If you are new in the email marketing industry, chances are you are wondering if it is worth to buy a paid email marketing tool or if the free version will do. To help you in such regard, you will find out the essential features of a free and paid software for email marketing. It is designed to facilitate a deeper understanding of its functions vis-à-vis your business needs. The article will not easily end there as it will be concluded by providing you with suggestions on how you could use email marketing tool to the fullest and help your business grow.
What is an Email Marketing Tool
Various opinions about the best email marketing tools exist on the web. Some may say that is passé, since this kind of marketing strategy was born together with the conception of email. A long time had passed since then, and there are updates now in the technological industry. Why do you need to rely on email marketing when people are all about the Social Networking Sites (SNS) these days? Is it still a viable marketing strategy? Before you decide on that matter, it is important that you know first its basic features that will help your business.
A useful marketing strategy should be able to help your business grow. The traditional kinds of campaign through TV, radio, and print are proven to increase business sales in a way or another. The email marketing tool on the other hand is also capable of doing this, but with a lesser cost. The former may be effective, but they are also costly. In the other hand, the top email marketing tools are proven to save your time and money by doing the following:
- Using the pre-designed templates to send your newsletter
- Setting up the auto-responder to answer basic queries sent by recipients
- Making sure that your messages will not be marked as spam and compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act
- Delivering analytical reports that will help you in improving your marketing strategy
- Customizing your message to make the consumers feel more appreciated
- Offering contact segmentation to personalize your campaign to a specific group of consumers.
Free Email Marketing Tools
Are you new to the world of email marketing campaign tools? You do not need to be nervous about using such tool even if you are a newbie in the said field because such marketing tools are offered for free. Those who wanted to try the software to familiarize themselves on the features that it offers may do so by trying the available free tools. Simply browse the web for the available free versions, or to make your life easier, you may access CrowdReviews.com. The site provides reliable and unbiased reviews from users who have tried the product.
By this time, you might be wondering about what the free software for email marketing can offer. The following are the common features that you can expect from the zero-cost software.
1 – Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Feature
Have you ever heard a story or experienced cancelling a transaction due to poor customer service? This is not news as the relationship and the responses you give to a customer are important in acquiring sales or subscribers for a business. Why does CRM matters? It is simply because of its functions that can help your business, like tracking of everything that can help direct you for more sales.
2 – Detailed Reports
Data is an important aspect in designing your marketing plan. As such, a good email marketing tool for free must be able to yield analytical reports to help you devise a better marketing strategy for the future. The data that each of the free software can yield may differ, so it is best to read email marketing tool reviews like those published on CrowdReviews.com. Doing so will give you an idea of what analytical reports each free email marketing software is capable of.
3 – Simple Interface Feature and Customizable
Believe it or not, even the free version of marketing software for email offers these features. Customizing the message and the design that you are going to send is essential in a business. You cannot just send a template message that you download randomly from the web because it will not help in the branding of your business. The view on the claimed simplicity of their platform may vary from person to person.
For example, the email marketing tool reviews on Mailchimp shows that others find it easy to use while otherwise is the case for others.
Paid Email Marketing Tools
Paying for an item does not automatically mean that it has the edge over a free product. In fact, a study shows that consumers value more a free item than a discounted one. However, the decision on whether to use a free or paid email marketing tools for small business relies on you. Before that though, read about the features of the paid software for email marketing to know if it is worth paying.
To start, it would be safe to say that all the specifications of the free version of the email marketing software tools are also present in the paid ones in varying degrees. The following will give you a more concrete idea on what features to look for in email marketing software.
1 – More Detailed Reports
The paid software also offers detailed reports to the user. However, the software that cost you may give you more data. Depending on what your business needs, the additional data that it offers may be useful for the future marketing direction goals. For example, you may get a sex aggregated data on what sex opens your message in a particular time and place. Other paid software for email marketing may not have this so it is best to read review on email marketing services to know the depth of reports that a software can yield.
2 – More Contacts and More Email Messages
You need to compare email marketing tools when it comes to their capacity for contacts and messages. When the cost is lower, it means to say that you can only manage a lesser number of contacts and send fewer email messages monthly. Do you need to expand your email reach? If that is the case, you should look for the software that offers a large contact capacity compared to other service providers.
3 – Compliant with CAN-SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act was formed to protect the consumers from the spam messages that become the way of life a few years ago. Until now, there are still many spammers, and the paid software for your email marketing will make sure that your messages comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. The free software is also capable with this, but the paid ones may offer additional feature like hiding the opt-out option for future messages once the consumer decided to subscribe to you.
Email Marketing Tools for Business Growth
Now that you have known the features of free and paid email marketing software, next are the ways on how you could grow your business by using the said software.
1 – Informative Content
We understand that inclusion of sales pitches in the message is important for your business. Keep in mind though that the content should also be informative and not just for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). A good rule would be the 80/20 where 80% of the content is about information that readers could use, and only 20% should be allotted to sales pitch. According to research by GetApp Lab, the third reason why consumers opt out of their subscription is because of irrelevant content.
2 – Find Ways to Expand Your Email List
Email marketing automation tools can only help your business grow if you know how to direct it. Continuous building of your contact list means that you are also expanding the possibilities for additional sales. To grow your list, you must initiate something that requires a registration or establishment of an account to get their contact details. For example, you may give discounts or freebies to people who would register. Allowing a comment on your blog or a forum is one of the common ways that will get you legitimate reasons to ask for a registration.
What is the sense of paying for a software when all you need could be catered by a free email marketing software. Why settle for free and send a template that looks generic like everyone else when your main marketing focus is branding? You as the business owner will be the only one to tell whether the free or paid email marketing is best for you. Do not forget that having a carefully laid out marketing strategy is an integral factor in your decision-making. Do you still find it hard to decide? Check out the reviews written by real clients on different email marketing services at CrowdReviews.com to have a deeper understanding about the uses of available software. The reviews published are helpful because they write not only about the highlights but also about the drawbacks for each software
Trevor Price
Latest posts by Trevor Price (see all)
- Why Document Management Software Is a Must for Every Company - January 13, 2017
- What Are the Best Scheduling Software for Your Specific Needs - January 12, 2017
- What Are the Top Features of Membership Management Software - January 10, 2017