Despite the occasional proclamation to the contrary, email lists remain the most effective tool for customer and constituent communication for organizations of all sizes. Study after study show that no other electronic channel comes close to matching the reach and results that email provides. Here are a few best practices that will help you grow your lists and make the most of your email list communication.
Find out why email lists and email marketing persist as the most valuable communication channel for all of our audiences, and learn how to make the most of the indispensable tool that email is in this new flipbook resource.
As email communicators, we see the virtual Pandora's box of social media grow by the day. And we see millennials and social media presented as having a symbiotic relationship that is said to portend the death of email or, at the very least, formidable struggles for organizations without a "strong social presence".
Don't believe the hype. The death of email has been forecast, even declared, since email lists began almost 30 years ago with LISTSERV. But research shows that email is very much alive and thriving, with study after study finding email to be the top activity for online millennials.
Interviewing millennials in-depth and in-person earlier this month gave a first-hand glimpse into how they interact with email and the big role that it actually plays in the daily academic, professional and personal worlds of their generation.
Check out a two-part feature with illuminating snapshots, both statistical and real-life, on email in the everyday lives of millennials:
Email marketers often wonder about benchmarks and how their open-up and click-through rates compare with others. While it may sound appealing to be able to do a quick numerical comparison to assess the success of a campaign, this is usually not the most worthwhile exercise because average response rates vary so widely across different industries, businesses and types of campaigns. Instead, the more important focus should be on following a few key best practices to consistently improve the response rates for your particular situation and unique audience. Here are five quick tips to help you do just that.
Top Gun was in theaters. Prince's "Kiss" was on the radio. Alf was on television. It was 1986. The Internet was in its infancy. The World Wide Web would not be invented for another three years, but the original social media had already emerged in LISTSERV®.
Eric Thomas created LISTSERV as a weekend project while a college student in Paris. This original idea formed the basis for social media as we know it today. Eric was studying electrical engineering but was more fascinated with the world of IT than with his own studies.
"It's a creative process that is not the same as painting or drawing, but you also start from a blank sheet and write your program," Eric said. "I can write a program for anything. It's up to me. My imagination is the limit."
Read the full article by Theresa Sintetos, Social Media Strategist here.
May has arrived, and (above the equator) it feels like we are well into spring now, with sunny blue skies and flowers blooming outside our Stockholm, Sweden, office.
May is a special month because it's a nice reminder of the importance of permission in our email list communication and email marketing efforts. It's essential to be certain that we are following the "May we ..." rules and key best practices to be sure that we're respecting our subscribers at all times.
With the right care, just like flowers, our relationships with subscribers can bloom to full potential.
One of the more powerful tools that we, as email marketers, have in our arsenals is A/B-split testing. The concept is quite simple and means that you send two or more different versions of a mailing to random splits of your subscribers and compare the response rates to see which version performs better. You can then use these insights to optimize future messages and campaigns. However, to actually obtain meaningful data from A/B-split testing isn't quite as straightforward and requires a little more thought and planning. Here are five simple tips that will help you spend your time more wisely and make the most out of your A/B-split testing. Read more in this article by Jani Kumpula, Senior Webmaster/User Interface Designer at L-Soft here: http://www.lsoft.com/news/absplit-issue1-2015.asp
L-Soft is happy to announce that FundSvcs, a discussion list that connects more than 3,500 advancement services professionals worldwide, has won the Grand Prize in the LISTSERV Choice Awards – The Mailys 2013-14.
"FundSvcs has been a labor of love for me ever since I conceived it back in the mid-1990s. I am passionate about the work that advancement services professionals do, hence the creation of the email list and the Association of Advancement Services Professionals. It gives me great pleasure to accept this award on behalf of all that we have done, do, and will be accomplishing in the future," said John H. Taylor, FundSvcs Founder and List Administrator.
Congratulations to FundSvcs, the other finalists and all of the nominated lists. Thank you to everyone who nominated and voted in the award program.
Did you miss the news about LISTSERV Maestro 6.0, the latest release of L-Soft's opt-in email marketing and analytics solution? Check out the new LISTSERV Maestro demo and see how easily you can engage your subscribers with targeted campaigns and measure your success with real-time reporting and analytics.
If you're in the email marketing business, you may have heard of CASL (Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation), which will go into effect July 1, 2014. This new anti-spam law applies not only to Canadian organizations and companies but to anyone sending commercial email to Canadian subscribers. Failure to comply with CASL comes with stiff penalties.
As opposed to the American CAN-SPAM Act, which allows email marketing messages to be sent to anyone, without permission, until the recipient explicitly requests that they stop, CASL allows commercial email messages to be sent only to those who have given prior consent and explicitly opted in to receive the messages.
