By webchuck on

I am looking to create a module that will bring the features of the popular website iContact.com to Drupal.  While it would take months of development to create a module that did everything that iContact does, I believe we can start with the following features and build from there:

  • Contacts – Create lists of contacts to send emails to.  Lists can be created by importing, web-based form (sign-up form), or entered one at a time.

  • Messages – Messages can be any form of content, including a newsletter, marketing brochure, welcome message, etc… 

  • Recipients – Send a message to any group of lists.

  • Tracking – Track visits for each message sent.

  • WebForm Integration – Any webform that has an email field can be imported into a contact list.

EasyNews vs. SimpleNews

I know there’s an existing module, SimpleNews, which does a lot of this stuff.  However, I find that SimpleNews has a few shortcomings that inspire me to create a new module. 

1. Subscriptions limit a contact to one “newsletter”, which acts as a set of messages.  It also only collects an email address, nothing else.  But an email marketer needs to know who they are marketing to.  That’s why I believe the contact information needs to be flexible, as well as the form that collects contact info.  With an integration between the WebForm module and EasyNews we could have a robust way of collecting contact information.

Future Development

The first version described above will be very basic in functionality.  Here’s what I’d like to add as a version 2:

  • Auto-responders – Schedule a set of emails that will be sent to the contacts based on whenever they sign up.  For example, an admin creates a welcome message and a reminder message. The welcome message can be sent upon joining the list, the reminder message will be sent two weeks later.

  • Email templates – HTML templates for certain types of emails. (newsletter, promotional, press release, etc…)

  • Message scheduling – Use cron to send messages at any time/date.

  • Tokens – Offer a number of token variables to place within the body of your emails.

A Little Help...

I need some development partners on this project to make it happen.  I am able to do a lot of the planning, but am only an average PHP developer and need someone who excels to pick this up and help with some of the more complicated aspects.

I am also looking for feedback, suggestions, implementation ideas, etc... 

Thanks for any participation,
Chuck

⋅ Categories: Drupal 5.x, Drupal 6.x

Comments

webchuck’s picture

webchuck commented

Oops, forgot to attach the mockups I'd created.

http://webchuckweb.com/files/webchuck/EasyNews%20Module.pdf

----------------------------------------
Chuck Crandall
WebChuck Web Development
chuck at webchuckweb dot com
----------------------------------------

bonaparte’s picture

bonaparte commented

Hi Chuck,

It's a great idea. I too have felt the need for a more robust mailing list module for Drupal. I would be glad to assist you with whatever little knowledge I have.

Good luck.

--------------------
Sudheer. S
Binary Vibes Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Learn and and help others learn Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP
Avail commercial Drupal services

yfreeman’s picture

yfreeman commented

Any email sent would have to be done through the cron job so the script doesn't time out. I'm not sure what the limit is, as to how many emails can be sent with the mail() function. If you have enough email < 1000 and you are generating custom content, e.g. inserting first name in header etc. would require a couple of milliseconds per email, you are going to run into a limit, and the script would time out.

Another issue would be getting around span blockers. I think AOL still only allows you to send 100 email per half hour to @aol.com addressed emails, or something like that. Google has their own mechanisms for detecting spam.

andrewoke’s picture

andrewoke commented

I'm running into the same problem right now. I'd rather spend the hours and build a module for drupal then paying every month.

nathanraft’s picture

nathanraft commented

I recommend adding the ability for templates to have both plain text and HTML combined such that if the email client does not support html the message is displayed in plain text. Best would be to have two seperate boxes(one for plain and one for HTML) and then have your engine build the email.

matthew petty’s picture

matthew petty commented

cachilupi- thank you for the work you have already put into this.

Do you have a cost estimate for this project? I run SocialSustenance.org and we are interested in helping support this development.

Best to email or PM me because I will probably forget to check this...

that0n3guy’s picture

that0n3guy commented

I am just checking on the status of this Module.

