Email Newsletter Software - Resources for Artists

Reviews of newsletter software 

Making a Mark: Which is the best e-mail newsletter software?

I've been discussing software for distributing regular e-mails and e-mail newsletters recently with various people. We've all been trying to work out which is the best e-mail newsletter software. So, naturally I thought I'd find out even more if I opened up the debate to readers of this blog!

Making a Mark: Selling art online - email newsletter software

Introduces this lens - and includes reviews of email newsletter software in the comments

Free newsletter software and webware 

phplist.com : Homepage : home

Site Description:
phplist is an open-source newsletter manager.
phplist is free to download, install and use, and is easy to integrate with any website.
phplist is downloaded more than 10 000 times per month and is listed in the top open source projects for vitality score on Freshmeat.

REVIEW (Making a Mark)
This is FREE, it's an open source newsletter manager and 'free' by both senses of the word - libre: you have freedom to view it, change it, and redistribute it and gratis: it has zero cost. Got to be attractive! It's sponsored by tincan which is a web solutions company.

• This is the features page. It looks impressive for free software at the very least in terms of the level of communication of its features (compared to some sites) and web 2.0 readiness. This one has an RSS feed which is certainly an option I'd recommend looking out for as many people now read newsletters in their feed readers rather than as e-mails.
• You can see it in action here
• These are the system requirements and here are the FAQs and tips re spam
• Who uses it? It's used by Julian Merrow Smith, who is one of the very popular and very successful daily painters (Postcard from Provence). He's been sending out almost daily e-mails to his large blog/auction e-mailing list for the last three+ years. I also know I've often seen phplist credited at the bottom of other e-mail newsletters I receive. If you watch the site you'll notice it has references from different organisations who use it in the top right hand corner - I noticed Friends of the Earth who were lavish in their praise.

REVIEW (Lisa Call)
I use PHPlist for my newsletter. It's maybe not the most intuitive piece of software to set up and get running but as a software engineer in addition to an artist, it wasn't a big deal for me. I've heard from other artists it's a bit confusing and can take a couple days to figure out.

GNU Mailman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Site Description:
Mailman, the GNU Mailing List Manager
Mailman is free software for managing electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists. Mailman is integrated with the web, making it easy for users to manage their accounts and for list owners to administer their lists. Mailman supports built-in archiving, automatic bounce processing, content filtering, digest delivery, spam filters, and more. See the features page for details.

Mailman is free software, distributed under the GNU General Public License. Mailman is written in the Python programming language, with a little bit of C code for security.

The current stable GNU Mailman version is 2.1.11, released on 30-Jun-2008.

REVIEW (Making a Mark)

• This is free software
• Who uses it? I don't know anybody who uses it - but you do see people who use phplist saying that phplist is better than Mailman. I do know people who have tried it and had problems.

FeedBlitz - The Email Marketing Service for Blogs, Social Media and RSS

Site Description:
Email Newsletters
Automatically create newsletters from your blog; send a newsflash; or build your own content with our editor. Track activity, segment your mailings, generate RSS & web archives, report in real-time and more. All at no extra cost.

REVIEW (Making a Mark)

• Completely free - but includes some minimal level advertising. You pay for the premium service.
• It can be used to develop e-mail marketing newsletters even if you don't have a blog - but do have an RSS feed.
  
• Who uses it? People with blogs to send e-mails of blog posts to people who like to subscribe via e-mail. I used to use is an it as an option for e-mail subscription on both blogs. Given my recent problems with feedburner I'm thinking about putting it back as an option. It allows me to provide a daily e-mail newsletter for my blog and to provide automatic links to past blog posts.
  

Google Group

REVIEW (Making A Mark)

• Google Groups are free and can be closed with just one person posting and lots of people subscribing. It's free.
  
• Who uses it? This is used by a lot of people to send out regular e-mails about daily art and is used by Duane Keiser and many other daily painters. I'd rate as suitable for non-confidential stuff.

Welcome To Dada Mail - Mailing List Manager

An Easy To Use and Extendable Mailing List Manager

Site Description:
Dada Mail is a completely contemporary, mature and intuitive web-based e-mail list management system, which runs on most any Unix-like hosting account that can run custom CGI scripts (details). Dada Mail is also a conceptual art project. [More Information]

Dada Mail handles Closed-Loop Opt-in/Opt-out subscriptions, sending complex announce-only and/or discussion mailing list messages with an advanced, fault-tolerant mass mailing monitor, supports the archiving/viewing/searching/resending/syndicating (rss, atom) of sent messages and doing all this and a whole lot more with style.

Dada Mail can handle custom subscriber fields and you can use the information it captures for partial list sending based on a query and Dada Mail's email templating system allows you to create targeted and completely custom email messages for each and every one one of your subscribers.

