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Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an Internet speaker, trainer, author, and consultant. You'll see his column on REALTOR®Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your questions to help@askmrinternet.com.
Recent columns by Mr. Internet:
Let the Template Do the Talking
Outsourcing, Internet Style
Tips to Get Them Talking
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Big Time Mail List Management
Large-scale e-mail projects demand sophisticated software support.
DEAR MR. INTERNET:
I have a growing e-mail list of subscribers to my online newsletter. But as the size of the list increases, it becomes more difficult and time consuming to manage. Is there some easier way to grow and manage large e-mail lists like mine?
Debbie Dejesus
CB Grass Roots Realty
Grass Valley, Calif.
DEAR DEBBIE:
You’re running into the classic scalability problem associated with e-mail. Although you would think that sending 200 e-mails would be just as easy as sending 10,000, that’s simply not the case. List management issues such as adding and deleting subscription requests, which were only a minor inconvenience with 200 names, can become a major administrative headache when your list approaches 1,000 names or more.
Traditional e-mail software and many of the so-called online list management services are just not equipped to handle large lists effectively. Fortunately, there is a resource available that was designed specifically for the easy management of large e-mail lists—Lyris. Lyris is generally considered to be one of the best, industrial strength e-mail list management software programs available. It’s intended to handle up to 1 million subscribers. In fact, I personally use it to manage my free ePOWER! NEWS, which has many thousands of subscribers. Once configured properly, Lyris helps you to automatically handle the problems of managing large lists. For example:
oBounce-back management. You can decide how many times an e-mail address bounces back before the system regards it as a bad address. Because valid e-mail addresses will sometimes bounce back due to a temporary server problem, this feature keeps you from eliminating good addresses you worked hard to acquire.
o Automatic double opt-in subscription. You can configure the system to send out a special confirmation e-mail message that recipients must answer before their name is added to your list. This “double opt-in” requirement helps cut down errors and ensures that subscribers aren’t added without their knowledge.
o Automatic unsubscribe request. You can embed a special e-mail unsubscribe request into each message you send to your list. And because the software attaches a unique code to each subscriber, it can identify the proper e-mail to process unsubscribe requests, regardless of what e-mail address was used to send the request. You can even configure the program to send out a “remove confirmation" message that will allow the subscribers to change their minds about unsubscribing and provide feedback on why they no longer want to receive the newsletter. This feedback may help you modify it to make it more valuable to subscribers.
o Automatic duplicate subscription prevention. You can automatically send subscribers a message indicating they are already subscribers. The Lyris system will not allow duplicate subscriptions from the same e-mail address on any list
If the Lyris system sounds like just the ticket for your large e-mail list management, it is--with just a few provisos. First of all, Lyris is far from inexpensive; few individuals or brokerages can afford to purchase it outright. However, there are many Internet service providers that will rent you the use of the software and charge you according to the number of lists, their size, and the total number of messages you send. The pricing for these services tends to be all over the map. The least expensive one I've found (and currently use) is Media3.net, an ISP located in Massachusetts. You can run several Lyris-based lists through this site for as little as $25 a month.
A second drawback is that Lyris is not easy to set up initially, although once it is, it practically runs itself. To help you avoid several hours of set up headaches, I've included examples from the Lyris set up of my online newsletter below. Use the “help—pop up” on each screen for more explanation.
o List settings. The settings establish parameters such as the security requirements for the list. Note that the settings for this example are for an announcement-type list that would be used to send an e-mail newsletter. If you are doing something similar, many of the settings in this example will probably work for you. (Other kinds of lists, like discussion lists, may use setting values different from what is shown.)
o Subscription confirmation message. This screen lets you establish the double opt-in list subscription policy and create a specific message relating to your services.
o Welcome message. This screen is an opportunity to send a promotional message for your services to every new subscriber.
o Goodbye message. The message, which is sent out when someone unsubscribes from the list, should also include a request for feedback on ways to improve the newsletter.
E-mail continues to be the killer-app of the Internet. As your e-mail marketing continues to grow and become more sophisticated, you will need the heavy-duty tools like Lyris to handle the job--so it doesn't do a job on you!
Tip of the Month
Ever wish you could have a high-impact Flash multimedia presentation on your Web site, but thought it was too expensive or difficult to do? Well, your wish just came true. With the innovative ImpactBuilder online Flash multimedia production system, you can have your own multimedia presentation in minutes.
ImpactBuilder offers more than 40 available templates for presentations, some of which are specialized for real estate. You can customize the presentation to some degree with text, music, and pictures quickly and easily, following the instructions on the screen. And all the design work can be done on ImpactBuilder’s Web site, without having to download, install, or learn any software.
The annual subscription plan, which costs $249, allows you to change your presentation as often as you like (on every listing appointment, for example). As good as this is, the folks at ImpactBuilder made it even better by donating 20 percent of all annual subscriptions to Children's Miracle Network if they are made through Mr. Internet's e-Bate program using the link in this story.*
*Mr. Internet , the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS , nor any of the staff or officers of RUSSER Communications receive any compensation whatsoever from this or any other vendors that participate in the e-Bate program.
Article Resources
Lyris.com. A publisher of e-mail management software and services geared to large-scale list users.
Media3.net: This site is one of the least expensive Lyris list-hosting services available. | |
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