Microsoft to Shut ListBot E-Mail Service in August
Microsoft Corp. in August plans to discontinue its ListBot e-mail newsletter management service popular with consumers and small list owners and replace it with List Builder, a service aimed at business users.The company is encouraging newsletter publishers and list owners to move to List Builder. On Aug. 6 Microsoft will disable ListBot's e-mail function. However, between Aug. 6 and Aug. 20, list owners will be able to download their subscriber lists and archives. After Aug. 20 the service will be completely unavailable.
Microsoft said List Builder was designed to meet the needs of small businesses and features better subscriber database management than ListBot, an improved control center and more message-targeting options. The company plans to add link tracking, better database management tools, e-mail personalization capabilities and customer sign-up page customization to List Builder.
The List Builder service offers two subscription levels: a $29.95 monthly subscription for up to 10,000 e-mail newsletters a month and an annual subscription of $269.95. For companies that send more than 10,000 e-mail newsletters a month, Microsoft offers a rate of $69.95 a month for 140,000 e-mails, $179.95 a month for 300,000 e-mails and $1,029.95 a month for 2.1 million e-mails.
