In the realm of online communities, Yahoo Groups reigned supreme as a platform for connecting like-minded individuals through mailing lists and group discussions. However, the sun has set on Yahoo Groups, leaving a void for its users, particularly those who were part of the FSOA (Foreign Service Oral Assessment) Yahoo Group.
As people search for alternatives, it’s essential to understand the significance of Yahoo Groups, and the impact of its closure, plus, explore viable alternatives for a thriving email subscription list and group email discussions.
What is the FSOA Yahoo Group?
During its heyday, Yahoo Groups boasted an impressive user base and played a pivotal role in fostering online communities. As of 2019, Yahoo Groups had over 10 million groups and 110 million active users worldwide. These groups covered various interests, from hobbyist clubs and professional networks to academic discussions and support groups.
The FSOA Yahoo Group was a community specifically tailored to individuals interested in pursuing a career in the Foreign Service, particularly the U.S. Department of State. FSOA stands for Foreign Service Oral Assessment, a critical examination for aspiring Foreign Service officers and specialists. The careers available are split into two tracks, the officer and specialist tracks. Officer careers include:
Consular Officers
Economic Officers
Management Officers
Political Officers
Public Diplomacy Officers
On the other hand, if you want to join the Foreign Service as a specialist, those careers include:
Administration
Building Construction, Operations, and Maintenance
Information Technology
Educational and Cultural Affairs
Law Enforcement and Security
Medical and Health
The Yahoo Group provided a platform for users to connect, share experiences, and gain valuable insights into various career paths within the Foreign Service. Given the vast array of career options and the global interest in this field, the need for Yahoo group alternatives and a comprehensive email subscription list or group email discussion list remains crucial.
The closure of Yahoo Groups marked the end of an era with countless users seeking alternatives to continue their conversations and information sharing. According to research conducted by Pew Research Center in 2020, 53% of adults in the United States participated in online groups, indicating the widespread impact and importance of such platforms in modern society. The void left by Yahoo Groups spurred the search for new avenues to connect and engage with like-minded individuals.
Now, let’s explore ways you can prepare for the Foreign Service exams and the alternatives available for those seeking an invaluable email subscription to access the necessary resources to prepare adequately.
How can I prepare for the Foreign Service exams?
Following the closure of Yahoo Groups, individuals are still seeking information on how to best prepare for the Foreign Service oral assessment. While resources are available online, such as informational websites and forums, the absence of a dedicated community like the FSOA Yahoo Group can be frustrating.
The community aspect offered support, relatable experiences, and shared information. Nevertheless, with determination and resourcefulness, candidates can find helpful information through various websites focused on the Foreign Service oral assessment.
Preparing for the Foreign Service exams, particularly the Foreign Service oral assessment, requires thorough research and study. While the closure of Yahoo Groups may have impacted the availability of a dedicated community, there are still valuable resources and platforms that can aid in your preparation.
Official Websites and Guides: The U.S. Department of State’s official website provides comprehensive information about the Foreign Service exams and the specific requirements for different career paths. The website offers study guides, practice tests, and recommended reading materials to help you prepare effectively.
Online Forums and Communities: While Yahoo Groups may be a thing of the past, there are other online forums and communities like Reddit where aspiring Foreign Service officers and specialists gather to share information and experiences. Websites such as Foreign Service Test and Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) offer platforms for discussions, study tips, and support from individuals who have gone through the process.
Foreign Service Blogs: Many current and former Foreign Service officers maintain personal blogs sharing insights, advice, and experiences with the examination process. These blogs often provide valuable tips, recommended resources, and strategies for success. Examples include The Path to Foreign Service, The Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) Experience, and Adventures Around the World.
Study Groups and Meetups: Look for study groups or meetups in your area or online where individuals preparing for the Foreign Service exams come together to study and discuss relevant topics. Platforms like Meetup.com or social media groups can help you connect with like-minded individuals and create a supportive study environment.
