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1. • CommentAuthorfrr
   • CommentTimeJan 10th 2007

    
   Hi there,
   we have been running an travel company (language travel) for the last year.
   In the last few months, we tried to make some steps towards e-mail
   marketing, however we encountered some problems, from blacklisting
   some of our ip adresses (for some short time) to extremly high e-mail
   bounce-rates (about 40%).
   
   Which e-mail marketing software would you recommend for starting
   businesses? We would appreciate free, open-source tools, with reliable
   bounce email processing (automatic address removal etc.) which would
   handle about 1000 to 1500 emails per month. Is there such suitable
   tool?
   
   You can check our website at www.jazykovepobyty.sk, however it's in
   Slovak language only, due to domestic audience and target group.
   
   Thanks a lot,
   Juraj
2. •  
     CommentAuthorvishen
   • CommentTimeJan 10th 2007

    
   I strongly recommend GetResponse.com
   
   They will host it for you and they are whitelisted. Emails will come from their server so your blacklisting problem is gone.
   
   Getresponse is great if your list is less than 20,000 subscribers. For larger list you can try AutoresponsePlus.com. The downside of them is that you have to host it on your own server so you'll need to be real careful to avoid blacklisting.
3. • CommentAuthorjoyously
   • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2007 edited

    
   Any of the email software you run on your own server is going to have the problems with blacklisting, spam, bandwidth, bounce retries, etc. That's why it's better to let the autoresponder companies handle all that stuff for you. They are set up for it, and it's their business to stay up to date on the latest issues. Most hosting services also limit your SMTP output since they are set up for serving web pages, not for sending email.
   
   I tried GetResponse and found it very limited. It also didn't work as advertised! The support was lousy as well, so I signed up with AWeber. They are *much* better and have higher deliverablility rates. The support is quick and actually listens to suggestions (and then implements them!).
   Try them at http://startup.aweber.com
4. •  
     CommentAuthordantheman
   • CommentTimeNov 8th 2007

    
   These autoresponder services are rather expensive...
   
   What about just using yahoo or google groups...
   
   they are free and won't get blacklisted. true you can't setup an autoresponder series...
   
   but you can set a monthly automated email... maybe listing the top 10 articles on your site...
   
   a free method to keep to automate your subscriber list, keep them "top of mind" with the montly email, and an easy way to manage list, and be able to send "real" emails when you want.
   
   any thoughts on this approach?
   
   dan
   ZETZ
5. • CommentAuthorjoyously
   • CommentTimeNov 8th 2007

    
   A month is a long time in email marketing. Your subscribers will forget who you are. Also you can't personalize the message, which is important for the relationship building aspect that makes a list responsive to your offers.
   
   I don't know if things like double opt-in, partitioning lists, and scheduled delivery are available with that method either.
6. •  
     CommentAuthordantheman
   • CommentTimeNov 11th 2007

    
   joyously,
   
   that is all true... a month is a long time... no segmentation,
   
   but there is double opt in, i'm pretty sure, and like i said, its free and reliable.
7. • CommentAuthorbiggfish02
   • CommentTimeNov 12th 2007

    
   Cant go wrong with Aweber. I would turn the double opt in off at the very beginning because once you turn it on, there is no going back. And you probably dont need it.
8. •  
     CommentAuthordantheman
   • CommentTimeNov 17th 2007

    
   let's say you wrote a really high quality white paper... the bait for the newsletter signup...
   
   considering the high cost in maintaining a large list on aweber,..
   
   and resending this white paper link once/month automatically...
   
   with another 1 or 2 emails/month that you grab from your boilerplate text emails... which you can even "refresh" to make them more timely to today's events...
   
   sure you can always upgrade to a great service like aweber...
   
   but for beginners... what's wrong with using a free service, that you can scale up with forever?
9. • CommentAuthorjoyously
   • CommentTimeNov 18th 2007

    
   I already told you the drawbacks, but you don't want to listen.
   
   The absolutely most important thing about email marketing is the relationship you foster. Doing what you describe, you don't generate much of a relationship. It's kind of like this forum.... if the guys that started it would look in on it every once in a while, it would make it a lot better. But since they don't bother, it's pretty empty and worthless.
10. •  
      CommentAuthordantheman
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2007

     
    joyously,
    
    exactly. a forum is the place for that warm and fuzzy feeling, not email blasts...
    
    and btw, yahoo groups, is also very nice for allowing a dialogue, unlike autoresponsers, which is one way. I would still say to go with the groups option, and encourage a dialogue...moderated of course.
    
    See, I'm listening ;)