Emails are an integral part of a business communication. When you want to introduce your product or services to an organization you don’t have any clue about, the first thing probably you’ll do is visit their website.
Almost every website has a contact us page which has the email ids of the relevant people. The next thing which you’ll do is, draft an email, and introduce your organization to them. An email marketing software can be of great help in this. It offers many features which make the regulars tasks easy for you. Let’s have a look:
Ready to Use Email Templates
You will certainly not like to type the emails from scratch again and again for various purposes. So your email software must provide handy templates you can use.
These templates can be customized easily to fit your brand. Most of the models being used these days offer dynamic content and personalization so your email marketing software must have this.
Quickly Builds Emails for You
The software must come with an email builder which may have drag and drop features. It means all you have to do is to drag and drop the components into the template and it is ready to use.
As your emails are representing your brand, look out for the functionalities to put in place your logo, appropriate colors, and fonts.
Smartphone Friendly Emails
Mobile email will account for 15 to 70% of email opens, depending on your target audience, product, and email type. Source: eMailmonday
By 2020, the number of smartphone users will rise to 2.87 billion and this will continue to increase. So can you ignore such large numbers? No, certainly not.
We are living in a world in which people hardly have time to waste. Almost every business executive is using one to stay in touch with their customers. So if you want your email to be read, ensure that it is opened in their smartphones. And for this, the functionality must be provided within the software which you’re planning to use. The software must be capable of optimizing the emails and must have mobile friendly templates as well.
Most of the existing email marketing applications have such functionalities, but you must ensure it by sending a few emails and then opening them in your smartphone. It’ll ensure that you are not missing on the hundreds of those customers who use their smartphones to read emails.
Source: Statista
Easy Testing Of Emails
The software you are going to choose for your business communication must provide the functionality to show you a preview of the emails sends. It will help you in selecting the right email template which works on every device or application.
There are many strict laws and regulation for the SPAM emails in many countries. Your email marketing software must provide the functionalities to test the email content for SPAM and objectionable content at the firewall or the server level. It means more emails will reach the intended user and fewer will get to the SPAM folder.
Limits That Serve your Purpose
With E-mails being primarily used for the communication, you’ll certainly want a leeway on how many emails you can send to the customers. It is a general consideration that you must look for software that offers the freedom to choose the number of emails. The email service provider must be capable of an upgrade as your list grows.
Easy to comprehend Reports
The software which you are planning to use must be able to provide the rich reporting capabilities. It ensures that the efforts you are making in sending the emails are producing the results you always wanted. Some of the necessary reports the software must indicate open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, bounce rate.
All these are indicators of your campaign success. Besides, the application must provide the other reporting options. All in all the reports generated with the help of the application must be capable of improving the design or restructure the campaign.
Must Support Plugins
Your software must be able to support other business applications. If you are using a CRM, eCommerce, or CMS solution, it should be integrated with the e-mail marketing easily. Once in place, you’ll be able to make the e-mail campaigns, more accurate, personalized and relevant to the business.
It means when your customers will get an email from you, it’ll suit their preferences and will be more relevant to them. This will significantly enhance the possibility of a successful campaign.
Round The Clock Support
It is very much possible that your software may develop some bugs or may not work optimally. In such situations, you must be able to get the necessary support as soon as possible. You must ask the turnaround time for the support to reach you in person or mail or over the phone. It’ll ensure that you are working smoothly without much hindrance.
Pay For What You Use
The pricing of email marketing software depends on the levels of the services you enjoy. These may include:
# Email Newsletters
# Mailing List Management
# Marketing Automation
# Opt-In Confirmation
# Campaign Tracking & Reports
# Developer API
While the list is partial but it includes many services which are useful for your business operations. These features or the services are categorized in easy-to-use plans viz.:
Pay As You Use: This plan is based on email credits, so you pay for what you use.
Monthly Subscription: These plans usually provide unlimited emailing capabilities so you don’t have to worry on the numbers of email you can send
Forever Free: These plans provide the free functionalities which are free for life
You may have to do more research and look for some customer success stories before finalizing an application or service (internet based application). Besides, you may also consider reading some Email Marketing Software reviews which may help you decide in accordance of your budget.
