Glide's MadBullet tool enables people with no graphic design, coding or html knowledge to create and send professional quality e-newsletters based on custom templates.

When you buy MadBullet you also buy one or more templates which we customer design for you with your logo and corporate branding. The templates ensure every newsletter you send will be professional, consistent and strongly branded.

You can have multiple templates for different purposes.

Creating a newsletter

MadBullet is an on-line tool, so you can log in anywhere you have internet access.

1. To create a new newsletter, choose a template (or you can open a previous newsletter and continue work on it, or save a previous newsletter under a new name and modify it).
2. Change headlines, captions and text by simply typing over them or pasting in existing text (via our code stripper, to prevent hidden MS Word codes from interfering with your layout). Text boxes resize automatically.
3. Replace pics with new pics or graphics as needed.
4. Create any click-to links where more information is provided, and add text and images to the click-to pages if required.
5. Test send, make adjustments.
6. Import your latest contact file as a csv (or call up a previously used list).
7. Hit SEND. You're done: over the next minutes or hours MadBullet will manage packet sending to ensure you are not flagged as a spammer.
8. Go back and check your results, including newsletters opened, stories clicked to and bounces. First results are often within minutes.

Multiples of everything

Multiple computers - MadBullet is web based so you can access it from multiple computers. Start a newsletter at work, later on open it at home, exactly where you left off. No software to install.

Multiple users - MadBullet allows unlimited users per url at no extra cost.

Multiple newsletters - You can have many different newsletters or other publications, differentiated by name and if required by template (additional templates at extra cost).

Multiple lists - You can upload (and save) as many different target lists as you want.

Costs

MadBullet is $995 including GST once-off for the current version, plus $39 per month for hosting up to 1GB of traffic (1GB is well in excess of typical business needs, but an extra GB is $10 – 1¢ per megabyte).

One hour's live training is included, plus business hours telephone support over the first month.

Minor updates are included within the life of the purchased version (typically 12 months). Major updates (new version number) are available at an upgrade discount of 50% within six months of release. If a major update is released within three months of your purchase you will receive that update for free. You can continue to use a version after a new version has been released, for as long as you want, but after a while it may not be supported.

Action

Phone or email to arrange an on-line demonstration. At a time to suit you, we'll call and talk you through creating a newsletter using our demo version. Then you'll know exactly what you're getting, before you commit.

We're sure you won't be disappointed: we're regular emailers and we created this program to overcome our disappointment with existing programs.

Pricing: sucked in or enjoying decreasing unit costs?

E-newsletter programs can earn revenue two ways, via an up-front fee and via monthly charges. Most programs have a low initial charge but then they charge you per email sent, typically 5¢.

This option works well when your list is small, but as soon as you discover the power of e-newsletters and start sending more newsletters more often, the monthly fee skyrockets. If you send just 2,000 e-newsletters at 5¢ that's $100. Our $39 standard allowance of 1GB covers 5,000 big enewsletters (200k each). If you buy an extra GB (just $10) that's equal to one fifth of a cent per e-newsletter.

We believe our $950 initial charge including one-site training is fair. And MadBullet pricing produces declining unit costs the more you send (your success lowers your unit cost), rather than the industry norm of steadily increasing costs that actually penalise our success.

Why is MadBullet hosted?

See Why hosting? for a full explanation.

Does MadBullet manage the database?

MadBullet manages double-opt in registration and an unsubscribed list, supporting compliance with Australian privacy legislation. It allows you to upload and save target lists for re-use.

But we strongly recommend against doing updates to subscriber information within any email tool.

The fact is, while anyone who has worked with direct marketing dreams of a single enterprise-wide database, all organisations have multiple, fractured and conflicting databases (eg, individual Outlook lists, an accounts/MYOB list, an "official" database, even a service database).

Any program which adds yet another database is doing you a disservice.

The best practice policy is to upload new target addresses from your main database as needed and to make updates to your main database. Think of it as a hub-and-spoke distributed information model. Information is maintained at the centre and sent out to where it is needed.

If you require a simple, effective tool for your central database, that is specifically designed for maintaining mail and email contacts, check out our ConnectDbase.