The following content is adapted from the Dada Mail Manual. The Dada Mail Manual is available through the purchase of Pro Dada.
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Most people who set up Dada Mail do so to use it as a Public Announce-Only Mailing List.
In this setup, you have a subscription form available and visitors to your site will subscribe to your list, by filling out the subscription form with their email address.
When you're ready, you can then write a message within Dada Mail and this message will be sent to all the people who are subscribed.
This is a pretty simple setup and we think, pretty effective, as long as your exercise some common sense on subscriptions, what you send and how many times you send it.
In a public announce-only list, the main way that your users should be added to your list is by letting them fill out the Dada Mail subscription form with their email address and going through what's called: the Closed-Loop Opt-In process.
This term is ridiculously obtuse, if you ask me, but it just means that once a subscription request is made, a confirmation email is then sent with instructions on how to confirm the subscription they've just asked for. In Dada Mail, users will have to click a URL, within an email message. Once this URL is clicked on, the user will then be subscribed to the mailing list.
Pretty simple process and I'm sure you've done a similar process for other web sites and services, but it's vitally important - if not THE most important part of a mailing list's health. Here's why:
Unverified email addresses on a mailing list should be considered much like poison for the list itself. It can kill a perfectly healthy mailing list in very small doses.
Imagine having a mailing list with half of the email addresses on it unverified. This means that your mailing list will take twice as long to send out and probably will be half as effective. There's also a major issue that these unverified addresses won't be valid and then you have the problem with email messages that you send, bouncing back. Unverified addresses that are valid may result in you receiving spam reports, which could potentially have the email system for your website blocked.
This one issue is the one major problem people make for themselves, when running a mailing list and the solution is very simple: use the Closed-Loop Opt-in system.
There may be a time when an individual asks to be subscribed to your mailing list, or you've asked them and they've said, "No Problem". You may also have an in-store sign up sheet for your mailing list. What should you do in these circumstances?
It would be very strange to have to tell them to go to your website, find the subscription form, fill it out, click on the confirmation link in the email they receive, etc. It would be a lot more convenient for them if you did all the work, for them.
My advice what be that, yes, it would be OK for you to sign them up yourself and you can do this in the Dada Mail List Control Panel, under Manage List -> Add Subscribers.
Please do exercise restraint. Dada Mail can add several thousand subscribers at a time, without confirmation, but this is not what you want to do for a Public Announce-Only Mailing List. Remember: never subscribe someone who hasn't given you permission to do so.
If you do sign someone up, also have the courtesy to tell them, via email, that you've signed them up. A quick and friendly email may be all you need and you already have their address, anyways:
Hello John! Thanks for coming in the store today! I've added you to our mailing list and I hope to see you at the store, soon.
It is really important to send out that "Thank You" email, as it reminds the person that they gave permission to you to put them on your mailing list.
If you want to exercise even more restraint, send out a List Invitation. A List Invitation is almost like sending out a confirmation email to many people at once.
This can also be done in the List Control Panel, under: Your Subscribers -> Add. Once the addresses are verified, you can then click the button entitled, Invite Checked Subscribers... on the Verification screen.
Invite Checked Subscribers...
The Chapter on the Your Subscribers -> Add screen.
The content of your mailing list message can be varied as your business or your own personality - there's no hard and fast rules on what a newsletter has to have in it, but it's a good question to ask yourself: what exactly is your mailing list for? Here's some ideas for Public, Announce-Only Mailing Lists
This is the simplest type of mailing list message - just write about updates to whatever the Pubic Mailing List is set up to be about. Easy enough.
Many times, you'll see a new website pop up, but not complete, with a mailing list for you to subscribe to, once the website is complete.
When it is, this is a great time to write message to your list, to tell everyone interested that what they've been waiting for is here!
This may also be a very short-lived list. If that's all its purpose is for, you can then delete it.
Many people use Public, Announce-Only Mailing Lists as a way to offer special discounts and coupons for merchandise they sell online. Having these offers available only for your subscribers is quite the incentive to be subscribed.
The amount of email messages you should send out really does depend on what you'd like to do with your mailing list and what other tools you're using for your website.
As a general rule of thumb, less is probably better. Whatever you decide, though, make sure to give a rough estimate of how many messages you're probably going to send, in your List's Description. That way, your would-be subscribers will have an idea on what to expect. With mailing lists, no one wants such surprises.
Online presences have so many options to choose from, when communicating and reaching out to users and mailing lists are just one of them. If you have an inkling to write someone every hour, consider Twitter ( http://twitter.com ), every day, consider writing a blog. A sweat spot for Public, Announce-Only Mailing Lists may be weekly, monthly, or even quarterly - with a spattering of special announcements.
If you're sending far too frequent, your subscribers may let you know. Listen to them.
Since Dada Mail defaults to this type of mailing list, there's little you really need to do - out of the box, Dada Mail is ready to work for you, as a Public, Announce-Only Mailing List.
