How do I mass mail my customers?

[Guest zenphilip]

The "Email Customers" function, I think I'm right in saying, will only mail those on the mailing list and not all my customers. I can see individual customer emails under the "view cutomers" function, but mailing them would require a copy and paste of each one.

Thanks :errm:

[Guest webicon]

Well you can get the data by going to phpmyadmin in cpanel and exporting the email address, first name, last name fields in the cubecart_customer table.

BUT...

I dont know where you are based, However in the UK - you only have a right to contact customers who you have actually made a sale with you - dont forget some of these in the database will be customers who have registered but not purchased - you do not have any right to email them.

In addition, presumably you gave them the option of signing up to the newsletter? - So stands to reason that if they have not opted in they do not wish to hear from you.

If they have been given the option - and have opted out - again you do not have any right to email them. Its also really inconsiderate.

In any case on your email you have to identify yourself/business and give them the option of opting out of all future emails from you - if you are not going to use the existing optin-opt out system in place - have you thought about how you will manage that?

I know its not great when people choose not to sign up to emails (I have a databse of over 4000 customers but only 189 people have opted in to the newsletter! )- but give some serious thought to this. Surely you should respect your customers wishes....

[vokf]

I dont know where you are based, However in the UK - you only have a right to contact customers who you have actually made a sale with you - dont forget some of these in the database will be customers who have registered but not purchased - you do not have any right to email them.

That is not strictly true (for UK anyway)

A prior relationship (sale. or even email/phone contact) is basically enough:

Electronic mail marketing - Regulations 22 and 23

These regulations cover email, text (SMS) and any other form of unsolicited electronic message that falls within the definition of electronic meeting. Please see our detailed guidance for more information. Electronic mail should only be sent if the individual has asked for it. There is an exception to this rule, known as soft opt in. This applies when all three of the following circumstances are met:

* The organisation obtained the contact details as the result of a sale or the negotiations for the sale of a product or service

* The messages are only marketing their similar products or services and

* The individual is given a simple opportunity to refuse the marketing when their details are collected and is given another simple way to do so in every future message.

Individuals can opt out of receiving direct marketing messages at any time by contacting the organisation directly. The organisation must comply with any opt out requests promptly and without question.

(taken from http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/privac...the_basics.aspx

Obviously, respecting the customers wishes is primary.

Jason

[Guest zenphilip]

WHat is the advantage of going to phpadmin.. I can see the addresses in the online admin panel?

Either way, is there a way to mass mail to these address?

[Guest zenphilip]

Has anyone tried to do this? Is there a mod for this?

[Guest zenphilip]

^^

[vokf]

I think the answer is to export your customer email addresses using phpMyAdmin (export to CSV). Then using a mass-mailing program, import the data as a CSV.

CubeCart (quite rightly) tries to comply with your customer wishes, so there is no function to do this within Cubecart.

If you're trying to do this on the cheap, then its possible in most email programs, you'll need to use a spreadsheet to build a list of 30 or 40 email addresses, sepeated by a comma, and then add the result to a BCC field on your email.

If this is something you'll be doing frequently or have many customers, its probably worth investing in a spam mass-marketing email tool or 3rd party service.

Jason

[Guest zenphilip]

Thanks Jason, I'll give that a go. I may be back to ask about this CSV, though.

I think you're wrong here:

"CubeCart (quite rightly) tries to comply with your customer wishes, so there is no function to do this within Cubecart."

It's none of CC'c business what my cutomers' wishes are. I'm CC's cutomer and I should get what I want. I think this is a glaring omission. There should be a mass mail function to all customers with the addition of an opt out.