How to Choose an Email Marketing Service
E-mail marketing services or e-mail service providers (ESP) are services that will carry the burden of sending out mass e-mails. They host the marketing services so that your ISP will not have to be over-worked.
Regular ISPs are not designed to handle mass e-mails, so the need for a well established service for your marketing purposes is mandatory. But choosing the proper email marketing service to fit your online business can be a difficult endeavor. Here are a few guidelines when shopping for a provider:
Firstly, be sure to select a server with a private IP. This will prevent your target customers from learning your unique internet protocol. Shared IPs should be avoided at all costs.
Secondly, you want to find a service that has good reporting with easily accessible reports that are also easy to understand. You don’t want your marketing reports to be convoluted.
Next, locate a service that provides reliable and effective customer support and training. If you don’t know what you are doing, you won’t be successful. Having the proper support will provide you and your customers with the right frame of mind and security to continue operating your business stress free.
Your email marketing service should also have a strong infrastructure with multiple high-speed lines with redundancies in place. A collapse of the service would be disastrous to your business and may also cause some customers to look for alternatives. A strong infrastructure will provide stability.
Lastly, let’s not forget the payment and pricing. There are usually two types of pricing: 1) monthly billing with no limits; or 2) billing per use. Choose the billing scheme that suits your business. For example, if you’re not sending out as many mass e-mails as other businesses, try using a billing per use style. This will cut down on your costs and save you money in the long run.
Most providers will offer a free trial period. Utilize this. Determine if one email marketing service provider is better than another by testing out a few during their free trial period. Once done, you can then determine the best service for your business.