Marketing emails

[DimPrawn]

I have a customer list who have opted in for marketing and regular news letters.

Question - When sending HTML emails, would you opt for images to be hosted on a webserver (linked) or multipart encoded and embedded?

The problem with linked images is most email clients block them unless the recipient clicks a button. The problem with embedded images is it makes the email larger.

Which is the best for maximum impact?

[DimPrawn]

Also, can anyone recommend software for designing, sending and tracking email marketing:

Designing HTML email templates
Creating marketing campaigns
Importing details (emails, names etc)
Sending HTML marketing literature
Tracking views
Managing responses
Having automatic unsubscribe
Etc

????????

[Cowboy Bob]

Question - When sending HTML emails, would you opt for images to be hosted on a webserver (linked) or multipart encoded and embedded?

Answer - Don't send HTML e-mails. Your browser is for HTML, your e-mail is for plain text.

My e-mail client automatically blocks images in e-mails anyway by default, and most others do as well AFAIK (maybe not Outbreak, but don't know about that) so a lot of people aren't going to see them anyway.

Be careful about spam detectors as well. SpamAssassin, for example, places HTML e-mails and images quite high up in it's spam detection rules.

[Cowboy Bob]

Also, can anyone recommend software for designing, sending and tracking email marketing:

Designing HTML email templates
Creating marketing campaigns
Importing details (emails, names etc)
Sending HTML marketing literature
Tracking views
Managing responses
Having automatic unsubscribe
Etc

????????

The "standard" software (ie. most used) for mailing lists and mail shots BTW is Mailman - http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/index.html

Don't know if it does that marketing rubbish, but some very high-profile companies use it - http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/inthenews.html

My current client uses Cheetah Mail - http://www.cheetahmail.com/corp/ - in case you have a PHB who absolutely must pay for something.

[DaveB]

I have a customer list who have opted in for marketing and regular news letters.

Question - When sending HTML emails, would you opt for images to be hosted on a webserver (linked) or multipart encoded and embedded?

The problem with linked images is most email clients block them unless the recipient clicks a button. The problem with embedded images is it makes the email larger.

Which is the best for maximum impact?

How about using RTF so you can have all the nice formatting etc and send a text only mail with relevent headlines and a link to take them to the all singing all dancing News page on your webtulipe?

[DimPrawn]

Answer - Don't send HTML e-mails. Your browser is for HTML, your e-mail is for plain text.

Personally I disagree with this. Why should email be held back in the 1970's?

In the future, people will look back on that statement and laugh.

HTML has evolved, email has evolved.

[Angela_D]

I hate those I receive at work that are linked because sometimes every single one of the pictures needs proxy authentication (username/password/OK) that has to be typed in every time. For a very 'rich' email this becomes a real PITA so I don't read them.

At home: no problem.

[DimPrawn]

I have decided to embed the images in the email. In this way no connection to the internet is required to read the email and no security/privacy warnings appear in the email client.

[Cowboy Bob]

people will look back on that statement and laugh...

...at all the Windows users who get sent HTML e-mails with viruses/worms/trojans that exploit the IE engine???

Why do you need pictures in e-mail? Just put a link in to the website that contains the pictures.

Personally, I'd be junking your e-mails. But then that's just me.

[DimPrawn]

Then you won't be taking advantage of this once in a lifetime, never to be repeated, incredible offer.