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go4gold
VP-CART New User
151 Posts |
Posted - June 16 2008 : 07:05:57
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I use VP-ASP to mail a regular newsletter to my opt-in list and at this simple level this works fine. However now I want to segment my customer list and have targeted newsletters for each list.
In addition, I would like to start using sequential mailing whereby people registering get a series of emails at intervals I define whereby each person starts at email number 1, irrespective of when they register.
Just wondering if anyone uses a quick and easy solution for this or whether there is a VP-ASP addon today. I may need to get specialist auto-responder software but would appreciate any comments before I start spending more money than is necessary.
Many thanks.
Go4Gold |
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carfin
VP-CART Expert
United Kingdom
948 Posts |
Posted - June 16 2008 : 07:58:49
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Hi,
segmenting your customers into lists would be relatively straightforward using the custother1 field (like customer pricing etc). But for sequential, date specific mailing I think you would really need a dedicated e-mail marketing package.
Regards,
Carrol www.deanston-electrical.co.uk |
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Steve2507
VP-CART Expert
590 Posts |
Posted - June 16 2008 : 14:42:38
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I agree, VP is very good but it is nothing compared to the dedicated email marketing packages available.
Have a look at Sendstudio (www.interspire.com), it's what we use, is very easy to set and use.
Steve Sex toys from a UK sex shop |
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devshb
Senior Member
United Kingdom
1904 Posts |
Posted - June 16 2008 : 18:33:35
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yes; that's the kind of thing we do too; we just export our vpasp list of mail-signed-up users to a separate dedicated package, and then send out via that. ours is complicated by the fact that we have 2 mail-list sources (bigyellowkey.com and bigyellowzone.com) and we need to make sure we don't end up sending the same mail to the same address twice.
we did actually start building a vpasp addon for mail-lists, but never finalised/packaged it; exporting the mail-list and using a dedicated tool seemed to make more sense.
Simon Barnaby Developer [email protected] www.BigYellowZone.com Web Design, Online Marketing and VPASP addons |
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go4gold
VP-CART New User
151 Posts |
Posted - June 18 2008 : 12:56:34
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Thanks guys, good advice, I'll check out some of the dedicated tools as you suggest.
Go4Gold |
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saki
VP-CART New User
82 Posts |
Posted - June 19 2008 : 10:07:59
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Might want to check these folks out. I'm giving it a try integrating it to my VPASP system using the existing customer databsae and a few views for the different mailing lists.
http://ocean12.com/products/o12mailgold/
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Edited by - saki on June 19 2008 10:08:38 |
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Lori Titus
VP-CART New User
144 Posts |
Posted - June 20 2008 : 13:37:06
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I use a group called aWeber. The one thing they DONT do is allow some sort of an emailed add-me-to-your-list that can be called from within VPASP. (For example, I would love to have the ability for someone to mark on my signup and/or checkout form that they want to signup for my email list, and have that automatically trigger the necessary addition on the aWeber list, via email.) But, they seem to do just about everything else - sequential emails for those who are just signing up, the ability to send broadcast emails, the ability to keep stats on click-thru rates, who opened which emails, etc. I highly recommend checking them out at www.aweber.com. I do not get a commission by referring sales to them (although they do have an affiliate program, if anyone is interested).
Simon - they even have the ability to send one email to multiple lists, with each unique email receiving the email only once. (So, if someone belongs to three different email lists, they receive the email only once.) Maybe you can open discussions with them to build a software program that would link VPASP to aWeber. I would definitely be interested, they are just real picky about how to link into their program in order to keep spam to a minimum.
All that being said - most of the signups to their system occur either through an online signup form (which they have lots of templates for), or you can import email lists. I get so busy, I forget to import email lists from VPASP on a regular basis. I DO import a lot of lists that I generate from our craft shows. aWeber just wants to know that you have a written privacy policy on your hand-generated email lists. If they catch you buying and importing spam lists, they will kick you off the system.
