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Can anyone recommend a Newsletter method outside of oscommerce?


Sam-AUST

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I have about 3000 subscribers, looking to send newsletters but not from within oscommerce (due to the emails giving the admin directory away), does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Just need something I can import my subscribers into via a csv or something similar.

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@@Sam-AUST

 

I use Mailchimp, who are very good. You will need to pay because you have more than 2000 subscribers, but it is totally worth it. You can even set it up for welcome emails, product recommendations, abandoned cart emails, and order updates. @@burt is the expert and even though he may charge a little for his services he will set up a robust solution for you with full support.

osCommerce user since 2003! :thumbsup:

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You might also look at PHPlist. I don't think it's as closely integrated (you need to export your user list as a CSV), but it does have mailing rate controls so your host doesn't shut you down for spamming.

 

There has been some discussion on this forum about how to keep the PHP mail system from exposing sensitive information, but apparently the methods given don't work on every server.

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I'm testing this: Newsletters Subscribers Manager

I don't want that one treasure, my customers' data, can be in someone's other hands. Also, here in Europe recently there were an issue regarding data on foreign servers, if I'm not wrong.

Hope this can be helpful...

Shopowner, not coder, experienced copypaster  :D

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@@TITO4 The problem is that the email limit on shared servers is usually 400-500, some even lower, so sending newsletters to customers, if there are more than that limit, won't work. In that case, you either need an external newsletter company or install the email queue addon.

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For Hire: Contact me for anything you need help with for your shop: upgrading, hosting, repairs, code written, etc.

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Some, perhaps many, newsletter mailers can be installed on your server and configured to obey daily, hourly, and even minute limits on emails. PHPlist can. No need to hook up with a Third Party to do your mailing for you.

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Many thanks for that info, @@Jack_mcs, I didn't konw, but I suspected something similar. Well, in fact I was more concerned about been considered spam. 
I'm in the process of merging the addon mentioned with Mail Manager for v2.3

It allows to stablish a sending delay rate that, it seems, avoid this kind of problems. In some testing, I've sent up to near 2000 emails with a delay rate of five seconds between emails, and without any noticeable problem. So, agree with you, @@MrPhil; up to now, and in my case, I don't feel that I could need an external service for that.

 

Regarding emails (communicating with my real and/or potential customers), now I'm searching for an autoresponder. I mean something more elaborated, that can make a chain of emails. I.e. a new subscriber receive a welcome email. Five days later receive an special offer only for new subscriber, ten days later recevie an ebook, 20 days later receive an special coupon or gift voucher, etc. Or another customer receive after ten or fifteen days (after his/her order been stablished in Sent, i.e.) a letter asking something like "Did your new "something" fullfill your expectations? If so, please comment to let it know for other people, or share in Facebook, etc."; Or, "You bought "This", and that's why we think that you could be interested in "That"...". To make it short, a lot of marketing possibilities, improve your engagement with your customer, etc.

Searching for it, I found this: https://www.magneticone.com/store/osCommerce.Modules/Follow..up.Autoresponder.for.osCommerce

But it is no longer available. Also, I found this: Request a Review (I've not tested it). As it seems, it can do part of that requirementes.

Shopowner, not coder, experienced copypaster  :D

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Forgot to say it, but needless to mention... If anybody know about something similar, PLEASE, TELL ME!!!!

 

I use Mailbeez. It was very good, easy to install and configure and has lots of free modules. I use it to send emails to customers who haven't ordered for a while, ask customers for reviews, etc. You could probably configure some kind of autoresponder with it. You may need to purchase a module to do that but I have always found them good value and Cord (Mailbeez creator) is very, very helpful and will fix any problems you may have.

 

Mailbeez Addon

Mailbeez modules

osCommerce user since 2003! :thumbsup:

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Scheduled emails are easy to setup in Mandrill (which is a paid for bolt on to paid for Mailchimp accounts).  

Just create the outgoing email...and pass send_at parameter.

 

https://mandrill.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205582667-Can-I-schedule-a-message-to-send-at-a-specific-time-

 

So, if your shop is running the Mandrill Mail system you could;

 

#1 send welcome email (now, so no send_at call)

#2 send a "why haven't you bought with a $5 off" (1 week from now, use send_at call)

#3 send a "happy birthday, treat yourself with this $5 off" email 10 days before their birthday (10 days prior to their inputted dob, use send_at call)

 

In the meantime if they do buy before the #2 email goes out;

#4 cancellation of #2 (use cancel-schedule call)

 

At that point, they bought.  

 

#5 send thank you email  (now, so no send_at call)

#6 send a "hope you got your delivery, here's $5 off your next spend" email (10 days from now, use send_at call)

#7 send a "did you like the product(s) you purchased, leave a review" email (20 days from now, use send_at call)

 

The possibilities here are endless, but to have a system that has this level of interactivity takes a hit on your business expenses (as Mailchimp and Mandrill are not free of charge).  

 

And here is a real quote from a shopowner who uses Mailchimp/Mandrill (although not to the degree yet [send_at's] that I have explained in this post):

 

 

 

The Mandrill implementation has helped more than I thought it would.  Getting metrics on order confirmations, follow ups, recover carts, etc, has been very helpful in determining where our next focus will be.
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  • 5 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Well i have heard of SendGrid. SendGrid is mainly a transactional service that has added email marketing to their offering. MailChimp is mainly focused on email marketing and choosing one or the other will depend strictly on your needs.


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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 5 weeks later...

Mailchimp is good. I just started using thenewsletterplugin from WP as when setup right it is free (kinda when you run your own instance). I just import the listing to WP. I am probably just gonna use it to get the clicker/openers...Mailchimp has better reporting for now...

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  • 7 months later...

Some good options would be MailChimp, SendGrid & AWeber. Depends on your needs and specific requirements. But do note that you should validate your mailing list regularly to prevent from being blocked by the ESPs. MailboxValidator is able to import your mailing list from those 3 ESPs and check for invalid emails. All of the bad emails are then unsubscribed automatically.

If you decide to go the MailChimp route, worth to read the following:

https://www.mailboxvalidator.com/resources/articles/how-to-import-email-list-from-mailchimp/

 

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  • 3 months later...

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