Reviewing PHP-Based Mailing List Products/Projects

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volomike
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Reviewing PHP-Based Mailing List Products/Projects

Post by volomike »

Please see my blog post here:

http://voloreport.com/mailing-list-troubles

So, that's the problem. Now I've seen PHPList and I'm not impressed. I want to look at others. That takes time. Have any of you had experience with any other PHP-based mailing list products or projects? For instance:

http://freshmeat.net/search?page=1&q=ma ... 3&without=
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Christopher
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Re: Reviewing PHP-Based Mailing List Products/Projects

Post by Christopher »

I have not found one better that PHPList, but in the last few years I have just rolled my own code for clients that want mailing list functionality. That way it implements the specific functionality they want.
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matthijs
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Re: Reviewing PHP-Based Mailing List Products/Projects

Post by matthijs »

I've only been using specialized online services like campaignmonitor. Everything is done for you and I think they are very affordable (1ct/mail if I remember well). There is so much to deal with when sending mass emails, it just is too much hassle to do yourself, I think. Managing the subscription process, importing and exporting emails, updates to the subscribers' info, sending the mails, dealing with the different kinds of bounces, dealing with spam reports, creating the campaigns, scheduling the sending, etc etc etc

It's been a while, but when I looked at the available (mostly free) scripts a couple of years ago, they where all very amateurish.

Maybe if the client is big and has enough budget, it could make sense to code something yourself, doing exactly what is needed.
alex.barylski
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Re: Reviewing PHP-Based Mailing List Products/Projects

Post by alex.barylski »

They are all poorly done, IMO. Like already stated, it's a lot of work, existing web services like CampaignMonitor, etc do the job very well already.
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volomike
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Re: Reviewing PHP-Based Mailing List Products/Projects

Post by volomike »

I convinced the client to go with MailChimp because the service was great, the product was easy to use (Fisher-Price playset easy), had a "forever free" trial program, had a 501(3)c non-profit discount (which qualifies for my client), and the pricing was affordable.

However, my second bet was to custom-code this thing. If I ever get a situation where MailChimp isn't suitable, then I'll just custom-code this and then sell that as a separate product, repeatedly, on like codecanyon.com or something.
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Jonah Bron
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Re: Reviewing PHP-Based Mailing List Products/Projects

Post by Jonah Bron »

Eran has a cool code sales platform, @ http://binpress.com .
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