REVIEW (Brenda)
Before setting up subscriptions for my e-mail newsletter, I extensively tested three different open source e-mail software programs: PHP List, Dada Mail and PoMMo.

Although I am quite familiar with HTML and CSS and have some distinct geek tendencies, I initially experienced difficulties with setting things up on PHP List. By contrast, Dada Mail and PoMMo are much more intuitive.

ALL require considerable fiddling around if you wish to customise the various pages that subscribers see (sign up, confirmation, update details, unsubscribe etc) to match the look and feel of your own website. However, if you can live with using their logos and layout, then customising the text content is reasonably straightforward.

Although I found the admin interface of Dada Mail and PoMMo much cleaner and easier to use, I ultimately returned to PHP List for its superior subscriber management. I like to be able to see when an inidividual subscriber has signed up and record what mail they have received and when. As far as I could see, neither Dada Mail nor PoMMo offer this feature.

.. poMMo .. .

Site Description:
the home of the poMMo Project! (formerly the bMail project)

poMMo is versatile mass mailing software. It can be used to add a mailing list to your Web site or to organize stand alone mailings. Unique Features such as the ability to mail subsets of your subscribers set it apart from alternatives. poMMo is written in PHP and freely provided under the [GPL].

Designed to be easy to use and powerful, poMMo provides flexible Mailing Management that everyone needs -- from Software Projects to Shoe Stores, to Marketing Firms, to pioneers of the Blogosphere... Let us know where you are using poMMo by visiting our In the Wild page.

REVIEW (Brenda)
Before setting up subscriptions for my e-mail newsletter, I extensively tested three different open source e-mail software programs: PHP List, Dada Mail and PoMMo.

Although I am quite familiar with HTML and CSS and have some distinct geek tendencies, I initially experienced difficulties with setting things up on PHP List. By contrast, Dada Mail and PoMMo are much more intuitive.

ALL require considerable fiddling around if you wish to customise the various pages that subscribers see (sign up, confirmation, update details, unsubscribe etc) to match the look and feel of your own website. However, if you can live with using their logos and layout, then customising the text content is reasonably straightforward.

Although I found the admin interface of Dada Mail and PoMMo much cleaner and easier to use, I ultimately returned to PHP List for its superior subscriber management. I like to be able to see when an inidividual subscriber has signed up and record what mail they have received and when. As far as I could see, neither Dada Mail nor PoMMo offer this feature.

Email Marketing Software - Your Mailing List Provider

Manage, send & track your email newsletter with YMLP's easy-to-use mailing list hosting application. Create a FREE account and send your email campaign within minutes.

Used by Tina Mammoser (The Cycling Artist) - and looks great!

Newsletter software and webware - at a price 

PatronMail

Site Description:
PatronMail is the e-mail marketing system created specifically for arts and non-profit organizations... and all types of creative businesses. PatronMail enables you to create professional e-mail campaigns, send them to your targeted lists, and track your results.
.
REVIEW (Making A Mark)
It is specifically designed for use by arts organisations. It has a stepped level of service for different sorts of organisations - charging $25 per month for smaller organisations. Which I guess has got to be cheaper than postage!

• As some other solutions are free, I guess you have to decide how important this is to you and also how mission critical the software is.
• Who uses it? It's used by national galleries and theatres in the UK over here (eg National Portrait Gallery).

Email Marketing Solutions from Constant Contact

Site Description:
Email marketing software that makes it easy to create professional HTML email campaigns with no tech skills. Sign up for a 60-Day FREE trial.

With SpeakUp! Email Marketing you can:

* Get started fast with customizable HTML email templates
* Create email campaigns in a snap with our easy-to-use Email Wizard
* Build, manage, and secure your email marketing contacts
* Send email marketing communications and be confident they'll get delivered
* Get results fast with instant tracking and reporting
* Extend the life of your email marketing when you add Email Archive
* Access a stock image gallery of 3400 pictures when you add Premium Image Hosting
* Get help every step of the way with FREE coaching & support

REVIEW (Making A Mark)

• You get a free trial for 60 days and unlimited e-mails during that time but a limit of just 100 contacts so you don't get to trial heavy duty mailing.
  
• Prices start at $15 per month for up to 500 contacts.
  
• This has got a SafeSubscribe facility re spam so it's possibly more suited for organisations which don't have membership arrangements.
  
• Who uses this? Constant Contact is used by Robert Genn (Painters Keys) - who sends a bi-weekly newsletter to thousands (and I suspect maybe tens of thousands) of artists and has been doing so for years. His letters turn up in my inbox on a very regular basis. [Update: it's also used by Duane Keiser (A Painting a Day) for his e-mail of his daily painting ]

Email Marketing Software & List Hosting Solutions from Sparklist

Site Description:
Email Marketing Solutions - Powerful, Fast, and Easy.

