iZachy has a very interesting post comparing email newsletter services called – Are Your Subscribers Getting Your Newsletters?. In it Ken (a different Ken to the last post) compares services from FeedBlitcz, Squeet, FeedBurner and Zookoda.
I’m not completely sure on the accuracy of it all for all readers and situations but it looks like Ken’s put in some good work and the stats do highlight a problem that face all email newsletter services.
I know that my last service bounced close to 40% of the emails that I sent but that having switched to Zookoda that this number is now over half of this (but perhaps it could still be better if this study is accurate).
This is why publishers should be pushing RSS… tell the reader how great it is for them (no spam, no viruses, no hassle) because it’s where things are going regardless and publishers (bloggers) are better off embracing, adopting, and evangelizing RSS earlier rather than later.
There is a lot of resistance from traditional marketers to shift that way. The old method of ‘pushing’ out information is the basis and reason for existence for entire organizations and supply chains. RSS puts the control in the hands of the user, they choose what to subscribe to. Using email systems to deliver general information to multiple users is simply inefficient. I’d like to be able to provide a lightweight, branded reader for novice users. This would be a great way to introduce the use of newsfeeds.
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Darren, I know that your newsletter only just makes it through – it gets branded as spam by my ISP (and I haven’t worked out how to get into the settings to uncheck it).
Whether it’s because it comes via a particular service, or because it’s HTML-rich, or it has the word money in it – who knows.
My own email software lets it pass, but it’s already maked as ‘***SPAM***’ – fortunately I haven’t lost any of them.
E-mail newsletters are pre-Web 2.0 and just not worthwhile anymore with the proliferation of spam filters, ISP filters (AOL, for instance, decided to block ALL mail from my site, which is ridiculous), spam, viruses, and general e-mail overload. I gave up my long-running newsletter and stick to RSS now.
Hey Darren,
As you use Zookoda here and on your photography blog and others as well I assume, after these results are you doubting Zookoda a little and tempted to change to another or happy with it and going to stick.
I have been looking at Zookoda the last few months since you first posted about it and have was just about to start using it, now im having a few doubts.
Cheers,
Matt
Why experiment with new, largely untested services when dealing with something as complicated as email deliverability?
Stick with Aweber or Getresponse if you want your email delivered.
Andrew
I read somewhere that 1/3 of readers open email newsletters. I get about that rate.
If it is something they have chosen to sign up for I guess they should atleast be interested, so hopefuly the “open” rate would be higher.