

Ask HN: E-mail invites to our closed alpha. How to gather? How to send? - JayNeely

As my co-founder and I finish work on our prototype, we're setting up a closed alpha version that we can invite people to participate in for initial testing. We'd like to have a long list of e-mail addresses, from people wanting to participate, waiting for us when we're ready; so that means updating our neglected holding page with something beautiful, interesting, and presumably containing some kind of "Enter your e-mail address for an alpha invite" form.<p>Rather than re-invent the wheel, do you have any recommendations for back-end tools meant for this purpose? What's the best way we can <i>gather</i> (opt-in) e-mail addresses from visitors, <i>store</i> them, and then use them later to <i>send out</i> invite codes/links?<p>Thanks in advance for all recommendations &#38; tips!
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danw
<http://www.launchsplash.com/> sounds like what you're after. Theres an
overview at
[http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9973373-2.html?part=rss...](http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9973373-2.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Webware)

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ruperp
Great suggestion, very cool site! Someone should submit this as a HN link.
Pretty useful resource for hackers I think. I have like 70 domains that are
just sitting around with lame Godaddy parking pages (with godaddy adwords).
I'll probably spend some time tomorrow and just convert them all to
LaunchSplash parking pages.

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ra
I've been using crm.zoho.com - it has a web-to-lead form, which adds the
details as leads in the CRM. I can then contact them via the CRM, or extract
them all using the REST API

edit: BTW: it's free

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RobertL
I checked out launchsplash... It offers one or two free sites also...

both look pretty good though..

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shuleatt
Wufoo is great for this

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quellhorst
Why not be different and have an open alpha?

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DougBTX
Mostly because "alpha" means "alpha" not "release candidate".

Ask yourself: do I want to associate my brand with the product in it's current
state? If it is alpha quality but you still want feedback, think damage
limitation. It's no accident that programs get code names: you associate all
of your alpha woes with a brand you can throw away.

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Tichy
Are you asking how to save form data in a database?

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JayNeely
No. I'm looking for recommendations for _specific_ tools for a _specific_
process, and tips relevant to that specific process. I'm asking how to train
for and win a 10 mile marathon, not how to use my legs. :)

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jakewolf
constantconstact.com. with any list you use don't forget about CAN-SPAM laws.

