I'm looking into options for email marketing, and I'm trying to see what my options are (downloadable software vs. hosted service) for my needs. What I need: When users choose to opt out of emails, I want it to update this info in my database directly. I don't want to manually copy the unsubscribed email addresses from a hosted service or installed software so that I can go through and update my users table directly. Instead, I would like the process to be automated. What I'd prefer: Free service or installable software. (Also, is there a list of benefits/drawbacks for using email marketing software on my own server instead of letting a hosted service do it all for me?) Thanks in advance!
Hm, maybe this email newsletter software is of use. Wrote it a couple of years ago. It is meant to be installed on your webserver. It draws information directly from your SQL database and you need your own SMTP server to send mail through.
Thanks for the replies everyone. A list I'm building via my website. When members join, they provide their email address, and they check a box stating that they agree to the TOS. The TOS states that I am able to contact them via email, but I will not be providing their email addresses to third parties. A free one for sure. I'm broke as heeeeell. This sounds like it could be along the lines of what I'm looking for. Is there a built-in way for mailing list members to unsubscribe via a link in the email or anything like that? I definitely want to comply with anit-spam laws and whatnot.
Yes and no. You are suppose to have a flag in your users record in the database, that determines whether or not an address is subject to getting a newsletter. How this flag is toggled is up to you. It shouldn't be much of a problem to implement unsub via a link in the mail.
yeah just make a php page that has something like $email = $_GET['email'] then it searchs the database for $email and removes it. So in your emails you can be like unsubscribe via this link -> yourdomain.com/remove?email=your@email.com