The External Team is requesting the group’s consent to approve an unforeseen expense for our email newsletter tool, Mailjet. (See pricing here: Pricing | Mailjet)
We are currently using the free version of the tool, which is limited to a maximum of 1,000 contacts. As we are almost reaching this limit (a great sign of growth! ), we need to upgrade to the next paid tier to continue sending newsletters without interruption for both recruitment and our external actions.
The next tier costs €16 per month and provides features that will benefit our outreach:
Unlimited contact database: Ensures uninterrupted recruitment and outreach as our list grows.
Segmentation: Allows us to send targeted newsletters (e.g., only to people having expressed an interest in 3-bedroom units).
Brand kit: Helps maintain brand consistency by integrating The Reef’s logo and color scheme to make our cohousing more recognizable.
Custom unsubscribe Page: could try to have a form requesting subcribers to indicate the reason of opting out.
While this expense was not itemized in the last budget consent process (making it technically “unforeseen”), this cost can be absorbed within the current available “credits” of the Team External budget.
Process
We are seeking consent on this expense:
Consent: Please click the “heart” reaction on this post.
Dissent: Please voice your objection in a comment below, stating the reason why this cost causes a concern for you or the group.
No action will be taken as consent after Saturday, 2025-11-30.
It’s not urgent, but I would like to better understand the purpose of the mailing list after, let’s say, 2026. For now one of its main functions is recruitment. As the group approaches completion, we will no longer need to do that. How do you see the case for comms in a full cohousing?
Hi @LuciaM, I would assume that there are a lot of people among these 1000 that are not interested anymore to receive our mails? Do we have access to analythics about who has not opened our emails with newsletter in the last few months? If we do, could it be an option to send these people a short email to ask if they still want to be on our list? Then we could remove anyone who doesn’t engage. This would free up space and we don’t need this expense?
Just my thoughts…
Yes indeed. @manuelpueyo I was not clear in another thread about our newsletter tool. I’ve received emails or group messages in the past in which the senders asked people to unsubscribe, as they have reached the subscriber limit, as in our case, we can potentially send a similar email.
If this issue is resolved, i wonder if the other good-to-have features are still that relevant for us.
Well, I have to say that these days I’m a bit biased. For projects like The Reef , whose goal is not to scale, I’ve come to the conclusion that the most effective communication emails are the ones that feel like real letters written by actual humans and that “proper branding” and other features matter a lot less. It’s another story for posters and flyers for which images are crucial though. It’s also a personal preference of course.
thank you lucia for this post! it may actually be a good idea to try this unsubscribe email to see if we can make some space and keep it free. should we give it a try?
UPDATE: my understanding is that Lucia and Joannes from Team External are in favor of purchasing the monthly subscription, others have no objections. So I’ll not draft the email. @manuelpueyo and @LuciaM will follow up.
yesterday we had a meeting with the @reef-external and we decided to go on with the paid subscription on a monthly basis. the reason is that we think the database of contacts is very important for us at the moment and we don’t want to look or sound un-proffesional and that we dont care about them asking them to unsubscribe.
), we need to upgrade to the next paid tier to continue sending newsletters without interruption for both recruitment and our external actions.