Here are three simple tips to help you comply with CASL and other similar anti-spam laws:
Obtain Permission: Always ask for express consent before sending commercial email messages to your contacts. The method of acquiring permission should be explicit and require a positive action like checking a box, typing into a field or clicking a button. Pre-checked boxes should not be used because they assume consent and don't involve a positive action.
Provide Identification: Always clearly identify yourself in the “From” field and use a subject line that accurately describes the content of your message. Also include a valid physical postal address, or a prominent link to a web page containing this information, in every commercial email message that you send. If you are sending email on behalf of another company or organization, both organizations should be identified.
Include an Unsubscribe Mechanism: Make sure that every email that you send contains a prominent and functional mechanism for subscribers to easily opt out from receiving further messages from you. The mechanism can be a link to a web page or an automatically generated URL that allows subscribers to opt out simply by clicking it. Honor all opt-out requests promptly and without delay.
Anyone who sends opt-in email newsletters, announcements, special offers and other email marketing campaigns knows that it's critical to be able to quickly and effectively assess campaign performance, see the big picture over time, hone in on trends and root out problems.
The work of email marketers just got more colorful and precise with the release of LISTSERV Maestro 6.0, a new major version of L-Soft's email marketing software. LISTSERV Maestro is available as both licensed software and a hosted cloud service and enables senders to truly target and engage their subscribers, using a complete opt-in email marketing and analytics system that brings real results.
Are you using another email list management solution? Make the jump to LISTSERV® and ensure smooth operations now and in the future, plus a 30 percent limited-time discount.
Many email lists have experienced problems because of the recent DMARC policy changes at Yahoo and AOL. Would you like all of your subscribers to be able to participate fully on your lists regardless of their email addresses? They can if your email lists run on the latest version of LISTSERV, the gold standard email list management software. LISTSERV offers the industry's only seamless solution to the DMARC problem, to go along with its renowned reliability, scalability and performance.
People who administer and participate in email discussion lists have been experiencing giant hassles in the past few weeks after Yahoo – and later followed by AOL – implemented aggressive DMARC policies without any advance warning.
DMARC is an emerging method of email authentication used to combat spoofing and allows domain owners to insist that any mail that has their domain address in the "From" line of the message must come directly from their mail servers. By changing its DMARC policy to p=reject, Yahoo and AOL directed receiving mail systems to reject messages that don't conform to these requirements.
This becomes problematic for all legitimate email discussion lists, not just those hosted on LISTSERV software, because they may be configured to have the original sender's email address in the "From" line, but since the email is distributed by the mailing list, DMARC-compliant mail systems will reject the message and bounce it back to the mailing list server.
All of a sudden, messages from subscribers with Yahoo email addresses stopped getting distributed, and even worse, innocent subscribers at other domains were getting auto-deleted from lists because they were rejecting and bouncing the Yahoo messages, as directed by Yahoo's DMARC policy, back to the list's bounce-handling address.
A variety of circumventions have been proposed by list owners, ranging for booting all Yahoo and AOL addresses off the list to putting the list address in the "From" field, with the potential side-effect of causing private replies and out-of-office messages to be distributed to the entire list.
On April 25, L-Soft introduced the industry's only seamless solution to the DMARC problem by releasing LISTSERV 16.0-2014a. The solution does not require anyone to make compromises or lose any functionality – not even the Yahoo and AOL subscribers. Incoming Yahoo and AOL addresses are automatically rewritten to local addresses that can receive private replies and forward them to the original poster.
The ability to easily unsubscribe from email lists is a key need. Almost all of us can remember a frustrating unsubscribe experience and appreciate being able to leave a list quickly, when we would like to.
The typical placement for the unsubscribe link is at the bottom of each email. To include a sign-off function is not only an email best practice but a legal requirement. Having an easy-to-find unsubscribe link benefits everyone because your subscribers can easily leave a list when their preferences change, and we, as senders, can ensure that our email lists are up-to-date and include people who truly want to receive our messages.
Google announced a new Gmail function, the unsubscribe tool, earlier this year. However, the function itself is not new. For example, Microsoft Outlook webmail already had such an unsubscribe link in the footer of email messages. What's new in Gmail is that the link appears right at the top, on the email header itself. On promotional messages, this gray unsubscribe link is placed directly after the sender. This is a positive step that makes it easy for a subscriber to leave a list when desired. Naturally, it's better for a subscriber to leave a list than click "report as spam", when the sender is reputable and follows email best practices. Gmail's unsubscribe link appears only for senders who have a good reputation and use the "email list-unsubscribe" header settings.
