dugost
27 Jul 2010, 03:31 PM
My client has a membership website I developed in PHP with my programmer. It’s custom-tailored to their needs:
-people sign up online
-the database tracks renewal dates and issues notifications
-members can update profiles and account info
-it has an e-news tool which sends to 1 to 4 lists of members and/or subscribers
The e-news is giving me grief because the number of addresses in the mailing list(s) exceeds the hourly email relay limit set by the shared hosting company. I’ve looked into dedicated and VPS options but the cost doesn't fit within their budget. The technical and maintenance services for a dedicated box is beyond the budget as well. So we have 2 options as far as I can see:
1) Alter the PHP mail function to send in hourly batches. This isn't ideal but it can work. Problem is, it will require re-development which is costly and will mean it could take several hours for communications to reach every member.
or
2) Ditch the custom e-news tool altogether in favour of a service like MailChimp.
The problem with going outside of this closed CMS/web app is that active members receive special e-news communications that inactive members, regular subscribers and volunteers don’t. The database can’t be linked into MailChimp, and importing fresh CSV files each time they want to send an e-newsletter isn’t ideal or recommended. Managing who is and isn't active between their site lists and MailChimp isn’t going to make sense since different people in the office send their own e-newsletters. Keeping track of who was added, moved or unsubscribed will be nearly impossible.
Based on all of that, what do developers who’ve created similar systems use when an organization’s custom membership database exceeds the email constraints of their host? Since the closed system can’t be tied directly into third party tools like MailChimp to keep things synced, I'm curious to know what others do in this case. The org issues e-newsletters to just under 1,000 addresses each time so what the heck do org’s with thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers use?
-people sign up online
-the database tracks renewal dates and issues notifications
-members can update profiles and account info
-it has an e-news tool which sends to 1 to 4 lists of members and/or subscribers
The e-news is giving me grief because the number of addresses in the mailing list(s) exceeds the hourly email relay limit set by the shared hosting company. I’ve looked into dedicated and VPS options but the cost doesn't fit within their budget. The technical and maintenance services for a dedicated box is beyond the budget as well. So we have 2 options as far as I can see:
1) Alter the PHP mail function to send in hourly batches. This isn't ideal but it can work. Problem is, it will require re-development which is costly and will mean it could take several hours for communications to reach every member.
or
2) Ditch the custom e-news tool altogether in favour of a service like MailChimp.
The problem with going outside of this closed CMS/web app is that active members receive special e-news communications that inactive members, regular subscribers and volunteers don’t. The database can’t be linked into MailChimp, and importing fresh CSV files each time they want to send an e-newsletter isn’t ideal or recommended. Managing who is and isn't active between their site lists and MailChimp isn’t going to make sense since different people in the office send their own e-newsletters. Keeping track of who was added, moved or unsubscribed will be nearly impossible.
Based on all of that, what do developers who’ve created similar systems use when an organization’s custom membership database exceeds the email constraints of their host? Since the closed system can’t be tied directly into third party tools like MailChimp to keep things synced, I'm curious to know what others do in this case. The org issues e-newsletters to just under 1,000 addresses each time so what the heck do org’s with thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers use?