Best way to send an e-mail to 3000+ customers?

[dis-4944]

What is the best (and safest) way to send out a short text-based e-mail to thousands of customers at once? All of the e-mail addresses are contained in a mySQL table.

A PHP script generally would time out and I don't want to hammer the server, either.

What would be the best method for doing this?

Thanks in advance!

[Elite]

What I did:

Increase the max execution time of the PHP script (in a php.ini file IIRC), then make sure you pause for a while in-between messages (there are a few threads around with discussion of which rate you should send at...)

More here

[AndrewT]

We recommend using a script that exists for this very purpose such as phpList. You can then configure phpList to spread the sends out over a long period of time.

Please also keep in mind that all mailing list sends must include a working unsubscribe link and scripts like phpList can automatically handle this for you.

[dis-4944]

That makes sense.

Is there an easy way to import a list of e-mail addresses to phpList? I can export in just about any acceptable format from the database.

Additionally, is it possible also to re-export and import to update/add new addresses as they are obtained, while still maintaining their subscription/unsubscribe status?

I've never used a list like phpList, so please forgive my noobishness.

[AndrewT]

Just grab the e-mail list one on each line and you can copy/paste this directly into phpList for importing. It will automatically check for duplicates so you can keep doing this and it will just catch the new addresses that are on the list.

[dis-4944]

That's ideal! Thank you!

[dis-4944]

I set up a list, and before sending out a message to what turned out to be over 8000 addresses, added my own e-mail addys and tried it out.

I know it received my e-mail as I had it set to Hold it. I approved it, and ... it disappeared. I didn't receive it on any of my e-mail addresses.

I searched around and found reference to a problem existing between Mailman and gMail accounts.

Is there an alternative to Mailman? I couldn't find the PHPlist that was referenced in an earlier response.

[AndrewT]

First and foremost, we cannot allow that quantity of e-mail to be sent from our shared hosting servers. We generally try to limit accounts to a couple of thousand e-mails per month, though this can vary. But certainly not anywhere near what you apparently need.

Mailman isn't really meant for one-way mailing lists and we do not recommend using it as such. If you're e-mail didn't go through then you have something configured incorrectly.

phpList is a separate script. You can download it from their website and install it manually or you can install it via Fantastico in cPanel.

[dis-4944]

Ok, thank you.

So I'd be looking at needing a private server to do this type of send-out I'd guess?

[dis-4944]

Theoretically, could I set up a mailing list with only 1-2k addresses on it, and send to only one of the lists a month? It would take 4 months to message everyone but I don't send these out very often (last one was a couple years ago).

[AndrewT]

You could use a VPS (not something that we currently offer) or a dedicated server (overkill) to send the e-mails. There are also companies that specifically offer hosted mailing list solutions which might be a better idea. Unfortunately I cannot specifically recommend any as I've not used them.

The problem simply is that as lists get larger delivery problems tend to grow even more. No matter what you do you will always have spam complaints. With large lists even a very small percentage of complaints can result in one or more blacklistings which we just cannot risk on a shared server.

Spreading the sends over several months as you describe would work just fine. All I ask is that you please do not use Mailman. phpList is actually quite good for what it is and the price (free).

[dis-4944]

Yes, I just installed it and I have to admit, it's much better for what I was looking to do. Plus, it's working (just tested it). I was wondering why I was having so much trouble finding mail-out-only type options in Mailman.

I'll break the list up as much as possible, to make sure I don't cross any boundaries. I'll also look into a mailing service and see what that would run.

Thanks, Andrew.