The unsubscribe – or opt-out – function simply needs to be seen and work, whether our subscribers choose to click the link embedded in the header or footer of a web-based email service or to click a prominent unsubscribe link in the message itself. Unsubscribes give us an opportunity to communicate – for example you can customize a nice sign-off confirmation message. The unsubscribe function may look small, but it's an important part of the overall email experience, so it needs care, attention and testing to work successfully. First and last impressions count.
L-Soft launched its brand new website a few days ago. Among the improvements is a streamlined subscription center, where you can access all of L-Soft's announcement lists, user forums and social media channels in one place. Did you know about the LISTSERV at Work newsletter, which provides the latest product and industry news, or about all of the user forums, where you can discuss and obtain peer support for getting the most out of your LISTSERV email lists?
We urge you to browse around and see if any of the other email lists pique your interest. If you have general feedback about the website, please let us know. We always welcome comments and suggestions for improvement from our customers and visitors.
Susan Brown Faghani Thu, 13 Feb 2014 22:06:25 +0100
This Valentine's Day begins L-Soft's 20th anniversary year. Two decades ago, Eric Thomas – who first developed LISTSERV, the original email list software in 1986 – incorporated and registered the company to develop the software further. Here's a look at the ways that LISTSERV continues to spread the love and build relationships, to the tune of more than 100 million list subscriptions around the world.
"LISTSERV and email fulfill a fundamental human need – the need to form communities and share ideas, experiences, joy and pain. People have been doing this for as long as mankind has existed, but LISTSERV removes the barrier of physical distance," Eric Thomas said.
Let's see some of the main ways that LISTSERV email lists connect people.
Hobby and Specialty Discussion Lists
Dog breeds, authors, sports teams, you name it – if you love something, there's a group of people who share your passion for it and want to talk about it. Some great friendships – even a marriage or two that we know of – have come from these groups.
"Our list is like a family. We share the joys of new puppies, the loss of dear old companions, and everything in between. And while we may occasionally squabble within our 'pack', The Belgian [Shepherd Dog] community is amazingly helpful and supportive in times of trouble ... the easy flow of information and the ability to 'meet' so many new friends has truly changed our world."
– Libbye Miller, BELG-L List Owner
Email Newsletters and Marketing Campaigns
Companies and associations show their appreciation for their customers and members with relevant and useful content, special offers and opportunities for interaction. In turn, they are rewarded with their subscribers' loyalty and devotion – now that's what we call "a happy engagement".
Email Communities
Facing the challenges of parenting a special-needs child, struggling to overcome an eating disorder, coping with a cancer diagnosis – even the toughest of times are made better by the shared love and support of a LISTSERV community of friends who have "been there" and understand.
"KIDNEY-ONC is an invaluable LISTSERV list that has given me great insight and confidence – indeed, great hope – as I face kidney cancer. My reliance on KIDNEY-ONC for information, support, encouragement, guidance, clarification and reassurance has kept me on course since I was first diagnosed and then discovered this wonderful assembly of 'cancervivors'."
– Doug in Plattsburgh, New York
Simply put, regardless of the topic or type of email list, email lists are a way to share, connect and make our own and other lives a little better. As Eric has said: "Give and take – it's at the heart of what LISTSERV stands for."
So take a chance, search a topic you're interested in, and you might discover a new LISTSERV list to enjoy: http://www.lsoft.com/catalist.html
RECOVERYMEDITATIONS, an inspirational daily vignette about overcoming compulsive eating, won the January vote in The Mailys with 57.40% of the tally, becoming the fifth finalist eligible for grand prize consideration. A total of 2998 votes were cast in January. Congratulations to RECOVERYMEDITATIONS!
The five monthly winners – DEERHOUND-L, NYCSLIST, FUNDSVCS, GUNROOM and RECOVERYMEDITATIONS – will now proceed to the L-Soft jury, which will select the grand prize winner. Judges will analyze content, list activity, subscriber involvement, functionality, overall concept and innovative and effective use of LISTSERV with an eye to the overall success and benefit of the list.
GUNROOM, a discussion community for fans of author Patrick O'Brian, won the December vote in The Mailys with 53.77% of the tally, becoming the fourth of five finalists eligible for grand prize consideration. GUNROOM allows subscribers to discuss O'Brian's works and share insights and information about the British Navy and nautical world of the 1800s, thereby enhancing the enjoyment and understanding of O'Brian's books and characters. A total of 4850 votes were cast in December. Congratulations to GUNROOM!