Professional Organizations and Associations: Joining professional organizations and associations related to the Foreign Service, such as the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), can provide access to resources, networking opportunities, and mentorship programs that can enhance your preparation.
Online Study Courses and Mock Assessments: Several online platforms offer structured study courses and mock assessments specifically designed for the Foreign Service exams. These courses provide comprehensive content, practice exercises, and simulated assessments to help you familiarize yourself with the exam format and improve your performance.
Remember that while these resources are valuable, it is crucial to approach your preparation with dedication, discipline, and a well-rounded study plan. Utilize a combination of resources, seek guidance from experts or mentors, and create a study routine that suits your learning style. With perseverance and adequate preparation, you can increase your chances of success in the Foreign Service exams.
What are Yahoo Group Alternatives?
Although Yahoo Groups is no longer available, the demand for group email discussions and access to valuable information remains. According to Yahoo, the decision to shut down Yahoo Groups was influenced by a decline in utilization. However, many individuals still miss the functionality and value it provided. To address this, several alternatives have emerged as viable options. Let’s explore a few of them:
Yahoo group alternatives
NextDoor:NextDoor is a neighborhood-based social networking platform that allows users to connect with people in their local communities. While it is not designed explicitly for group email discussions, it can be a valuable tool for sharing information and engaging in meaningful conversations within your neighborhood.
Reddit:Reddit is a popular online platform consisting of numerous communities, known as subreddits, where users can discuss various topics. While not a traditional mailing list service, Reddit allows one to join relevant subreddits and participate in discussions related to Foreign Service or any other area of interest.
Quora:Quora is a question-and-answer platform where users can ask questions and receive answers from the community. While it does not offer the same group email functionality as Yahoo Groups, it can still be a valuable resource for obtaining information and engaging in discussions with experts and knowledgeable individuals.
When it comes to a robust and effective mailing list service, Simplelists is a reliable choice. Simplelists offers a range of advantages for users seeking a viable alternative to Yahoo Groups. With Simplelists, you can easily create and manage your email subscription list or group email discussion list.
Signing up for an email subscription list
Getting started with Simplelists is a straightforward process. To sign up, visit the Simplelists website and navigate to the sign-up page. Fill in the necessary details, such as your name, email address, and desired list name. Once you complete the sign-up process, you can quickly get started with your email subscription list.
Group email made easy
Using a mailing list service like Simplelists simplifies group email management and enables smooth discussions. Whether you’re replacing a Yahoo Group or creating your own group email, the opportunities are endless. Email discussion lists facilitate meaningful conversations, information sharing, and community building.
The benefits of using discussion lists include fostering a sense of community, providing a platform for open and honest discussions, and facilitating collaborations among group members. These benefits are crucial in continuing the positive impact that Yahoo Groups initiated.
Creating your own group email discussion list with Simplelists
Creating your group email discussion list with Simplelists is a breeze. The platform offers a user-friendly interface and a simple setup process. You can establish your email subscription list with a few easy steps and start engaging with your audience. Refer to the earlier section for an overview of the sign-up process and essential requirements for an email subscription list.
Manage your distribution list
Managing a distribution list is a crucial aspect of maintaining effective communication. Simplelists provides intuitive tools for managing your distribution list. You can easily add or remove members, monitor subscription status, and ensure efficient delivery of emails.
For more detailed guidance on managing your distribution list, refer to the Simplelists blog.
Set permissions
One of the advantages of Simplelists is the ability to set permissions according to your preferences. You control who can send emails to the group and whether replies are sent to the entire group or the original sender.
Setting permissions ensures a secure and organized communication environment. Simplelists offers user-friendly options to configure these permissions.
Customize group emails
Customizing group emails can enhance the personal touch and engagement of your communications. Simplelists allows you to tailor your emails to meet your specific needs. You can personalize emails with merge fields, dynamically insert recipient information, and deliver targeted messages to particular segments of your distribution list.
