Will Hire LMP Mentor

[a-goodwin]

Help! I'm running a time-sensitive event that uses ListMailPro as a major part of the campaign. The event is NOW, and I'm struggling to set this up right. I have some very basic questions that I need answers to. I am looking to hire a mentor for phone support and hands on help. I will be eternally grateful to any kind Knight in Shining Armour!

[DW]

Greetings,

Please go ahead and post your questions so myself and other ListMail owners can offer our suggestions.  I unfortunately am not able to offer telephone support but am willing to go out of my way to do some hands-on stuff with your server in order to make sure your use of ListMail is a success.  If I'm not mistaken your assistant has been emailing me and I have been helping as best I can.

Regards

[a-goodwin]

Hello,
If anyone is able to assist with the following, I would be so appreciative.
I have a few questions concerning how to use LMP the most efficient way possible. But first there is an ongoing problem that I am hoping someone could possibly help us with.

I had a scheduled email slated to go out 12/2 to 928 customers announcing an event that's happening on 12/5. I am listed in the user database for this list as well as Ariane so that we make sure that the emails go out successfully. Ariane recieved the scheduled email as she should have on 12/2. But I never received an email. We only had one sign up today for the event which is unusual, as we normally get between 20-50 sign ups on the day the scheduled emails go out.
We have had a problem in the past with customers receiving emails late and some customers even getting wrong emails -past emails that had been scheduled to go out to another list.

We are mostly concerned that people are not getting these scheduled emails especially considering that I am supposed to set several up that have to go out between now and 12/5

Before our server switch we encountered no problems.
We are with DreamHost and being a huge corporate entity, they are very slow to get back to us and Q&A via email takes forever with them.
So as you can imagine, we are in a bit of a jam!

I can provide you with our FTP info upon request.

Thank you,
Lilia

[DW]

Hi Lilia,

I think the problem here is, in fact, the web host...  Email is likely stuck in a bottleneck to various or all ISPs.

I hate to say it, since I think you recently switched to DreamHost, but have you considered the possibility of switching hosts?  As my referral at any of the following I will do a free migration of your existing domain and ListMail installation.

http://listmailpro.com/dreamhost (5000 messages/day)
http://listmailpro.com/h4p (10000-15000 messages/day)
http://listmailpro.com/thirdsphere (20000 messages/day)

I can also offer stable email hosting starting at $15/mo for upwards of 15,000 messages sent once or twice daily as long as you are not emailing purchased or 'obtained' lists.

You're in a huge pinch here so just email me if you want to go ahead with this...

Regards

[a-goodwin]

Hi Dean,
Thanks for getting back to me so fast!
If it would solve our problems, I would love to switch. But here's the catch:
About two weeks ago we switched from Dream Host to another server and upon switching the following problems occurred-
1. LMP re-sent out a bunch of old email campaigns
2. Our Ashop files did not completely transfer over so customers could not place orders
Because of these problems we switched back to Dream Host but the LMP mail issue remained stuck.

Ashop, LMP and our two websites all have to stay connected (I assume on the same server) because LMP collects our customers info when they order through our Ashop catalogue via our websites.

What do you think is possible here?

Regards,
Lilia

[DW]

Please email me, use the contact form in my signature or submit a ticket here.  Please include all relevant access info so that I can start assisting right away.  This includes access to the registrar, dreamhost panel, ListMail info, etc.

Since I don't know the policies on domains at Host4Profit or ThirdSphere (though I'm sure it can be found on their site) I would like to offer my personal hosting in an effort to solve all of your problems.  With reasonable lists I expect it would cost a maximum of $15/mo. Please also mention your # of emails per day, expected frequency of mailings and how you build your lists so I can offer you a firm quote.

Regards

[a-goodwin]

Dean,
Would you mind answering a few questions for me before we proceed?

1. Will you be hosting just the email portion of our project? Or everything? (sorry- I'm a bit new to all of this)

2. This "bottlenecking" that you mentioned before- is there a way to find out what emails are still stuck and filtering through with a delay? Can we cancel them somehow? I can start fresh with new dates, etc so our customers don't get confused.

For the Record:
It seems that this bottlenecking is causing delayed emails to be sent out on Sundays. Two Sundays in a row we have had customers mention that they had just received old emails moments before in their inbox.

Thank you for taking the time to help.

[DW]

I can host your two sites, cart and ListMail and help get your problems sorted once and for all.  Unfortunately there is no way to check the outgoing queue and what might be sent in the future... We would have to talk to DreamHost about the possibility of removing all emails in queue from your "Send From" and/or " Bounce to" emails. Without access to the server I unfortunately cannot offer any explanations about why messages are being sent or when.

Regards

[a-goodwin]

How long do you think the process would take?  We were supposed to send out an email campaign yesterday but did not due to not knowing if email server would work. Now we have to get it sent out by tomorrow at the very latest.
When we switched from Dream Host last time it took a couple of days for the domain name to "point" to the new server but we don't have that kind of time now as people are trying to sign up for the 12/5 event.

