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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

We know you'll have questions about email Iists. We've included answers to many of the most frequently asked questions below. If you do not see the section that addresses your question, please feel free to contact us at the phone number listed at the top of this page for personalized service.

Basic Concerns

Does Dundee Internet rent or buy email lists?

Do I retain ownership of my list of subscribers once I upload it to Dundee Internet?

How do I import my email addresses to Dundee Internet?

How many e-mails per month are you allowed to send?

Do we have to sign a contract for a certain length of service time, or can we mail on a non contractual basis?

What if I don't have an email list?

How do I make people want to join my list?

What is the pricing structure?

Do you have non-profit or personal use discounts?

Can I see who reads my email campaigns?

Technical Concerns

Do you provide training regarding email tracking and list management?

Is it necessary to know how to create email in HTML (used to send email with hyperlinks, colors, special formatting and pictures) to create an email campaign?

Are there templates?

Does your system automatically send out emails in both html and text format so that it appears in the correct format dependant upon the reader's browser capabilities (e.g. if their browser can read html, it automatically displays in that format)? Or do I need to segregate my list between text only people and html people?

If I require my e-zine to mirror my website design and color, but the available templates don’t match what can I do?

Can we customize totally the 'welcome' and 'goodbye' message sent to subscribers and people who unsubscribe?

What is the subscription confirmation process?

Is it possible for the Newsletter administrator to subscribe and unsubscribe users using e-mail based administration?

Is it possible not to send any feedback to the user after he has been subscribed or unsubscribed using the e-mail based administration? If not, is it possible to customize every single word of the confirmation and other feedback e-mails?

Is it possible for the Newsletter administrator to change the user e-mail and other options using e-mail based administration?

How many email messages can I schedule in advance. For example, if I need to prepare 10 weeks worth of messages (10 separate messages), can I do them in advance and just indicate for each message the date and time to be sent?

Do you provide an API so that I can integrate it with my software?

Delivery Concerns

How does Dundee Internet make sure my emails get delivered?

How are rejected emails handled? When is an email address considered to be inactive?

How fast is your email delivery?

What software do you use for this service and why?

BASIC CONCERNS

Does Dundee Internet rent or buy email lists?

No. You can only use our list hosting service with your own opt-in or permission based email list of subscribers.

Do I retain ownership of my list of subscribers once I upload it to Dundee Internet?

Yes, as the list owner, you always retain ownership of your list subscribers. As list owner, at all times, your list is accessible to only you or to any person(s) which you designate, in writing, to us.

Optionally, as list owner, you can request to have your mailing list set up to allow other list subscribers to obtain the member listing. And, if list membership security is not a concern, you can also elect to make your member listing available to anyone.

Your subscriber list remains in your Dundee Internet SQL database account until you remove your list. We never rent, share, or sell your list of subscribers.

How do I import my email addresses to Dundee Internet?

We have several easy ways to import members. Using the Add Members page, within your list account set up on our system you have the option to create a single member, create many members, and to import members from a file. We accept 2 file formats when importing from a file: .txt (text file) and .csv (Comma Separated Values).

You also have the option to add members using an email command sent to the server.

You may also arrange to import the data directly into the SQL server account using tools provided by SQL server. This method loads data most quickly; averaging speeds of 100,000 members per hour.

How many e-mails per month are you allowed to send?

There is no limit to the number of emails you can send out per month.

Do we have to sign a contract for a certain length of service time, or can we mail on a non-contractual basis?

We prefer contracts because we want commitment from our List Owners that they have a legitimate list of subscribers and are not one time “spammers.” Our contracts are yearly; however, if during the first three months of service with us, you decide to leave, you will not be obligated for the year. We want to make sure we are the right list hosting company for your organization.

What if I don't have an email list?

It’s relatively easy to build your own permission-based opt-in list of current, prior, and potential customers. For current customers, just ask them for their email address to receive emailed information from you from time to time.

