Mass Email

[Yrogerg]

I have a large list of emails from users who've subscribed to an email list stored in a MySQL database. It's about time I send out a newsletter to them so I'm now plagued with figuring out the easiest way to do this.

I assume I'd use the mail() function in php. However, should I go through each address and send an email or should I use a BCC?

Lastly, there are going to be emails that are old, fake, incorrect or whatever. Is there an easy way to weed out the thorns and determine if an email address returns mail remove it from the list as to avoid future problems?

So...

In a nutshell:
1. Script-wise, how to go about it
2. Individual email vs. BCC
3. Invalid emails

Thanks in advance.

[sarahk]

Oooh, what fun getting that sorted.
BCC - less load on your server, batch up into groups of, say, 100 and send
Individual - you can put a hyperlink on saying if you want to unsubscribe click http://www.mysite.com/unsub.php?id=123

where 123 is the id in your email table - don't have an id - get one!

I think the individual is the way to go but you may want to check any limitations with your isp.

Now, invalid emails

When I sign people up I check their email address and bounce it back to them if it's invalid. That doesn't get me past the poor guy with [e-mail]. That means that all addresses were valid when they were entered. Then the bounces after that I don't worry about, they're insignificant in number.

However your ISP has probably given you a number of mail accounts and you could set up an email address like [e-mail] and use this as the senders and reply address on your email. Then use php to a) clear the pop3 account, b) delete the emails and c) mark the email as invalid.

This however may not work as when I do it I get a single email back from an isp with a list of names where the email has failed (in the case of the BCC example). Each one has a different format so you might need to do it manually the first time until you get your systems sorted out.

I also send my emails as html email. I use phplib to get the body and then pass it to the html email class. This means that I spend very little time creating and sending the emails, my code is clear and easy to read and the delivered email looks first class. Again, your ISP may not appreciate your sending thousands of these but...

Resources:
http://sarah.users.phpclasses.org/browse.html/package/13.html
http://sarah.users.phpclasses.org/browse.html/package/32.html
click through the mirror bit and you'll be taken straight to the page.

[Weedpacket]

Originally posted by sarahk

Now, invalid emails

When I sign people up I check their email address and bounce it back to them if it's invalid. That doesn't get me past the poor guy with [e-mail]. That means that all addresses were valid when they were entered. Then the bounces after that I don't worry about, they're insignificant in number.

Something else I do if I can get it into the job is to first send a confirmatory email to the supplied address (assuming it's passed every other test so far). Said email asks the recipient to confirm that they really want to be on the list by going to a certain page (using the same embedded URL method with a random key attached) within (say) a week. That's to stop me from signing up [e-mail] or using an ostensibly valid address that in fact contains a simple typo. On the application page I tell the users that this is part of the process so that they can suspect something is wrong if they don't receive it.

I also send my emails as html email.

I offer the choice; I prefer to receive my emails as plain text.

[fandelem]

Make certain you have a return sender set when sending emails via phps functions.. Otherwise your webmaster will be extremely enraged, as they will default to him =) I learned this the hard way, heh heh.

k.

[bobthedog]

The best one is setting the Return-Path header for bounced emails etc.

Unfortunately it is likely that the mail funciton (using the underlying sendmail *nix program) will not allow you to set this header and will override it (you can change this, but means messing around with configuration settings which most ISPs wont even let you near).

To this end, the best way I have found is to do all the SMTP connectivity yourself, and then you are free to set any headers you like. A bit more qork , but definetly worth the effort.

[fandelem]

Here's what I use in one of my applications for mailing out the Quote of the Day..

I'll usually do a select on a DB, run it through a while loop, sleeping for 1-5 seconds before sending each email out.. make sure to set your timeout really high so it will finish executing

function sendemail($email, $title, $msg, $sender = "", 
$sender_email = "", $return_email = "", $priority = 0) {
// required values:
// email, title, msg
// $msg must be assembled outside this function

if ( !$sender ) {
       $sender = "Quotesland.com";
}
if ( (!$sender_email) && (!$return_email) ) {
       $sender_email = "[e-mail]";
       $return_email = "[e-mail]";
}
if ( $priority ) {
      $priority = 1;
}
$headers = "";
$headers .= "From: $sender <$sender_email>\n";
$headers .= "X-Sender: <[e-mail]>\n";
$headers .= "X-Mailer: PHP\n"; // mailer
$headers .= "X-Priority: $priority\n";
$headers .= "Return-Path: <$return_email>\n";  // Return path for errors

mail($email, $title, $msg, $headers);
return;

}

k.

[Yrogerg]

Thank you all for the support. I've got some good ideas about how to tackle this now.

Make certain you have a return sender set when sending emails via phps functions.. Otherwise your webmaster will be extremely enraged, as they will default to him =) I learned this the hard way, heh heh.

So all I do is set the return sender to [e-mail] and I'll be fine? (I just don't wanna totally piss off my isp).

Also, fandelem:
I like your function, very clean, but can you give me an example of the time interval and how to set one inbetween emails?

Thanks again.

[bobthedog]

make sure to set your timeout really high so it will finish executing

or just set it to 0, which means it will go on until your script finishes processing i.e

set_time_limit(0);

[Weedpacket]

Originally posted by bobthedog

or just set it to 0, which means it will go on until your script finishes processing i.e

set_time_limit(0);

Or set it inside the loop to something that would be a sensible duration for one mailout.

Two features of this approach:

1. It will keep running for however long is necessary to get through the list.

2. It will eventually terminate unless the loop itself is infinite (which would mean that it's broken, anyway) - even if the mailer hangs.

Might help to log the mail loop in some way - just to keep the occasional paternal eye on it.

[sarahk]

Something else I do if I can get it into the job is to first send a confirmatory email to the supplied address (assuming it's passed every other test so far).

right on Weedpacket, I knew I'd missed something. I do actually do this...🙂

[bobthedog]

Originally posted by Weedpacket
Or set it inside the loop to something that would be a sensible duration for one mailout.

Good call Weedpacket - didn't think of that one... makes sense