NetMailer

NetMailer is a newsletter tool developed in Switzerland and sold by PAWECO GmbH of Eich. It sends newsletters and mass mailings to subscriber lists, and its home page sums up the offer as "Unlimitierter E-Mail-Versand, einfache Handhabung, Schweizer Server und kostenloser Support" (unlimited email sending, simple handling, Swiss servers and free support). The site says it suits companies and organizations of every size and sector, and names banks, insurers, law firms, cantons, municipalities, cities, SMEs and associations. Its customers, according to the home page, come from media and entertainment, IT, insurance and the public sector.

How newsletters are built

NetMailer's defining choice is what the home page calls an "editorlosen Ansatz", an approach without an editor, meant to make building a newsletter simpler and faster. Instead of dragging blocks around a blank canvas, the sender fills in a template that has already been designed and programmed. The design page explains the idea: after the customer approves a design, NetMailer programs and implements it, so the customer "keinerlei komplizierte Editoren mit unzähligen Einstellungen benötigt" (needs no complicated editors with countless settings) and can concentrate on the content.

The template is dynamic, the FAQ says, so the whole content of each issue can change. A customer who wants a second look, with other colors or another logo, can have several templates programmed and chooses between them when creating a newsletter. A design supplied by the customer's own graphic agency can also be implemented, though the FAQ warns of some restrictions, since the goal is that the newsletter looks the same on every device and client.

Two versions set how much design work NetMailer does for the customer:

• Premium: NetMailer's graphic designers create a design matched to the customer's corporate identity and corporate design, program it to look good at every size, and train the users. Rows can show up to three images or products side by side.
• Light: there is no design phase. The customer configures a design with a small building-block system, which the home page calls a "Design-Builder" and the FAQ a "Generator". Each row holds one image or product, and the tests for the mobile view have already been done, so the sender only supplies texts and images.

All templates are programmed responsive, so a newsletter adapts to the screen it is read on. The design page says NetMailer tests all designs on around 40-50 different email clients and device sizes, and it points to Outlook, which cannot show background images and limits fonts, as the reason off-the-shelf templates often break.

Sending, personalization and reporting

Sending is unlimited: the FAQ says a customer can send as many newsletters as they like, because fees are not calculated on the number of newsletters sent, and the home page adds that mailings can carry an attachment such as a PDF. Speed depends on the version. Premium sends up to 400 mails per minute and Light up to 100 per minute. Newsletters can go out in four languages, German, French, Italian and English, with a separate newsletter created for each language; standard elements are already translated, while the content itself is the sender's to translate.

Personalization works through the subscriber database. The page for SMEs says NetMailer can address subscribers personally, including by name in the subject line, provided the salutations are stored correctly, and that it supports testing a variety of subject lines, analyzing subscribers' opening behavior to find a good send time, content personalized by interest, and call-to-action buttons or links. The municipality page adds targeted recipient groups and surveys and feedback forms sent to residents.

For reporting, the home page promises detailed insight into open rates, click behavior and conversions. The FAQ explains soft and hard bounces, and says keeping customer data current is the sender's job.

The home page mentions programming custom landing pages and integration with the customer's CRM system, and the footer links a Developer API. The FAQ is candid about one limit: importing products from an online shop, via API or CSV, is not currently possible, although products can be placed in a newsletter by hand.

Data location and compliance

NetMailer's data stays in Switzerland. The home page says all customer data is hosted on servers in Switzerland, and the FAQ says every server, the email servers included, stands in Basel. On data protection, the FAQ says NetMailer was adapted to the EU's GDPR (DSGVO) requirements in 2018 and that customers are also covered for the Swiss data protection act (DSG) of September 2023. The municipality page states that the software is DSGVO-compliant and that subscribers' personal data is used only for the purpose the sender specifies. The footer links a privacy statement and a data processing agreement (Vereinbarung zur Auftragsdatenverarbeitung).

Pricing

The FAQ sets out how NetMailer charges. There are two cost items: a one-time setup fee, which depends on the version chosen, and annual costs, which are the same for Premium and Light. The annual fee follows the number of subscribers (email addresses) held in NetMailer: every three months PAWECO calculates the average number of addresses stored over the past quarter, prices those three months from its price table, and sends an invoice. Upgrading from Light to Premium, which means a custom design created, discussed, programmed and tested, costs CHF 2'290 excluding VAT.

Support is included in the annual costs. The one exception is a Light customer who does not book the training: that customer's support is billed at the standard rate of CHF 164 per hour excluding VAT.

Onboarding and support

A Premium setup takes about two weeks, one for the design phase and, after the customer's approval, about one for programming. A Light account is ready after about three days. Training is given in person, remotely or at the customer's office with travel billed, and further sessions can be booked at any time. A free, non-binding demo account exists for both versions; the FAQ says the demo mostly takes place remotely via Teams, and it is requested through a form on the site. The FAQ says support is part of the subscription and greets callers in Swiss German.

Who it suits

NetMailer fits Swiss organizations that want their newsletter data held in Switzerland and a supplier they can phone in Swiss German: municipalities, cantons and cities informing residents, associations and churches, banks, insurers and law firms, and SMEs. Premium suits a sender that wants a newsletter built to its corporate design and tested across 40-50 clients without learning an editor; Light suits a smaller budget and a quicker start. Unlimited sending priced by subscriber count favors organizations that mail often.

It is a weaker match for an online shop that wants product feeds or catalog imports, which the FAQ says are not yet possible, and for a sender who expects to design every issue freely in a drag-and-drop editor, since NetMailer deliberately works from fixed, programmed templates.