Sparklist provides companies world-wide with affordable hosted email marketing software. Our customers know Sparklist as an email solution that provides a simple interface, advanced functionality, powerful reporting, and extremely reliable technology. Our longstanding commitment to our customers' email marketing needs make us a leading choice for hosted email marketing and delivery solutions. With Sparklist's total self-service email marketing solutions, you'll have an affordable, secure and easy to use tool for delivering mass email marketing communications to your customers, right from your desktop.

REVIEW (Making a Mark)

• This is a comparison of features of different packages and detailed pricing information for different packages
• Who uses this? There seems to be a connection between "web guru" Jakob Neilsen's Alertbox newsletter sent to what I guess must be many thousands of international subscribers and sparklist judging by his e-mail newsletter sign-up site.
  
• I did a search for comments on newsletter software on his alertbox site and it came up with these results. Some of it is old - but as they say some of "the oldies are the goodies" . Neilsen's e-mail newsletter usability report although based on very thorough research looks a tad pricey!

Email Marketing Software, Email Newsletters and Autoresponders by AWeber

Site Description:
Opt-in email marketing is easy with AWeber! Send email newsletters and autoresponders. Get top-notch email deliverability and toll-free support.

REVIEW (Making A Mark)

• These are the features; it also offers a risk-free 30 day trial.
  
• This is the pricing (eg starts at $19 per month)
  
• Who uses this? AWeber is used and recommended by Darren Rowse of Problogger - a top listed 'paid' blogger according to this blog post 5 Tools that I'm Happy to Pay for as a Blogger. He earns big income from his blogging so has street cred. and income to lose if he recommends something which doesn't work! Darren says
  

"For a long time I used a free newsletter service to send out weekly newsletters to many thousands of subscribers. However I increasingly found that you DO get what you pay for. Emails were not being delivered in greater and greater numbers and I was finding the service quite unreliable. Since switching to Aweber I've felt a weight lifted from my shoulders.

It works - every time. Emails are delivered in much higher numbers and the tools that Aweber offer are leave anything else I've used for dead. This is one tool I should have paid for years ago. Pricing varies depending upon how many subscribers you have but starts at $19 a month."

5 Tools that I'm Happy to Pay for as a Blogger.

REVIEW (Darren Rowse)
AWeber - a first impression review

Emma Email Marketing | Email Marketing Solutions | Email Newsletters

Site Description:
Create, send and track customized and stylish email newsletters to your customer or clients. Emma Email Marketing is a simple and affordable solution that allows your business the ability to track email campaigns, send trigger emails and more. Agency accounts and pricing also available.

REVIEW (Deborah Paris)
I use an email deployment service called Emma- (www.myemma.com). Its similar to Constant Contact but I think better. Inital set up fee includes your unique stationery design, then a low monthly fee thereafter depending on how many emails you send. Its spam law compliant with opt out features. Great tools for managing your list as well as statistics to tell you who received, opened, and what they clicked on. I highly recommend it!

Email Marketing Software :: Easy, Effective, Insightful :: Ennect Mail

Award-winning Email Marketing Software empowers you to create and send campaigns, manage lists, customize templates, and display hot prospects in real time.

Two options for payment:
Option 1: Pay-As-You-Go - 5¢ For each email
Option 2: Volume Bundles

Used by the Wholesale Matters blog

Legal requirements for emailers 

The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them.

The law, which became effective January 1, 2004, covers email whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service, including content on a Web site.

A "transactional or relationship message" - email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship - may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.

TIPS for using email lists and newsletters 

Art Biz Blog: Resources for your artist mailing list

Check out this week's Art Marketing Action newsletter to find out when you should add new contacts to your mailing list and when you shouldn't. You might also be interested in these resources. Know the U.S. CAN SPAM laws before you send commercial email Get people to sign up for your mailing lis

Oreilly - 10 Journalism Tips For Bloggers, Podcasters & Other E-Writers

Blogs, podcast & e-newsletters make it easy for anyone to be a journalist. Here are some tips on how to do it well.

Art Biz Blog: Writing copy that sells

Alyson B Stanfield recommends

10 Keys to Copy That Sells! by Alexandria Brown
© 2001-2008 Alexandria Brown International Inc. www.AlexandriaBrown.com

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown publishes the award-winning 'Highlights on Marketing & Success' weekly ezine with 28,000+ subscribers.

Art Calendar | E-mail Marketing Part 1: Contact Systems by By Ligaya Figueras

Art Calendar - E-mail Marketing Part 1: Contact Systems, By Ligaya Figueras - E-mail marketing service companies offer affordable, easy-to-use bulk e-mail services...

