[mailmail]

I need to send mass emails to 2000+ email addresses that are listed in an excel spreadsheet. I usually use Microsoft Outlook to send and receive emails, and I have the following questions:-
1. Do I cut and paste the addresses to the "To" field in Outlook from Excel, or there is a quicker way to do that?
2. Would I encounter any limit on sending emails eg number of addresses per email, number of emails per min etc?
3. Is there any programme (free?) out there that I should use?

[KnowItAll]

You can use Excel's mail-merge feature to send emails.

Depending on your ISP, yes, you'll hit some filters for that amount of email if you try to dump 2000 emails in one shot.

[Grungerock]

Most highly user will press the trash or spam button when there see an email with a subject that has no interest to them.

[mailmail]

True Grungerock, but this one is not un-important.

[PDLM]

It is also good practice to use the bcc: field, not the To: field unless all 2000 recipients would be OK with the other 1999 recipients knowing their email address and the fact that they got this email.

[mailmail]

Thanx for your reminder PDLM.

[vmlinuz]

Please do us all a favour.

Get a pair of scissors. Find the cable connecting your computer to the Internet. Cut it. Take a long walk, away from the computer. At some point in that walk, if you want to be really helpful, you could, oh, step off the top of a tall building? Jump in the harbour and take some deep breaths?

If you think for a second that there is anything at all appropriate about cut'n'pasting 2000+ email addresses into the To: field in Outlook, any sensible legal system would bar you from access to the Internet until you've had a slight modicum of sanity installed in your brain.

Seriously. This sort of thing comes very much under the heading of things you should only try to do once you have the slightest clue how to do it, and how to do it right. What I would suggest is that you either spend some time learning about the systems and technology you're attempting to use or - probably better - pay someone who does have a clue to do it for you.

(Me, grumpy? Not in the slightest!)

[Crocodile]

Originally Posted by PDLM

It is also good practice to use the bcc: field, not the To: field unless all 2000 recipients would be OK with the other 1999 recipients knowing their email address and the fact that they got this email.

Assuming this sort of email is not going to an internal mail list......
If someone had me in the "TO" field with 1999 others, after abusing them, I would never use their services.

In Australia, it is a breach of the Privacy Legislation. You and your company would be fined by the Government, as well as sued by individuals.

[mailmail]

vmlinuz,
While I thank you for taking so much time in writing such an abusive reply, people can be polite to say thank you to someone nice enough to put up a reminder, ie get it in your head that it doesn't necessary mean that the reminder was at all necessary before one knew the obvious. Please do us all a favour. Be nice!

[albahk]

www.campaignmonitor.com - read their blog and their help/how-to section. They seem to really have done the mass-email thing right and their customers include Apple and Nike. It costs only $25 USD to do 2,000 and like what Crocodile said, is it really worth potentially pissing-off 2,000 people to save a few bucks?

Add: You may need some help from someone with some web-design experience to use campaign monitor, not sure if it is suitable after all.