お名前.com メールマーケティング

What the service is

お名前.com メールマーケティング is the email delivery service ("メール配信システム") of GMO Internet, Inc., sold under the same お名前.com brand the company uses for domain registration. It sends newsletters and one-off campaigns, targeted sends to part of a list, and automated step-mail sequences, all from the customer's own domain. The homepage sums it up as "低価格・高機能・ 配信数無制限" (low price, rich features, unlimited sends) and reports "導入実績 3,000件 以上" (more than 3,000 implementations), from large companies to individuals. Its own use cases range from a consulting firm keeping clients up to date, to a café sending member-only coupons, to municipalities keeping in touch with ふるさと納税 (hometown tax donation) donors.

Getting started takes one thing, according to the FAQ: a domain of your own. A domain registered elsewhere can be brought in, ownership is confirmed during initial setup, and the service is ready to use in as little as about 15 minutes after the application. Every new customer receives a PDF operating manual with screenshots.

Writing and sending

HTML email is built with a drag-and-drop editor meant for people who do not write HTML, and design templates let a sender just type the text. HTML mail can go out as multipart, so a recipient whose client does not display HTML automatically gets the text version. The subject and body can carry each recipient's name or company name through placeholders, which the FAQ credits with raising open rates. Mail formatted for smartphones is supported, and the editor has a palette of mobile emoji shared across the main domestic carriers. A test send to designated test users shows the layout before the real send, and the FAQ says emails and signup forms carry no advertising. Attachments are not supported.

Sends can go out immediately with a single checkbox, for urgent notices or breaking news, or be scheduled to the year, day, hour and minute; the computer does not need to be on at send time. How many sends can be queued in advance depends on the plan. The sender name and sender address can be changed freely. A delivery report shows each send from start to finish in real time, and a send can still be changed or stopped along the way. The FAQ gives a delivery speed of about 1,000,000 messages an hour ("100万通/時"), which can vary with load. Addresses that bounce a set number of times are stopped automatically, and the reason for each error is visible per address.

Step mail and targeted sends

Step mail is the automation feature, and the homepage stresses that it comes as standard. A scenario is a series of pre-written emails sent at set intervals, for example the day after a trial product is bought, then two days, three days and a week later. Each scenario can hold as many steps as needed, each timed to a set day, hour and minute, and scenarios can be conditioned on subscriber attributes, so buyers of one product line or customers of a given age group get their own sequence.

Targeted sends ("ターゲット配信") filter the list by attributes such as region, gender and age and send each group its own text. The number of target attributes a customer can use depends on the plan.

Lists, forms and surveys

Subscribers are added one by one, uploaded in bulk as a CSV file by drag and drop (with a daily cap on bulk uploads), or synced from the customer's own database through the API. A web form generator builds signup forms with extra fields of the sender's choosing and can send a confirmation email automatically once someone signs up; the form design can be customized, with limits on the form section itself. Every subscriber record starts with five fixed fields (email address, name, gender, prefecture and date of birth), and further fields in text, text area, checkbox, radio button, date or number format can be added up to the plan's limit. An unsubscribe form is built the same way: the subscriber enters an address, it is stopped automatically, and a confirmation email can follow.

Surveys are created from a template by adding questions, published online, and the results can be downloaded as a CSV file.

Reports, API and security

Reports cover delivery rate, open rate, clicks and conversions. Clicks and conversions come through the Google Analytics integration, and open rates are only available for HTML mail. The dashboard shows a summary of recent sends without opening the full report, and any report can be compared with another, which is how A/B tests are run: two versions to the same audience, compared side by side.

The API is switched off by default and enabled in the account settings. It covers bulk subscriber registration and updates, bulk deletion, processing status queries and subscriber list retrieval. One case study, めるも byGMO, uses the API to automate sending to several hundred thousand members.

The misdelivery prevention feature ("誤配信防止") splits accounts into administrator, approver and operator roles: an operator can schedule a send, but it does not go out until an approver signs off. The FAQ says the admin screens and forms run on SSL, the database holding the lists is encrypted, and personal data is handled under the privacy policy. DKIM is a standard feature, which the FAQ says is there to improve deliverability, and the FAQ also explains SPF as protection against spoofed sender domains. Adult and dating mail is refused, and mail to addresses collected without consent leads to suspension without a refund.

Plans and prices

There are five plans, each with no setup fee, unlimited sends and no additional charges, with prices shown including tax:

• MM1000: 1,000 addresses, 3 scheduled sends, 3 step-mail scenarios, 5 target attributes; 1,078 yen a month paid monthly
• MM3000: 3,000 addresses, 5 scheduled sends, 5 scenarios, 15 target attributes; 1,980 yen a month
• MM10000 (marked "おすすめ", recommended): 10,000 addresses, 10 scheduled sends, 10 scenarios, 25 target attributes; 5,280 yen a month
• MM30000: 30,000 addresses, 10 scheduled sends, 20 scenarios, unlimited target attributes; 16,280 yen a month
• MM50000: 50,000 addresses, 10 scheduled sends, 30 scenarios, unlimited target attributes; 27,280 yen a month

Paying 6, 12, 24 or 36 months in advance lowers the monthly rate. For MM1000 it falls to 1,012 yen (6,072 yen for six months), 985 yen (11,814 yen for a year), 930 yen (22,330 yen for two years) and 869 yen (31,295 yen for three years). The 36-month rates for the other plans are 1,595, 4,247, 13,108 and 21,989 yen a month, and those are the "from" prices on the plan cards. The FAQ quotes 790 yen a month for MM1000 on a 36-month prepayment, lower than the price table. The price page also notes that a temporary service maintenance adjustment fee ("サービス維持調整費") is added as a percentage of the relevant charges. Domain fees are separate and paid to the registrar.

Payment is by credit card (VISA, MasterCard, JCB, Diners, American Express), invoice, bank transfer, convenience store payment or direct debit. The customer pays the fees for invoice, bank transfer and convenience store payment, and direct debit needs a form sent by post after the service starts. Receipts come by email only.

Contract terms and support

Plans can be upgraded in the お名前.com Navi control panel, with the price difference charged and all data carried over, but not downgraded. After an upgrade, the per-list subscriber caps stay as they were until the customer raises them in the list settings. The minimum term is three months: canceling earlier costs three months' fees minus what has already been paid, cancellation is requested in the month before the desired end, and prepaid terms of six months or more end on the last day of the paid period. Paid fees are not refunded.

Support runs by phone and email, free of charge, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Who it suits

The service fits businesses and organizations that write to customers in Japanese from their own domain and want predictable costs: an online shop (the case study of メアシス reports the repeat rate of its mail-order site up 36%), a café sending coupons to newsletter members, a municipality or nonprofit keeping donors informed, or a team where a second person must approve every send. The API suits a developer syncing a membership database. Worth knowing before signing up: one contract covers one domain, the sending domain cannot be changed later, there is no downgrade path, and the three-month minimum applies.