The Internet's #1 supplier of honey and beeswax. |
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savvymedias
VP-CART New User
191 Posts |
Posted - June 01 2009 : 14:03:48
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You may want to try eMail Mover - a great, inexpensive program. It has been around several years, but I think it is so complete that you would be fine. The admin area design is lacking all the pretty bells and whistles, but the function is great. http://www.emailmover.com/
If you have some programmer knowledge, I really like Pensaworks SpdENewsletter - but you have to hook up a calling mechanism of some kind on the server to get it to do auto-response calls. http://www.pensaworks.com/newsletter_software.asp |
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Mark Priest
VP-CART Expert
United Kingdom
580 Posts |
Posted - June 17 2009 : 19:52:10
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I think this is a major flaw with VPASP and would like to see it included in Version 7, the problem with external mail packages is its hard to keep peoples requestes up to date, opt in out etc. If people opt out in their VPASP account it has no effect in the external package and this just annoys customers.
I know that this sort of functionality is not the core of a cart, but its these sorts of add-ons that I would happily pay a few pounds for.
It would be nice to have a good resource of add-ons for VPASP but there has never been one, I don't know another shopping cart that hasn't
Regards,
Mark Fireworks |
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Mark Priest
VP-CART Expert
United Kingdom
580 Posts |
Posted - June 17 2009 : 19:56:05
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A great external and FREE package which I did try to impliment into VPASP once was www.phplist.com
Regards,
Mark Fireworks |
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savvymedias
VP-CART New User
191 Posts |
Posted - June 17 2009 : 20:41:58
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EmailMover is $39 and it is on an access database. |
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go4gold
VP-CART New User
151 Posts |
Posted - June 18 2009 : 07:10:10
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Interesting reading the latest comments.
I've been using the free phplist program that Mark recommends. It is easy to use for newsletters although I do have to import my VP-ASP customer list each time and also make sure I amend VP-ASP for those who unsubscribe via phplist.
What this did not give me was the sequential mailing starting on sign-up and continuing for a given number of messages. I was recommended to Listmailpro for this but I still have to get this up and running before I can tell whether it will do this. I'll let people know how it goes...
Go4Gold |
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support
Administrator
4679 Posts |
Posted - June 18 2009 : 07:35:42
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Hi Mark,
I actually disagree about the mail system. We are a shopping cart and that is our focus. I would rather we did one thing and do it well than try to be everything to everyone and not achieve any of our goals.
Newsletter systems are incredibly complex beasts and they need to stay abreast of a great many factors including anti spam regulations, black listing, whitelisting etc. These need full time review.
What we have actually been looking at is integrating with a mail system so the newsletter sign ups are easily merged so your opt in and opt outs are migrated back and forth smoothly.
When we find a suitable partner a mail interface will most likely be released after version 700 is completed as a module.
Hope this helps.
Thanks Cam
VPASP Support |
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savvymedias
VP-CART New User
191 Posts |
Posted - July 10 2010 : 21:04:37
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I have also found:
http://www.autoresponseplus.com/ http://www.mailmachinepro.com/
They both have trigger based marketing, so when someone is on your marketing list and orders, you can move them to a follow up list. A few out there have birthday (or set date) mailing capabilities if you want to offer your customer a birthday or other gift.
MailBeez is an open source platform that integrates with a few OS carts (Zen Cart, osCommerce and the like)... anyone want to integrate with VPASP? http://www.mailbeez.com/
I find autoresponders are most helpful -- to remind people to reorder, to give instructions on the products, to ask for reviews and referrals... it is very much and should be a part of a shopping cart, and many hosted carts come with this functionality now. |
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support
Administrator
4679 Posts |
Posted - July 11 2010 : 06:37:07
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Hi Summer
Thanks for posting.
I am interested in what you can do with this sort of functionality so if you get time please feel free to post this in our helpdesk so we can have a chat in detail about it.
Thank you.
Cam Flanigan VP-ASP Cart Support
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/vpasp |
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go4gold
VP-CART New User
151 Posts |
Posted - July 14 2010 : 01:51:45
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Thanks for the new suggestions Savvymedias - its prompted me to resurrect my email marketing after focussing on other things recently. Mailmachinepro looks incredible value at $59 for a single one-off license so definitely worth looking into further.
Thanks again.
Go4Gold www.myfavouritepubwalks.com |
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