Should we go ahead now?

[a-goodwin]

Hi Dean,
I'm home and jumping back in here iwth you and Lilia. Answers to your following questions:
1. # of emails per day - less than 10,000

2. expected frequency of mailings - once a day, 3 x a week, approx...may change slightly

3. and how you build your lists - offer freebies on both websites in exchange for email contact info, speakers to the telesummit notify their lists about our programs, offer JVP affiliates for promoting events to their lists, offer info products for sale, and registration for telesummit events, post articles online

I am having a lot of trouble trying to make a decsion to switch again as the last attempt was such a disaster. Every day down is critical as who knows how many people we will lose because they can't sign up for one of our events or offers. Trouble with Ashop encryptions (is that a problem for you, or are you completely familiar with Ahsop?), getting the DNS for www.artist-statement.com to point from GoDaddy and then www.smartist-telesummit.com from DreamHost (can I switch domain name registration to you also so this pointing business is not an issue? An at what cost?)

We have 3 pre-events scheduled (Dec 5, 19th & Jan 11th) Main TS runs Jan 18/19 and 22-26) and need to churn out major PR this week...

The last company also told me there would be no problem switching, but there was...so it's really hard to know what's going to happen. Anyway you can reassure me with nitty-gritty info will help me decide. DH is just a nightmare!
Thank you,
Ariane

[DW]

Welcome back, Ariane,

As long as your scripts use MySQL and not text files for storage there is a way to make the migration seamless so that your site never experiences downtime or problems.

What I could/would do is migrate all the files and databases and get it working on my server, then modify the DreamHost files to connect to my remote MySQL server (I would allow it through the firewall).  We would then change the nameservers.  For the next day or two some people would be loading the site from my server and some would be loading from DreamHost, but both would be accessing the most recent database on my server, preventing downtime or lost subscribers.

Your mailing numbers, frequency and methods of accepting subscribers sound good to me for $15/mo.  I actually allow 15000 per day up to 3 times.  I do not allow emailing of purchased or obtained lists.

Trouble with Ashop encryptions (is that a problem for you, or are you completely familiar with Ahsop?), getting the DNS for www.artist-statement.com to point from GoDaddy and then www.smartist-telesummit.com from DreamHost (can I switch domain name registration to you also so this pointing business is not an issue? An at what cost?)

I haven't done an installation of aShop but am sure it is fairly straightforward... Essentially I will be moving the files and database and checking the installation documentation to make sure all permissions are as they should be.

I understand your concern, but unfortunately I don't think DreamHost is doing you any good at all.  If we do have problems I will work with you to solve them ASAP.  There really isn't much I can't do or explain so it shouldn't take very long at all.

Please contact me securely at http://contact.listmailpro.com or http://listmailpro.com/support with all pertinent access information and I will get started right away.  You should be able to send an email from my server within a couple hours of me starting (possibly from a temporary URL if DNS doesn't take effect in your area right away)

Regards, DW

[a-goodwin]

Hi Dene,
RE: For the next day or two some people would be loading the site from my server and some would be loading from DreamHost, but both would be accessing the most recent database on my server, preventing downtime or lost subscribers.

This is exactly what BestCommerce told us, and then they ran into major problems with Ashop being encrypted, and the DNS from GoDaddy taking days, instead of hours, to switch over...do you have a backup plan if this happens again? All registration for the events happen thru Ashop. And we have a major pre-event Dec 5 , this Tues eve, with 130 registered participants (who we hope will sign up for the main event).

Also, when would you do this? Tonight? Lilia says there are 4 emails slated to go out at 3:30am today. And yes, DreamH is a complete drag!
Also, I'm over-budget due to all the crazy techno black holes that have been ongoing for months now! Won't be a problem after Jan, but rigth now I'm cash flow strapped...unless DH will return my $$.

Warmly,
Ariane

[DW]

Ariane,

If aShop is encoded with the "Zend" engine there shouldn't be any problems running it on my server.  If there are I know how to reinstall the Zend "decrypt" program.

It shouldn't really matter if the DNS changeover takes days (I think 72 hr should be the max world-wide) if the MySQL connection works as expected.

Yes, I can do it tonight - please forward your information (old control panel, FTP, ListMail and aShop access) and I will move your database(s), set the existing scripts to contact my server, set up your site(s) on my server (with temporary access URLs) and then finally make the nameserver change.

It's not a problem if we have to arrange payment in or after January.

Regards

[a-goodwin]

Hi Dean,
Ok....entered info here: listmailpro.com/support

But. one of my problems is I'm really don't know much...like, i think DH control panel and FTP is the same access info...but it logs me on automatically and things have been changed by other programmers...so, I gave you everything I could think of...and I have no idea what MySQl is...

Cheers....i'm going to sleep...
Ariane
ps do you sleep? Who takes over when  you need a break?