One of my first posts here so please be gentle! I have a relatively small opt in e-mail database of around 5,000, UK targetted. Is it safe to send them all a newsletter or am I likely to get blacklisted for spam? My ISP here in the UK is Virgin Media (formerly NTL) and I am on a home users package, not buiness. The alternative would be to get someone else to send for me (if that is possible). I would ask in the services section but haven't got enough posts or time here yet. Any ideas greatly appreicated. Thanks.
If you got the email addresses from a quality optin system and the people knew what they were signing up for and knew they were going to be getting additional emails then I would try it out. Yeah, Aweber is a great service for this. You don't want to be sending anything if they users aren't expecting it!
Depending on the source of your database. If you have acquired them from reliable sources and your topic is relevant to them, then you can send them your emails. Use professional autoresponders with broadcasting feature, that allows you to mass broadcast your message. Try Aweber and GetResponse
I'm a little confused. If you have 5000 people that agreed to get an email newsletter from you why would you get banned for sending them the newletter? Do you mean you are afriad that your 'ISP' may ban you for actually sending the emails, when they see so many being pushed out by your computer? I would think they would first call you to notify you that you may have a virus that is mass-mailing before they would assume you are trying to spam people. If they even contact you at all. For the most part, it depends on whether the emails being sent cause interruptions to the services of other users. So if 5000/mails bog down the ISP's mail server, this could be a problem depending on the ISP. Or just use the services suggested elsewhere as well. I'm curious, how do you get a 5000 opt-in mail list anyway? My list is not that big :-(
I built my own system. What's different between using aweber and my own system. My system is that someone leaves their email and then receive an activation email. If they activate it they receive emails from me and if they don't they don't get them. I then have on each email a link down the bottom so that they can unsubscribe and once they have unsubscribe they can re-subscribe to it using the same email address.
Your fine to email! As long as they opted in, and you have a way for the emailee to unsubscribe and no longer get your newsletter anymore then there is nothing illegel about it. try www.exmmarketing.com they are pretty cheap and you get a great platform to use IMO.
I have a similar issue, i have a list which only has just over 2,000 subscribers and i wanted to use outlook to manage my newsletter and send it out etc. anyways after 2 weeks of sending my newsletters once per week my broadband got turned off. after ringing virgin they had cancelled my account due to large ammount of mail passing though their filters as they flagged as COULD be spam. let me please note this was a newletter about seo news so was not spam, but just thought id let you know that virgin will cancel your account because of it. i did get them to turn my account back on and had to promise the emails would stop, so i now have to look for a hosted solution. Good luck mate.
Yeah, I am concerned at how my ISP would react? I use Virgin Medial (formerly NTL) here in the UK. Clearly the ISP has no means of knowing whether you are spamming or send to an opt in list? Or is it a case that is not a probelm unless someone complains?
I would not use your Virgin Media account to send mass e-mails from, (1) every ISP has some type of fair-usage policy, and this usually includes mass e-mail. (2) because such a high volume of e-mail service would be coming from your account, they will shut it down because they either think you're sending spam, or, your computer/account has been infected with a virus and is sending mass e-mails out without your consent. (3) e-mail can use up a lot of bandwidth if they contain attachments, pictures and other types of media, so this could be another reason for them to suspend your account (although not as likely as the others, (1) and (2) ). Use a designed application for your mass e-mails, because then the e-mails are not being tracked through your ISP's e-mail servers, and you cannot get blacklisted from your ISP (at least). But my advice to you on actually sending the e-mails is this; yes if the e-mail address holders opted-in, and; no if you are unsure. Buying e-mail databases can be a tricky subject, if these databases are sold on to many customers and they have recieved e-mails in the past - your e-mails may be flagged as spam, and once this happens a few times your websites IP is blocked, and this can filter out real/important/genuine e-mails from reaching to your beloved customers. Just my advice and opinion on the matter, hope it helped .
Just my 2 cents. You pay your ISP, and yes they can ban you, but if they are smart they will only do this as a last resort, otherwise they loose you as a customer and loose $ in their pocket. It is in their best interest to contact you with a concern first before deciding if it is a spam activity and taking approperiate action. Perhaps just ask your ISP up front about what your trying to do, more likely then not they won't mind it, but will try to sell you 'some sort of package' about it. In which case I would compare this with other online services mentioned here and decide what move is best. That aside as I said, they also don't want their bandwidth limited to the extent that they cannot serve their other customers. But IMHO 5000 emails say on a weekly basis (with 0 attachments) should not be a big deal for most mail servers. Nw if each email were say 1MB or bigger or the newletter is being sent out daily, that might be a different story.
Anyone who has ever tried to contact Virgin Media with a technical question will know that is a virtually impossible task I think a desinged mail service may be the safest bet. The only other option I thought of (but probably don't have the technical knowledge to implement) is to mail from one of my web hosts. I am about to ditch one, so if there is a script that would do the job?
Trust me ISP's don't really care too much about their customers, considering the customer is on a contract they ban you all they like. And trust me on sending 5,000 e-mails out from your ISP they WILL ban you (fair-usage policy) - it happened to me! I had to sign a declaration basically saying I am sorry, and that if it happened again, I would be permanently cut off.
What if you sent 500 emails a day - just text, no images - but with relevant links to your site or online newsletter? I have sent two emails to 2 x 500 and have had no come back from my ISP I have an opted in database, collected via telephone marketing, but do worry that permission to email them will have been forgotten.
I must admit I'm not from the UK, but I would have to say, that any company whose policy is 'don't really care too much about their customers", is eating at their bottom line and heading towards distruction. I should also add very strongly, that I am not a proponent of UCE/SPAM, and if someone was doing that they deserve to be banned/blacklisted. I should also have clarified that the size of the ISP is likely relevent as well, a small ISP might have a more difficult time dealing with 5,000 emails then a larger ISP. My opinion on "fair use" policy. You paid for shared bandwidth, you are responsible to use it in a way that is fair to all user also sharing it. (ie: Don't bogg down others with your spam, and don't eat up all the bandwidth at peak times). I frequently download way more bandwidth from downloading podcasts then what is used sending 5,000 emails.
Virign Media is one of, if not the biggest provider of cable broadband in the UK. Their service is good (in my experience) but customer care leaves a lot to be desired.