If you’re just starting as a new business, or looking for a marketing tool to follow up with your prospects, you can begin to build your opt-in list with a web site signup form. Your web site visitors can sign up for your list(s) on your website; their email addresses are automatically imported into your Dundee Internet list account where we take care of confirming their request, and sending a welcome letter, if desired.

How do I make people want to join my list?

To entice list subscribers, you can offer a free report or other information relative to your web site's content. For example if you’re a Pet Store you could offer free grooming tips; if you own a bakery you could offer a free recipe, etc. Ensure that they have to request the information so you obtain their email address. Once their email address (and other demographic information you may have requested) is obtained, send an automated email message to them, thanking them for their interest and offer to send more information on a regular (or semi-regular) basis. Within that message, offer them the ability to get future mailings from you as indicated above in the mailing itself. We include tools to make this an easy one-click process to confirm their permission for you to send your email to them. This will allow you to create a true opt-in list.

And remember to promote your list at trade shows, conferences, and purchases--any time you touch your customer, always invite them to join your list.

What is the pricing structure?

Dundee Internet has different payment plans for to suit the needs of everyone. Click here for a Package Comparison List for pricing and options.

Do you have non-profit or personal use discounts?

Dundee Internet offers discounts to non-profit agencies and lists for personal non-commercial usage. We do have some restrictions for this discount. Additional details can be found by selecting this link.

Can I see who reads my email campaigns?

You can optionally track the email addresses that open your message, and track those who clicked on the links within your emails.

TECHNICAL CONCERNS

Do you provide training regarding email tracking and list management?

We will assist you with basic training. The list is managed by our software as is the tracking. We provide you with access to charts and graphs having your detailed list statistics. AND we are always available by email and phone.

Is it necessary to know how to create email in HTML (used to send email with hyperlinks, colors, special formatting and pictures) to create an email campaign?

The Lyris ListManager List Admin interface includes an HTML editor that allows users to compose HTML messages with color, images, tables and more--without knowing any HTML.

Are there templates?

Yes. Templates are easy ways to preformat content. Lyris ListManager provides built-in templates for you to use and allows you to create your own templates. Click here for additional information regarding custom templates.

Does your system automatically send out emails in both html and text format so that it appears in the correct format dependant upon the reader's browser capabilities (e.g. if their browser can read html, it automatically displays in that format)? Or do I need to segregate my list between text only people and html people?

Yes, it does do this.

If I require my e-zine to mirror my website design and color, but the available templates don’t match what can I do?

Dundee Internet offers a template creation service. You can work with us to design a customized template with the look and feel you desire for your e-zine. Alternatively, you can have your web designer do the same thing.

Can we totally customize the 'welcome' and 'goodbye' message sent to subscribers and people who unsubscribe?

Yes. Most messages that can be automatically sent to your customers can also be customized to fit your style, wording, and format. These include, but are not limited to, the hello, goodbye, and confirm letters.

What is the subscription confirmation process?

Our long-standing policy is that all new subscribers to lists that the public can join must go through a confirmation process. Our Lyris ListManager server provides an automated process to make this easy for both the list owner and the subscriber and we strongly encourage the use of the built-in system. However, we do not require that our automated confirmation process be used as long as such a process exists and works.

The confirmation process starts (for example) when someone fills out a subscription form on your website. If you are using our Lyris ListManager’s confirmation process, an email is sent to the requesting email address. This email contains instructions for the prospective subscriber to follow to confirm that he/she wants to join your list and also validates that this is the correct email address to use for the mailings. The confirmation can be one of two processes: the user can click on a link provided in the email to confirm the subscription or they can reply to the email thus confirming the same. Once the confirmation is received by the ListManager server, either via the click or the return email, a “hello” message (a Welcome Letter) is sent to the subscriber.

If you use your own confirmation method, you can add your confirmed members to the list via the various methods we supply to upload list members. You must be able to supply us with confirmation data upon request.

Yes. Administrators can subscribe and unsubscribe users by sending an email message to the list's join address instead of using the web interface. However, in today’s environment of bogus emails from viruses and worms, this method should only be used with complimentary security measures to prevent bogus subscriptions. Contact the Dundee.Net Help Desk for more information on how to secure these types of transactions.

