Bulk email:self-hosted or out-sourced

[John_B]

I am planning a weekly email newsletter, free at first, though it should make money if it takes off. Key target audience is managers in large companies.

A question discussed on other forums- maybe somone here has advice:

Is it worth paying the likes of MailChimp to send out the newsletter, or can it work just as well if I install a bulk emailer (e.g. PhPList, which is on Fantastico) on my server (using the spare IP address and a spare domain name) and send it out myself?

John

[John Cena]

If a marketer has one database containing names, addresses, and telephone numbers of prospective customers, they can pay to have their database matched against an external database containing e-mail addresses. The company then has the means to send e-mail to persons who have not requested e-mail, which may include persons who have deliberately withheld their e-mail address.

[Emedias]

I'd always use the email service provider. They'll provide the tools (whitelisting, stats, list management etc...) to get the most out of email marketing broadcasts can optimise your earnings.

I provide a service to my clients so once I've setup the initial HTML email template, they can easily send campaigns as and when needed, then monitor their effectiveness.

Email marketing is only ever as good as the quality of your email list. If you have a list of past customers warm to your product or service it's essential marketing in my view.