This feature adds extra effectiveness and relevance to your group emails. Explore the Simplelists blog for more information on personalized emails.
Have the power and impact of group email discussions with Simplelists
With the closure of Yahoo Groups, the need for robust group email discussions and access to valuable information remains prevalent. The FSOA Yahoo Group served as a prime example of the power and impact such platforms could have. While Yahoo Group alternatives like NextDoor, Reddit, and Quora offer different avenues for engagement. Simplelists emerges as a reliable mailing list service, providing an easy-to-use platform for email subscription lists and group email discussions.
To delve deeper into the alternatives and comprehensively understand their functionalities, we encourage you to check out our article “7 Alternatives to Yahoo Groups.” Embrace the opportunities offered by Simplelists and continue the positive works initiated by Yahoo Groups.
In today’s digital age, email has become an essential tool for communication. It is used by individuals and businesses alike to connect with customers, colleagues, friends, and family. Group email is a communication tool that allows businesses to communicate with a group of people simultaneously. This article will explore what a group email is, what it is used for, and how it can be managed using a group email service.
Group Email in a Nutshell
A group email is an email address that multiple people can use to communicate. Whenever an email is sent to the group email address, everyone in the group receives the email. A group email provider is a service that simplifies and makes it possible to manage the list of people in a group and handles receiving and forwarding emails sent to the list.
What is Group Email Used For?
A group email can fit into any email marketing strategy and be used for various purposes. Some examples include:
Collecting B2C or B2B leads and sign-ups
Easily interacting with customers
Improving customer service and newsletters
Interacting with employees and specific business departments (e.g., HR, marketing, IT, or support) to regularly send announcements, meeting information, or internal newsletters
Email List for Marketing: How to Use It and Why It’s Important
Group emails are essential in email marketing. They provide several benefits to businesses, such as directly interacting with an already engaged audience, sending personalized and targeted emails, and empowering lead nurturing strategy. Simplelists is a group email service that simplifies group email management, and it offers several features that can help businesses to enhance their email marketing strategy.
Directly interact with an already engaged audience
Email lists and groups help businesses interact directly with their customers, privately and personally, building trust and creating long-term relationships. Businesses usually reach out to people who have already signed up to their email lists, which means they’re talking with an audience that’s already interested in their products and more willing to open their emails. This increases the click-through and conversion rates.
Send personalized and targeted emails
Group emails can help businesses share targeted content, such as blog posts, product launches, offers, or downloadable resources, based on their target’s needs. With a powerful email list tool, they can also segment their list based on their user’s interests or buyer’s journey stages, enhancing conversion rates.
Empower your lead nurturing strategy
With Simplelists, businesses can build stronger relationships with their customers by implementing lead-nurturing tactics. Simplelists features can simplify the lead nurturing process, such as sending personalized emails, scheduling automatic follow-up emails, and setting up trigger emails.
Managing Your Group Email Strategy with Simplelists
Simplelists provides a range of management features, giving businesses an easy way to manage their group email lists and marketing strategies. Some of the key features of Simplelists include:
Upload Your Group Email List
Simplelists make it easy for you to upload your business’s email lists quickly and efficiently. This can be done by uploading a CSV (Comma Separated Variable) file or transferring from a previous list.
Set Permissions
Managing group emails can be complicated when it comes to setting permissions. Simplelists simplifies the process by providing various options for managing mailing list permissions. Giving the ability to set administrators, hold messages for approval, allow specific members to post, and set a maximum message size.
Personalize and Customize Your Emails
Personalizing and customizing emails are essential for businesses to connect with their audience. With Simplelists group email service you can customize listserve messages with recipients’ names, subject prefixes, HTML email footers, customized HTML emails, and more.
Manage Replies and Moderate Messages
Managing replies and moderating messages is easy with Simplelists. Setting community guidelines, holding messages for approval, and restricting access to individuals.
