Email

Email is the most popular form of communication for clubs, although Facebook, Twitter and Text messaging are gaining in popularity up.

Gmail

Many clubs start off using

Gmail⁠

for sending messages to their members, using a shared Gmail account. This can work fine to get started, but can run into some limitations as the number of members grow, and some emails don't get delivered or bounce back, and it's often hard to determine why. With standard Gmail it's not possible to know if an email was received and if/when it was opened.

There are numerous extensions for Gmail that do provide additional functionality for sending newsletters, one of the most popular is

Yet Another Mail Merge⁠

To support a custom domain name you need to purchase (at least one) G-Suite account that costs $50/year.

MailChimp

A step up from using basic Gmail,

MailChimp⁠

provides a freindly interface and the ability to analyze the results of email campaigns. It has a Freemium pricing model that allows for 2,000 contacts with up to 10,000 messages per month for free.

Substack

Intended for writers who want to charge for a monthly newsletter,

Substack⁠

provides free access for newsletters that remain free. Although more limited in functionality than MailChimp, it is easier to use, and provides all of the basic functionality required by clubs. It also provides an easily searchable archive of communications e.g.

Demclubs⁠

uses Substack for our monthly newsletter.

Zoho

Although not as well known as Gmail,

Zoho Mail⁠

offers powerful email functioanlity without adverts. Their Freemium model starts with 5 free accounts, and supports custom domain names. Five is often enough for most clubs, allowing each officer to have their own account along with one general or info@ account.

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