Choose Your Email Marketing Software Wisely

a successful online business can be conducted without e-mail marketing. Many people know that it is very important to have a web site, but there website is just one step in creating a successful online presence. You have to stay in touch with your customers and prospects. You need to have two ways to communicate with your clients and prospects and the best way to do this is that the e-newsletter. To send an e-mail to your client you need the right email marketing software.

Select your e-mail marketing software has been one of the most important steps you must take in e-business. What are these necessary steps in selecting an e-mail marketing software?

Free or fee-based

the first thing you have to decide in choosing software for your e-mail campaign will be whether to use free or fee-based software. May some people say: "There are a lot of free software on the Internet Why pay for e-mail marketing software.?" This is because some people still do not have the habit of buying things online, especially non-tangible items such as software and services. Many people still do not understand the power of email marketing, so I guess we can be satisfied free service.

One of the most modern economists, Nobel Prize winner, Mr. Milton Friedman said that there is no such thing as a free run. And there is another statement that says: "You get what you pay for. " I tend to agree with these two statements. These have been proven in many instances, especially on the Internet.

You can use free software for e-mail marketing, but will be limited for some advanced options. Some major portals offer free services to create a group. It was OK, but in this case will be sent by e-mail messages without a lot of important features such as personalization, e-mail monitoring, SMS, using a CSV file, etc. I do not have to mention that many "free" marketing service providers Software will include advertisements in their e-mail newsletter. I think you do not want in your business e-mail communications.

Some other free software like the free version of Mail Group will have a limit on the number of subscribers per session. In this case you will be able to send e-mail newsletter to 100 subscribers in one and a paid version for an unlimited number of subscribers and create an unlimited number of lists.

is advisable to use a fee-based e-mail marketing software for your business e-mail campaigns. However, you must always look for a provider who offers a free trial as well.

Important features of

you must make sure your e-mail service provider, and offers several important features.

1) personalization - Personalization is one of the most important things that e-mail marketing software has to offer. With good personalization will have a better open rates and click-thru rates. Some more advanced e-mail marketing software like Group Mail offers a paid version of if-then personalization for users who want to get maximum personalization.

2) Monitoring - e-mail marketing is a popular and useful, because the results can be measured very effectively. You must ask your email provider if their product offers the opportunity for detailed reports on open rates, click-thru rates, deliverability ... If their main product does not offer it is important that they offer additional services that can be easily integrated with their main product.

3) Scalability - one of the main characteristics of modern software is scalability. At this point you may need software that will be able to send 1000 emails at once, but three years of their membership base can be 5000th Will your software be able to handle it?

4) Create HTML newsletters - HTML newsletters have better response rates than email newsletters in plain-text format, so this is also another thing you have to take into account choosing your e-mail marketing software. Without sending e-mail newsletter in HTML will not be able to do e-mail tracking.

5) Integration with existing applications and databases - your e-mail marketing software to offer you the ability to import data from existing applications and databases, SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Access, FoxPro and Excel. Also, it is very useful to be integrated with popular email clients like MS Outlook.

6) Support for international character - online business must have a global focus so that it is useful to e-mail marketing software provides support for international characters

7) Plug-ins and updates - it is very important to e-mail service providers are constantly working to create useful plug-ins and updates to make your job easier and effective.

8) Technical Support -If you are an average Internet user, without any technical knowledge, you will probably want to get support for your software. How good is your e-mail service, when it comes to technical support?

Desktop email software vs Hosted ASP

Now that you know what you want for free or fee-based software, and you look in your e-mail marketing software you need to decide whether to have the desktop software e-mail marketing or so-Hosted ASP. Both types have limitations and advantages. You must choose the best option for you.

desktop e-mail program such as Group Mail Plus, one of the leading desktop e-mail marketing software, has several very big advantages. The most important thing is that the data on their subscribers kept private and secure on your computer. Dot com crash is not so far behind us. Imagine that you have several thousand clients and use a web service from a company that will later go out of business. You can only imagine how itit can affect your business and credibility ! Mail Plus with a group can manage an unlimited number of groups with an unlimited number of recipients in each. You will have a higher initial investment than with Hosted ASP that charge a monthly fee, but will give you full control of your e-mail campaigns, and after some time using your software will be returned.

With Hosted ASP you will usually have a lower initial investment. No need to buy hardware and software. However, the price is usually determined by the number of e-mail address so you can send will pay more to their membership base gets bigger so this option will be much more expensive than a desktop e-mail marketing software option in the long run.

you can see that selecting the right software e-mail marketing is very important. You must keep in mind that the biggest investment is one that pays - twice. So, choose your e-mail marketing software wisely.