email newsletter - Adam Yamada

Lately I've been trying out some different free and open source email list management software. Most have some issues though which makes going with a paid email service seem like a better option. However I have found a nice free email list manager most people will like, Dada Mail.

For those that follow my blog (you should because it is awesome) might have seen I tried using Mailman and phpList. The issue with Mailman was that it was just too time consuming for me to figure out how to setup and configure it to send out an email newsletter. It's clearly not meant for ‘regular people' if you know what I meant.

Rather than spending all my time configuring an email list manger nobody wants to use, I decided to give phpList a try since it pegs itself as the “Most Popular Open Source Newsletter Manager.” What I didn't realize when I installed is that the version I installed was several generations old. HostGator doesn't support the latest phpList version with their script installer QuickInstall and Fantastico doesn't either. I had to use another hosting account I have that had Softaculous which had the latest version of phpList. (QuickInstall and Fantastico also don't support the latest version of Dada Mail by the way.) I can manually install scripts I just don't usually feel like it.

When I got latest version of phpList installed I honestly preferred the older version I had used. I felt it worked better even if it was not pretty. There were also some things that annoyed me about phpList in general, but I'll save that for another post.

I decided that I would give Dada Mail a go since it seemed easier to use than Mailman or phpList. Besides from what I can tell nowadays you either go with phpList or Dada Mail if you want run an email newsletter from your own hosting account.

Dada Mail Pros

Dada Mail comes with a lot of great features which includes closed loop-opt-in, message archiving, sharing via RSS feeds, individual subscribers can edit their profiles, email analytics, and a lot of other cool stuff. Some features I like about is that you can invite subscribers from the dashboard and it is easy setup batch emails so your host doesn't get upset and ban your account for sending to many emails per hour.

What's great about Dada Mail is that the setup and install are relatively easy. It should not be too hard for people to configure email lists with Dada Mail. In addition the layout and interface is quite easy-to-use and understand. You should be ok figuring things out on your own after spending a bit of time in the Dada Mail dashboard.

Even if you are having trouble and need help with something Justin, the developer, is pretty good about answering support questions and helping people via the Dada Mail support forum. You will probably find most questions you would have there in the forums. Justin also has a service where you can pay him to install and configure Dada Mail on your server for you. Surprised more developers don't offer this service actually, as it's a great idea.

There are some, but not a lot, of Dada Mail tutorial videos on YouTube under the username “leaddadaist” which is the official channel. Unfortunately the videos are hot in HD and the resolution only goes up to 360p which can make it a bit difficult to watch.

Compared to phpList and Mailman I think Dada Mail is definitely an easier-to-use web based email manager.

Dada Mail Cons

Dada Mail is free and open source but the free version only allows for 3 email lists and up to 1,000 subscribers. After that you can either pay for a yearly Pro Dada Mail subscription which costs $34.95 or a Lifetime subscription for $74.95. Then your email list Quota is unlimited. Paying for a Pro Dada Mail license also allows you to remove links back to Dada Mail sites in emails generated by the program to my understanding. There are a few other benefits as well.

For those that like using WordPress, the CMS this site uses, there is no WordPress plugin. I emailed Justin and he said at this time there is not a plan to develop a WP plugin for Dada Mail. WordPress runs 18.9% of the web and 176,000 people download WordPress files everyday (this statistic only includes manual file downloads and not automatic script installs.) It would be a great for there to be a plugin to easily integrate Dada Mail with WordPress in my opinion. Maybe Justin can run a Kickstarter or IndieGoGo to raise funds for a Dada Mail WP plugin as I imagine he's gotten other requests for it.

One thing that concerns me about Dada Mail is that it is written in Perl. I honestly don't know anyone developing in Perl nowadays. Not saying it's a bad programming language but if you are having issues and need a someone to help solve a Dada Mail issue, they might have a hard time if they are completely unfamiliar with Perl. This is just my assumption though and not my experience.

Final Thoughts about Dada Mail

Even though Dada Mail has some shortcomings there are not that many other free email managers out there. Even if you have to spend the $74.95 for a Pro Data Mail license I imagine it would be worth it. (I haven't bought one but I am considering it.)

Between Mailman, phpList, and Dada Mail I strongly lean towards using Dada Mail. Some might argue that you should put in the money for a pro email service such as Aweber, MailChimp, GetResponse, YMLP, etc. Those can get pricey quickly and I know a lot of bloggers and non-profits on tight budgets and I believe Dada Mail would work fine for their needs.

