I'm looking for an automated e-newsletter management sytem to:
1) automatically select and drop the correct content into each recipient's newsletter (eg send only Automotive articles to automotive clients, Financial articles to Financial clients, both types of article to anyone signed up as both Auto and Financial...)
2) give full tracking of who has read which articles
3) tracking of bounce-back etc
4) automatic list management (subscribe / unsubscribe etc)

Does anyone have any recommendations on vendors? I'm looking at NewsWeaver already...

Hi

What you require appears to me to be out of scope of most e-mail marketing and list distributor ASPs or off-the-shelf software packages. The off-the-shelf packages that may be able to handle this will require a lot of customisation, and most likely duplication of data.

The problem I have found generally with using most purpose-built software products is that although the functionality of these products is often extensive and rigorous, you may have to compromise greatly on your business requirements as the software package quite simply does not integrate smoothly into your IT systems as they are designed to cater for everyone.
Take the example of your e-newsletter management system. If you were to use a list management server, the chances are the amount of integration involved in linking the list management server directly to your database will be make it become highly difficult if not unfeasible. Therefore the solution you will probably be forced to adopt would be to export your data from your database, import this into the list management server, and send e-mails from there. The problem then arises when people want to be able to unsubscribe, update their data etc. Which database updates which, you now have 2 databases and synchronising the 2 can become a nightmare.
Also, further down the line when you want some other added functionality, will the list management server company be able to make these additions for you?

My suggestion would be to build your own e-mail management system, it’s not as difficult as you may think, including full tracking, list management etc. This way you can define your requirements, you can change the processes and mechanics of the system when you want, and the integration with your database will be complete as opposed to duplicating data. Looking at NewsWeaver, even that will require you to upload your database, and then try and keep your internal & NewsWeaver database synchronised. Also, NewsWeaver will not automate the process of creating content. If you currently have the content for the newsletter in your database, you can pull on this automatically according to sets of rules defined by your business, and send the e-mails according.

I have built numerous e-mail solutions, drop me a line or give me a call on 07930 534 713 if you think I can help you further.

Regards,

Matthew O’Riordan
Lemon Foundation
www.lemonfoundation.com

On 11:39:58 9 October 2003 AmandaW wrote:
>I'm looking for an automated e-newsletter management sytem
>to:
>1) automatically select and drop the correct content into
>each recipient's newsletter (eg send only Automotive
>articles to automotive clients, Financial articles to
>Financial clients, both types of article to anyone signed
>up as both Auto and Financial...)
>2) give full tracking of who has read which articles
>3) tracking of bounce-back etc
>4) automatic list management (subscribe / unsubscribe etc)
>
>Does anyone have any recommendations on vendors? I'm
>looking at NewsWeaver already...

Amanda, I would recommend you buy not build in this case. Lyris is the best solution I have found with loads of automated functionality available for £1k to £7k. The solution has been around for a while. Listmanager is on version 7.5 so it is pretty robust and bug free. It does all the things you want: automatic soft and hard bounce-handling, automatic unsubscribe, conditional content to the right segments, and the tracking is excellent. Call Andrew Robinson at Xpedita (the UK Lyris distributors and support centre) on 0870 731 600 or I know his organisation and they have helped me on a number of occasions

Two more things Amanda

The system, once set up is totally in your control if you want it.

The sort of prices I've seen here on this thread seem high to me.

Tony

Hi Matt

There are a number of CMS systems on the market now that are middle of the road in that there is minimal set-up involved and then very very simple to use. Most office staff will not need to involve their IT people as there is no need for legacy system interaction. The key is that they need to be qable to be run by the office team themselves and not outsourced to avoid overheads and delays.

But they still provide a high level of tracking and reporting. Typical set up costs are around £300 for a simple email layout enforcing the client company's branding and of course the emails may then fully personalised, provided that information is available. And most, most important - these systems need to enforce a formal sign off and "opt-in" checking process.

Interested to know whare you will be going. If you fancy a chat about these systems, please check out my profile and call.

Kind regards

Tony

On 18:37:21 10 October 2003 chokky wrote:
>Hi Amanda,
>Newsletter / mailing systems are easy to set up and, due
>to the indicidual nature of organisations, demand a level
>of customisation that off-the-shelf applications can't
>offer. If you have anyone in IT at your disposal, their
>desk would be my first destination. If you don't, I'll can
>it - I've just finished a Masters and don't start work for
>a few weeks...!
>