Hi,

What do you all think about 'double opt in' method for building a mailing list for email marketing and can anyone recommend the best software to use for this?

Although I obviously want as many people as possible on my mailing list, I also want those people to have actively given me permission to email them. I realise the best way to do this is to make sure that not only has someone provided their contact details on my website but also that they have confirmed separately that they did in fact do this.

I know that this will result in a shorter list but I do believe that quality is better than quantity!

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Gray VA Services - Virtual Business Support
www.grayva.co.uk

My favourite Autoresponder and Newsletter program is Aweber, I find it easy to use and the ability to grow with the program is great. Has a great delivery reputation (emails get through) It does have a monthly fee, but in my opinion is you often get what you pay for.

Now another system that quickly becoming quite popular is Mailchimp, it's free for the first 2000 subscribers and 12,000 emails ( which means you could email 2,000 subscribers 6 times in a month). Has graphically pleasing newsletters, but lacks the ease of customizing forms like Aweber.

It's all personal choice, but both use a double opt-in and in my opinion are great programs for connecting with your community.

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Renee Shupe, Become a Techie Virtual Assistant
eMail Marketing & Aweber Training Starts May 15! - Save 50% using VAFAweber

Thanks Renee,

I will look into both. It may be worth starting with Mailchimp as my list won't be very long and I don't plan to send things too frequently. I may move onto Aweber once things pick up (optimism never hurt anyone).

Sue

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Gray VA Services - Virtual Business Support
www.grayva.co.uk

Well Mailchimp has been make a lot of improvements and you might find that you'll be able to grow with Mailchimp. It has been gaining popularity and the improvements from when I first started using them has be tremendous.

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Renee Shupe, Become a Techie Virtual Assistant
eMail Marketing & Aweber Training Starts May 15! - Save 50% using VAFAweber

Great answers, Renee! Well said! I'm with you on Aweber and MailChimp!

Double-opt in is really the best way to go to ensure that people really do want the information we can provide.

As an aside, another feature about MailChimp which I learned here on VAF is that it has a birthday form for subscribers which means that you can set up birthday wishes to go out if you so choose. I think that can be an appropriate, personal touch.

Janine

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Thanks Renee and Janine for your advice. I am now using Mailchimp and loving it. It was really easy to set up and their downloadable 'how to' guides are really informative.

This is what I love about this forum. It saves me hours of searching for services that may turn out to be rubbish or to numerous to decide between. The advice from people who have used and can review these services is priceless.

Thanks again,

Sue

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Gray VA Services - Virtual Business Support
www.grayva.co.uk

By the way the banana foam on the Mailchimp website really made me laugh. It is (as its name suggests) a banana made of foam into which you can insert your mobile phone and therefore communicate using a piece of fruit. So random, so pointless but yet so funny!

Sue

__________________
Gray VA Services - Virtual Business Support
www.grayva.co.uk

Sue,
I use Constant Contact which I find extremely valuable as you can do all types of emails, newsletters, coupons, etc. with it. You can use their templates or create your own. My list manage on my website also goes directly into my Constant Contact lists.