Thanks

webchuck’s picture

webchuck commented

I know it's been a little while since I wrote this, but I'm glad to see there's a little interest in the community. After giving it much more thought, I think it may be our best bet to take the existing module, SimpleNews, and see how we can modify it to accomplish our goals. My goals for the first version of this are:
- Integration with Webform (using webform as the subscription form rather than just an email block)
- Enable list creation and management. (list != newsletter)
- Allow metadata for subscribers (name, phone, etc...) using customizable content type (CCK)

I think that, with the existing simplenews functionality, will be a great place to start. I'd love to have help on this, for the few who have offered. Primarily, is there anyone interested in writing a WebForm integration? Also, if you aren't a developer, but would like to contribute to help this move faster, and have the features you're looking for, please donate financially to the cause. Contact me for more info.

Thanks,
Chuck

----------------------------------------
Chuck Crandall
WebChuck Web Development
chuck at webchuckweb dot com
----------------------------------------

matt2000’s picture

matt2000 commented

I strongly believe that managing your own bulk-mailing server is a task beyond most people. Dealing with CAN-SPAM compliance, blacklisting, deliverability, etc, is a major headache.

It's one thing to give people code for mass mailing. It's a much bigger project to actually administer a system that can reliably send thousands of emails at a time.

To that end, I'm working on a module that will allow Drupal sites to take advantage of the iContact.com API, letting their servers & staff do the heavy lifting.

If anyone wants to sponsor the module to speed development and get a community version released, contact me.

----
Drupal Micro-Blogging at Twitter

mzabala’s picture

mzabala commented

yraber has done some work on this already. I have just tested it out and it seems to work properly.

http://drupal.org/node/127178
--
TLR New Media - Content Management and Web Design for Businesses

Fr0s7’s picture

Fr0s7 commented

One additional feature request: The module should allow the email composer to generate a "share this with a friend" link within the HTML email template.

When the recipient of the email clicks the link, it directs them to a page on the targeted Drupal site with a form for their friend's email address, and possibly a small greeting message. When submitted, the form sends a new instance of the HTML email to the friend, along with the greeting message.

This functionality is necessary, because many email clients strip images and CSS styles out of the message before forwarding. A server-side solution is the best way to ensure consistency.

Excellent idea for a module. I'm sure I'll be contributing to it! :)

Jean-Philippe Fleury’s picture

Jean-Philippe Fleury commented

Subscribing. I'm very interested to use an email module that allows us to filter recipients. For example, be able to send a newsletter to people living in such city or having such zipcode.

rvega’s picture

rvega commented

Has there been any progress on this module? Any code I can download and work on?

metabits’s picture

metabits commented

Just subscribing. I am also very interesed on such a mailing / newsletter module.

psc

sudesh_poojari’s picture

sudesh_poojari commented

Hi cachilupi,

I m very much interested in this module.

I would like to help you in it, given somebody would help me out in it.

music mp3’s picture

music mp3 commented

Nice Read

Regards
Joan

mcfilms’s picture

mcfilms commented

Simple News is kinad of basic and I have had trouble with mime attachments. iContact looks great if you have many subscribers. But a module you could customize for your users and send from Drupal sounds very exciting. Did this go anywhere?

A list of some of the Drupal sites I have designed and/or developed can be viewed at motioncity.com

AshokanKid’s picture

AshokanKid commented

Subscribed

AshokanKid’s picture

AshokanKid commented

This work could be VERY useful to a lot of us. Anything new to report? Need help?

mcfilms’s picture

mcfilms commented

I think since webchuck hasn't posted back on this thread in two years, it's safe to assume this project didn't really take off.

There are many features in his original proposal that would be useful. The ability to view, sort and mail subscribers by additional criteria (zipcode, interest, age) would be very interesting indeed. It would also be handy to separate these mail recipients from "users" and not require an actual user account.

I have a project that is bubbling on the horizon and I MAY be able to sponsor some development effort on this front in the summer.

Stay tuned.

Jerry

A list of some of the Drupal sites I have designed and/or developed can be viewed at motioncity.com