Yesterday, I explained the advantages of email newsletters over blogs. Today's post focuses on the why and how of newsletters.Some freelancers and small businesses send out mass emails through Gmail or Outlook. But here's why it's better to use an email program specifically tailored to these types of emails:
1. Easy list management. Manually adding or deleting people from your email list is a huge hassle, but most of the email newsletter providers take care of this task for you. They also make it easy to segment your list based on criteria like when the person signed up (more sophisticated programs that integrate with your sales software can tell you who has purchased your product, what they bought, and when).
2. Simplified email design. Granted, designing an email that will display consistently across different email platforms is a real challenge, but email programs that are designed for creating pretty graphics-based emails (also called HTML emails) make it simpler. Most of them have loads of templates you can customize and require very little HTML knowledge. (Notice I said most. A few actually require more sophisticated technical know-how if you really want to customize your newsletter.)
3. Compliance with CAN-SPAM. For those us in the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 has very specific requirements about opt-outs, physical addresses, and more. Unless you're intimately familiar with these guidelines, it's really easy to violate them unintentionally. But many of the email programs out there help their customers comply by including mandatory address fields and easy opt-outs.
4. Better delivery rates. Yahoo, Gmail, and other email programs don't like it when you send huge bulk emails. In fact, this is one the ways that email programs weed out spam. However, many of the reputable email vendors like MailChimp or Constant Contact (see below for a more complete list) are part of commercial email whitelists because their clients comply with CAN-SPAM requirements. It's not a 100% guarantee that everyone on your list will get your email, but delivery rates are generally better this way.
5. Loads of analysis. If you're sending a mass email through your regular email server, you probably don't have much information on who's opening or forwarding your email, what links they're clicking on, and when your readers tend to read your emails. Most email newsletter programs offer very detailed information on the effectiveness of each campaign. They'll also show you colorful charts comparing overall trends in open rates, opt-outs, etc.
Now that I've (hopefully) sold you on using an email newsletter provider, here are some of the programs available to freelancers or small business owners:
- Campaigner: I've used Campaigner for a client's newsletter, and I don't find the interface to be very intuitive. Plus, I had to call support on several occasions, and I've spent countless hours on hold (don't worry, I was billing for those hours because they fell under project management). Not my top recommendation.
- ConstantContact: I investigated using ConstantContact for one of my email newsletter clients, and I'm very impressed by their friendly and prompt customer service. They have an excellent reputation, too.
- Emma: This is the only program on the list that I haven't used or explored in depth. I know several people who use Emma, and their emails look fabulous. My assumption is that they are another good option.
- MailChimp: This is the one I use for my own newsletter. It has a fun, user-friendly interface, and it's free for lists under 100 subscribers. Their prices are reasonable and flexible depending on the size of your list and the frequency of your emails. Zero complaints here!
- PatronMail: This was the first email newsletter program I ever used when I managed the newsletter for one of my former employers. It is specifically targeted to arts organizations and creative businesses. I also took a 1-day seminar with PatronMail and found it to be super-helpful.
The technical interface and pricing varies depending on what plan you purchase with what email provider, so I won't go into too many specifics on that here. But for my email newsletter, I hired a designer to create a custom banner and tweaked one of the templates so it uses colors that tie into the banner. Then each time I create a new newsletter, I copy the template so it has all the colors and formatting I already set. Very easy.
Are there other email newsletter programs I should add to this list? Which one(s) do you use?
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12 comments:
Thanks for this very informative post! It is very true!
I used Exact Target when I worked at my last job. It's pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. I am not sure about pricing though. I've also used Constant Contact a couple of times and it was good.
I currently use MailChimp for my own newsletter and so far I like it. It is very easy to use and I like that it lets you grow your list before investing any money.
I have worked many providers and I recommend constant contact, campaignmonitor, mailchimp, cakemail, benchmarkemail, vertical response, contactology and stream send for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Emaillabs and Exact target are one of the best and too good, but very expensive - best recommended for corporates.
I worked at Bronto for the past 4 years and recently make the jump to Blue Sky Factory (both ESPs - Email Service Providers), so clearly I'm biased. They hate it when I say this, but my take is that most ESPs are the same as far as the technology and feature sets go. Differentiators are usually based on ease of use, integration (if needed), and service/support/advice/coaching.
I know some of the folks at MailChimp. Good people, great product...and they know design.
I've very interested in continuing to read this series. Thanks for helping to keep email relevant!
DJ Waldow
Director of Community at Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
@Kris: Wow, that's quite a list. Thank you!
@DJ: You're absolutely right. Customer service is one of the big differentiators, because all of them offer tracking, templates, etc. And the difference between customer service at Constant Contact & Campaigner is enormous! (In my opinion, CC is way better in that department.)
@Susan: I'm still not sure why companies suck at Customer Service. Odd, right? Too easy in 2009 to be just better than suck...ha ha.
DJ Waldow
Director of Community at Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
Thanks for the informative post Susan. I used to use Constant Contact (excellent customer service, pricing, and easy to use) but now manage my newsletter through Vertical Response, which is a little less expensive and allowed me to customize my design further.
I will recommend using Email Charger for all bulk email marketing needs. Its the best bulk emailer I have used so far.
I used Constant Contact too, and it's good, but I got tired of always writing articles and finding pictures.
I now use eNewsletterSolutions, they put the whole thing together and email it out for less than $30, pretty decent price for no work on my part.
We have been using MyEmma for several years and are extremely happy with the product and service. They are definitely worth consideration if you're looking for a mail service provider.
Hey, I hate to break it to you but one point in this post is incorrect. Regarding, "4. Better delivery rates" -- It is impossible for ESPs to get on global whitelists. Any ESP that guarantees delivery is lying to you and is probably forcing customers to use shared IP addresses which is bad news. You want an ESP that not only has good customer service (and assigned account reps who will educate you on the issue of sender reputation) but also an ESP that will put every client on their own IP address so that you have the ability to control your own reputation (and not worry if a spammer who is buying lists and shares your IP address is going to hurt your delivery statistics.) Part of getting in the in box is throttling emails. Does your ESP allow you to throttle? If not, ask how they are throttling for you. If it's more than 2K emails/hour you will get blacklisted by Yahoo, guaranteed, regardless of who your ESP is.
Seriously, commercial whitelists are a myth. Even if you COULD get on one, it's not possible to guarantee this... If you share IP addresses, you can get blacklisted if your ESP forces you to share IP addresses with other clients of theirs, and one of those clients ends up buying a CD of "free" leads that contains spam traps.
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