A surprising number of people still use outlook for e-mail marketing. This is a terrible idea.Sending e-mail to more than 50 people at a time WILL result in spam complaints. Your e-mail provider or ISP may mark you as a spammer and shut down your email account and possibly your website as well. And its illegal.
A better way is to use a service to send emails. Generally, you can load your list of email addresses into the service and then send mail to to your list using pre-built templates or by uploading your own HTML. The services also offer statistical tools to see how many recipients opened the emails and clicked on links.
We have tested out many of the services so here are our reviews. Pricing for all services is based on how many names are on your list.
Constant Contact
Pros: This is the biggest and most famous of all the services. Their user interface is good and the site is fairly easy to use. They offer a form that can be added to your website so that site visitors can directly signup for emails from your site. They offer templates to help you create your emails without the help of a designer, but they are really ugly.
Cons: Several of our clients, have had problems with them because Constant Contact does not like they way that they have collected their names. If you have purchased a list, or have obtained your email addresses offline, this is not the service for you. Its just a matter of time until they close down your account.
Support: They offer a phone number to reach a representative if you need help. I have not found them to be very friendly or eager to help.
http://www.constantcontact.com/
MailChimp
Pros: MailChimp has a really slick online interface. There are fun little cues that make the software pleasant to use. Their statistics package is great and they offer nice extras like A/B testing. They offer a great signup form that you can place on your site. Their software also uses IP addresses (obtained when a user signs up) to do clever things like deliver email at different times per time zone or to segment your list geographically. You can signup for a monthly fee, or pay only when you send; making this a good solution for people who do not send mail often.
Cons: They do not offer templates.
Support: They do not offer phone support. Their staff is really laid back about your requests or problems. If you are high-maintenance, you will be frustrated.
RatePoint
Pros: I have been using RatePoint for the past year. They are a small company and very easy to work with. Their interface is scaled down and simple. Your account includes a service where your customers can rate/review you. You can also send surveys to your list. Their pricing is extremely competitive.
Cons: Their interface needs updating. They offer templates, but they are ugly.
Support: Excellent. You can call them on the phone and access fairly high level people.
iContact
iContact had just revamped its site and I have not used the new software yet. I am impressed with their templates. They are really nice looking. They offer phone support. https://www.icontact.com/
CampaignMonitor
I have been meaning to try this service for a while. They offer beautiful templates, really nice statistics and the ability to have sub-accounts for clients. You can also send emails for a monthly fee or you can pay per email. This is really interesting for PR companies, agencies and marketing companies. You can use a single login instead of having to maintain accounts at various providers. You can also resell and rebrand the service.
The company is located in Australia and they do not offer phone or live chat support.