It is Nobel Prize week in Stockholm, Sweden. Since one of the nominators to the LISTSERV Choice Awards, The Mailys, will win a trip to Stockholm, we wanted to provide you a tour of the city in the spirit of the Nobel Prize. Enjoy the December scenes from this Nordic capital:
The window to nominate your favorite LISTSERV list to The Mailys and enter into the drawing to win the trip to Stockholm is rapidly closing. December 31 is the last day for nominations, so nominate today to get into the running.
FUNDSVCS, a discussion forum for people responsible for supporting fundraising programs, won the November vote in The Mailys with 61.77% of the tally. FUNDSVCS is the largest non-profit list in the United States serving the advancement profession and has been in existence since the mid-1990s. A total of 2600 votes were cast in November. Congratulations to FUNDSVCS!
December voting has begun, which means that there are only two more chances for an email list to get into the running for the grand prize. Help determine the finalists and vote for your favorite among the remaining nominees, or nominate a new list.
Imagine a city or municipality with engaged residents and solid coordination between agencies. Interested in how your city, town or agency can communicate, collaborate and connect more effectively? Visit Email City and mouse over the screen for points of information and inspiration on how local government leaders, staff and everyday citizens can benefit from the many uses of LISTSERV email list technology.
One of the largest communication networks for school librarians in New York City is the next finalist in The Mailys 2013. The New York City Librarian Information Sharing Tool (NYCSLIST) prevailed in October's voting with 54.30 percent and is now the second of five finalists advancing for grand prize consideration.
FUNDSVCS came in second place with 39.84 percent of the vote. A total of 4164 votes were cast in October. Congratulations to NYCSLIST and its subscribers and supporters!
November voting has begun, and there are three more chances for an email list to get into the running for the grand prize. Help determine the finalists and vote for your favorite among the nominees, or nominate a new list.
L-Soft is always looking to improve its website to make it as user-friendly, informative and effective as possible for our visitors. We are happy to invite you to preview our new website and provide feedback to help improve it.
The preview site is fully functional, and you can browse around as much as you would like. Click on the "Give Feedback" icon to share any comments or suggestions for improvement. As a thank-you gift for your time and effort, we will send you a timeless LISTSERV t-shirt.
Thank you for having a look, and we look forward to your feedback!
In a close first month of voting in the LISTSERV Choice Awards – The Mailys – 2013, DEERHOUND-L managed to edge out the win over the second-place NYCSLIST 45.87% to 43.62%, and becoming the first of the five finalists eligible for the grand prize. Congratulations to DEERHOUND-L, its subscribers and supporters! A total of 4214 votes were cast in September.
October voting has now begun and will determine the next finalist. Please remember that even though the voting is already ongoing, the Mailys 2013 is open for additional nominations. There are four more chances to become a finalist, and the vote counters will be reset at the beginning of each month. If your favorite email discussion list or newsletter is not yet among the nominees, get it into the running and nominate it!
The public voting to determine the five finalists eligible for the grand prize in The Mailys 2013 has now started. As you may already know, in any given month, the nominated list that receives the highest number of votes will become that month's finalist. Five different finalists will be selected, one for each month of voting: September, October, November and December 2013 and January 2014.
Spread the word and vote for your favorite lists among the nominees. You can vote once every 24 hours, so as the saying goes, vote early and vote often!
Are you subscribed to a great LISTSERV but don't see it among the nominees? Nominate it! Nominations are accepted until December 31, so nominate today to make sure that your favorite list gets maximum exposure. And remember, everyone who nominates a new, qualified list is entered into a random drawing for a chance to win a trip to Stockholm, Sweden, home of L-Soft.
The first nominations have arrived in The Mailys 2013. Everyone can nominate, and all LISTSERV mailing lists, including announcement lists, newsletters and discussion groups, are eligible. The voting will start September 1, so nominate today to make sure that your favorite lists are included in The Mailys 2013 from the beginning.
Anyone submitting a new, qualified nomination of a LISTSERV list or LISTSERV Maestro campaign will be entered into a random drawing to win a trip to Stockholm, Sweden, home of L-Soft, with the opportunity to meet with Eric Thomas, LISTSERV Inventor and L-Soft Founder and CEO.
For more information about The Mailys 2013, see this short informational video:
The Mailys 2013 is now open for nominations. The competition honors outstanding email lists worldwide. Everyone can nominate, and all LISTSERV mailing lists, including announcement lists, newsletters and discussion groups, are eligible. Which messages stand out and shine in your inbox? Feel free to nominate email lists that help you professionally, increase your knowledge, give you networking opportunities, provide support – make your life easier in any way. We look forward to nominations of email lists of all types that bring value to their subscribers.
And new for this year, anyone submitting a new, qualified nomination of a LISTSERV list or LISTSERV Maestro campaign will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a trip to Stockholm, Sweden, home of L-Soft. The finalists and the winner are announced early 2014, when L-Soft celebrates 20 years as the pioneering email list technology provider.
