Competition is an unavoidable fact. When something is successful and effective, out come thousands of competitors, and with email marketing, the same has happened. It has become the strongest and most efficient communication channel in the market and that is why today there is a number of email marketing tools.
To choose one task or another is not easy, so that’s why we offer 25 tips that a good mailing application should have.
What is the perfect email marketing tool?
1) Simple and intuitive
It’s important that the email marketing application is simple and intuitive, meaning; there shouldn’t be a need for technical knowledge and HTML codes.
The majority of people who perform email marketing are not computer experts and don’t want to waste time learning how an application works. If they can’t use it, they look for another one. The application must help them get the job done, so they can spend time on the campaign and not on technical functioning details.
2) Personal domain configuration
Using an authenticated company domain to send emails is important. Having a company domain displays integrity and security since no one likes to receive strange texts.
Based on the number of trash emails out there, having a personal domain gives you credibility and confidence. And it’s proven that emails sent with a company domain offer a greater response rate.
It also enables you to optimize delivery of your campaigns, meaning, emails get sent to the inbox.
So it’s important to use an email marketing tool that enables you to set up your domain properly or create one if you don’t have it.
3) Personal delivery
A mailing enables you to create personalized emails, in a simple manner so you can add the name of your contacts in a newsletter and greet your recipients by name. This way you appeal directly to recipients and they know the email is directed to them and they feel part of your community.
4) Personal mailbox
An advantage of emailing, over the rest of the channels, is it arrives in the user’s personal mailbox, which is checked daily. It’s quite possible that your message is read and gets noticed. So it’s necessary to use an application with maximum deliverability.
5) High opening rate
You know that recipients are interested in your products or services so it’s quite probable that they respond actively to emails. These types of emails have a high opening rate, and you should take advantage of this.
6) Deliverability
A good email marketing tool guarantees your campaigns are delivered. So you should choose a reliable platform with experience to ensure that your campaigns don’t end up as spam.
7) Managing cancelations
Sometimes certain emails don’t exist or sent emails don’t arrive because the recipient has a full mailbox. It’s important that the platform manages automatically these types of emails so you don’t waste time checking each one.
8) Database segmentation
A good email marketing application enables you to have a perfectly segmented email database.
This means to divide the contact database into lists depending on interests, age, gender, geographical area… Thanks to this segmentation you can adjust your recipient campaigns better and this is reflected in their success.
For example, if you manage a ticket sales page for concerts you are probably not going to send a newsletter with the concerts held in Galicia to someone in Catalonia. If you do this, your subscribers may cancel their subscription.
9) Creating customer satisfaction forms
FormBuilder enables you to create web forms that can provide detailed information for your database. The answers are kept directly in your contact list, enabling you to send personal emails without any extra effort.
10) Templates
Templates are very useful when you create campaigns. It’s important that the application has a wide range of predesigned templates. This way you can create an invitation for an event, wish your recipients a happy Mother’s Day or advertise a new car wash.
11) Design newsletters in just minutes
It’s important to have predesigned templates and be able to create them from scratch or change an existing one. The email marketing tool must have a strong, intuitive image editor so you can modify and create templates to your liking.
12) Responsive Templates
Templates must have a responsive design, meaning, they must be viewed on any device. Keep in mind that 71,2% of users read emails on their mobile phones, so a responsive design is essential.
13) Cancelation link
There are certain details that you can’t avoid and one of them is a cancelation link, which is mandatory by law. All templates must have one and thanks to the mailing application, you can do this easily.
14) Programing campaigns
The time when you send an email influences the effectiveness of campaigns, so it’s important to program the time and day of your emails.
15) Send a test
It’s necessary to send a final test since you can forget something. When you have finished a campaign it’s important to send a test page to make sure everything is where it should be and is presented the way you want it.
Having a platform with this feature is imperative since you can miss certain mistakes when you create a campaign and can see them clearly on the test page.
16) Results
A professional email marketing tool automatically generates statistics that show the impact and performance of your campaigns. Thanks to this analysis you can check your campaigns and find out what you need to focus on next time.
17) Application in your language
There’s always a challenging campaign and you don’t know why you can have questions when you create a newsletter or you can make a mistake when you purchase packs… To resolve all this, the application must have a professional technical support in your language, since it’s much easier to express yourself. This is an important element to have.
18) Phone support
When you have a question or problem, you need to resolve it as soon as possible. Sending an email is effective but it’s even better if you can make a phone call. Fast and instantly. So having a phone support is an added value to consider.
19) Cost-effective
Email marketing is a cost-effective channel. The price can influence your selection but don’t let it be the only factor. The cheapest tool at first can end up being just the opposite, so you must examine the different offers.
What’s the point in buying 10,000 emails if they expire in three months and you haven’t used half of them? What’s the point of saving money if the support is in a different language and they can’t solve your problems? Examine these applications and choose the one that best adapts to your needs.
20) Guides and tutorials
It´s important that users have guides and tutorials available at all times just in case there are questions. It’s also necessary to have this type of support should users need to use it. This also demonstrates that the company looks after their users and has them informed as much as possible.
21) Export contacts
You may need your database on hand. Some applications allow you to export to an Excel or CSV so you have it available with just one click on your computer.
22) Test A/B
“I don’t know which subject to use”. To have campaign questions is normal and that is why a Test A/B extension is available enabling you to send two versions for the same campaign so you can evaluate the efficiency of each one. The concept that obtains better results is then sent to the rest of the database.
This test enables you to increase the efficiency of your campaigns and this is an important step to focus on when you choose an application.
23) Previews
As you are well aware, not all mailboxes decipher an HTML code in the same way, so it’s important to know how your newsletter is viewed in different servers before you send it.
Having a preview extension is an advantage in order to preview the way your campaigns are viewed on the main email servers before you send them.
24) Google Analytics
Your application needs to be integrated with others to help you while you are creating. Thanks to the integration with Google Analytics you can find the impact mailings have regarding inbound traffic on your web without leaving the application.
25) WordPress
The same is true with WordPress. If the application has a WordPress presentation, you can use your blog or web features on the application.
You now have all the necessary information for your selection. If you want to dig in even deeper, be sure to look at this page with additional tips to select the best email marketing software. Now go choose a good email marketing tool and begin creating successful campaigns! Good luck! And don’t forget to send us your comments on how it went and let us know what you learned!
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About the Author
Lidia Canals, Junior Content Manager of Mailify.