Ask HN: Mailing Newsletters

#1

Post by jay888 » Thu, Nov 13, 2008, 5:19 PM UTC

I need to send out e-mail newsletters every week to my website users. I am looking for cheap email marketing/newsletter manager solutions. Any recommendations ?

Do you recommend downloading open-source newsletter manager like PHPList and installing it on the server ? Or would you recommend using a hosted newsletter manager like campaignmonitor.com, icontact.com etc.

Re: Ask HN: Mailing Newsletters

#2

Post by makecheck » Thu, Nov 13, 2008, 5:58 PM UTC

An opt-in mailing list system such as GNU mailman would reach the people who want to be reached and give them plenty of options (e.g. individual mails versus digest form, the ability to turn it off temporarily for vacation, etc.).

I would strongly recommend you not automatically E-mail your users on a weekly frequency! If you must do this, make it infrequent (monthly, no sooner) and make sure you include genuinely useful information. A good example is LinkedIn, which includes information that I can definitely use (new developments among my directly connected peers), and they only send it if I haven't visited the site in about a month.

Re: Ask HN: Mailing Newsletters

#3

Post by jmah » Thu, Nov 13, 2008, 6:01 PM UTC

http://www.aweber.com/ (not that I've used it)

Re: Ask HN: Mailing Newsletters

#4

Post by jay888 » Thu, Nov 13, 2008, 8:40 PM UTC

makecheck wrote: post #2

An opt-in mailing list system such as GNU mailman would reach the people who want to be reached and give them plenty of options (e.g. individual mails versus digest form, the ability to turn it off temporarily for vacation, etc.). I would strongly recommend you not automatically E-mail your users on a weekly frequency! If you must do this, make it infrequent (monthly, no sooner) and make sure you include genuinely us…

I will take your advise and mail the newsletter every month.

Re: Ask HN: Mailing Newsletters

#5

Post by pmjordan » Fri, Nov 14, 2008, 1:48 PM UTC

jay888 wrote: post #4

makecheck wrote: post #2

An opt-in mailing list system such as GNU mailman would reach the people who want to be reached and give them plenty of options (e.g. individual mails versus digest form, the ability to turn it off temporarily for vacation, etc.). I would strongly recommend you not automatically E-mail your users on a weekly frequency! If you must do this, make it infrequent (monthly, no sooner) and make sure you include genuinely us…

I will take your advise and mail the newsletter every month.

The best advice about newsletters I've heard is: send them out when there is news. News the recipients will want to know about - not marketing spiel, that'll quickly cause it never to be read again. (c.f. crying wolf)