtering is excellent (not that that's a problem for you as you'll probably have "posting by members or select few" only.

Anyone with a google account can set one up - the recipients do not

*need* accounts to receive or send mail, but they will to access the archive.

[Chris Bartram]

We use it at work, with a subscription. It is much simpler than trying to do it anywhere else, especially with mail clients that are not designed for bulk email. If In were you I would consider it very strongly.

[Mike Barnes]

I used MailChimp for a similar purpose for some years (over 1000 recipients, though). It's designed for mailing lists for people to subscribe and unsubscribe themselves, and that's not the same as having a list that you maintain yourself. That seemingly innocent difference brings up a whole load of gotchas. Also it's pretty buggy and has a truly cringeworthy user interface.

You might look at TinyLetter instead.

[Dan S. MacAbre]

If you've done scripting, and you use a recent enough Windows version, you might try something in PowerShell, which can send an email easily enough.

Something like this (which has the variable $ExchangeServer, but should work with any SMTP server you can relay through).

[Jonno]

GB scribbled

Google attach rules to bulk email, such as ensuring it's easy to remove emails from the list.

[cl]

How? My E-Mail program certainly doesn't sand any sort of response unless I tell it to. Even HTML E-mail I view in text mode via a text mode browser which also doesn't send anything unless I tell it to.

[Adrian Brentnall]

Don't know how it's done... but I do know that you get a report on each mailing run that tells you about opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes. It also knows about 'successful deliveries'..

Ah - here's how it knows (from the Mailchimp help pages) "The open rate is a percentage that tells you how many successfully delivered campaigns were opened by subscribers. To find this out, MailChimp loads a tiny, transparent image into each campaign, and counts how often the image is loaded among the delivered campaigns. The image is invisible to your subscribers.

The click rate is a percentage that tells you how many successfully delivered campaigns registered at least one click. Your click rate reveals general trends, but isn't particularly detailed. Additional information about your subscribers, click-throughs and timing is available on your Reports page.

Because open rate tracking relies on images, it isn't 100% accurate. If a subscriber's email client has images turned off, the tracking image won't load, and their campaign won't register as opened. MailChimp reduces this margin of error by factoring in click-throughs with open rates.

Since subscribers have to open a campaign to click a link inside it, we'll consider those clicks as opens even if the tracking image didn't load."

So there you go!

A

[David]

After a couple of beers I can write fairly workable scripts, and I have a Powershell manual gathering dust somewhere.

However I am currently bereft of even the vaguest sign of anyone else who might be able to understand (yet alone maintain) such a script.

Strongly tempted to have a play once my Tuit is sufficiently round, though.

Cheers

Dave R

[cl]

Since I read in text mode it won't happen when I read one of these. Also lots of people have blockers that explicitly stop the tiny images used to do this.

[David]

Subscribe/unsubscribe is a big plus - everyone is welcome to join or leave the list.

Will look at Tinyletter once my initial test of Mailchimp has taken place.

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

If I use Mailchimp it won't go through my ISP as far as I can see.

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

My intention would be to use plain text email initially anyway.

Once (if) I get it working then I can work on signature, branding, and all the other cobblers.

Cheers

Dave R

[PeterC]

About 15 years ago I found a method in Eudora 6. The programme was adware or something but a stray number fixed that. Basically, it allowed multiple e-mails, with an attachment, to be sent addressed to each recipient by name but without other addresses showing. Another plus was that it was only one upload (~250k) on a v. slow connection. Someone commented that the server had to do all the work - with 40-odd separate e-mails it would be just as much. I haven't used it for about 8 years now and it was once a year, so I can't remember how I did it, sorry. So, it is (was) possible without using web mail.

[David]

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Interesting split on Mailchimp between "Hell, Yes!!" and "Fuck, No!!"

My initial trial will be with Mailchimp because the ability for users to subscribe and unsubscribe is a big plus.

If I understand how it works, I can populate the mailing list with our current list, and then in future people can subscribe or unsubscribe without any further action by the team.

This seems to make it meet the anti-SPAM requirements without the hassle of a committee member having to constantly monitor for subscribe or unsubscribe requests.

Also gives the chance to schedule reminders of upcoming meetings/events in one pass instead of having to remember to do it each month.

There will be downsides (including writing clear non-technical instructions) but it looks to be promising.

I will try and investigate the other suggestion - Google Groups sounds a possibility.

Cheers

Dave R

[Tim Watts]

It is one less thing to look after - and if you have to pass emailing list duties to another person (short or long term) they don't inherit a bespoke system :)