Control List Viewing
Simplelists offers control list viewing, allowing you to restrict who can see the email list and its members. You can choose to make the list public or private, allowing only authorized personnel to view and access the information. As an extra layer of security for your email list, it ensures that your sensitive information is protected. It’s also a great way to manage access if your organization has different departments or teams.
Get Daily Digest Summaries
Your email list members can receive all list messages in digest format. These digests are one message containing a summary of all the messages that were sent to the group the previous day. Making it easy for members to stay up-to-date without having to continually sift through their inbox.
Synchronize Your Simplelists Account with Your Website
Simplelists also offers an integration feature that allows you to synchronize your Simplelists account with your website. This means that when someone signs up for your mailing list on your website, their information is automatically added to your Simplelists account. You can also use this feature to automatically remove people from your mailing list if they unsubscribe from your website.
Conclusion
Group emails and mailing lists are essential tools for any business or organization that wants to communicate effectively with its audience. A group email is a simple concept that involves a group of people sharing an email address, and a group email service simplifies managing the list of people in the group and forwarding emails to the group.
Group emails can be used for various purposes, from collecting B2C or B2B leads and sign-ups to improving customer service and internal communication. They are also essential to any email marketing strategy, allowing businesses to interact directly with an already engaged audience and send personalized and targeted emails.
Simplelists is a powerful and easy-to-use group email service that offers a range of management features, including setting up your account, uploading your group email list, personalizing your emails, managing replies and moderating messages, controlling list viewing, getting daily digest summaries, synchronizing your Simplelists account with your website.
By using Simplelists, you can simplify your group email management and ensure that your emails are always targeted, personalized, and effective. So if you’re looking for a group email service to help you take your communication and marketing strategies to the next level, look no further than Simplelists.
Try us out for free and find out if Simplelists is the right group email service for you.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane, and revisit the internet as it was in 2001.
Most of us were using Internet Explorer to browse the web.
Countless hours were spent chatting with friends on MSN Messenger.
If you wanted to search for something you were likely to go and Ask Jeeves.
And if you wanted to join an online discussion group with people who held similar interests, you joined Yahoo Groups.
A lot has changed in the last 22 years.
What happened to Yahoo Groups?
Yahoo Groups launched on 30th January 2001.
It combined the technology from a business called egroups.com which Yahoo! had recently acquired, with the active communities of Yahoo! Clubs.
It was an immediate success and provided users with an effective way to engage in online discussion groups. Yahoo Groups allowed users to have group chats, share files, share calendars, set up polls and receive regular updates from group members via email.
It was a great way for users across the world to collaborate and keep up with news and opinions on topics close to their hearts.
Consumers gradually moved away from Yahoo Groups and towards more modern alternatives for connecting with friends and sharing interests online.
In 2020, Yahoo! announced that Yahoo Groups would be discontinued. They cited a number of factors, including the costs of maintaining the platform, declining usage and the rise of newer, more popular social media and group messaging platforms.
As one of the earliest platforms for building online communities, Yahoo Groups will always hold a special place in internet history.
The closure of the service was a sad occasion for the remaining loyal users. But it was hardly a surprise.
Many users had already migrated to more modern online community solutions.
Let’s run through some of the modern alternatives to Yahoo Groups and some other email-based solutions for building online communities.
Facebook Groups
Launched in 2010, Facebook Groups was one of the more modern solutions that users began to embrace instead of Yahoo Groups.
Facebook Groups allow any user to create and join groups around a particular interest or topic.
One of the major benefits of the platform is that it uses the standard Facebook interface that many of us are comfortable and familiar with. So there isn’t a huge learning curve to get started.
Facebook Groups also has a wide reach, with it being estimated that more than 1.8 billion people worldwide use the service every month.
But the wide reach and familiarity of the platform create their own disadvantages.
Anyone can set up their own group, and there are often multiple groups for one topic, many of them inactive. Due to the size of the platform, and the wide range of groups available, it can often be challenging for smaller groups to stand out or build a significant following.
