Autoresponder timed emails

mancroft

I am doing an autoresponder where a user types their email address into a form and then gets sent a response. I know how to do this.

But, in addition, I want to send further (different)messages automatically. Say, one a week later and another a week after that.

What is the best way to set the time for these messages in PHP?

jannoy

well you can use cronjob (CPANEL)

mancroft

What I really need is to do it using php

Weedpacket

You could set a record in a database with a date and an address and so forth; when PHP runs it looks in the database to see if there are any emails due to go out, and sends them if they are.

Of course, something else has to happen for PHP to run in the first place.

travelbuff

Of course, something else has to happen for PHP to run in the first place.

If you don't have cron access (and you should - check w/your host), you can work around it.

I used to have an include on one of my pages that looks into the db for a target time and if it is within 1 day of the target it executes another script for me (to send follow up emails) and sets a new target date.

I would put this on a webpage that gets about 20 visitors a day or something - you don't want it on a homepage or a page that gets 1,000s of hits a day - too much overhead.