Email Marketing Software

If you are a serious internet marketer, you would have come across the concise yet wise words "build a list" or "the money is in the list" numerous times. This may just be the most valuable piece of information you will hear with respect to internet marketing. If you have finally decided to put this advice to practice, you may be overwhelmed by the numerous email marketing services available to you. This guide should point you in the right direction and ensure you make the right choice.

Visual Editing Options & Templates

If you are looking to have your clients trust you with their email address, first impressions count! When choosing your email service provider, there are a number of aspects to look into in terms of visual styling. There are two main aspects to look into; the sign up form and the newsletter format, that is if you are looking to send newsletters. A good email marketing service will have a vast selection of pre-designed styles available at your disposal as well as extensive customization options including the ability to entirely import your own cascading style sheet or HTML form.

Most leading email marketing services today offers hundreds of email templates. These templates are even sometime designed to target specific categories or niches. Additionally, some of them are mobile or tablet responsive meaning subscribers can see email according to device they use. This is must have feature to look for when selecting software for your email marketing campaign.

Analytics & Reports

There is no point in having a service offering top-notch styling options if you are unable to keep track of your emails efficiently. There is plenty of information that can be extracted from your email campaigns which you can use to deduce vital trends which can skyrocket your sales/profits. Ensure that the software provides details on delivery rates, demographics and interactivity with your emails by each individual user. Other added features you should be looking for includes split testing customizing email delivery based on interactivity such as which links have been clicked on the email.

Compatibility & Integration

Another aspect to look into is how compatible the email software is with popular services that can be used to optimize the efficiency of your campaign. While in-built analytics provides a wealth of information on its own, you are missing out on certain important pieces of data if you don't leverage the power of other services. The typical example in this instance would be Google Analytics. By incorporating Google Analytics to your email campaigns, you will be able to extract key points that can be used to catapult your sales and overall business forward. Make sure your email marketing software supports other software that you utilize for further analysis and convenience.

Pricing

If you look at the most popular and recommended email marketing services, you will find that prices have been standardized to a certain extent. There are a few key things to look into when considering price. Firstly, most services provide an extensive trial with few limitations for a period of 1 month or more. If you are convinced with a service, this may not be required, but its always advisable to have a hands-on experience with the service prior to making your investment.

Another thing to look into is the scheme. The different tiers are always quantity based but it can depend on number of contacts or number of emails. Depending on your email marketing campaign, one may be more economical than the other. Making the right choice here can save you a decent buck on a monthly basis.

Free Plans

On the topic of pricing, you may be tempted to choose a free service and there are in fact plenty of services available. However, if you are serious about your internet marketing efforts, you should be willing to make the investment as freeware would assuredly be crippled in certain areas. Some limitations may include intrusive self-promotion, low deliverability rates, limited features or non user-friendly software.

Deliverability

Even the most powerful campaign would be futile if your emails fail to get delivered to your list. Deliverability is something that can only be measured as you start using a service but acquiring reviews of existing customers of the services you are considering will give you a fair idea on how well the email marketing service performs in terms of getting the mail successfully across.

Most leading providers maintains their relationship with ISPs around the globe to provide better deliveribility and security. This can help to reach email to inbox rather than flagged as spam. For large scale email marketers, this must be considered when sending emails.

Final Thoughts

Be sure to look into all the above before making your investment. An email marketing service is a long term commitment so make sure you do ample research and make the right choice. The long term prospects of your business and how many subscribers you are looking to reach should also be kept in mind. In any case, if you have the right idea, it should pay off. Don't waste any more time, get started now!