Mass Mailing Delays? Don't always blame the host...
When it comes to scheduling opt-in emailings to your customers, planning is key. Times and days are dependent on several factors, and are just as important as content. For many stores, though, the ideal times aren't always ideal for the server.
Okay, so I'm not a marketing guru, and some may argue that it doesn't qualify me to speak on such a topic. But I do know online stores, store owners and online shoppers. Nearly every one of my clients runs an opt-in mailing list, and I'm often privy to the success/failure ratios.
The topic actually arose the other day when a client wanted to get their mailing out to a few thousand people in early to mid morning. It probably is an ideal time for them, but there's another factor many don't even consider. It's called shared server hosting, and yes, it plays a huge role in the delivery of messages.
Shared hosting means the resources on the server are being shared amongst several sites. With the "big guy" hosts, that can be an average of 200 sites on a server (I've seen twice that on single servers). For seasoned, tailored hosts it may mean only 10-20 sites, but they still all share a common factor: Nothing is allocated specifically to each domain. Shared hosting typically means a shared mail server, and that means your emails going in and out can be delayed by someone else's mass mailing.
There are ways around this, though. There are third-party filtering services some hosts offer to help you control incoming spam, and some use separate mail servers (thus alleviating the standard mail server that's actually shared). You could opt for a dedicated server, but if you're with a shared plan running $50-$100 a month, jumping a server running $350 or higher probably isn't feasible.
So what to do? Since my biz is B2B we run our mailings around noon on Fridays. That's actually a well perceived time for our subscribers, and the bulk of B2C sites won't even consider sending mailings at the entry of a weekend. Thus, we don't experience much lag. But if three clients all on the same shared server decide to run their mailings at the same time, well, the phones ring will everyone else on that server experiences sending and receiving delays.
In essence, if you're a small business on a shared plan and experience delays when sending your mailings (i.e. several hours to process 2,000 emails) then consider the issues at hand and be prepared to make a compromise (either by adjusting the send time or bearing with the time it takes). You could also scale down the batch sizes in which your mailing program sends (instead of 20 try batches of 10). Or, you could consider using an outside service, though you may find the cost factor to be prohibitive for the size of your business.
