October 3rd, 2008

To make a good choice of an email marketing system for your business, it is a good idea to become aware of all of the options. Several alternatives exists to fulfill this need, and there are three variations that will be highlighted here.

First, managing your email list on your own computer. People will sometimes try and keep a list in their favorite personal email system, such as Outlook.

While this may have worked in 1997, it is a very bad plan for commercial applications today. This is true for three reasons. First, if the system does not “live” online, any changes to the list (adding or deleting names) must be done manually. Second, you lose the ability to send automated follow up messages (autoresponders. Third, you miss out on all the anti-spam capabilities of a more modern system.

Second, you can buy a program and install it on your own server.

This plan would free you from monthly fees and also give you a greater degree of control over your campaigns. On the flip side, you can expect to pay for upgrades, and you can expect to handle spam “issues” in-house.

Finally, you should look at a hosted email service. These types of services will “host” the application on a web server dedicated for this purpose, charging you a monthly fee for the service. Included in these packages are tools that will hep you compose email messages and manage your email system.

Hosted email services include system upgrades as part of the package, and give you support to cause your email messages will get delivered. On the other hand, you will also be locked into the monthly cost for as long as you use the service, and also will have less flexibility in the management of the system than if you had a program installed on your own server.

Whichever selection is made, make certain that you acquire a system that can not only send broadcast messages (which they all do) but more importantly, can support automated email messages or autoresponders.

Broadcast messages simply means you have the ability to send messages to everyone on your list, at the same time. This is what people normally think of. You can send out a weekly newsletter or blog update or even notices of sales. Some systems even allow you to send messages only to persons who meet certain criteria, for example who have been on your list less than 2 months.

Autoresponders means a series of messages are sent in a sequence based upon when the person signed up for your list. This is where the power of an email marketing system really pays off because it is “hands off” once you set it up. You might send out a series of messages, one every two days, with training, affiliate promotions, sales of your own products, or a mixture of all three. The receiver simply signs up for your list to put this in motion. Of course, you can also send broadcast messages to people who are receiving your autoresponder messages.

An effective email marketing system is an essential tool to your marketing success, and if you start using one today, you will be amazed at the results for your business.

Source: Email

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