I am contemplating setting up a Listserv list that can handle temporary
trial subscriptions to an electronic newsletter. This would allow people
to subscribe to the newsletter for free for a while, so they can see how
they like it, but to continue to receive the newsletter they would have
to pay a nominal subscription fee.
I have reviewed some of the Listserv literature, and what follows is my
best guess on how to make this work using Listserv (I haven't tried it
yet, so I would be interested in comments from anyone else who has either
done this or wants to do something similar).
=========================
To make this happen I think I would need two lists. The first would be a
list of all the people (e-mail addresses) that have ever subscribed. The
second would be a list of people currently subscribed.
When people subscribe, they would send a subscription request to List 1's
Listserv address. If the person subscribing is not currently on List 1,
they would be added, and the subscription request would then be forwarded
to List 2 via the "notify" function. If the person subscribing is already
on List 1 (i.e., they subscribed in the past, but their free trial
subscription expired), they would receive a reply message from List 1
saying something like "sorry, you are ineligible for another free trial
subscription."
The newsletter would be distributed to all the addresses on List 2. List
2 subscriptions would end after the trial period has ended.
To accomplish all of this, the following configurations would be
necessary.
- - -
(1) List 1 would have to configured so Notify = the listserv address for
List 2.
(2) List 2 would have to be configured so Renewal = 6 monthly, Delay (1)
so that the trail would last 6 months (or whatever the desired length).
Delay might alternatively be set to zero, if that is possible, to prevent
people from renewing their subscription during the one day window created
by setting Delay = 1.
(3) An assortment of message templates would have to be changed. At
minimum, List 1's notification template would need to read "subscribe
List 2". List 2's renewal message template would need to be customized
so that people aren't led to believe that they can resubscribe for free.
(4) Because there are two automated lists involved here, we need to make
sure that no never-ending loops develop. For instance, we want to make
sure that when List 1 forwards something to List 2, List 2 does not
respond by sending a reply to List 1, which forwards it back to List 1,
and so on in a never ending loop. Fortunately, Listserv apparently has
loopchecking capability, although to be cautious all of List 2's bounce
or reply functions should be made inactive.
- - -
Also, if anyone wants to cancel their temporary subscriptions, they need
to be informed in the first and all subsequent messages that they receive
that to unsubscribe they need to send mail to an entirely different
e-mail address. Unsubscriptions would probably have to be performed
manually.
This is necessary because "unsubscribe" messages sent to the List 1
listserv address will (I think) generate a "subscribe List 2"
notification message to List 2, even though it is a request to
unsubscribe. This is because the notification template has been altered.
Alternatively, if someone is given the List 2 listserv address for
unsubscribing purposes, they could unsubscribe. But there would be
nothing to keep them resubscribing for free after their free trial
expires simply by sending a subscribe message directly to the List 2
listserv address, thereby bypassing List 1 which normally would screen
out such attempts.
There is my best guess at how to do this. Anyone have any comments?
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Patrick Lester, Policy Analyst, OMB Watch
1742 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Voice: 202/234-8494; Fax: 202/234-8584
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Date: 01/05/96
Time: 12:47:28
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