Recommendations for email marketing platform?

Webmaster Discussion
#1

The mainstream providers all seem to prohibit adult content. I found Ynotmail but it looks a tad shady, anyone have recommendations? And are mailing
lists worth building?

#2

YNot is NOT shady at all. They’re pretty much the leader in porn-industry mailing. They’re owned by a guy named Jay (“YNotJay” on Xbiz.net). I’ve interacted with him a bit and like him. And one of their other main guys is Richard (“Rochard” on XBiz.net). Both are active on industry boards, have a good reputation, etc. Oh, and YNot often sponsors go-cart racing at industry events and they’re the ones who tried to bring back an event modeled on “Phoenix Forum” last year. (Haven’t heard if they plan to continue it this year).

3 Likes
#3

Yes for clarity, my initial impression was based on a few bad reviews I found online which I totally accept are not likely to be representative, hence the post here.

1 Like
#4

Ynot is good, its just a bit expensive, if you are comfortable using other services like campaigner or mixing sendy+aws etc.

#5

I would be interested in seeing any of these bad reviews if you’d be so kind to share links, thanks.

1 Like
#6

LAJ shows up all classy in a bow tie :slight_smile:

I second Jay - nothing shady about YNOTMail. There are other options as Brent has mentioned but none of them are actually made for adult. And yes, email marketing still lives, though of course nothing like in the early 00s.

#7

I would steer clear of Ynot for mailing services. They could not get us set up properly and refused to refund the upfront $200 fee we paid even though the problem was on their end and they were never able to figure it out.

After weeks and weeks and 72 messages back and forth with Richard Buss, we never got out of the testing phase.

Ynot was incapable of delivering what was promised and they never refunded our money. Based on my experience Ynotmail appears to be operated by thieves.

#8

We currently use Sendy with AWS. You have to really be careful with the lists though and follow their rules against spamming closely though or they will shut you down. It does take some learning curves and time to fine tune your lists to get a decent open rate.

1 Like
#9

We are using sender.net and are happy with pricing and service.

#10

I tried Ynot mail and found it expensive.

#11

Sender.net seems interesting indeed, and apparently they don’t ban “adult” content: Terms of Service | Sender

#12

Yes they do. It is in the antispam page that porn is not allowed.

#13

Ah OK, thanks…

So far, I’m using the free version of Mail Ch!mp. They don’t allow “adult” neither, but maybe when the list is so small, they don’t detect it ? I have only 1000 subscribers.

I just don’t understand what is their problem with porn.

(Btw. Paypal recently terminated all my accounts (and froze 200$ for 6 months), just because they found that there is a relation with porn, although I did not put any PP button or link on my sites. Very touchy.)

#14

Dear colleagues.

Less than 48h after my message above, MailChimp has suspended my account…
Reason : someone complained…
But I did not send any mailing for at least 4 months, the last one was in June !

So, I think there are 2 possibilities:

1/ Someone reading the current thread did not like the fact that I wrote that I find Ynot mail expensive.

OR

2/ Given that I imported all my Mailchimp contacts to Sender.net via an API, but finally I did not go further, I did not use Sender.net, maybe they reported me to MailChimp to force me to use their system ?
OK, it seems a very paranoid idea, but anyway it has to be related to either what I wrote here, or my experiments with Sender.net, given that apart from that, nothing happened for months, so I cannot believe that one of my members suddenly found that there was a “spam”, 4 months later, that does not make sense.

#15

As a reason all they said is someone complained?

#16

Yes…

Email:
"Your Mailchimp account has been disabled.
The account with the username (…) has been temporarily suspended due to direct complaint from a list member. For privacy reasons, we do not provide the address of the complainant.
Please log in and follow the instructions found on the Account page to resolve the issue.
Sending will remain disabled until we hear back from you."

Site:
" Your account has been disabled due to direct complaints.
Direct complaints occur when a recipient contacts Mailchimp or a third-party authority, such as a blocklisting facility, and reports your campaign as unsolicited email. For privacy reasons, we do not provide the address of the complainant. However, these complaints are serious and can negatively affect deliverability, so we’ve temporarily suspended your ability to send until we hear back from you.
To begin the process to resolve this issue, review these resources, click Contact Compliance and fill out the survey below. We’ll review your account as quickly as possible and contact you via email if we need any more information. After you submit the form, an email from [email protected] with a ticket number will be sent to (…)"

My last campaign: June 5th (5 months 1/2 ago)…

#17

So just tell them exactly that, you haven’t used it for 5 months. They must be able to see that in their logs anyway. Probably just someone who’s gone through their old email box or started to use it again.

#18

Thank you…

But they have already replied the following (which was predictable).

"Thank you for reaching out to us.
Our automated abuse-prevention system, Omnivore, detected account content that violates our Acceptable Use Policy.
Mailchimp's Acceptable Use Policy | Mailchimp
We have nothing personal against you or your business, but in order to protect all of our users and ensure the deliverability of everyone’s campaigns, we have to ask that you seek a new vendor for your email marketing needs.
We appreciate your understanding in this matter."

So, it’s f*cked.

I guess I will have to go on with Sender.net, until they also find that it is “not acceptable”. And then…
I cannot pay 25$/month just to send 1000 emails :frowning: (Ynot)

All is more and more difficult and complicated in this business…

Well. We can’t do anything about that. The big fishes rule, some other big fishes can survive (or even thrive), and the small ones… many died already.
I’ll try to make my site survive as long as possible.
(On Nov. 14, there has been 20 years already, not that bad…)

Thanks.

#19

Does your email list generate more than $25? If not, why bother at all with it?

#20

That seems a clever reasoning :slightly_smiling_face:

I think that when I send a mailing it generates something like 5 subscriptions, so, yes, it makes more than 25 $.
But 25$ seem expensive for 1000 emails.

But maybe it’s not such a bad option, if in the end it makes more revenue…

I should see if it’s possible to pay Ynot only “one month”, without auto renewal.
Because I send my campaigns one every two-three months.

Thanks.