Is there a difference between LISTSERV® and an email list?
Yes! LISTSERV is a software application that runs opt-in email lists, including discussion groups, newsletters, announcement lists and email marketing campaigns – in other words, all types of permission-based mailing lists. So, LISTSERV is not an email list. It is a program for email lists.
THEBIGBOOK, a unique online study group operated by The Recovery Group, has won the Grand Prize in the LISTSERV Choice Awards – The Mailys 2012. Founded in 1995, The Recovery Group runs more than 100 LISTSERV lists focused on helping people recover from eating disorders using the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
"The Big Book list hosts an online study each year. Beginning in January, we study the first 150 pages of The Big Book, which the original members of Alcoholics Anonymous wrote," said Linda Smallwood, Coordinator of THEBIGBOOK. "Our LISTSERV list has archives going back to 1999. Each leader's share, as well as the responses to the daily assignments are there, where they can be read for years to come by those who struggle with eating disorders all over the world."
Congratulations to THEBIGBOOK and the other finalists – GUNROOM, RECOVERYMEDITATIONS, WORLDWIDEWORDS, WTS – and to all the nominated lists. Thank you to everyone who nominated and voted in this year's award program.
Did you know that the ListPlex email list hosting service is available as an emergency notification system? The service consists of a special hosted ListPlex node and is primarily meant as a backup system and additional resource for emergency communication or crisis readiness. If something unexpected happens with the normal communication channels, the service provides an additional way to communicate with important stakeholders through email.
If an interruption occurs at your organization's primary LISTSERV site – for example, the university computer center loses power in a hurricane, earthquake or other emergency – then the ListPlex notification service can serve as an important backup channel to reach people on campus through web and mobile email.
You've got mail ... on your computer, on your tablet, on your phone. Email messages today simply aren't what they used to be. With each new technological leap, we, as email senders across every channel, need to reevaluate how today's subscribers take in and process our messages. And it's not just email. Use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media is growing daily, so quickly, in fact, that plain SMS text messaging is actually declining.
Did you know that LISTSERV has been available as a hosted service since 1995 and in the cloud since 1997, long before the buzzwords "cloud computing" and "software as a service" existed? L-Soft has provided basic shared-server hosting for email lists since 1995, beginning with EASE, and dedicated virtual server hosting with the introduction of ListPlex in 1997.
The L-Soft software tune-up is a complimentary and confidential annual technical review for LISTSERV and LISTSERV Maestro customers with current maintenance. The software tune-up is a great way to be certain that you are using email best practices, the latest version of the software and that all your systems are configured for optimal performance. With an L-Soft software tune-up you can rest assured knowing that your site is in good working order.
Have you gotten your tune-up yet? If not, read on for some main reasons to take advantage of this benefit.
You'll get one-on-one input from an L-Soft support expert, helping you discover new time-saving features and prevent potential problems before they occur
You'll rest assured knowing that you're using best email practices, the latest software versions and that all of your systems are configured for top performance
You'll receive expert assistance – for free – in solving any issues and asking any questions about running your L-Soft software
You'll only spend minutes participating in the software tune-up, but it could well save you many hours and countless headaches down the line
You'll receive a virtual certificate and web logo for your site after successful completion, not to mention the peace of mind and freedom from hassles
L-Soft Founder and CEO and LISTSERV Inventor Eric Thomas talked email lists and their enduring power in neighborhood communication with noted radio host Kojo Nnamdi of the Washington DC-based public radio station, WAMU. It was a lively exchange as Eric, along with co-participants Jennifer Golbeck, Assistant Professor, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland and Maria Thomas, Interim President and COO, Loosecubes, dialogued with Nnamdi and phone-in guests.
Interested in expanding your academic initiatives and research projects via email discussion groups without having to maintain the service? ListPlex is L-Soft's premium email list hosting service – LISTSERV® in the cloud – and is now available for academic customers at special rates.
You will be able to manage an unlimited number of email lists under your own virtual domain name and receive full technical support with an annual service cost of only $2,750 plus delivery charges, which are 90 percent discounted with this offer. L-Soft also offers seamless migration of existing LISTSERV lists to the hosting service.
The five finalists – email lists that have qualified for grand prize consideration – have now been determined. The L-Soft jury and CEO Eric Thomas will select the grand prize winner based on information provided by the nominators as well as the award jury's research. Judges will analyze content, email list activity, subscriber involvement, functionality, overall concept and innovative and effective use of LISTSERV technology with an eye to the overall success and benefit of the list. The grand prize winner will be announced at the end of 2012.
Thank you to all the lists and everyone who nominated and voted in this year's contest!
