Thread

i am looking for the best way to manage a “list” of people’s information (name, addr, phone, email) in EE. these people are NOT “real” members of the site (can’t log in, etc). would it still be ok to use the member management module to keep track of something like this? if so, do you just create random passwords (as that’s required to sign someone up)?

or is it as simple as creating a channel that stores all of this information in entries?

any help would be appreciated!

-klaman

I vote for your simple approach and keep things easy.  We’re building a site for a client who wants users to register for his workshops without the bother of creating an account or him having to maintain a membership site. 

So users will complete a SafeCracker captcha form with their name, phone and email (the workshop date/time are passed through hidden form fields).  When the form is submitted, it merely inserts an entry into a channel called “Registrations” that can be viewed and sorted in the CP like any other channel.

thanks boldyellow,

are there any issues with this way if you are going to have thousands (eventually around 4,000) of extra entries?
also, do you know if there is an easy way to grab emails (based on if they checked the ‘stay informed’ box when signing up) from these entries to use them to distribute an email newsletter?

thanks again for the suggestion!

I can’t really speak to the performance of 4,000 entries, but I imagine EE has handled worse.

There’s some add-ons at Devot-ee that connect with various email marketing systems (mailchimp, etc.) but they appear (to me, at least) to be for signed up members.  Like you, I need to similarly harvest emails from non-member registrants in my “Registration” channel… l just haven’t put much serious thought or research into it yet.

well i’ve set it all up so far (minus the email functionality and ability to sort by fields). if i come across a good solution when i get to the email integration, i will post it here.

i’ve also set up the ability to export the data as a csv file and i guess i will use solspace importer (anything free?) to be able to batch import entries as well for those who sign up through other means.

appreciate your help!