Facebook also has an ad-based revenue model, which allows advertisers to target based on interest. So if you’re a member of multiple car enthusiast groups, you can expect to be targeted with more car-related content.
LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn is a social networking platform that is designed for professionals.
LinkedIn Groups provide a space for people in the same industry or with the same interests to connect, share news and opinion pieces, and engage in discussions.
Participating in LinkedIn groups can be a great way to showcase your expertise and enthusiasm for a particular industry or topic, and can be particularly effective for making connections that are useful for your own professional development.
But some users find that some groups aren’t effectively moderated on LinkedIn, which can lead to spammers and certain members engaging in a one-way promotion.
Simplelists
At Simplelists, we make group email communication easy.
Our mission is to make it simple for anyone within an organisation to set up an effective group email list without any technical knowledge.
Our solution is simple to manage and maintain, with easy ways to import, move and copy contacts between lists. Setting up eye-catching emails is also a breeze.
There is a whole range of intuitive moderation and configuration options for your group email management, to ensure that you have the control you need over your email list and the messages your subscribers receive, and avoid landing in the spam folder.
Simplelists is also ad-free, so you don’t have to worry about your group emails being interrupted by unwanted ads or promotions.
Google Groups
Google Groups is a free service that has valuable functionality for both businesses and individuals.
From an individual perspective, you’re able to use Google Groups to join email groups and meet people with similar hobbies or interests. It’s a great solution for encouraging group discussions.
For businesses, you can embrace Google Groups to organise meetings and events and set up group mailing lists where you can email a number of people from a single email address.
Some organisations have concerns about the amount of data that Google holds on them, so may choose not to embrace Google Groups through worries over privacy.
Groups.io
Groups.io is an email-based group communication service.
It allows organisations to set up their own email lists for recipients to communicate and collaborate.
It also allows the members to access a comprehensive range of features including:
Calendars
Polls
Databases
Photos
Files
Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn and Google, Groups.io is a paid service, with rates starting from $20 per month based on the number of members within your group.
Groups.io prides itself on having no advertising throughout the platform, and no unnecessary tracking. This should reassure users who are concerned about privacy.
Groups.io also integrates with a lot of commonly used technology such as Zoom, Slack and Trello.
This is really a solution designed for organisations who want their teams or members to collaborate and work together over email. There aren’t currently many public groups.
Gaggle Mail
Another solution that focuses on group communication and collaboration via email, Gaggle Mail is a cloud-based Listserv alternative.
One of the things that makes Gaggle Mail attractive for smaller organisations is that it’s free to set up lists with fewer than 1000 recipients.
So if you’re looking for email-based group communication for your internal teams, you can get up and running with Gaggle Mail quickly and efficiently.
It has all the customisation functionality you’d expect from a comprehensive Listserv solution and seems to have good reports of email deliverability.
The costs do increase quite rapidly after you move past 1000 subscribers, which is something to be mindful of.
With the tool focusing on email group communication, it also doesn’t have chat or supporting functionality like calendars, event planners or polls.
L-Soft Listserv
The original Listserv technology that enables organisations to manage email discussion lists, email newsletters and email marketing campaigns.
L-Soft Listserv is a favourite of Ivy League schools in the USA, who create email groups for students to share information, resources and links when collaborating on a topic or subject.
All email messages are archived, so administrators can see exactly what is being discussed if needed.
With over 35 years of experience in the industry, the team at L-Soft certainly know their stuff about group communication via email.
The one reported downside of L-Soft Listserv is that it can require some technical knowledge to get set up correctly.
Ready to get started with your own groups?
The internet has come a long way since the launch of Yahoo Groups in 2001.
Yahoo! was once the place to go if you wanted to be an active part of an online community, but more modern and effective solutions have emerged over time.
Some of the best modern alternatives to Yahoo Groups include Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups, Google Groups, Groups.io, Gaggle Mail, Listserv and Simplelists.
