We are building a daily newsletter based on member preferences. The member can choose a city and some categories among a list of 10. Basically each email will be different. Each email is generated by our server.
We are unable to find a provider with an API that can do that. Would you have any solution that ensure a 99% delivery.
Thank you
Damien
Seems to me like you don't need a third party solution. Your question is vague, maybe i'm misunderstanding.
You can build a custom webapp/webpage in PHP for example that would issue a request to the DB, fetch out member data, and construct emails to send out. In the simplest of scenarios this can be done in about an hour. Delivery is basically guaranteed assuming email addresses are correct and the server and network have decent uptime.
I built a similar service that emails users customized content based on preferences. I used a service called Triggermail, by Sailthru. I assemble the body html of the email on my server and then make an API call to them to actually send the mail to user.
They provide a control panel where you can define templates, upload lists of emails, and find out a (growing) number of statistics related to delivery, clickthrough, and they also handle opt-outs. They have excellent delivery rates, integrate with Google Analytics by just ticking a checkbox, and have a pretty fair cpm.
http://sailthru.com/
I know the owner, and can provide an introduction, if you'd like.
From the perspective of an email service provider, this is not dynamic content but static content, as you're assembling each copy yourself.
You should ask providers for "triggered" or "real time" messaging via an API, and indicate you provide each copy. You'll most commonly find APIS with facilities where you set up a template and only pass in the variables that drive the personalization. From your use case, you should also be able to work with that (same result, different implementation). Both definitely exist on the marketplace, but whether you're an interesting client depends of how many of these you plan to deploy (and of course what the origin of your list, your privacy practices etc are).
Related
I am thinking of writing a spec project management webpage. I wonder of anybody have some idea how to start.
Requirements:
1, Needs a SQL email DB to be able to alter for user
2, these email addresses will be grouped for different mass-emails
3, rich email sending with attached files
4, tracking of emails
in other words
A orchestral concert needs players; I have a list of players and every concert has a different concert program so I need different groups to mail out the application forms. As they would reply on the email I need to able to see those replies.
add:I need to be able to see who has replied and if they available for that concert; I also need to be able to track which player can come and who can't so the concert won't fail because of lack of the players:)
Is there any open source apps that already has been written or where to start?
Thanks a lot
Andras
That's not an exact answer, but it does not fit into a comment, so...
Looks like you don't need project management software. Mass mailing services and programs are more than capable of meeting your requirements. I've performed an assesment of MM (mass mailing) programs and services abiut two mongth ago, so you might want to evaluate:
Programs:
http://www.massmailingnews.com/ - free of charge, intellectual csv import (column selection, additional information etc.), email composer, send via SMTP, 3rd party (like IIS SMTP) or direct (needs DNS), saves mails and "campaigns" (sets of addressess and messages), fancy GUI.
http://www.group-mail.com/asp/common/default.asp - configurable recipient data, import from address book, file or database, message saving, message templates, group management, etc. Free (limited number of recipients), licenses start from $139. Compare version at http://www.group-mail.com/asp/common/purchase.asp
http://www.amailsender.com/massmailer/ - trial, import from csv/database, primitive email composer, send via SMTP, $59.95 per license.
http://www.mailutilities.com/adr/ - looks like full-power smtp proxy, which could be used for mass mailing (though didn't yet understand how). Free of charge.
Paid services:
http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com/ free 30-day trial, importing contacts, WYSIWYG message composer, reusing messages, message templates, sending delay. $3.75/month
http://www.amailsender.com/listmanageronline/ - very confusing interface, $9.85/month, uncertain set of features
I would recommend evaluating GroupMail, MassMailingNews and www.yourmailinglistprovider.com. If they are not suitable - develop some custom solution.
I am looking to create a listserv functionality for my website in the style of google groups. That is, someone creates a group and thus, a group email address is born. Should i be using a catchall or should i come up with some way to automatically create a mailbox when someone creates a group?
That really depends on your mail server setup. Your mail server might allow the easy ad hoc account creation, or it might not.
