Mailing lists

[Desktop Gaming]

Hi,

I think the time's come to add a mailing list to my site. I basically want something that fits in with the rest of my site, and only I can access and send e-mails to.

I've been messing about with Mailman that comes with CPanel but its so complicated I think my head is going to explode, and thats not to mention that the whole thing is about as ugly as you could imagine. The documentation is rotten and I don't understand what 90% of the options are for. I'm waiting on my hosting company to reply to me e-mail about advanced configuration so I can change Mailman's horrible HTML pages at least.

I have few requirements:

1. It must fit in with the style of my site.
2. It must be low maintenance with almost zero human intervention (subscribe/unsubscribe should be automated).

What's everybody else use for mailing lists?

[Hidden Sanctum]

I use YMLP at www.ymlp.com

It comes with a price though, but it is pretty cheap.

[Desktop Gaming]

Yea someone suggested that to me on a different forum. It looks quite good but I can see how costs could potentially spiral. That said it does seem pretty cheap on the face of it.

I've set up a trial account anyway and will see how it goes for now. :)

[Hidden Sanctum]

If the costs are spiralling, it would only be because your list has grown to huge proportions. If that's the case, you should be making enough money at the point where the cost of the list is a small fraction of what you are taking in. :)

At least you would hope so! :D

[lakibuk]

I don't understand YMLP's pricing.
I need a provider where i can send 1 newsletter / year.
Let's say i will send out to 3000 people. That would cost $10.
But what about the other 11 months, when i don't send a newsletter?

[Desktop Gaming]

You still have to pay a monthly subscription during those 11 months.

Sounds like you're paying for nothing, but they're still storing your mailing list, and handling subscriptions for you.

[lakibuk]

You still have to pay a monthly subscription during those 11 months.
But how much? $2.50? Or 10$.

[Polycount Productions]

I don't understand YMLP's pricing.
I need a provider where i can send 1 newsletter / year.
Let's say i will send out to 3000 people. That would cost $10.
But what about the other 11 months, when i don't send a newsletter?

I suppose when you have 3000 people, you should be able to send them monthly newsletters (announcing your own products, or affiliates) and recoup that $10 pretty fast every month...

[Desktop Gaming]

But how much? $2.50? Or 10$.
OIC..... er.... dunno! :p

[Didier]

You still have to pay a monthly subscription during those 11 months.

Sounds like you're paying for nothing, but they're still storing your mailing list, and handling subscriptions for you.

As far as I know, this is not true.
I only pay my YMLP bill when i'm going to send out my newsletter.

Sure they send you a reminder email once every two weeks or so but they never kicked me for not paying. The longest time was 6 months before I payed and sent out my new newsletter.

Never got kicked so unless this is changed, there isn't a monthly fee you have to pay. You only pay when you use bandwidth I guess. :)

[Desktop Gaming]

Interesting...

[lakibuk]

Thanks, Didier!

[lakibuk]

I suppose when you have 3000 people, you should be able to send them monthly newsletters (announcing your own products, or affiliates) and recoup that $10 pretty fast every month...
No but, yea but... I don't have much to proclaim unfortunately.

[Desktop Gaming]

I emailed YMLP to ask about this. Their reply:

////
Hello,

Yes, there's a monthly subscription fee.
I'm not sure why other people tell me this is not the case ?

Kind regards,
Patrick Van Acker
////

[Bad Sector]

You can also write a small PHP script that does the job for you. Shouldn't be hard.

[lakibuk]

You can also write a small PHP script that does the job for you. Shouldn't be hard.
Yes, i tried this. Then i found out my webhost only allows 25 emails per 5 minutes. Ok, i paused the script to not send more. Then i found out it only sent 100 or so and i don't know why. Complicated situation.

Thanks for letting us know, GfK.

[Polycount Productions]

Yes, i tried this. Then i found out my webhost only allows 25 emails per 5 minutes. Ok, i paused the script to not send more. Then i found out it only sent 100 or so and i don't know why. Complicated situation.

Thanks for letting us know, GfK.

...and your IP might get blacklisted, your emails stop working and the next ice age begins. Okay - not ice age, but seriously: there's a risk of getting blacklisted and your emails (even regular emails) might start getting trashed. Also, some webhosting providers might not allow this.

[Bad Sector]

...and your IP might get blacklisted, your emails stop working and the next ice age begins. Okay - not ice age, but seriously: there's a risk of getting blacklisted and your emails (even regular emails) might start getting trashed. Also, some webhosting providers might not allow this.

Can't this happen to a mailing list service too?

[Mike Boeh]

I am really happy with YMLP... Great service/uptime and of course, no headaches :)

[Sharpfish]

YMLP has been great (even though I've not used it much yet) I'm getting a nice email database built up via it and it's much safer than sending from your own domain (which is something Mike, above, tipped me off about quite a while ago).

I think they increased the trial limit to 1000 subscribers so as long as you keep your own personal copy of the addresses (should you bail out or YMLP close down your account) then you've nothing to loose by using asap. :)

[Desktop Gaming]

Yeah I'm just squatting a bit to see how the subscriptions go. Don't see the point of paying (however little) to send a newsletter to 3 people when I might as well do it manually.

If I got lots of subscriptions, on the other hand.... ;)

BTW: Slightly OT but I just noticed your sig. Didn't you used to be "Pootle" on the Mansun website? You might not remember, I'm talking eight or nine years ago.

[Sharpfish]

I used to hang around the mansun websites yes, but I was never "pootle". I do recall that name though. :)

[jetro]

YMLP just recently changed their pricing policy.

Before it was used to be that you got 250 MB of bandwidth per month for $2.50.

Now you get 1-500 sent emails per month for the same price (regardless of bandwidth).

Assuming you keep size of one email within reasonable limits (maybe 25 KB, allows to have even small embedded images) - you could send 10000 messages using the old plan. Now it's down to 500!

I'm annoyed about this. Is there any other good mailing list services with price point close to the earlier price of YMLP?