Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but confused. Please help!?

Posted by shafqat on Friday September 12, 2008 @11:16AM
from the self-post dept.

Hi All - I'm tearing my hair out. I want to use Google Apps for sending e-mails to our user community. I know some people here use it so I have a few questions:

1) Do you use the "e-mail list" functionality. Or do you merely route your e-mail through Google within the daily limits? i.e. using the standard gmail functionality?

2) Is there any point in using the premium edition apart from the 2000 email limit? Its not enough for us anyway, so we'll have to break down into smaller chunks.

I was just on the phone with a Google "power user" and they said e-mail lists were not for mailing lists but for internal distribution. So I'm pretty confused. If anyone is willing to clarify, I'd be super appreciative.

( 10 comments | on HN )

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by furiouslol on Friday September 12, 2008 @12:17PM (#302526)

You can always add your users' emails manually & create groups for them. So next time when you want to mass mail them, just send an email to that group.

Tried it. Works fine. Just a hassle to add the users' emails manually

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by shafqat on Friday September 12, 2008 @12:26PM (#302539)

You can add users in bulk to Gmail Groups in your contact via a csv file. But you can only send 500 e-mails a day from each e-mail address. So its not really a sustainable solution.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by furiouslol on Friday September 12, 2008 @01:21PM (#302594)

Use Icontact or Mailchimp then.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by shafqat on Friday September 12, 2008 @01:46PM (#302610)

Thanks! MailChimp looks awesome. First one that Ive seen that it's the YC mold... fun, modern, easy. The rest of the services are all dinosaurs from the Web 1.0 stone ages.

I wonder what MailChimp's delivery records are like. Do you know if they have agreements with ISPs like the others?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by scribblewiki on Friday September 12, 2008 @02:05PM (#302635)

Yes they do. http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/isps-switching-to-returnpaths-...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by furiouslol on Friday September 12, 2008 @02:02PM (#302631)

According to their website, they have agreements with ISPs.

http://www.mailchimp.com/learnmore.phtml See: Deliverability

Here's a nice comparison of them vs IContact: http://www.mailchimp.com/compare/

On an unrelated note, i like the clean design on Newscred. (Yeah. Nothing to do with the post but just thought I let it out)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by shafqat on Sunday September 14, 2008 @09:45AM (#303748)

Thanks... unexpected feedback is always welcome. And positive feedback makes us want to just work harder to continue to delight you guys!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by noodle on Friday September 12, 2008 @11:40AM (#302480)

for mass emails, you're probably better off using either a service or installing appropriate software. especially if you're breaking past the 2k limit on premium.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by shafqat on Friday September 12, 2008 @11:43AM (#302482)

Thats what I'm starting to figure out. I was just confused because I saw a lot of startups say they use Google to manage their mailings to users.

Back to iContact or Constant Contact or one of those I guess...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask YC: Trying to use Google Apps to e-mail users but con... by scribblewiki on Friday September 12, 2008 @01:58PM (#302627)

Probably because its free; but, things like MailChimp are a lot simpler.

[ Parent | on HN ]