Each platform has its own set of features and benefits. It’s important that you take the time to make the decision that is right for you, based on the specific needs of your organisation.
As Simplelists, our mission is to make group email communication easy. We make it simple for anyone to set up and manage a group email list.
If this sounds like what you’re looking for you’d like to give Simplelists a try for yourself, we have a one-month free trial available.
If you’re running a business, sports club, charity or educational establishment, you’ll understand how important effective communication and collaboration is.
In the modern digital world it seems like there are countless ways to collaborate online, whether it’s via WhatsApp groups, Facebook groups, Slack channels or Discord servers.
But sometimes you want something that is affordable, professional, uses established technology that everyone has access to, and has the benefit of having all messages archived for future reference.
If this sounds like what you’re looking for, you might benefit from using a Listserv.
Listserv: your group communication ally
A listserv is a type of email service that allows a group of people to communicate via email.
By sending an email to one email address, it will automatically be sent to all the people who have signed up to be part of the Listserv.
This makes it a great way for groups of people to easily share information, collaborate, and stay connected.
LISTSERV® is actually a registered trademark of L-Soft, who created one of the earliest and most popular Listserv group email communication tools. But the term ‘Listserv’ is now synonymous with any list-based group email technology.
Think about it in the same way that people refer to a sticky note as a Post-it® note, or a hot tub as a Jacuzzi®.
When we’re talking about Listserv in this article, we’re referring to the commonly used term for the technology.
What are the major benefits of a Listserv?
Easy to set up
Listservs are relatively easy to set up.
Most modern Listserv software is user-friendly and doesn’t require advanced technical skills or development teams to get things up and running.
And once it’s set up, modern Listservs are typically simple to manage and maintain.
Easy to build a community amongst your subscribers
A Listserv provides an effective way for your subscribers to share their ideas and knowledge and collaborate on projects.
This can lead to a greater sense of community among group members.
Cost-effective
Listservs are incredibly affordable. This is one of the things that makes the technology so attractive for small businesses, sports clubs and charities.
Customisable
A Listserv can also be customised to suit the specific needs of each email group.
Some groups might benefit from receiving each individual message to the email address. Others might benefit from receiving a daily or weekly digest of the messages sent to the group.
Archiving
Listservs automatically archive all messages. This makes it easy to search and retrieve important information at a later date if needed.
Subscription management
You’re able to set up a Listserv so that members can easily subscribe or unsubscribe themselves. This can make it easier to manage your email list.
Organically grow your email list
By providing a platform for discussion and collaboration, your subscribers may choose to forward messages from the Listserv with others that they think would be interested in the content.
Your engaged community can help you attract new subscribers.
Additionally, most Listserv technology can be easily integrated with your website. This can make it easy for people to sign up to your email list and begin receiving your content.
Who can benefit from using a Listserv?
Listserv technology is suitable for any organisation that wants to reach targeted groups of people with their message and potentially prompt a group email discussion.
We’ve put together a small list of the types of organisations that might benefit from Listserv and some ways they might use it.
Businesses: Collaborating with internal teams
Listservs can be a great way for businesses to keep their teams connected and aligned on important projects.
You might set up a mailing list for each department or project team so they can share updates, discuss upcoming milestones or review current performance. This can help boost productivity and improve decision making.
Businesses: Email marketing
Listservs can also be a powerful tool for businesses to reach their customers and prospects.
By creating a mailing list of opted-in email addresses, businesses can send targeted messages, promotions and updates to a large number of people at once.
This can help increase brand awareness and drive sales.
Most modern Listserv solutions can support HTML email, so you can still send emails that look eye-catching and compelling.
Sports Clubs
Listservs can be a great low-cost solution for sports clubs to keep their members in the loop on upcoming events, practice schedules and team news. By allowing members to reply to the group and start discussions, it can really help foster a sense of community and bring the team together.
