Gerald,
Obviously you have never used the Bluehornet system and as it appears from
your comments below you haven't even read anything about it. To begin
with,
yes you can get "simple" cgi scripts that will allow people to subscribe
and
unsubscribe from a customer list for relatively cheap. The BlueHornet
system
is not one of these. First of all it is a hosted solution from BlueHornet
not a script. You do not have to install anything on your servers or worry
about keeping your data secure etc.. Secondly it not only used to keep a
customer list, it is used to manage, create, send and track your email
messages to your customers. Not to mention that is sends separately
formatted messages to the HTML, AOL and Plain Text clients. It even sends
HTML messages to the new AOL versions.
With our system you don't have to worry about your message not showing up
on
AOL like you do with some of the other "scripts" available. The BlueHornet
system also has extensive tracking capabilities after you send out your
messages.
You can track the following things:
- Open Rate: How many people opened your messages
- Click Thru Rate: How many people clicked on each link
- Purchase Rate: Track purchases that were generated from clicks in your
email.
- Subscribed and Unsubscribed: Real time reports on additions and
removals
from your list.
When you add the above features with the Refer a Friend system and the
Event
Reminder you get one of the most powerful email marketing solutions
available.
So if your serious about email marketing then check out the BlueHornet
system.
Call me for an online demo.
Thanks,
Brent Doud
SD360.com
619-972-7550
"Gerald Good" <Jerry@importfood.com> wrote in message
news:3CEF261B.909AA9A5@importfood.com...
With all due respect to the fine job BlueHornet has done, is it just my
old-school style or is it mostly just installing cgi scripts that are
available
for free? I mean, with Majordomo you can setup your own mailing list
and
keep
your customers updated, free. Other free scripts are out there as well,
it
just takes some patience and a willingness to learn it. The Red Lobster
recipe
deal is a free script as well, you just create a text file of every
recipe
you
have then let customers send them using a cgi. I have really been
amazed
at
prices charged, like $40 or $125 or $200+ monthly "license fee" when all
it is,
well, is free stuff.
Since this is an open forum, I suggest to anyone interested in free to
start
here:
http://bignosebird.comLooking for an interesting website that sends out dazzling HTML emails
to
thousands of subscribers every day, free?
http://www.mywordaday.com/OK, I didn't mean to offend those guys making a decent living, just
sharing my
thoughts with the community, for those who may be interested.
Brent Doud wrote:
The BlueHornet solution actually integrates a bit into the ShopSite
version
6 checkout using an order API script that is included with the
BlueHornet
package. Basically the order.api script uses the email newsletter
checkbox
that is built into the ShopSite 6 checkout to activate the order.api
script.
This will parse the email address data from the checkout form and send
it to
the BlueHornet database.
I use this system on a few customers with great results. BlueHornet
works
great to send full color HTML emails to your customer base and you can
even
track sales from each link in your email.
It is just an added bonus that your customers can ad to your email
list
during the checkout process without re-entering the data into a
separate
form. Plus the people that are actually buying something are the
people
that
you really want to market to in the first place.
We have also used the system to collect data for people who are
interested
in print catalogs too. After the data is collected we export the data
and
print labels. It works great.
In addition to the standard email newsletter features, the BlueHornet
system
also has a "Refer a Friend" system and an "Event Reminder" feature
that
works great for Birthday or Anniversary club promotions.
You can check it out in more detail on
http://www.shopsite.com/bluehornet.htmlBe sure to ready the case studies on this page.
If anyone is interested you can email me an I will set you up with a
fully
functional demo of the system and give you an overview of the system.
Below are some examples of the BlueHornet system at work, some are
ShopSite
examples some are not.
http://www.motoworldracing.com/email-newsletter.htmlhttp://overboard.redlobster.com/clients ... ecipes.htmhttp://www.nytro.com/bh-catalog.htmlThanks,
Brent Doud
SD360.com
619-972-7550
I use the BlueHornet package on several sites and it works fantastic.
"Loren" <loren_d_c@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3CEE8723.EA3E7C38@yahoo.com...
Check out a couple of the listings at
http://www.shopsite.com/partners-tools.htmlBoth BlueHornet and Roving are email marketing tools that may be
what
you
are
looking for. Note however that they specialize in that and probably
don't
have
the other features Order Manager has. YourHost's E-Mail
MarketManager
i
believe
is a partnership they have with BlueHornet, so that should also be a
consideration for you.
-Loren
Larry Bohen wrote:
We currently use ShopSite SC Pro V6 and Stoneedge's Order Manager.
They
meet
most of our basic needs, however, neither has CRM features. I
expect
OM
could be used in that it has very good email features, however I'd
like
something much more efficient and automatic regarding keeping in
touch
with
visitors and/or customers with email.
I'd appreciate any info on CRM software being used.
Thanks