An excellent mass email program
Retired now, I do tourism development for the City of Tombstone, Arizona... and also fundraising for my church.
Found an absolutely excellent mass email program called ActiveCampaign... easy to use compared to Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or GetResponse. And best at getting the message to Inbox instead of Junk or Spam. Perfect display on Apple or Android smartphones, where 85% of my folks are getting their info these days. I like mass email -- gets you out of the Facebook swamp, back to having control over the message with lots of ways for customer interaction.
A big change -- everything you've learned about design, about typography... well, almost everything... forget it. You have a limited selection of fonts to use. Want something different? Include it as a JPG. Thing is, your customers don't care about design or a perfect font selection. It is all about a short, strong headline... like FREE BEER! with related square or landscape-aspect graphics, some more text, an offer, etc. Simple scores big here. People don't read much anymore -- keep text blocks short, write at a 10-year-old comprehension level.
Psychologically, it's an interesting shift from worrying about design & layout -- to being able to concentrate on only the selling message, as it's impossible to do much by way of design.
Historically, well. Some say that each iteration of a technology cheapens the output while lowering the cost of production. Who knows. Financially -- I was taught years ago that the only thing that mattered in an ad was getting customers to the client's door. And ActiveCampaign really delivers on that. Recommended.
Re: An excellent mass email program
Good to know. Things are pretty dead in Tombstone, aren't they? :)
Re: An excellent mass email program
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
Things are pretty dead in Tombstone, aren't they? :)
Lol
Re: An excellent mass email program
tombstone is a real place :-O
mass mailing... as long as its not cold... ok
Re: An excellent mass email program
So are these mailshots to subscribed people who have agreed to be sent email?
I ask simply because without that permission, if people were to complain mail servers can be blacklisted.
Re: An excellent mass email program
Dumb question, but where would one complain in the first place that would get a mail server blacklisted?
Re: An excellent mass email program
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gypsyjoe
Dumb question, but where would one complain in the first place that would get a mail server blacklisted?
Not at all dumb - it may not be so easy.
You would need to look at the origin of the email and see who is responsible for the domain and server. There will be an admin address and sometimes a contact to complain to.
All emails sent out in a mass mailing should include an option to unsubscribe.
If it's some small church group, etc then perhaps it doesn't matter, but if you send out 10,000 it will be wise to do it properly.
Of course the bad guys use servers in countries who could care less.
Re: An excellent mass email program
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pauland
...who could care less.
I have never understood why anyone would mention that they care when they are clearly trying to portray they don't. I've even gone as far as searching the Internet (which is never incorrect) and the only answer I can come up with is Americanisation.
The very British, tongue in cheek David Mitchell describes my way of thinking way better than I can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo
Re: An excellent mass email program
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
I have never understood why anyone would mention that they care when they are clearly trying to portray they don't. I've even gone as far as searching the Internet (which is never incorrect) and the only answer I can come up with is Americanisation.
"Could care less" is a typical British phrase and it means exactly what it says - the person could not care less - so it's not trying to be clever and imply that the person does care through some clever phraseology. "Could care less" means the person does not care. I guess that one of the common forms of usage of "could care less" omits the "not" and that's where your interest in the phrase comes from.
I like David Mitchell but I am at a loss as to the relevance of the clip. As far as Americanisation goes, I am as British as David Mitchell is, but he does win when it comes to Englishness. He is a lot of fun on a game show called "Would I lie to you?" in the UK and also pops up on many other shows. I would say his style is "posh, clever wordplay" and he is generally a joy to listen to.
I'm not sure if this post helps anyone or not!
Paul (British not American).
Re: An excellent mass email program
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pauland
"Could care less" is a typical British phrase and it means exactly what it says - the person could not care less
Here's my dilemma: could care less = couldn't care less???
Mr Mitchell explains the problem at 50 seconds in, including a graph. I don't know the gentleman, nor the show, I just liked the way he explained situation. He also verified my thoughts, so he has to be a good egg :D
Re: An excellent mass email program
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
Here's my dilemma: could care less = couldn't care less???
Mr Mitchell explains the problem at 50 seconds in, including a graph. I don't know the gentleman, nor the show, I just liked the way he explained situation. He also vilified my thoughts, so he has to be a good egg :D
He's having fun with the expression.
In another context it can be used sarcastically to imply that the person does care while denying it, as Mitchell says, but that's not so in all contexts and certainly not true in my usage. While the phrase literally says one thing (that it would be possible to care less because the person does care to some degree), in common usage, with the 'not' missing that's not the meaning but it actually depends on context.
It's a subtle thing but my "could care less" phrase is used in this case to mean "could not care less" and I am unapologetic about it because the exact meaning can be nuanced according to context (and clever contextual wordplay).
Re: An excellent mass email program
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
the only answer I can come up with is Americanisation.
I'm just curious what Americanization has to do with it? While I am truly American, I have heard the expression from both the Brits and the Aussie's also. But then I truly could care less!!!!;))
Re: An excellent mass email program
Back to the Thread.
My ask is if the program worth $9/m for 500 punters?
https://app.tinyletter.com/ (from MailChimp) is free and very, very simple.
I also use MS Word Mail Merge but I'm Old School liking to control my own data.
Acorn
P.S. Americans use "could care less" four times more often that UK writers. "Could care less" only works if said sarcastically. In written prose, it is grammatically incorrect. I, too, couldn't care less unless it relates back to Xara who are well and truly cemented to the base of David Mitchell's graph.
Re: An excellent mass email program
thats because the US expression means 'i could always care less than i actually do, even though that is not very much at all'
which is, on the surface intrinsically polite, but sarcastic
. wheras 'couldnt care less' is blunt and to the point
Re: An excellent mass email program
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
thats because the US expression means 'i could always care less than i actually do, even though that is not very much at all'
which is, on the surface intrinsically polite, but sarcastic
. wheras 'couldnt care less' is blunt and to the point
Got it.
Acorn
1 Attachment(s)
Re: An excellent mass email program
Good to see your replies!
First: Gary, Tombstone is alive and well. Even though the Millennials don't know who Wyatt Earp was... since 1881, several other American cities have had far more memorable gunfights. But Hollywood makes movies about ours, happily. Tourism is up with the economy; we are redneck redstate, pretty much, in contrast to nearby Bisbee, which is Calif coast liberal.
You could think of Tombstone as a secret oasis, in the midst of the American mall-ized clutter. We have no stoplights. No fast foods. The cleanest air in the country, being a military no-fly zone, and no polluting industry, either. Pure city water direct from springs high in the Huachuca Mountains, over by the Army fort where the Buffalo Soldiers set out to hunt Apaches, long ago. Had Apache dancers back in town recently... here's one on a map of the area. Imagine these guys coming at you; they terrified the Anglos and Mexicans back when. Anyway... keep us in mind if you want to experience a real true west town... an alive town, not Disneyland, with bright red stagecoaches rattling down our dirt main street, and a few recent gunshot holes in the ceilings of our saloons. The newspapers missed the story on the last one, not reporting that the gunman had a black powder cap-and-ball 1860 Navy Colt revolver, which actually worked... one round in the ceiling of Doc Holliday's, the other in the other fellow's leg. We are officially a Second Amendment city, in an open carry state. Not that any locals wear a gun to town, they are heavy, and your pants might fall down. But out in the nearby Tombstone Hills, where all the silver mines were... if you get bit by a rattler, you have to shoot it and take it with you to the hospital, so as to get the proper king of antivenom. But not much else to use a gun for around here... Attachment 126333
