Bulk e-mailing a newletter to people WHO WANT TO RECEIVE IT!

thomasp · Dec 9, 2005, 10:27 AM

I am designing a website for a friend and they would like to send newsletters out to people who "register" (ie, send their e-mail addresses to the website owner).

What is the easiest way to bulk-email a newsletter to 20+ addresses?

Is there any specialist software that can do it that's Windows 2000 & XP compatible (sorry for asking this question!), and is relatively easy to use and user-friendly?

If you're wondering why I'm asking on a Mac forum, I'm a Mac user and my friend is a PC user, and having hovered around MR for a while, this seems like a knowledgeable forum

ahunter3 · Dec 9, 2005, 11:56 AM

�The classically legitimate way of bulk-emailing to opt-in recipients is via software such as LISTSERV or MAJORDOMO. I believe those two are specifically Unix proggies ("MacJORDOMO" was a Macintosh port of the latter, IIRC). I would be quite surprised if versions have not been ported to the Windows platform, though.

Recipients still need to adjust spam filters to allow in email not specifically addressed to them. The email is typically addressed to something like "List Recipients <digest-recipients@organization.org>" and the bulk-mailing sw sends copies to all the registered recipients.

You can also do it easily enough via FileMaker â€” or even AppleScript + plain text file containing addressees. Anything that can loop through a series of address lines (or records) and send out an email to each recipient will do the job.

thomasp · Dec 9, 2005, 12:02 PM

It's quite likely that the e-mails are going to have pdf attachments.

We will not be e-mailing anyone who hasn't given their consent first and agreed to receive the newsletter.

Unfortunately, it looks like most, if not all of the mailing is going to be done from Windows 2000/XP - so software for that would be better

Is there an easy way to do this from Outlook?

littlejim · Dec 9, 2005, 12:15 PM

This may not be quite what you are looking for, but a neat PHP/mySQL solution may be webinsta mailing list :

http://www.webinsta.com/mailing.php

This enables you to have a simple form on the web site that lets anyone subscribe/unsubscribe a mailing list (you can run many different mailing lists).
The administrator can then do his mailouts online via an admin panel.

I've just read that you want attachments and I'm not sure if it can handle this.

Dec 9, 2005, 10:27 AM	#1
thomasp macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: UK	Bulk e-mailing a newletter to people WHO WANT TO RECEIVE IT! I am designing a website for a friend and they would like to send newsletters out to people who "register" (ie, send their e-mail addresses to the website owner). What is the easiest way to bulk-email a newsletter to 20+ addresses? Is there any specialist software that can do it that's Windows 2000 & XP compatible (sorry for asking this question!), and is relatively easy to use and user-friendly? If you're wondering why I'm asking on a Mac forum, I'm a Mac user and my friend is a PC user, and having hovered around MR for a while, this seems like a knowledgeable forum __________________ Quote from Douglas Adams: "I wrote an ad for Apple: 'Mac - We might not get everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end.'"

Dec 9, 2005, 12:02 PM	#3
thomasp Thread Starter macrumors 6502a Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: UK	It's quite likely that the e-mails are going to have pdf attachments. We will not be e-mailing anyone who hasn't given their consent first and agreed to receive the newsletter. Unfortunately, it looks like most, if not all of the mailing is going to be done from Windows 2000/XP - so software for that would be better Is there an easy way to do this from Outlook? __________________ Quote from Douglas Adams: "I wrote an ad for Apple: 'Mac - We might not get everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end.'"

Dec 9, 2005, 12:15 PM	#4
littlejim macrumors regular Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Bob Fossils Zooniverse	This may not be quite what you are looking for, but a neat PHP/mySQL solution may be webinsta mailing list : http://www.webinsta.com/mailing.php This enables you to have a simple form on the web site that lets anyone subscribe/unsubscribe a mailing list (you can run many different mailing lists). The administrator can then do his mailouts online via an admin panel. I've just read that you want attachments and I'm not sure if it can handle this. __________________ Blue Pants, Blue Pants, I've got baby Blue Pants. The Mighty Boosh I Audioscrobble

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Dec 9, 2005, 11:56 AM	#2
ahunter3 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2003	�The classically legitimate way of bulk-emailing to opt-in recipients is via software such as LISTSERV or MAJORDOMO. I believe those two are specifically Unix proggies ("MacJORDOMO" was a Macintosh port of the latter, IIRC). I would be quite surprised if versions have not been ported to the Windows platform, though. Recipients still need to adjust spam filters to allow in email not specifically addressed to them. The email is typically addressed to something like "List Recipients <digest-recipients@organization.org>" and the bulk-mailing sw sends copies to all the registered recipients. You can also do it easily enough via FileMaker â€” or even AppleScript + plain text file containing addressees. Anything that can loop through a series of address lines (or records) and send out an email to each recipient will do the job.