Is it possible not to send any feedback to the user after he has been subscribed or unsubscribed using the e-mail based administration? If not, is it possible to customize every single word of the confirmation and other feedback e-mails?

No. The system will always send feedback messages. However, you can customize every single word of these messages (confirm requests, hello message, goodbye messages, et al) except for messages sent upon a subscription request (or unsub request) where the subscriber is already a member or already unsubscribed. Those particular messages are canned and not changeable by anyone.

Is it possible for the Newsletter administrator to change the user e-mail and other options using e-mail based administration?

Yes.

How many email messages can I schedule in advance. For example, if I need to prepare 10 weeks worth of messages (10 separate messages), can I do them in advance and just indicate for each message the date and time to be sent?

Yes, you can schedule them for future mailings, and there is no limitation on the number of email messages you can schedule in advance.

Do you provide an API so that I can integrate it with my software?

We support SOAP API. You can access and manipulate the database tables using SOAP. (Simple Object Access Protocol). The API can be invoked from any language with SOAP support, including:

.NET
Perl
Java
Php
Tcl

DELIVERY CONCERNS

How does Dundee Internet make sure my emails get delivered?

Dundee Internet has excellent long term on-going relationships with many of the worldwide primary ISPs and blacklist administrators. We monitor list traffic 24/7 for any potential delivery issue, working around the clock to ensure the best email delivery possible.

We proactively validate new customer lists. We review new lists for common signs of problematic issues, i.e., indications of harvesting, etc. If a problem is discovered the entire list is rejected.

We require all subscribers to be opt-in. All new customers must have online resources for email list member sign up. Additionally all customers are required to have a working website and email.

We verify all DNS including checking the validity of the contact records, verify mail is RFC compliant, weed out bad addresses (for example immediately removes errors of type 550 (user unknown), we do not allow open relays and limit connections by IP address, avoiding overload with other mail servers.

You can also order the EmailAdvisor™ which is a hosted service (ASP) that lets you monitor deliverability in real time. It also allows you to preview how messages will appear in over 30 popular email clients, as well as see where they are being blocked as spam or filtered into bulk folders.

How are rejected emails handled? When is an email address considered to be inactive?

We will try to send a message 6 times—one initial send and five retries over a 48 hour period. If a mail server reports that an address is permanently non-deliverable, we will only attempt to deliver to it once for that mailing. This kind of bounce is a permanent failure. A message that is undeliverable for other reasons (e.g., mailbox is full or mail server does not respond) is a transient failure. If an address is undeliverable for the initial send and all the retries, it is considered to have bounced once.

Even if a mail server initially accepts the message and later determines that the user does not exist, we will be able to record that address as having bounced. In this situation, the receiving mail server will reply to the Lyris ListManager server with error mail. This error mail will go to the bounce email address and will contain the user’s unique member ID number, so ListManager will be able to track it back to the particular address unable to accept mail. This kind of bounce will not appear in delivery reports.

How fast is your email delivery?

We can mail up to 500,000 messages an hour.

What software do you use for this service and why?

We use the latest in list technology, Lyris Technologies’ Lyris ListManager, a high-performance list server for opt-in email marketing campaigns, email announcement lists, newsletters, and online discussion groups.

We support all message types, including text, HTML, multipart MIME, and AOL formats, as well as international (double-byte) characters. You can personalize your messages with wizards, for inserting mail merge tags and conditional content. And it's easy to archive and reuse previously sent content. You can target your most relevant customers with the segment builder, selecting by customer demographics, behavior, or any other fields in your database. You can use SQL queries to trigger automated messages when customer data changes.

Dundee Internet Services was Lyris Technologies first customer going back to January 1997 and ListManager v1.0. Because of our involvement with Lyris ListManager over the years we can legitimately claim to be the most experienced commercial ListManager operator on the planet…pre-dating even Lyris Technologies own list hosting business. We currently have, and have always had, the largest single installation of Lyris ListManager.
We have more experience running large lists on Lyris ListManager than anyone else…period.

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