Another Good PHP Email Application
As a quick followup to the last post, I have since come across another PHP-powered software package for running an email list locally from my server. That package is oemPro, from octeth Technologies. It runs a little more expensive than 1-2-All ($268 versus $189). It seems to have all the capability I would need, however. I have tried the 1-2-All Trial locally and it is robust. The database synch (ability to connect directly with a separate database to import email addresses) is included with oemPro and not with 1-2-All (it is available as an add-on), however the add-on capability for 1-2-All allows running those synchs on a cron schedule, which is certainly convenient. Interface is important to me with good software, and both packages have a nice user interface. I like the large icons in oemPro, so interface-wise, oemPro comes across as a little more user-friendly. Capability-wise, it is on par. I like the fact that it has survey/poll add-ons available (1-2-All) does not, however 1-2-All has plug-ins (such as the EmailCheck plug-in to evaluate spam scores) that oemPro does not.
Overall, the price difference between the two is enough that you could grab 1-2-All and one of their plug-ins for about the same amount as you would pay for oemPro itself. But, I thought I would mention oemPro. It looks to be quite good. They don’t offer a trial version, unfortunately.
As I was about to post this, I got a phone call from ActiveCampaign (the folks behind 1-2-All) just asking if I had any questions on the trial, etc. Impressive. Aweber did the same thing.
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Our small Indianapolis, Indiana online marketing business is also looking at similar solutions. Our angle is different, since we’d like to offer the service to our clients, so branding and a client log in is a big deal. We’re small and try to keep costs low for our clients. We are weighing the pros and cons of hosted or inhouse. The biggest issues we see is price, ease of use/templates, sending rate control (inhouse), bounce back control, brandable, and stats/tracking.
Our research isn’t much different than your own.
Hosted- The one we like and our customers would like is mailbuild.com (brandable campaignmonitor), but it’s incredibly expensive for our needs. It’s easy to use, our clients could even send out their own campaign very easily, but they pay a premium for the DIY. All the other hosted ones have poor or no custom template control and client log-in unless you have a ton of clients.
Inhouse- Oempro is very promising. Some clumsy interface quirks , but the code is customizable. The client control is very nice. The biggest drawback is sending out the campaign isn’t refined, it can take awhile to send out a nice looking customized templated email (which is slick in mailbuild). We’ll next try 1-2-all.
Looking forward to see what you decide.