I've recently been working with mailing list database options included with IceWarp and found it extremely powerful and thought it would be a good idea to blog about it.
Here's what you need to get started.
1. Method to collect email addresses and unique information about your subscriber.
2. Database. Used to store your email addresses
3. A good understanding of how to query a database. Refer to W3 Schools for training information. http://www.w3schools.com
How to collect email addresses:
You will obviously need to acquire email addresses to support your mailing list. You can acquire addresses using your Website. Make sure that you acquire unique information about the subscriber so later you can customize the mailing list query that applies to each subscriber. For example, you may have customers that are interested in Software and Hardware and having them select which type of product they are interested in and saving that to your database will set that customers "Type" so it can be used in a unique mailing list query for Software or Hardware.
Database:
I used MySQL but you can use many different types of databases, such as, MSSQL or Access. A complete list of supported databases are located in the DB Settings button of the mailing list.
Create a database with a user that has at least rights to select data from the database. In my example I'm using database emaillist. The database has 1 table called list and 3 columns, Name, Email, and Type.
The query field in the mailing list of IceWarp does allow you to enter any SQL instruction so you can create your database, alter tables, add data, all from the mailing list window.
How to query the database:
Let's say we have the following data in our database:
Before we can use the mailing list we need to tell it what email addresses will be included with this announcement. Create a query that matches your requirements. In my example I'm interested in customizing a mailing list for customers interested in Software. Entering the following query in the SQL Statements field and pressing Test SQL Query will return a small list of the results from the database, for example:
SELECT *
FROM LIST
WHERE Type="Software"
RESULTS:
user1@domain.com
SELECT *
FROM LIST
WHERE type="Hardware"
RESULTS:
user2@domain2.com
After you save your mailing list with the proper SQL statements you can send to the mailing list (announce@your_domain.com) and the selected users will receive your announcement.
The flexibility of using SQL statements to announce product updates or any email update is unlimited, you can create as many database columns as needed to identify your customer or targeted announcement and use the SQL statement to select the email addresses.