I keep stressing the importance of using the Closed-Loop Opt-In system of Dada Mail. If you're setting a Dada Mail list for someone else, you may want to do completely disabling Subscribing new users via the List Control Panel:
Log into a Dada Mail List using the Dada Mail Root Password and go to: Manage List Control Panel ->; Options and uncheck the option labeled, Enable, "Subscribe Checked Subscribers" button in the, Your Subscribers -> Add -> Verify screen and save your changes:
Enable, "Subscribe Checked Subscribers" button in the, Your Subscribers -E
This will completely disable Mass Subscribing via the List Control Panel.
A mailing list should be considered only one way for you to reach out to your customers. We're all very lucky that there are a multitude of tools available to enrich our websites and keep people coming back.
As we've mentioned, a Public Announce-Only Mailing List probably works best in most cases, if you used less than once a week and perhaps more montly, or even quarterly (although it is up to you and what your subscribers expect, when you impose yourself a limit). If you'd like to post updates more frequently, you may want to look into other tools, like a blog, or even Twitter.
This doesn't mean you need to use either/or. If you have blog and Dada Mail, there's no reason you can't write a newsletter that highlights some of the more insightful posts from your blog, or, let people know about a new message on your newsletter (or, a teaser from the newsletter, if the content of the newsletter is for subscribers-only)
Some people just seem to prefer receiving things like site updates via a mailing list. Give people this choice and keep a user coming back
A mailing list is great for creating a feeling of being able to know something that may not be so readily available anywhere else.
If you don't want to add an additional program to your site, or need a stop-gap solution for a blog, you can use Dada Mail, much like a blog. Think of Dada Mail's archives as blog entries, close your list to any subscribers, so everytime you "Send" out a message, you're only adding to your archive and then post the archived entries somewhere convenient.
There's an extension that comes with Dada Mail called, blog_index.cgi that can add a blog-style list of your archived entries to any web page you may have.
See the blog_index.cgi docs on how to install and use this extension:
http://dadamailproject.com/support/documentation-dada/blog_index.cgi.html
The easiest way to integrate Dada Mail with the rest of your site is by placing the Dada Mail Subscription Form in your website design.
You can grab the HTML that's needed from within the List Control Panel, under: Manage Appearance - Subscription Form HTML
See the documentation of this screen:
See the chapter about the Manage Appearance - Subscription Form HTML screen for a ton more information.
In many ways, a public discussion list is far easier to work with than a simple announce-only mailing list. In a discussion list, everyone that's subscribed to your list may send a message to the List Email and anyone else that's subscribed will receive it, reply to it and start perhaps, a long and engaging discussion.
The same advice should be given for public discussion lists, as is given for public announce-only lists: only have subscribers added via a Close-Loop Opt-in system and if you subscribe a person yourself, only do so with some sort of written or verbal confirmation and let them know, via email, afterwards.
A Private Mailing List is a mailing list used, in-house and isn't for the general public to use, read, or even know about. Such a list is easily created with Dada Mail.
This list may be something that you use only to communicate to other people working for your company or your organization.
Subscription policies can be a lot more loose in this setup, but instead of being very careful on subscripiton confirmation systems, you may not want anyone to be able to subscribe themselves.
Dada Mail has the ability to disable all subscriptions initiated by filling out the Dada Mail Subscription Form, per list. This can be done in the, Manage List -> Mailing List Options Screen. Check the option labeled, Close Your List
You may also want to, "Hide" your list. Hiding your list will remove all instances of your list from the Dada Mail Subsription Forms as well as the administration login forms - so make sure to remember the list's shortname, since you'll need this to log into the list again. This will help make your list more private.
This can be done in the, Manage List -> Mailing List Options Screen. Check the option labeled, Hide Your List
By default, Dada Mail archives all messages sent and also has these archives publically available, complete with RSS/Atom feeds. This is easily disabled though. In the, Manage Archives ->> Archive Options screen, uncheck the option labeled, Publicly Display Your Archives
The White List is an advanced feature that makes it possible to only allow specific email addresses from being able to subscribe to your list.
You can enable the White List, by going to, Manage List -> View. Once on that screen, click the, White List button on the top of the screen. You should see a field set labled, White List Options Check the option labeled, Activate the White List and save your changes.
One enabled, you can add specfic email addresses to your White List. Only these email addresses will be allowed to subscribe to your list.
What's more convenient, is that you can add only part of an email address to your White List.
For example, if you're setting up a private mailing list for your company that has a website, mycompany.com and everyone that works for you has an email address like, user@mycompany.com, you can add just @mycompany.com to your White List.
White List enabled, with, "@mycompany" subscribed
Now, only people with an email address from that domain will be allowed to subscribe to your list, both in the List Control Panel,
You'll see a non-white listed address unchecked when you attempt to subscribe this email address in the List Control Panel.
Or, using the Dada Mail Subscription Form.
A user attempting to subscribe to a list with a non-white listed address will receive the above error message.