Email Service

This forum is for general discussion on support development topics rather than Donor Manager software specific issues.
Post Reply
DaveJohnson
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:24 am
Type the middle number, please (202): 302
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Email Service

Post by DaveJohnson »

Does anyone use any of the email services out there for newsletters? Emma, MailChimp, others?

I have always just attached pdfs to my many email addresses, I use DM to create batches of less than 50, and send away. For the most part I have found this to be effetcive enough. But now I am learning from some people that they have not been receiving, so I am suspecting Spam Filters. I just got a message from Yahoo about this, and they are counting the messages sent from an IP address, not just in each message, so I think batches aren't helping much anymore.

So I am looking at maybe switching to an email service such as one listed above. I'd rather not pay a whole lot, and I am not sure if HTML emails are really the way to go....

Thoughts... Advice....

Dave
jmuehleisen
Site Admin
Posts: 737
Joined: Sat May 29, 2004 1:28 pm
Type the middle number, please (202): 202
Location: Kampala, Uganda
Contact:

Re: Email Service

Post by jmuehleisen »

I know that a bunch of our staff are using MailChimp, and others are using Constant Contact.

I've been very happy with High Impact E-Mail ... but since it is considered a bulk-emailer it occasionally runs into the same spam filter issue.
John Muehleisen
Mentoring Emerging Christian Leadership in Africa for Excellence / Integrity / Innovation
dthawk
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:55 pm
Type the middle number, please (202): 202

Re: Email Service

Post by dthawk »

I am very happy with Mailchimp for several reasons.
They have a lot of tutorials and tools that are FREE
They have a plan with no monthly fee where you pay as little as 1penny per email if you pay in advance
If you send out less than 6000 per month, their service is free.

The downside is that it is much easier if you have a private domain such as that of your organization for opt out emails and unsubscribes. They do not allow you to use a public domain such as Juno, Yahoo, Gmail, ETC

Some cool tools they have are the ones that check your mail and subject line for "spaminess" That is free. You can segment your list and set it up to be mailed oat certain times on different days so you can check out the effectiveness.

There is a slight learning curve but it is easy once you get the hang of it.
David Hawk
http://www.loshawks.com
If I have seen farther than other men, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants
-Sir Isaac Newton
kevinavanwagner
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:20 pm

Re: Email Service

Post by kevinavanwagner »

I can't figure out how to enter a new post, so will put my email question here. I recently switched my email from Outlook to gmail. Now, when I hit "send" next to an email address in DM, it opens my gmail but does not open and address a new email window. Any ideas? Thanks!
jmuehleisen
Site Admin
Posts: 737
Joined: Sat May 29, 2004 1:28 pm
Type the middle number, please (202): 202
Location: Kampala, Uganda
Contact:

Re: Email Service

Post by jmuehleisen »

When you tell the Donor Manager to send an email, it simply sends a command to Windows that says "Please start up the default email program."

So, whatever program is set to be your default program starts.

Since GMail is browser based, it takes a little more work (because Windows has to start your browser, then navigate to a website, perhaps log in, and then bring up the "compose" window.)

There are several free utilities available that set GMail to be the default program used for "Mailto:" links.

Especially if you use Chrome, it's fairly easy. With other browsers ... it takes a bit more work.

Start your search here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=use+gma ... ilto+links
John Muehleisen
Mentoring Emerging Christian Leadership in Africa for Excellence / Integrity / Innovation
Post Reply