What I've not seen mentioned in any of these replies is whatever you do, make certain the recipient can determine the email address that is on the list. If you forward old emails to the new one, several times over the years, and want to opt out of a list, sometimes you must provide the TO ADDRESS wanting to opt-out. If the newsletter doesn't contain the recipient's address, you can never get out of it except by cancelling all previous addresses (or trying them all).
It's also very professional looking, to have the sender appear to have a clue what they are doing. Dan -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Robert E. Spivack Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 1:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] Using Imail for e-mail marketing We use Lyris (commercial program) to providing mailing list / email hosting. It's specifically geared for this (uses dedicated SQL Server database) and generates foolproof unsubscribe links, tracks bounces, etc. Our primary strategy to avoid blacklisting and complaints is to not host questionable clients. We deal only with strictly opt-in organically built lists. We won't host anyone that has bought or rented a list no matter how clean they think it is. We also telephone screen every new client after being hit a few times several years ago by scammers/spammers that order with a valid credit card and address only to "hit and run" leaving both us and the stolen credit card owner the victim. Finally, we run separate dedicated servers with their own domain name and IP addressing and work diligently to remove any unfair blacklisting or complaints. Because the domain we use (www.ushostoffice.net) has a public website, phone and physical contact address, etc. it makes it easier to try and persuade some of the smaller or corporate email admins to remove any blocks they may inadvertently put into place. Keeping your servers clean by policing both your clients, their mailings, and any collateral-damage is labor and time intensive. It's one of the hidden costs and why pricing can vary greatly for what some might think is a simple commodity service. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Stephen Guluk Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 9:14 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] Using Imail for e-mail marketing Do you sacrifice one of the IPs on your machine for mass mailings in case you get blacklisted? We have a client that sold 1500 products via their site last year and want to market to these and future clients. All sales will receive their mailing and there will be an opt-out link. Future purchases will show that they are subscribing, though they will be able to deselect at the time of purchase. Even with these precautions against being reported for spam I can expect that some people or even programs that see multiple mails containing the same content will flag the mailing as spam. I do not want to take a chance, getting our primary IPs blocked as spam senders (blacklisted) so I am thinking that using a unique IP that we can allow to be blacklisted without hurting our regular mail clients. Is this a valid concern that you have addressed in your mass mailings? I run a copy of SmarterMail used for testing and may use that to send out the emails. On Nov 16, 2005, at 8:35 AM, Darin Cox wrote: > There are many solutions for this, but IMail by itself is > insufficient. > > Tracking click thrus would be done through a link on the website, > so that > doesn't apply to this. And tracking message views is only possible > through > embedded dynamic images that are again loaded from a script on a > website. > Note that this is not 100%, as many users may not view HTML, or may > block > images. For them nothing can be done to determine if the message was > opened. Both of these items have to do with your content and link > management on your website, so the mailing system doesn't have > anything to > do with that. > > For the subscription process, the best thing to do is to use a bulk > mail > system that will personalize every message with a unique > subscription link. > This allows you to quickly and easily unsubscribe those who > complain or > report your email as spam, as well as providing quick unsubscribe > functionality to the end user. > > We, and many others, have a web-based newsletter management system > that is a > subscription service that does just this, as well as allowing you > to manage > several newsletter types (welcome, standard, special offer, etc.), > schedule > newsletters, target portions of the subscription base for a > newsletters, > send currently active newsletters to new subscribers, etc. > Newsletters can > be HTML or plain text. > > Darin. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Elliott Bujan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "imail_forum" <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 11:09 AM > Subject: [IMail Forum] Using Imail for e-mail marketing > > > Has someone attempted to use Imail for marketing purposes, like mass > mailing? > Any suggestions on how to send large amounts of messages for marketing > purposes? Any programs or companies that would do this? > We would also like to track stats like how many messages were > opened, if > they visited the link on the message, unsubscribe, delete bad > addresses, > etc. > > Nothing is illegal, the recipients agreed at this and they are > aware they > are / could be in a distribution list for marketing purposes. > > > Elliott > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > Elliott Bujan > Initial Tropical Plants > voice: (847) 634 4250 ext. 99281 > fax: (847) 634 6820 > -------------------------------------------------------- > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. > For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email > ______________________________________________________________________ > > To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html > List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum% > 40list.ipswitch.com/ > Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ > > > To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html > List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum% > 40list.ipswitch.com/ > Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ > Regards, Steve Guluk SGDesign (949) 661-9333 ICQ: 7230769 To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/