Keep in in mind that it is hard to truly know how good an email list service is until you have actually built up an email list and sent a fair amount of newsletters via the program. That's why this isn't necessarily a review so much as a post about my initial thoughts about Dada Mail. There are a few other email manager clients I haven't tried like OpenEMM and Pommo but I am not sure how much time I want to invest in searching for an email list tool. I will keep people updated and post a more detailed review and even tutorials as I get more into setting up and sending emails through it.

Are you a Dada Mail user? Do you like the software and it's features? What do you think could be improved? Would you like to see a WP plugin for it too? If you used to use Dada Mail what are you using now and why? What did you switch to? I'd be happy to hear compliments and complaints and anything else people recommend.

The other day I was trying out Mailman, a free email manager written in Python. I've also been playing around with another well known email newsletter software known as PHPList.

UPDATE: This post reviews the old version of PHPList. What is pictured here is PHPList version 2 actually. The reason is I installed it is I used a quick installer which doesn't support the newest phpList version 3. It only had the older versions for some reason. The newest version of PHPlist look much cleaner and has a seemingly more well thought out user interface but I think version 2 was actually easier to use. If you are reading this I recommend you use the latest version of phpList so you have the proper security updates and the latest features.

PHPList pegs itself as “The most popular Open Source Newsletter Manager.” This does seem to be the case as they are not that many open source email newsletters programs out there besides Mailman and Dada Mail. At least these are the only 3 that I am aware of that are currently supported by developers and free to install and use on your own server. (Dada Mail requires you to purchase a license fee if you are over 3 lists with 1,000 emails.)

After playing around with PHPList I can see why it has a significant amount of downloads every month and why it's popular. It's not super easy-to-use but at least it has a layout that I think most people can figure out and understand. I had an email list up and running fairly quickly without having to look up too much. I'd say the learning curve is medium but the PHPList forums along with the documentation and a decent amount of video tutorials on the internet should help anybody trying to get started.

As you can see the backend of this email manager isn't going to win any design awards, but it is functional and I can at least understand how to use it. Mailman… not so much and Dada Mail is easy but there are confusing aspects about it as well. It didn't take me too long to send out a test email to see how PHPList works and what you could do. What's nice is that it has an advanced text editor so you can use different fonts, bold words, change colors, etc. and you can attach files. With Mailman you can't attach files which is kind of a big downside.

One big issue with PHPList is that the WordPress plugin that used to be supported for PHPList, WP PHP List, has not been updated for several years. You probably can use another WordPress newsletter plugin to integrate WordPress with PHPlist but I have not tried had time to mess with WP plugins yet to see. It seems like the Newsletter Sign-Up plugin will integrate according to this WP forum post.

What's surprising to me is that PHPList doesn't support an official Worpdress PHPList plugin. Wordpress is the most popular content management system (CMS) and blogging platform on the face of the earth. Matt Mullenweg said at the 2013 State of the Word that 18.9% of websites in the world now run on WordPress. In addition checkout these impressive WordPress stats back when I wrote about the WordPress 10th Anniversary. Bottom line if you want your software to be really successful, you should code a WP plugin for easy integration.

Also there does not seem to be a way to remove the footer image that links to the PHPList site at the bottom of emails. Honestly I don't have a problem with it as it is free and open source software, but I wish I could pay a license fee to remove it. This would be a good money maker for the developers in my opinion. The point of an email newsletter is to promote yourself or your own websites.

Overall I think PHPList is a great way to get an email list started if you are on a tight budget and want greater control over your email lists. You will have to be careful not to send out to many emails and check what your web hosts limits are for sending bulk emails. They will not want to get hit with spam complaints from you sending too many emails and risking getting a blacklisted IP address.

PHPList does have a nice service called PHPList Hosted, which gives you the option to send emails through their email servers. PHPList Hosted currently in beta but the pricing is quite attractive when compared to other email management providers.

For those that want to learn more about this open source email software you can order the book PHPList 2-Email Campaign Manager by David Young. I haven't bought the book but I am it considering it as it is recommend on the PHPList website and includes step-by-step instructions. From what I can tell it will have PHP coding, so you should be aware of that before you buy it.

I will probably post a in-depth review and some tutorials as I get more into using PHPList. Open source is all about sharing your knowledge! 🙂

For more information and to learn more about PHPList visit the official website: http://www.phplist.com/