Have you considered using any of the widely-used open source programs (e.g. Mailman) that do exactly what you are describing instead of rolling your own? I would consider it, because people tend to expect mail to work in a particular way, and get a bit upset if it doesn't.
New to the forum but love the comments. I'm tech savvy but not when it comes to programming, coding etc. So - I guess that makes me tech stupid for the moment.
Basically - I want to create a mass email program that will allow us to send bulk emails to our customers who signed an email slip. Currently - we're at 100,000 or so in our database but we expect to see this rise to 200,000 at some point.
What is the best script language to use for this?
Is PHP going to be handle this many emails?
What is the most emails that I can send in any one batch for it to still be "safe" so that the emails arrive to the proper recipients?
What is the term when you send directly from the server?
We currently have 3 servers and I'm assuming they are capable of doing this no problem...but I haven't spoken to our webhosting company just yet.
Lastly - I put together a powerpoint...that gives specs - is there anyone here that would be interested in a little side work to do the project? Really interested in the feedback. Thanks.
In general and based off what you said -- do not create your own mass email program.
Use a service, such as MailChimp or iContact.
Here's a small list of some of the things they do for you:
Manage the list
Handle unsubscriptions
Handle soft bounced emails
Handle hard bounced emails
Handle white listing (You have to pay third party companies $$$s a month to be on these lists)
Give you an idea of how likely and spammy your email is
How fast your email can be sent out (AOL will put you on their blacklist if you send out too fast)
Handle Analytics (such as how many were opened, when, where, what links were clicked on, linking to Google Analytics)
Handle multiple lists and variable replacement (such as "Dear _____")
Nice, easy-to-use interface.
Again, that's a small list in the scheme of things. Those were off the top of my head without too much thought.
EDIT
A couple big advantages I didn't mention:
a) Support
b) A community
c) Constant improvements
d) No server-management
Step 1. Acquire a real email server.
Step 2. Utilize said email server by having your scripts send the mail to it for delivery, and not directly.
Step 3. Throttle the mail server as necessary
Step 4. Monitor the non-delivery reports and remove addresses as necessary...
It depends on how you do this. You can:
1) loop and send 100 000 individual mail
2) Send 1 email with 100 000 people in BCC
or mix both. php can handle it well, but it's a huge task on the mail server.
I am working on a project that needs a emailable mailing list built into it with a very complex list structure. Originally I thought I could just use PHPList to do the job with some minor alterations because of its list management. But now I'm finding that I'm going to need to build this from scratch. PHPList is way to complex to make tweaks to.
So I'm looking for recommendations of scripts, classes, functions to help with the processes so I can just focus on the logic and list management.
The requirements are as follows:
User Subscription web form that captures name and email. Double opt-in that sends a confirmation email with a link back to a landing page. (Looking for a simple script to manage this aspect).
Landing page for opt-in confirmation from subscription email. This is where I need to include my list structure. The lists are very deep nested set trees and way beyond the scope of any mailing list I've come across. I'll need to build this part as it is too complex.
User login for future tweaking of their list settings. Would like a script to help with this aspect.
Admin page for constructing the email (html format). Looking for a simple script to help with this process. The site uses CKEditor for most html input so I could just end up using that here. I also then need to link it to the nested set tree list so I'll need to construct this portion myself. Looking for a simple class/script that I can use as a starting point to help with the structure.
Mail manager script. Ideally would like a cron job option to send the emails at a certain time each day/week. Also would like it to stagger the emails with a pause every 25 or so to bypass spam flags. A log file of what got sent where would be ideal. I'll need to construct the logic of what gets sent where because of the list structure. Would like an existing management script as a starting point.
Mailer script. Finally need a class/script to do the actual sending. I've used phpmailer in the past but wondered if there was anything better nowadays.
As I said at the start, PHPList is reasonably close but was far too complicated in its structure to be delving and changing the way it handles the lists. As such I'm looking for scripts that are user-friendly to tweak and hack.