RECOVERYMEDITATIONS – an inspirational vignette e-mailed to a list of subscribers about the experience, strength and hope of a compulsive eater – won the July vote in The Mailys 2012. August voting is now underway and will determine the last of the five finalists eligible for Grand Prize consideration.
WTS – Working the Steps – an email community where members work through the Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous, won the June voting contest in The Mailys 2012. July voting is now underway and will determine the fourth of the five finalists eligible for Grand Prize consideration.
Do you know what LISTSERV is? Is it any email list? Is it any IT product that runs email lists? No – LISTSERV® is the original – and trademarked – email list management software that's been putting wanted email into subscribers' in-boxes for a quarter-century. Enjoy this dynamic introduction to the software that launched the email list industry, created in 1986 by L-Soft Founder and CEO, Eric Thomas, and available only from L-Soft: "This is LISTSERV®" and now that you know, share and spread the word.
GUNROOM, a discussion community about author Patrick O'Brian and his works won the May voting contest in The Mailys 2012. June voting is now underway and will determine the third of the five finalists eligible for Grand Prize consideration.
World Wide Words, a weekly newsletter about the English language won the April contest in The Mailys 2012 with 60.94% of the vote. The newsletter discusses the vagaries of the English language, including word histories, new words, the background to words in the news, and some of the problems of English usage. World Wide Words also attempts to answer questions on English language and usage.
The May vote is currently underway to determine the second of the five finalists eligible for the Grand Prize. A total of 16 lists have been nominated so far. In any given month, the list that receives the highest number of votes and has not already qualified as a finalist will become that month's finalist.
Nominations for additional lists are still accepted. You only need to win one month to become a finalist, so if your favorite list hasn't been nominated yet, then nominate it today!
A new season of the LISTSERV Choice Awards, also known as "The Mailys", is now open for nominations. All email lists that run on L-Soft's LISTSERV® email list software or LISTSERV® Maestro email marketing software are eligible, including email newsletters, announcement lists and discussion groups.
Public voting begins April 1st, so nominate today to ensure that your nomination has the most chances at winning a monthly voting contest to qualify as one of the five finalists for grand prize consideration.
Nominating a list is easy and takes just a couple of minutes. Nominators will receive an L-Soft promotional item of their choice, with options including t-shirts and tote bags, and the first person to nominate a particular list will receive a limited-edition LISTSERV 25th Anniversary commemorative pin. Each nominated list will also receive a special "Nominated" star web logo. Remember, voting opens April 1st, so nominate now!
Susan Brown Faghani Fri, 9 Mar 2012 22:02:34 +0100
Delivering life-changing and even life-saving information to thousands of people is all in a day's work for the LISTSERV® email communities that won L-Soft's 2011 LISTSERV Choice Awards – The Mailys.
L-Soft honored the powerful efforts and profound results of The Kidney Cancer Online Support Group (KIDNEY-ONC) and BELG-L, a community of Belgian Shepherd owners, naming each email list as a grand prize winner in its global competition.
Regardless of their topics – whether serious or fun or somewhere in between – and despite the growth of newer social media, email communities are going strong. KIDNEY-ONC List Owner Robin K. Martinez shares an insight as to why:
"The information on the 'talk-based' social media is ephemeral; it can be valuable but may not be easy to locate again if you need it because it's not archived. Email also offers the immediacy of social media, so to me it's the best of both worlds."
Learn more and be inspired by the work of these award-winning email communities:
Susan Brown Faghani Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:40:20 +0100
The permission and trust of your email subscribers is the "Love Potion Number 9" of email marketing. This not-so-secret formula is your key to building relationships and results – and who doesn't love that?
So what's the recipe? As with any successful relationship, our subscribers need and deserve that we, as senders, respect, protect and engage them with every message.
So make every email you send a virtual Cupid's arrow – a tailored message based on subscriber data and email best practices – that resonates in a positive way with each person who has given permission to receive it from you. In turn, your subscribers' esteem for and desire to engage with your content and your organization will grow.
L-Soft may not have solved the great mystery of love, but we have created a code of email marketing based on keeping relationships the top priority through best practices – permission, trust and relevance – every day, every message.
Happy Valentine's Day! And remember, candy hearts may be just for today, but subscriber relationships are always the heart of opt-in email marketing and communication.
L-Soft is delighted to announce the winners of the Grand Prize in this year's LISTSERV Choice Awards – The Mailys. Yes, you read that correctly – winners! In special recognition of two exceptional LISTSERV email communities and in celebration of the 25th anniversary of LISTSERV, L-Soft Founder and CEO and LISTSERV Inventor Eric Thomas decided to honor not one but two grand-prize winning lists this year. Congratulations to each winning list, BELG-L, a community of Belgian Shepherd dog owners, and KIDNEY-ONC, the Kidney Cancer Online Support Group.
