For the first time since 2001, we've had a clent request an email campaign via a list broker. They wanted us to identify the right list from the right broker/organization, find the right email software and track via their web analytics. Since we used to do this all the time (before our name was SEOmoz), I felt relatively comfortable jumping back in to the act... until I spent a few hours muddling it over last night.
With the speed of change in SEO, design, programming and online marketing over the last four years, what chance is there that the email marketing landscape looks anything like it once did? Time to look for some resources:
Via del.icio.us (email+marketing)
- Constant Contact - Big name in the industry, and their tour, while a bit dry and overly long, explains the process fairly well. They've also got a sizable hints and tips section.
- Zookoda - With a Web2.0 look and a specific appeal to bloggers who want to run small campaigns, Zookoda looked attractive, but it's probably not right for this project (good to have in the back pocket, though).
- Campaign Monitor - The appeal is to email "designers" who need software that can deliver their elegant work. I like their blog, where they actually test flash inside major email clients for user experience.
- Copyblogger - They're going on my late night reading list. It's a well-written blog all about email & blog marketing with a focus on persuasive copywriting and something about the look and feel tells me they know what they're talking about. I also recognize the site, probably from being pointed here by another blog I read (more positive re-inforcement).
- Chris Baggot - The quote on the top of his blog reads "Email is the greatest marketing tool in history. If used properly, nothing is more personalized, inexpensive, interactive or easier to execute." The rest of the blog appears equally engaging.
- Jakob Nielsen on Incompetent Email Marketing - It's from Halloween of last year, but it's one of the few articles of his I can actually get behind.
- Email Marketing Statistics & Trends - One of the best I've come across so far. EmailLabs gives me delivery rate by ISP, time of day email users check their mail, and more. A fantastic find.
Via Google (email marketing)
- ClickZ Email Marketing Articles - It's a brand I know and trust (mostly), but I can't find an article I love in there... I'll have to surf back historically.
- The rest of Google's results are just companies who offer email marketing services. I've got plenty of these to review already, and I trust del.icio.us taggers far more than Google's algo to deliver me into good hands.
Hopefully this glance into my short, short version of web research is insightful. For searches like this, you can see why I think del.icio.us and other social tools are going to become new methods of primary navigation for the masses in the years to come. And, with a bit of luck, there's some email marketing resources above that you've found valuable.
Are there any big ones I'm missing? Companies you love to work with? Resources you think are worth reading? And, last, is it just me, or has email marketing not changed much over the last 4 years?
I've used a few in the past. Most recently I've played with Vertical Response which is very basic and really geared towards the new user. Depending upon your customers needs and comfort level it might be a good fit.
I've also had extensive use of Email Labs which is quite powerful and feature rich. Definately for the user who wants a lot of control and reporting.
I have not tested Campaign Monitor yet but loved the Flash support article Rand referenced. They have another about css support that I always provide someone when they are first starting to create their campaigns.
Comprehensive Email Marketing Review
I happen to work very closely with IntelliContact (part of the Broadwick Corporation) which is a fast growing email marketing company. We use them for all of their campaigns and I am surprised they only got Silver instead of Gold in this review.
The 3 most important issues with email marketing are Deliverability, Deliverability and Deliverability.
If you are a web design company, then you can make the templates. If you have any tech experience, then you can figure out the administrative interfaces. If you can write at all, you can create the email content. What you can't control is deliverability.
The first question you should ask any potential email marketing ASP is how many blacklists they are on, how often, and what relationships they maintain with major email providers such as AOL, Cable Companies, Hotmail, etc.
While I can't speak for the other companies, we use ICP because they are whitelisted with most of the major providers and use strong business relationships to keep off blacklists.
Thanks for the research Rand, I've been looking into starting a newsletter for talkhomebusiness.com and I've only looked at scripts to install, I found some nice scripts but I am guessing that using one of those services your posted is a better choice for a professional newsletter.
The issue shouldn't be which company is the best and easiest to use..it should be which company gets your email past the steel vault doors recipients using Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL email servers.
I agree. I've actually been looking into switching from our current newsletter mechanism (a quick script I wrote) to a third party solution because of this exact problem. We've had trouble getting past the tight spam filters on certain domains as well as the blacklists which SEOmoz's IP block got put on as a result of other clients being spammers.
Constant Contact tells everyone that they have made arrangements with AOL and others for the email to get through...and I'm talking about a legitimate, opt-in email list. When I look at my stats and see that out of a mailing of 5,000 (example) only 1,000 are opened, none are bounced...they can't tell me where the other 4,000 are. And these recipients are subscribers, so it's not like 4,000 are going to ignore my email message. There's got to be a better way. (RSS or direct to desktop software)
does anyone know what the industry average opt-in rate for an email reminder is? we had a client ask us (a utility company) - they had 1% of their users sign up for an email reminder to sign up to pay their bill online. any info would be greatly appreciated!
I've been asking around about these services lately as well. I haven't jumped in just yet, but I have heard a few endorsements for GraphicMail.
I've been a user of Infacta for a very long time. They have a good product & docs. And yes, they also have a blog (most of the time pretty boring, but there are occasionals gems)...
We use DriveIt. It's easy to create a template and add in text & pictures (I'm design challanged and I can figure it out), and their contact database is great. I can create quick surveys and the database keeps an awesome history of what newsletters, surveys, generators people have received or engaged in. They also have a great support team when I'm frustrated with anything!
At NVI, we use GraphicMail, a simple / easy to use email campaigner. What is great about this software is its operationnal costs, especially if you are a webmaster. You can manage the "credits" the way you want, it has alot of flexibility especially for the multi-websites companies.
How timely, we had a flurry of emails this morning on this self-same topic. Thanks for the research Rand, saved us a bit of time :)
Wow... I just clicked over from the feed because that headline of yours was right up my alley, only to find you mentioned Copyblogger... how very cool.
Anyway... as someone who has done a lot with email since 98 or so, I'm mostly all about integrated blogging with email now (blogging is the new ezine.. on steroids thanks to linking and SE love).
From the sound of it, your client probably needs to go with AWeber or GetResponse for the best overall deliverablity and tracking for the money. As far as buying lists, the ROI is terrible. You may want to consider trying to quickly build a content-targeted list using one of the better-respected, double opt-in co-registration services.
Thanks again for the mention, and I'll leave a light on for you. :)
Brian,
Can you recommend any "double opt-in co-registration services"?
We use Constant Contact. I like it for its ease of use and tracking. I haven't used it much of late as I used to put out a monthly newsletter but now just blog as I found the newsletter thing too much of a burden. Haven't tried others but CC is affordable and provides a good range of features.