Using Outlook Express to Manage an Email Mailing List

It is possible to use Outlook Express without any add-on to manage an email mailing list. Although it can be used for any sized list it is only really practical for small/medium semi-static mailing lists.

Mailing List Maintenance

Email List Maintenance involves adding and deleting contacts from the mailing list, either by request, or because the email address becomes obsolete. Outlook Express supports only manual list maintenance which means that you need to manually add/remove new/old contacts.

Processing List Subscribe/Unsubscribe Requests

Regardless of whether the new contact requests to join the list via a web form or by emailing a particular address, it is usual to request that the new subscriber indicate this by using certain keywords in the subject line.

So as to make sure that he does it, is normal to pre-fill the subject line accordingly, rather than rely on the subscriber to do it. Where it is not practical to pre-fill the subject field of the email, like with offline promotions, then it is normal to use a special email address like subscribe@abc.com or unsubscribe@abc.com.

Often both methods are used together.

In order to auto process the request you simply create a message rule that moves messages with the correct criteria to another folder.

For example you could create a message rule to move all messages addressed to subscribe@ or containing the word subscribe to the subscribe folder and the likewise for unsubscribe.

Once the messages are in the folders you then need to manually add or remove the contacts from the address book.

Managing the Address Book

Firstly it is a good idea if Outlook Express in used solely for this single purpose. If you also use it for ordinary mail as well then you either, need to configure a separate Identity (see Identities), or use a separate logon account.

When you receive a subscription request all you need to do is to right click the message and click add sender to address book to add them to your email list.

Once they are in the main address list you can either add them to a mail group or alternatively move them to a separate address book folder. Outlook Express Address Book folders are particularly useful for managing address lists, in particular new subscribers.

Once the new email address have been verified you can then add the email address to the main list folder (e.g. newsletter).  Once in the main folder you can subdivide them if you wish. I use blocks of 50 addresses which I assign to mail Groups.

For Example 250 contacts would be split into 5 groups each with 50 members. The reason I do this is that it is easier to select the 5 groups when sending the email than all 250 contacts.

Sending A Message to the List

Because you are sending an email to multiple recipients it is not a good idea to send a single message to the entire list. To understand why you  have to realize what happens when you send an email to multiple recipients.

The first thing to do is to create the message and save it as a .eml file. To do this choose file save as option.

Now the list is split into two:

1. Unverified email addresses- These are new subscribers that you haven't yet emailed.
2. Verified email addresses

Open the save email and send  it to all the contacts on the unverified list (using bcc line). You may have to repeat this several times after removing any bad emails. Once the email succeeds the list is semi verified.

You now need to wait a couple of hours to see if any of the emails get bounced. Remove the addresses from those that do from the list. The list is now verified.

You now open the message again and this time send it to the members of the verified list (using bcc line). Once sent you can now move the addresses from the unverified to the verified list.

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