"The award recognizes the KIDNEY-ONC LISTSERV list for connecting people to provide life-changing and indeed life-saving information and support. The credit goes to our wonderful KIDNEY-ONC members whose deep dedication to finding and sharing information is matched only by their support and caring for fellow patients and caregivers. I am proud to be part of all this," says Robin Martinez, Senior List Owner of KIDNEY-ONC.
"It is with great pride and pleasure that I accept the 2011 LISTSERV Choice Award on behalf of all 1440 members of BELG-L and our admin team members Judy, Kat, and Mike," says Libbye Miller, BELG-L List Owner. "We greatly appreciate all that L-Soft has done over the years to allow this worldwide group of Belgian Shepherd lovers our daily dose of lively discourse! Thank you so much!"
People are jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon, but what is the cloud in technical terms anyway? See the first video in L-Soft's brand new series, ET on IT. In this video, LISTSERV® Inventor and L-Soft Founder and CEO Eric Thomas gives no-hype insights on cloud computing, including some words of caution on email in the cloud.
The LISTSERV 16.0-2011a level set is now available to all customers with valid maintenance agreements and a License Activation Key (LAK) expiring after November 4, 2011.
The LISTSERV 16.0-2011a level set includes all known fixes, patches and between-release enhancements up to November 4, 2011.
AOL announced recently that it is closing its email list hosting service and urging list owners to secure another service before the end of the year. L-Soft will provide all customers who transition their email lists from the current AOL hosting service to the EASE Home service, powered by the latest version of LISTSERV, with the first three months of service for free as a welcome offer. L-Soft will also provide support for the move and waive the set-up fee. Following the first three months, standard EASE Home rates will apply.
Eric Thomas, inventor of LISTSERV® software, which launched the email list industry in 1986, hosted a live chat and videocast on September 15th. The event was part of a worldwide online party celebrating the 25th anniversary of LISTSERV, which Thomas developed as a university student.
Eric also recorded a new video, in which he reflects on 25 years of LISTSERV software and gives a sneak peek of the next version.
To celebrate a quarter-century of the software that pioneered permission email list communication, L-Soft would like to invite you to pre-submit questions for LISTSERV® inventor and L-Soft Founder and CEO Eric Thomas to answer during a live chat to be held Thursday, September 15.
Here is your chance to ask all the questions you ever wanted to know about LISTSERV but were afraid to ask. Have you ever wondered why Eric invented LISTSERV? Are you curious how LISTSERV has changed over the years? Do you want to know what some of the very first LISTSERV lists were? Are you interested to hear Eric's vision of the next quarter-century of LISTSERV and the permission email industry? Just Ask!
By pre-submitting questions, you will be placed in the priority queue, which will increase the odds that your question will be answered during the live event.
Polls closed September 1, and all five finalists in the LISTSERV Choice Awards – The Mailys – 2011 have now been determined. The following LISTSERV email lists, each of which won one of the monthly public voting contests, have qualified for grand prize consideration:
A total of 39,159 votes were cast during the five months that the polls were open.
The L-Soft jury and CEO Eric Thomas will select the grand prize winner based on information provided by the nominators as well as the award jury's research. Judges will analyze content, email list activity, subscriber involvement, functionality, overall concept and innovative and effective use of LISTSERV technology with an eye to the overall success and benefit of the list. The grand prize winner will be announced in the fall of 2011.
Congratulations to all the finalists and to all nominated email lists. Thank you to everyone who nominated and voted in this year's contest.
KIDNEY-ONC, an email discussion list focusing on kidney cancer, won the July vote in the LISTSERV Choice Awards – The Mailys. Four of the five finalists – email lists that have qualified for grand prize consideration – have now been determined. August voting is in full swing. The list that receives the highest number of votes and has not already qualified will become the last finalist in the 2011 competition. Remember, it only takes winning one month to qualify as a finalist, so vote early and vote often!
Three of the five finalists – email lists that have qualified for grand prize consideration – have been determined in The LISTSERV Choice Awards – The Mailys – 2011. Nominations are still being accepted through July 31. In any given month, the nominated email list that receives the highest number of votes and has not already qualified as a finalist becomes that month's finalist. It only takes winning the August vote for a list to qualify for grand prize consideration, so don't miss this final opportunity for your list to qualify as a finalist. Nominate today!
The 25th Anniversary of LISTSERV® is in full swing, and we invite you to celebrate with L-Soft.
