1 - If it took you three years to compile the list (no offence), but chances are more than 1/2 that list is dead.
2 - opt-in isn't the best, right off the bat, at least 25% of them are dead, now if they where double opt-in, then they would be worth some money(to promote). As opt-in emails are simply just this - user fills out the email form and hits submit. Now, Double opt-in email's the user fills out the email form, and then is asked to confirm their email address via clicking on a link that is sent to their email.
With double opt-in emails you know two things.
1) the email is 100% valid(unless they close the account)
2) generally people are most likely to use the email they use the most as it's the first one that comes to mind, even if they have a throw-away email for such things, they usually type in their most used email just out of habit.
3 - If they are untargeted, god know's what their interested in. My advice would be this - send them an email a MAX of 3 times per WEEK meaning -Monday, Wednesday, Friday, OR Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. or whatever combination suits you the most. Just
NEVER email them two days in a row(if you care about the list). See what works the best, take the top 3, get CUSTOM creatives for them, get someone that knows what their doing to write up a sales pitch(even if it's just an email submit).
4 - Make sure you send from white listed hosts, or properly throttle your sending, don't go for quick and fast to bang it out, remember, slow and steady wins the race. Make sure to setup your MX records properly as well. Also, make sure EVERY variant of the message is UNIQUE from the previous one sent, at least 30% unique. Never send to @yahoo, or @gmail or anything back to back, if it's yahoo and gmail only, bounce back yahoo - gmail - yahoo - gmail etc. less chance of you getting sent to spam. Even with the creatives - have them setup on different domains, even if their .info's as if any email your sending to, if they see the same exact thing coming from the same domain(the image) they will RBL(realtime blacklist) your domain, then from that email that got you rbl'ed the rest of them will be sent to spam as well.
Things to do before sending -
Send a simple email to them to clean out the bounces(non-valid emails)
Setup the MX record properly
Get a few .info domain's to rotate the creatives and links to do the redirect
On the server - do one (or both) of the following.
Get multiple servers to switch back and forth with for each email
Pro: Will allow you to send out faster the more servers you have
Con: Cost more money
Have the server auto-rotate IP's on the sending domain(s) and on the image(creative) hosting URL's.
Pro: Cheaper, simpler(to manage).
Con: Need someone to make you a custom script - can take some time.
As far as getting a service -
Aweber - they don't allow a "random list"
Pro: White listed servers - in turn makes it all simpler
Con: don't allow a random list, meaning the only emails you can send to are ones that opt-in through their method also, it can be very expensive.
Constant Contact - Same as aweber.
Interspire - personally I have never used it so I can't say good or bad.
Pro: n/a
Con: n/a
MailChimp - personally my favorite other than a custom setup, only downfall its "branded" right in the email in the footer.
Pro: Free(up to I believe 12,000 emails per month), easy to use and they clean the list right as you upload it so that means they do all of the "grunt work" out of it, also the servers are white listed with all major providers(yahoo, gmail etc)
Con: It's branded in the footer(in the free version)
But as always with emailing -
MAKE SURE YOU ARE CAN-SPAM COMPLIANT not only for the legality of it, but it will help you hit inbox better.
Code:
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
Code:
Don't use false or misleading header information.
Your "From," "To," "Reply-To," and routing information
- including the originating domain name and email address
- must be accurate and identify the person or business who
initiated the message.
Don't use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must
accurately reflect the content of the message.
Identify the message as an ad. The law gives you a lot of
leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly
and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.
Tell recipients where you're located. Your message must
include your valid physical postal address. This can be
your current street address, a post office box you've
registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private
mailbox you've registered with a commercial mail receiving
agency established under Postal Service regulations.
Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email
from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous
explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting
email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way
that's easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and
understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location
can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another
easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their
choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient
to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include
the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make
sure your spam filter doesn't block these opt-out requests.
Honor opt-out requests promptly. Any opt-out mechanism you
offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least
30 days after you send your message. You must honor a
recipient's opt-out request within 10 business days. You
can't charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any
personally identifying information beyond an email address,
or make the recipient take any step other than sending a
reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website
as a condition for honoring an opt-out request. Once people
have told you they don't want to receive more messages from
you, you can't sell or transfer their email addresses, even
in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you
may transfer the addresses to a company you've hired to help
you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. The law makes
clear that even if you hire another company to handle your
email marketing, you can't contract away your legal
responsibility to comply with the law. Both the company whose
product is promoted in the message and the company that actually
sends the message may be held legally responsible.
If you have any questions just contact me and ill answer questions for you.
