Hello all, I breed golden retrievers, so after years we have many puppybuyers…How can I send them a sort of newsletter on what is going on in dogs? Is there a good data-stack to collect their names and easily send them info?
THX for any help. Jos
you could use a forms stack such as formloom to collect customer email addresses and then use a mailshot system such as mailchimp or pure360 for sending the newsletters. Both mailshot systems charge on the number of emails you send but can track your emails so you can tell if they are read, or just deleted.
Sendy. https://sendy.co/ It’s really the only solution worth bothering with nowadays. After buying the software (about £50) and set up it’s almost free as it uses Amazon web services to send the emails who charge peanuts.
Use the default Sendy supplied sign-up code to add a sign-up box to your site, or if you want to have the sign-up process a bit cleaner and fancier, then use @joeworkman Post Office.https://www.weavers.space/stacks/post-office
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Mailchimp is still free for under 2,000 contacts and provides code you can copy and paste into your Rapidweaver site.
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I would suggest Sitelok. Not only it is probably the best membership software around, but it also offers a terrific emailing system. And it only costs $40.
There’s lots of free and paid plugins, including e-commerce, securing download links, etc.
P.S. Adrian (of Vibralogix) is one of the nicest and helpful developers around – which is very important when you are about to commit to a specific product.
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I forgot to add that you can use the free Mailshot app from Doobox to compose a HTML mail and use that in tandem with Sitelok’s emailing system.
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I had no idea Sitelok had am email system. Does it handle bulk emails, and if so what sending service does it connect to?
I did look at their page but couldn’t see anything about it.
You can install a MailChimp Plugin that adds the registered users to a MailChimp contact list. Perhaps a bit overkill for the OP, but overall sounds a solid solution for basic member management and CRM.
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Gotchya. Mailchimp is fine if you have a small list, but for larger lists it’s scary pricey.
I was off-line for few hours, so couldn’t respond.
Yes, Sitelok handles bulk emails – in a semi-automatic way, which means you are in full control. If your members’ list is not very long, there should be no problem.
Sitelok uses your email account that comes with your domain hosting, so you don’t pay for sending emails to your members.
I couldn’t find a dedicated page for emailing with Sitelok, but there is a PDF manual specific to RapidWeaver integration, where you can find a chapter on email system.
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OK, that’s not really bulk email. Sorry, I thought you were talking about bulk email options.
Yeah, it depends on your definition of “bulk” email. Perhaps there should be a differentiation between “bulk” and “spam”.
For my modest needs, Sitelok’s built-in email system is just right. I send emails to a couple dozen members once in a while.
There already is. Bulk email is just that, lots of messages sent at once. And Spam. Which is, well, spam.
I send c.100k bulk emails per month for clients. All to double opt-in lists. None of it spam.
Please don’t assume everyone sending bulk email is a spammer.
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Bulk: sending specific content to a group of recipients who gave permission to do so and asked for it.
Spam: sending one or more mails of unwanted content to a list of recipients who haven’t asked for it.
@TemplateRepo, @dripple – thank you for very educational responses re: bulk and spam. I’m sure they were very helpful for this discussion and for the OP. 
Always in for a good service 
Just a thought, the Data Protection Act may be an issue here plus emailing without consent is an offence.
Better be safe than sorry.
Sorry, but no it isn’t.
Sending certain types of email to people who have not explicity agreed to receive them, can be an offence, as per GDPR. But, it only relates to certain types of email addresses, certain types of emails and certain reasons for sending them.
GDPR is complex, but not anywhere near as restrictive as 99% of people think. The mis-understanding came about becuase few people have actually read the regs, and just before and for a while after they came into force lots of websites sprung up giving lots of misinformation with the aim to take money off people who thought they had to do certain things to remain inside the regs.
On top of all this, the regulations are only words on paper (so to speak), it’s the application of thes regs that matter, and for that you need to read the many pages about it on the ICO website (if in the UK), and in instances were you\re not sure, to contact them.
As well as doing commercial web design I also have a business that specialises in bulk email, we send c.100k newsletters per month for clients, so we’re across the regs 100%.
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It is against the law in the UK to store data without a license.
OK Jon. I’m happy to help you understand the regs if you wish, but I don’t want to take this topic off thread, I shouldn’t really have posted that above, so apologies to the OP.
If you want to chat about the regs feel free to PM me or start a new thread, I’ll be happy to impart what I’ve learnt after spending a year or so working through the regs and communicating with the ICO.