Safe Method for Bulk eMail

[omniuni]

Hi,

I have a client who will need to send out bulk eMail within the next few months. I will build a plugin for my CMS that will allow this, but sending a bulk eMail by simply looping through all the mail addresses could easily become a problem!

I don't want to cause any trouble for WHB's servers, so I plan instead to have the bulk mailer write the mails to be sent into a database. This database will be used as a queue, and a chron job, executed frequently, will check to see if any mail is queued. If so, it will batch a few of them, and rest for a minute or two and then check again.

I figure in this way, if there is no mail in the queue, the script will execute and exit in a small fraction of a second, so even running every minute or two should cause no trouble for the server. It also means that if there IS mail in the queue, the script will only send a certain amount, so as to not overload WHB's mail services.

My initial thought is to run the chron every two minutes, and send a maximum of 30 eMails, but I realize this may be too much. I would like to still be able to send at least on average 5 eMails per minute. (300 an hour).

Please note, by the way, that most likely we're talking about 50 eMails or so, not 500. I just want them sent in a reasonable matter of time. It's a mailing list for people that are specifically registered for a service, and the mails will provide them updates that they require for their job! This is not, by any means, a situation of spamming!

Any comments from fellow WHB clients or the WHB staff?

[Maxim M.]

Hi,

We have a limit of sending max 200 emails per hour. So please configure your cron appropriately. There shouldn't be any resource overusage due to this restriction. As you have mentioned it won't be SPAM, it seems like there's nothing to worry about.

However beware of sending to AOL accounts. This company users have an option to mark any letter as SPAM. And if we receive a couple of complaints from AOL or some anti-spam service, we will be forced to react.

[omniuni]

Ah, good to know about the 200 mail limit. If I schedule 15 mails every 5 minutes, that should be safe, resulting in approximately 180 mails per hour at maximum usage. Depending on my customers wishes, I may also simply do 6 eMails every two minutes, again, resulting in 180 mails per hour.

Now, considering that we are on a Business hosting plan, if by some fluke the five or so people that also have eMail addresses each send several mails while the chron is executing, what happens if we attempt to send, say 204 eMails in an hour? Do we get suspended, warned, or do the extra mails just get queued for a bit? Is there a way I can check how many more eMails we have per hour and block the script if necessary?

Also, I will mention the "mark as spam" issue to my client, but only people registered for the eMail service will be receiving messages. There is a relatively complex registration procedure, so I highly doubt that anyone will be marking these messages as spam!

Thanks again for the prompt and informative reply, Maxim!

[Alan B]

AOL and Comcast have both been known to quickly blacklist servers sending volume mail to their users. Be wary if you have many recipients at either of those services.

[Maxim M.]

Originally Posted by omniuni

Now, considering that we are on a Business hosting plan, if by some fluke the five or so people that also have eMail addresses each send several mails while the chron is executing, what happens if we attempt to send, say 204 eMails in an hour? Do we get suspended, warned, or do the extra mails just get queued for a bit? Is there a way I can check how many more eMails we have per hour and block the script if necessary?

We have 500 emails per hour limit on Business hosting:
http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/websit...icated-hosting

If it is your another Business package (not d-site.net one), you may use your previous configuration.

There's no suspend for that of course.The 'extra' emails just get to the retry queue but there's no absolute confidence whether they will be delivered successfully later. So it is better to send the emails keeping this restriction in mind.

[omniuni]

Thanks again, Maxim!

Alan, indeed! I am recommending to my client that if possible, we use the websites built-in messaging system, but unfortunately, that may not always be an option, since many of these mailings will be time-sensitive.

*sigh* Well, we'll do the best we can.

[Matt R]

Have a look at www.verticalresponse.com

It's who we use for mailing.

[omniuni]

Thanks for the recommendation!