newsletter editing/sending?

September 1, 2008 9:33 AM

What's a good newsletter creating / sending application (either on- or offline) that's cheap, easy to use and customizable?

A client needs to send an (opt-in, not looking to spam anybody) newsletter. I'd like to be able to set it up so they can edit it with little or no handholding. I'd also like to be able to design a custom template so it looks like their website (they're picky that way).

I've been looking at Emma, and it looks fairly easy to use, but I have 2 big problems with it: 1] it doesn't seem to have a Spanish version or non-ascii character support yet ("with full international-character support arriving in early 2009.") and 2] its USD$250 signup plus $30 per 1000 emails is kind of pricey.

The client's employees who'd handle this are not technical or designers, so the editing should be simple and non-technical and with a locked down template system. Something like a blog.

Cheap, good & easy suggestions? Online of offline is fine as long as it's easy to use and customize. There should be no added lines like "This email sent by wazzoo emailer, get your own website here!!!!".

posted by signal to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Constant contact is pretty good for this. You can get rid of any of their html in the template easily. I am not sure of spanish character sets.. but they have spell check in multiple languages ... which bodes well.
posted by shownomercy at 9:48 AM on September 1, 2008

I use and love mailchimp.com. I believe it has all the features you're looking for (including totally customizable templates), and they offer good flexibility in pricing plans (monthly or pay-as-you-go). Plus, there's a cute monkey...
posted by departure lounge at 10:36 AM on September 1, 2008

Wholeheartedly 2nd-ing MailChimp.
posted by spilon at 11:55 AM on September 1, 2008

Seconding Constant Contact - it looks like they have Spanish templates as well. Check it out.
posted by eleyna at 12:42 PM on September 1, 2008

Toddle is, well, child's play. They also have a free template you can use.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:52 PM on September 1, 2008 [1 favorite]

I used to recommend Campaign Monitor but found MailChimp to work how I expected it.
posted by simplesharps at 4:16 PM on September 1, 2008

Even more wholeheartedly 3rding MailChimp.

FWIW, the company I've worked with actually used to use Emma, until I convinced them to switch to MailChimp, and they've/we've never looked back.

MC is waaaay cheaper than Emma, plus, there are a ton of intangibles that make MC great: their customer service is top notch, their blog is super informative on what's going on behind the scenes (they Tweet too), and their interface is lightyears beyond Emma (I hated how on Emma you had to save in several places; plus, simply moving around your campaigns was rather cumbersome).

So, don't even bother looking at what else is out there. Go Chimp, and be happy!
posted by mrhaydel at 8:54 PM on September 1, 2008