The date is now set for the videocast and live chat with Eric Thomas, L-Soft Founder and CEO, who developed LISTSERV in 1986. The live chat will be held on September 15, 2011, at 12 noon U.S. Eastern Time, with people tuning in online from anniversary parties around the world.
Please visit the LISTSERV 25th Anniversary disco-tech party room on the newly designed L-Soft website to:
The First. The Only. The One.
View a one-minute video welcome by Eric
Register for the online party: Deadline August 25th
Submit your live chat questions for Eric
Experience The Story of LISTSERV
Share your LISTSERV story and get a special commemorative item
Here's a quick rundown of what you need to know about this year's competition:
All LISTSERV email lists and LISTSERV Maestro email marketing campaigns (including email newsletters, announcement lists and discussion groups) are eligible. Self nominations are welcome.
Nominating a list is easy and takes just a couple minutes. Everyone who nominates a new list and submits a valid, completed nomination form to L-Soft will receive an L-Soft promotional item of their choice, including t-shirts and tote bags. New this year, each nominated list will also receive a special "Nominated" star web logo.
The voting consists of monthly contests and will close August 31, 2011. You may vote once every 24 hours. In any given month, the nominated list that receives the highest number of votes and has not already qualified as a finalist will become that month's finalist. This year, five different finalists will be selected, one per month of voting, and will advance to the jury for grand prize consideration.
Learn more, see previous winners and check out the prizes, including a framed certificate signed by LISTSERV developer and L-Soft CEO Eric Thomas: http://www.lsoft.com/news/choiceawards.asp
A new season of the LISTSERV Choice Awards, also known as "The Mailys" is now open for nominations. This year, nominating a list is easier than ever. Everyone who nominates a new list and submits a valid, completed nomination form to L-Soft, with a postal mailing address, will receive an L-Soft promotional item of their choice, including t-shirts and tote bags.
All email lists that run on L-Soft's LISTSERV email list software or LISTSERV Maestro email marketing software (including email newsletters, announcement lists and discussion groups) are eligible.
The always-exciting public voting phase will commence as soon as the first nominations have been received.
The Research Administration Discussion List (RESADM-L) is the recently named grand prize winner of L-Soft's LISTSERV Choice Awards competition for 2010, also known as "The Mailys". Check out the brand new case study to discover how RESADM-L benefits subscribers and contributes to the body of knowledge in its field – an outstanding example of what profession-based email communities can achieve.
At L-Soft, Valentine's Day is also our anniversary. Seventeen years ago today, Eric Thomas – who first developed LISTSERV, the original email list software in 1986 – incorporated L-Soft to continue the software's development:
Do you remember your first email list encounter? Be one of the first 17 to share your "first list" story with us and we'll send you an L-Soft t-shirt. To participate, simply email us at: [log in to unmask].
L-Soft is celebrating 25 years of LISTSERV this year. A great start of the new year is that LISTSERV has been chosen as one of 2011's geekiest 25th anniversaries by Network World's Buzzblog.
<img src="http://www.lsoft.com/news/issue5-2010/choiceawards.gif" style="float:right; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px" alt="LISTSERV Choice Awards" title="LISTSERV Choice Awards" width="150" height="233" border="0"> <p>An L-Soft jury has named the Research Administration Discussion List (RESADM-L) the Grand Prize winner in the 2009-10 competition, known as The Mailys. Upon learning of RESADM-L's award, Administrator Mike Varney of HRI remarks:</p> <p><i>"On behalf of Health Research, Inc. and the RESADM-L community, I'd like to express our excitement for receiving this award for 2009-10. HRI and the research administration community as a whole are all greatly benefited by being able to use a resource such as the RESADM-L list to discuss topics such as funding/application rules, technology woes, job opportunities, and yes, even pass along a little humor from time to time. We are all proud to be held up as a model example of how this technology can be used to enhance communication with our peers in the industry."</i></p> <p><a href="http://www.lsoft.com/news/choiceawards.asp" target="_blank">MORE</a></p>
EmailBits is L-Soft's new microblog, the first blog to be powered by LISTSERV® software. The goal of EmailBits is to offer quick access to the latest announcements, press articles, links and other news of interest to the wider LISTSERV community. The postings will generally be frequent but short and informal.
EmailBits uses a not-yet-introduced feature of LISTSERV, which allows us to test and further improve it. You can access EmailBits by bookmarking this page and reading it in a browser, through the blog's RSS feed, or by subscribing to EmailBits as a traditional LISTSERV email list.
EmailBits is L-Soft's microblog and offers quick access to the latest announcements, press articles, links and other news of interest to the wider LISTSERV community. EmailBits is available through a browser, by subscribing to the RSS feed or as a traditional LISTSERV email list.