Art Calendar | E-mail Marketing Part 2:
Developing a Mailing List by By Ligaya Figueras

Art Calendar - E-mail Marketing Part 2:Developing a Mailing List, By Ligaya Figueras - An effective e-marketing campaign begins with the creation of a quality mailing list.

Art Calendar | E-mail Marketing Part 3:
Writing an E-Newsletter by By Ligaya Figueras

Art Calendar - E-mail Marketing Part 3:Writing an E-Newsletter,
By Ligaya Figueras
Writing copy for your newsletter will be much less daunting if you break it down into manageable parts: pre-writing, writing, revising, and proofreading.

Art Calendar | E-mail Marketing Part 4:
Achieving the Right Look by By Ligaya Figueras

E-mail Marketing Part 4: Achieving the Right Look
By Ligaya Figueras
Most of the artists that I know spend a good deal of time planning their compositions. They think; they sketch; they outline. They would never, ever just throw something together hurriedly and call the finished piece "fine art." After all, it's their reputation that's at stake. When it comes to online marketing, the same high level of standards applies.

Art Calendar | E-mail Marketing Part 5:
Knowing When to Send What by By Ligaya Figueras

E-mail Marketing Part 5: Knowing When to Send What
By Ligaya Figueras

They say that timing is everything. I'm generally not one for adages, but in this age of online marketing, knowing when to send bulk e-mail communications is extremely important. Get it right, and you build the trust and familiarity that keep your support base willingly tuned in. Get it wrong, and you'll see declining responses and lose credibility with your customers.

Jakon Neilsen (Neilsen group) on email newsletters 

Founder of and partner in the Neilsen Norman group / useit.com

Email Newsletter Usability: 165 Design Guidelines for Content, Subscription, and RSS News Feeds

Nielsen Norman Group Report: Email Newsletter Usability:
165 Design Guidelines for Newsletter Subscription, Content, Account Maintenance, and RSS News Feeds Based on Usability Studies

Usability report with Nielsen Norman Group's design and editing guidelines documenting best practices for e-mail newsletters.
$398 to DOWNLOAD a single 544 page report, $698 for the report and the right to make copies within your organization.
(No shipping/handling fees will be added: it's a download.)

His summary begins........

"Users have highly emotional reactions to newsletters. This is in strong contrast to studies of website usability, where users are usually much more oriented towards functionality. Even a website that you visit daily will feel like a tool where you simply want to get in and get out.

The positive emotional aspect of newsletters is that they can create much more of a bond between user and companyusability problems have much stronger impact on the customer relationship than they normally do."

Neilsen Norman Group - references to newsletter software

Neilsen Norman Group - Results from search on www.useit.com
Including:

• web usability
  
• Alertbox - Jakob's bi-weekly column on Web usability
  

Incompetent Email Marketing = Lost Future Opportunities (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)

Lack of personalization made an email newsletter completely useless to the recipient, damaging long-term customer relationship efforts.

Cites an example where 80% of the information was irrelevant for any given user.

ZDNet - Between the Lines - A guide to email newsletters and RSS usability

Larry Dignan and other IT industry experts, blogging at the intersection of business and technology, deliver daily news and analysis on vital enterprise trends.

"Jakob Nielsen and Amy Schade of the Nielsen Norman Group just published a 544-page study on email newsletter usability, including 165 guidelines for subscriptions, content, managing accounts and RSS-based news feeds. It's the third edition of the study, which the company has done about every two years so far.

One of the major findings was that users in the study spent 51 seconds on average scanning a newsletter, Nielsen told me. "The 51 seconds in extraordinarily valuable in forming a relationship with customer," he said. "

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Timely, focused online newsletter a valuable relationship builder

Timely, focused online newsletter a valuable relationship builder

Just two years ago, the average e-mail user was confused and frustrated when differentiating between spam and the then-emerging category of marketing newsletters.

Website webware/software with built-in newsletters 

FineArtStudioOnline - Easy Artist Websites with Marketing Help

Site Description: FineArtStudioOnline - Easy artist websites and marketing help with a gallery of original artwork by artists. Find art in our member artists galleries.

REVIEW (Stacey Peterson)
I have my portfolio website through fineartstudioonline.com, and it comes with a built in email system. There's a page on my site for people to sign up for the newsletter (and choose html or not), and it manages the list for me. It's easy to send out my newsletter using the service, but it's lacking in the formatting department (not a lot of options), so I might start looking at some of these options. The again, it's so nice that it's seamlessly tied into to my website that I might just stick with it!

SiteKreator.com - Professional web site creation solution. - Compare SiteKreator Features

Site Description: SiteKreator provides a one-stop solution for creating captivating Web sites without any technical or artistic expertise necessary.

Business and Professional packages provide support for newsletters and mailing lists