Also:

[sihayadesigns]

Those of you who use mailing lists... I am looking to get a reliable one for free/low cost to test if it affects my sales. It doesn't need to have a fancy layout, but it does need to be able to support a few images. I would also like one that lets the (potential) customers subscribe/unsubscribe themselves.

Suggestions?

Comments

[zenmaster.livejournal.com]

We use Constant Contact for this purpose at work. Our institutional advancement folks like it and use it regularly, and none of them are real technical folks.

[hagakaze.livejournal.com]

I run my own listservers here @ the house, but of the freebies I'm aware of, consider --

constant contact
google groups (or yahoo groups) have email lists
topica

...freelists.org is free and has a ton of features, but might be overkill for ya. *shrug*

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Cool. Can people sub/unsub themselves, or do you have to do it manually?

[zenmaster.livejournal.com]

People can unsub themselves from a Constant Contact list if they're on the list. As for getting them on the list initially, that would be done on your end.

If you prefer something that people can email and join automatically, you probably want a listserv or possibly a yahoo group. In that case, you'd be composing the whole email message(s) yourself instead of using the templates that something like CC provides.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thanks!

[zenmaster.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Whatever you decide, I hope it drives sales through the roof.

[supervillainess.livejournal.com]

We used Constant Contact for awhile, but when we redesigned the site the newsletter got a proper overhaul. There were certain design elements that you couldn't style w/ CC - the unsub/forward links at the bottom, will *always* be a white background w/ blue/orange text.

That's when we switched to Mail Chimp. They have a free-trial plan, so you can scope it out, and if you're using them regularly their monthly plan is very affordable (priced by the size of your list). They provide you the text/code for the unsub/forward links so you can build it into your custom layout - this was important to me. On a more shallow note, Mail Chimp is a much more "hip" company - they're more fun/intuitive to work with.

ETA: The other thing that makes a service like CC or Mailchimp valuable is tracking - that way you can see how many e-mails bounced, were blocked, got reported as spam, got clickthroughs or even got opened. It's a useful marketing/feedback too.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Does Constant Comment give you a link where the people can sub/unsubscribe themselves, or is it all manual?

[supervillainess.livejournal.com]

With Constant Contact OR MailChimp you can either import a text file w/ email addresses, manually enter individual signups, direct subscribers to a form that the listservice hosts, or generate a snippet of HTML to drop onto your website. There's a dialogue where you can totally customise the input fields on the form in case you want a record of a mailing address or referrals.

Right now, on the Villainess site we're using the HTML Snippet - this is what the hosted signup looks like though here. I haven't customised it, because we're using the HTMl, but I ought to because that's the confirmation/ unsub/ manage sub page as well.

[neopolaris.livejournal.com]

I just started one up, but it's totally no frills...I maintain it myself using a dedicated gmail account.

[azbound.livejournal.com]

Totally different vein, sorry, but I had a question for you...do you ever use recycled jewelry in your own work? I have some jewelry I want to let go of, and really don't just want to toss it. I have no idea if you'd be interested, but if so, let me know.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

I totally do, depending if the parts are useable for my aesthetic.

[azbound.livejournal.com]

Hmm..I think some of it might be beneficial - I know one piece is an earring that I loss the partner, and it makes me think of your stuff. If you want, email me a place to send stuff to you at brooke.campbell71 at gmail and I can mail it to you.

LJ Freecycle, here we come!

[marinatempest.livejournal.com]

It's been a while, but I used Vertical Response and liked it. They have templates you can use and it's also easy to add images. It's comparable to Constant Contact, but when I was shopping around, I found more positive reviews for VR.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Did it have a form / way to let people sub/unsub themselves, or did you have to add people manually?

[marinatempest.livejournal.com]

There's a way to upload email addresses but you can also set up a form.
Here's my signup form. You can unsubscribe at the bottom of the emails.

VR also saves stats of who opens your emails and clicks through. They also have a postcard mailing service.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Ohh neat. Thanks!

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Do they host the form for you, or do you have to host it yourself?

[marinatempest.livejournal.com]

They must host it since it's an external link from my site.

Sheesh it feels like a million years ago that I set that up!

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't know that they do anymore, or if they do I can't figure it out. I just signed up and they give you code to upload to your own site. Hmm. Have to poke around more.

[marinatempest.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.... I could be wrong about them hosting it then? Or maybe they don't do it anymore?

You could probably just pop it onto an LJ post, though, if you're not ready to set up a separate site for your biz yet.

[marinatempest.livejournal.com]

Doh! I am obviously incapable of hitting "reply" instead of "leave comment".

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

I figured it out... by clicking on my OWN link. My brain, it no worky today.

Though the code does not gel with LJ. LJ is really weird about forms.

[decidedly.livejournal.com]

I just researched email lists for my company. MailChimp was by FAR the best AND easiest to use. I can send you an example of my most recent one if you want to see its capabilities.

[indagatrix.livejournal.com]

MAILCHIMP.

I know it's been brought up by others, but it is just the best out there. I've been working on backend stuff for a client who uses Mailchimp recently, and I am extremely impressed by it. It has WYSIWYG newsletter designer, which such a nice feature, and their statistics capabilities can't be beat. I understand their customer service is pretty good too.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

I can't use it because I'm an etsy company, and as such don't have a Sihaya Designs domain name. WOE.

[indagatrix.livejournal.com]

Lame. Would you want to have a domain name? When my store was open, I just had my domain name forwarding to my eBay store. I never bought hosting or anything, so it was pretty cheap to go that route.

This way you get search engine recognition for your brand name too.

[sihaya09.livejournal.com]

I will eventually; it's just not at the top of my priorities list at the moment.