Where Have All The Tech Customer Service Reps Gone? I'm In A World Of Pain.

[Roli]

I have spent 6 hours plus today trying to set up a simple mailing list and connect it to my website. For some reason (probably my own incompetence) I just can't get anything to work and unlike the old days, I can't just jump on a quick chat, which I'm sure would sort my problem out in minutes. Instead, I have to send an email and maybe someone gets back to me in 48 hours.

How does anyone with little to no tech knowledge (and no budget) cope?

I'm on the verge of tears here. This damn mailing list is the only thing stopping me right now and it's driving me insane!

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

SendFox is free and has a simple UI which should be straightforward enough for you to embed a sign up form to your mailing list.

Most ESPs do have a complex setup, so don't be too hard on yourself

 

[Panos Daras]

Ask ChatGPT 4 for a step-by-step guide. If you do not have the paid version I can help you (I think).
Here are clarifying questions:

1. What platform are you using for your website? (e.g., WordPress, Wix, Squarespace)
2. Which mailing list service? (e.g., MailCheat(Chimp), SendinBlue, ConvertKit)
3. Have you encountered any specific error messages or issues that you can describe? Send Screenshot.
4. Do you already have the mailing list created, or are you having trouble setting it up from scratch?

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

I have spent 6 hours plus today trying to set up a simple mailing list and connect it to my website. For some reason (probably my own incompetence) I just can't get anything to work and unlike the old days, I can't just jump on a quick chat, which I'm sure would sort my problem out in minutes. Instead, I have to send an email and maybe someone gets back to me in 48 hours.

How does anyone with little to no tech knowledge (and no budget) cope?

I'm on the verge of tears here. This damn mailing list is the only thing stopping me right now and it's driving me insane!

What mailing list software and what website builder are you using? Feel free to DM me - I'm a full stack developer with a bunch of niche skills, so I might be able to help you get unstuck.

 

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[ZackerySprague]

DM me, I can take a look.

 

[Roli]

1. What platform are you using for your website? (e.g., WordPress, Wix, Squarespace)
2. Which mailing list service? (e.g., MailCheat(Chimp), SendinBlue, ConvertKit)
3. Have you encountered any specific error messages or issues that you can describe? Send Screenshot.
4. Do you already have the mailing list created, or are you having trouble setting it up from scratch?

I'm hosting my site with a host service and I'm using Brevio, because GPT said it was a good MailCheat(Chimp) alternative. I think my main issues were not understanding what to do in my cpanel, although my hosts customer service was excellent.

Then my other issue was just trying to get the widget that allowed people to join my list, I just couldn't work it out. I did it before about eight years ago and thought I remembered, but I could only manage to get to 'create campaign' and of course you need to tell it who you want to send the campaign to.

Basically I just wanted to set up a simple welcome to the list message, that gets sent automatically to everyone that joins.. But just got lost in so many instructions, which I patiently tried to wade through, but in the end it broke me.

I think I'm going to talk to my hosts today and see if I can set up a form which captures subscriber emails, then work out how to attach a campaign to it and if I can't I'll just do it manually when anyone subscribes.

 

[Roli]

SendFox is free and has a simple UI which should be straightforward enough for you to embed a sign up form to your mailing list.

Most ESPs do have a complex setup, so don't be too hard on yourself

Thanks man, I think I'll have a look at that. I'll try and complete this Brevio thing, seeing as I got my host provider to change various DNS and NS settings, which I have no idea how or what to reset them to.

 

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[Panos Daras]

I'm hosting my site with a host service and I'm using Brevio, because GPT said it was a good MailCheat(Chimp) alternative. I think my main issues were not understanding what to do in my cpanel, although my hosts customer service was excellent.

Then my other issue was just trying to get the widget that allowed people to join my list, I just couldn't work it out. I did it before about eight years ago and thought I remembered, but I could only manage to get to 'create campaign' and of course you need to tell it who you want to send the campaign to.

Basically I just wanted to set up a simple welcome to the list message, that gets sent automatically to everyone that joins.. But just got lost in so many instructions, which I patiently tried to wade through, but in the end it broke me.

I think I'm going to talk to my hosts today and see if I can set up a form which captures subscriber emails, then work out how to attach a campaign to it and if I can't I'll just do it manually when anyone subscribes.

What platform are you using for your website?

 

[amp0193]

Sounds like me trying to set up my own server side tracking a few months ago.

I wanted to learn, and wanted to understand the guts of it, but in the end, I broke.

Just find someone on upwork (or in this thread) to swoop in and fix it for you (and explain what they did).

Sounds like diminishing returns for something you only do once every 8 years.

That or pay more for something that is more plug and play and easier to maintain going forwards.

 

[Roli]

Thank you everyone for your replies! You all got me through this one, I was seriously down when I made the post.

In the end, I've used Mailerlite, it's simple, quick and basically, idiot-proof. Designed for the non-techy, very clean interface. I'm sure there are loads of features missing that the big boys have, but I doubt if Ill ever notice that.

Thanks again guys, this is what community is all about!

 

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