My 2 cents on this:
use utf-8 for all the system
normalize your emails
create a master suppression list
(many domains wont like you sending
emails to them. with this you can
avoid send emails to people who
probably will block you)
sending emails: create a queue:
divide the process in stages: email
rendering / email sending / etc
phpmailer is enough good
abuse of the use of the
"List-unsubscribe" header and many
others
create a really good bounce handling
script (since keep sending to bad
addresses kill the reputation)
setup you rdns for all your sending
ips
use spf and DKYM
clean the email's body from bad
user input.... some users will try
to send "embed" tags on the body..
that kill the sender reputation
follow all ISP/ESP instructions
about: email per connections /
timeouts / etc ..... yahoo! has it
as many others ISP
I want to design a website that can send and receive sms.
How should I approach the problem ?
What are the resources available ?
I know php,python what else do I need or are the better options available?
How can experiment using my pc only?[somthing like localhost]
What are some good hosting services for this? [edit this]
[Add more questions you can think of?]
You can take a look at Kannel. It's so simple to create SMS services using it. Just define a keyword, then put in the URL to which the incoming SMS request will be routed (you'll get the info such as mobile number and SMS text in query string parameters), then whatever output your web script generates (you can use any web scripting/language/platform) will be sent back to the sender.
It's simple to test. You can use your own PC and just use the fakesmsc "SMS center" and just send it HTTP requests. If you have a GSM modem you can use that too, utilising the modem's AT command set.
First thing, You need to sign up for an account (SMS gateway), most of them also give you example code how to send and receive sms using their API. Then you will wrap the the sms functionality around your sites logic.
e.g http://www.clickatell.com/developers/php.php
I've copied this from an answer I gave in relation to this question. However, in addition to the text below, take a look at Wadja's SMS Gateway deals (API link)... they appear to be a really good option at the moment, though I've not used them, personally.
Your main option for sending SMS messages is using an existing SMS provider. In my experience (which is extensive with SMS messaging web applications), you will often find that negotiating with different providers is the best way to get the best deal for your application.
Different providers often offer different services, and different features. My favourite provider, and indeed, the one that has happily negotiated with me for lower rates in the past, is TM4B (http://www.tm4b.com). These guys have excellent rates, cover a huge proportion of the globe, and have excellent customer service.
Below is some code extracted (and some parts obfuscated) from one of my live web applications, for sending a simple message via their API:
require_once("tm4b.lib.php");
$smsEngine = new tm4b();
// Prepare the array for sending
$smsRequest["username"] = "YOURUNAME";
$smsRequest["password"] = "YOURPWORD";
$smsRequest["to"] = "+441234554443";
$smsRequest["from"] = "ME!";
$smsRequest["msg"] = "Hello, test message!";
// Do the actual sending
$smsResult = $smsEngine->ClientAPI($smsRequest);
// Check the result
if( $smsResult['status'] == "ok" ) {
print "Message sent!";
} else {
print "Message not sent.";
}
Many other providers that I've used in the past, have very similar interfaces, and all are really competitive when it comes to pricing. You simply have to look around for a provider that suits your needs.
In regard to cost, you're looking at prices ranging from a few pence/cents for most Western countries (prices are a little bit higher for most third-world countries, though, so beware). Most providers you will have to pay in bulk, if you want decent rates from them, but they'll often negotiate with you for 'smaller-than-usual' batches. Most providers do offer a post-pay option, but only when you've successfully completed a few transactions with them... others offer it from the start, but the prices are extortionate.
Hope it helps!
You need a SMS server. This should get you started.
Since my company does this sometimes (text promotions etc, though our main focus is much much lower level stuff), I figured I should pitch in.
By far the simplest way is to use a service such as Clickatell, which provides a HTTP API, as well as FTP and SMPP amongst others. I don't know how Clickatell deals with receiving messages, however, as we use direct SMPP binds to our local mobile operators for this.
If you are willing to pay for it, you should be able to get an SMPP bind to your local mobile operator, but its often expensive. This would also allow you to purchase your own shortcode.
You may also want to give mBlox or Nextcell a look. A quick Google search will turn up more.
you could also buy a GSM modem, which would allow you to send and receive messages as you normally would with a phone, except through a PC. This usually means you will pay whatever you would with a phone. (In Ireland anyway)