I'm looking for the best way to set up a email newsletter service within our Drupal site.
We currently send weekly emails to a subscriber list that exists outside our CMS (we use CommuniGate Pro: LIST Module), but it is limited to simply managing the mail list and we want to move to a system that will give us options like tracking, reports, and perhaps even integration with taxonomy, etc.
There are a couple of Drupal modules that could do the job - including Email Newsletters (http://drupal.org/project/enewsletter) and SimpleNews (http://drupal.org/project/simplenews) - but some online comments I have read suggest these have limitations and that third party services might be a better option.
A few email newsletter services do have APIs around which Drupal modules have been created. Campaign Monitor (http://drupal.org/project/campaignmonitor), iContact (http://drupal.org/project/icontact) and Mailchimp (drupal.org/project/mailchimp) are the ones I have found so far.
I was hoping somebody could offer up any experiences they may have had with integrating email newsletters with their Drupal site and especially whether they have had good luck with the APIs.
Thanks,
Geoff
Comments
CMS and Newletter functionalities
As I understand a CMS can provide the below functionalities related to Newsletter
1) New visitor can subscribe to Newsletters, on the website, enable us to create and build an online database of interested ….
2) Provide for an unsubscribe option
3) Provide automated newsletter content
4) Schedule automated mailers to the user database based on the content updated in the website.
5) In addition we could provide for an interface to upload contact database in excel format to send a newsletters.
6) Track no of mails opened
But to track bounced mails, spam, etc we need an SMTP mail service is out of scope of a CMS. CMS just uses the configured SMTP service to send the mails. As I understand to track Mail bounce and spam we need an SMTP service.
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Shyamala
Unimity Solutions
Shyamala, Thanks for that. I
Shyamala,
Thanks for that.
I agree that we could probably get al lot of what we need from one of the Drupal modules.
However, we have come to the conclusion that, while they aren't free, we should be able to derive some good benefits from one of these email delivery services who do focus on what can be a tricky area.
Besides the features you mentioned, these services can also offer things like simplified email creation features that can help you delegate the process to people with little or no HTML skills. Comprehensive SPAM testing is also something that is worthwhile that they would offer.
Geoff
might phplist help you?
i don't really understand drupal+newsletters very well, but i've been studying it for a couple of days & have come across something called phplist. seems to be a module that interacts with the phplist newsletter software, which you'll probably have to install as well
anyway, u can read more about it at http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/phplist
Cheapest and easiest mailing service to use with Drupal ?
Cheapest and easiest mailing service to use with Drupal ?
Hi,
Launching new online stores we would like to use a mailing service to contact our customers.
We would like to use only one service for all the shops.
Which service do you advice, i am looking for the cheapest and the easiest to use with Drupal.
Thanks a lot.