Charities
By using a Listserv, charities can keep their supporters informed about their work and upcoming events. They can also be used internally between volunteers and management to help co-ordinate events and discuss fundraising strategies.
Education
A Listserv can provide an easy and effective way to send out announcements, assignments, and other information. They can also be used for class discussion, managing group projects, and sharing resources.
Event planning
Listservs can be a great way for event planners to coordinate conferences, meetings, and workshops with their subscribed attendees.
How to create a Listserv in a few simple steps
Choose the right Listserv software
There are many different types of Listserv software available, each with their own different features and benefits.
We’d recommend making a list of the things that are important to you in your chosen software, whether that’s cost, ease of use, deliverability of emails or customer support.
By understanding what is most important to you, you’ll be able to choose the software that best meets your needs and has the features you require.
Complete a simple setup process
Once you’ve made your decision on the software you’re going to use, it’s time to set up your Listserv.
Every solution will have a slightly different set up process, but the typical steps will involve creating an account, choosing a name for your Listserv, and configuring your settings.
The settings that are most important are the level of moderation, the type of messages that are allowed, the subscription process, and what types of attachments (if any) are permitted.
With modern Listserv technology the setup process is easy and user-friendly, so don’t worry if you’re not tech-savvy.
Import your email contact list
Once your Listserv is set up and configured the way you want it, you can start adding members.
A common way to do this is by importing a CSV of your email contact list. Most Listserv software will need you to agree that the contacts have all opted-in to email communication, in line with relevant data privacy legislation.
You can also add your Listserv sign up to your website and other channels at this point, to help the organic growth of your subscriber list.
Send your content
Now that your Listserv is set up and has members, you can start creating content, sending messages, and setting up discussion threads.
It’s really that easy!
Interested in exploring the power of Listserv?
After reading this article, you’ll understand the potential applications of Listserv and you might even be excited by the ideas of how you might use Listserv within your organisation.
But the only way to truly appreciate the power of Listserv is to try it out for yourself.
At Simplelists, we offer all our customers a one-month free trial of our service.
By trying Simplelists for free, you can discover first-hand how Listserv email can benefit your organisation.
Sometimes, you need more than one email list. You may need separate lists for different businesses, groups or organisations, or different lists for groups within your organisation. For example, one list for employees and another for managers, or individual lists for different topics, such as one list for marketing and another for discussion. In this short post, we tell you how to set up multiple lists using Simplelists (or watch a short video if you prefer).
Getting started
It is very straightforward to set up multiple lists. Simply go to simplelists.com, navigate to Products, select the blue 'Sign up free for a multiple list’ arrow and fill in your details. You’ll have the option to choose a subdomain for your list (if you own your own domain, you’ll be able to add this later). There is a free, one-month trial for multiple lists so that you can try before you buy.
Managing the lists
To manage your multiple lists, simply log in using your simplelists username and password and select your multiple lists account from the 'Account’ drop-down menu on the top right of the screen. On the next screen, verifying your account enables you to add members to your lists without needing them to confirm their email address (although you can still use the confirmation functionality to check that emails are valid). Simply enter the details of your organisation, what your list is used for, and how you obtained the emails (you can read another post about the rules around how people can opt-in to receiving your emails). Once you have done this, you can create a list by navigating to 'manage lists’ in the left-hand menu, type in the name of the list, and click 'Create’. This is where you could create a number of lists for your different groups (e.g. managers, employees and customers).
Adding members to your lists
Once you have created the lists, you can add some members. Select the address book from the left-hand navigation and choose to add members individually, in bulk, or by uploading a .csv file. If you choose to add them individually, you can enter their details and their email address and then select which list they will belong to. You can also add notes about the members if you wish.
To view the members of your list, select 'list members’ from the left-hand menu. The email address for your list can be seen at the top of this page. It is possible to use your own domain name for this email address and we will show you how to do this in an upcoming blog post, or you can view a short video that explains what to do).
