Types Of Email Marketing Software

When choosing the right email software for your business, it’s important to consider the features you require, what the software will be used for, and the scalability that is required from the software. The software can be used in two different ways, either locally hosted on existing infrastructure or deployed as a cloud-based service.

Most providers of this software will offer a subscription-based service, often known as a SaaS solution, with different price tiers ranging in features and sizes available for businesses to choose from.

The most efficient way to classify the different types of email marketing tools available is to group them based on how they are being employed by the business.

Promotional and direct sales email

A popular type of email marketing software is direct sales or promotional emails, which are designed to promote an offer to a specific group of customers. Promotional emails can be sent to email lists or certain email addresses in a target audience.

You can use the email marketing platform to create the campaign using email builders and the available email templates. The software will come with tools to assist with monitoring the effectiveness of your email campaign, such as open rates, click-through rates, and other important metrics.

Newsletter email

Businesses also use their email marketing solution as a communication platform for email newsletters. With the software, you can use templates to create and deliver quality content to your target audiences such as articles, tips, announcements, and guides relating to your products, services, and your industry in general.

These platforms are used to deliver engaging content that will increase your customers’ interest while adding value to your products and/or services.

Transactional email

There are also email marketing tools used by businesses to deliver transactional emails to various leads and prospective clients. This form of email marketing is often referred to as an opt-in phase. This is where the recipient has to agree for their email address to be added to your mailing list.

Several good examples of transactional emails include password reset requests, confirmation emails, and email receipts. In such case scenarios, it’s the customers that initiate contact. Your email marketing solution can serve two functions here; an administrative tool as well as a marketing tool as you can incorporate existing email marketing campaigns into these.

Autoresponders and multi-tiered email

With this type of software, you will have the ability to send out bulk multi-tiered emails based on the customer’s feedback, actions upon opening the email, or both. Many email marketing solutions offer advanced features that let you map your primary email message to various paths. For example, one path may go to lead nurturing, while another directly to your shopping cart.

The marketing software will allow you to set specific triggers that will launch the autoresponder once initiated by the recipient/customer. For instance, when a customer signs up for a free trial of your service, clicks a download button, or makes a purchase from your website, any of these actions may trigger the autoresponder to send out welcome messages or thank you emails. This will help improve customer experience and promote engagement with your brand.

How To Choose Email Marketing Software

Choosing the right email marketing software largely depends on the marketing strategy or objectives you’re trying to achieve. Many of the popular email marketing platforms include similar features and capabilities, however, the email marketing software you should choose depends on the size of your email list, mailing frequency, and the degree of personalization, automation features, and integration you require. Many free email marketing solutions are great for small businesses, but if you require more advanced features, you’ll have to pay a fee.

When choosing your software, you can choose between a cloud-based or locally hosted premise-based solution.

Cloud-based solutions can be accessed via a web app or mobile device and allow for greater flexibility when it comes to accessibility. They often come with the same features and functions as more expensive solutions but can offer less control due to being hosted by an external provider. However, Important maintenance is handled by the service provider.

On-premise solutions will require you to host locally on existing infrastructure and do manual system updates and maintenance procedures by internal teams, but you will have more control over every aspect of your email marketing platform.

In terms of packaging, email marketing systems may come as a stand-alone application that you can later integrate into marketing channels, your existing suite of marketing software apps, or as a built-in feature of a CRM solution.

Some of the core features you need to look out for include:

Mailing list management solution

Mailing list management is one of the core foundations of any email marketing software. It is a feature that allows you to define and separate your contact list into smaller, more targeted groups based on the key metrics of your campaign. This way, you will be able to create a more specific email marketing campaign for each subgroup.

Some products in the market come with marketing automation tools that essentially automate the segmentation process based on demographics, geolocation, purchase history, autoresponder feedback, and other useful metrics.

You should also have access to an A/B testing tool, through which you can send a variety of email sets to a small group of recipients to gain useful data and feedback on subject lines, email design, and copy.

User-friendly email builder

An important deciding factor when choosing email marketing software is how user-friendly it is when it comes to creating professional-looking emails with engaging content. Some of the best email marketing solutions not only have an easy-to-navigate landing page but also feature an editor with a clean user interface.

Good email builders let you view the email as it is seen by the recipient before you launch a campaign. It should also feature drag-and-drop functionality to make the creation and editing process that much easier.

Other features you should expect from the email builder are built-in email templates, photo editing tools, and responsive formatting. Custom layouts can be split-tested to find the best-performing design, which can then be copied and reused for any future email marketing campaign.

Smart autoresponder tool

This is an important tool if you’re looking to refine your email marketing efforts. Automated email tools like autoresponders allow you to send targeted emails to a specific subgroup in your mailing list based on a variety of factors, including engagement level, demographic, interests, and key metrics.

Autoresponders are also useful for drip email campaigns to help nurture leads, send out welcome or thank you messages to customers, and for addressing client requests or answering queries. Some of its advanced features include automation for scheduling emails, sorting recipients, sending multi-tiered messages to customers based on specific triggers, and funneling promising leads into your sales pipeline.

Social media integration capabilities

An email marketing platform with social media integration means you can easily integrate your Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages with the marketing software, thus expanding your market reach with relative ease.

You can use the software solution to invite customers on your mailing list to like your social pages. You can also leverage your social following to opt-in to your email subscription in exchange for a few incentives. This feature would be beneficial for startup eCommerce businesses, for example.

Some other factors to consider when choosing email marketing software include ease of use, CRM integration, inbox preview, and personalization capabilities.

Email Marketing Software Benefits

Email marketing software is used in a variety of ways by businesses, organizations, and marketing professionals and provides benefits when used effectively to conduct email campaigns.

Boost customer loyalty and increase brand recognition

Using an email marketing solution means that you can be in constant contact with your target audience and customer base, ensuring that they stay connected with the brand and your business at all stages of their customer journey.

Nurturing a strong connection between your brand and customers is very important and through the effective use of the software, increases in customer loyalty and brand engagement should be expected.

Customization features

An email marketing solution allows you to deliver personalized messages to your target audience and tailor your message to a particular message that you’re trying to portray. This can help increase open rates, click-through rates, and the overall performance of your email marketing campaign.

The software solution also allows you to address each recipient by name, enter personalized subject lines to increase interest, add loyalty reward information to the message, reference any membership milestones, and even include previously browsed products to try to entice them to take that final step into making the purchase.

Monitoring and tracking tools

Email marketing solutions give you the ability to efficiently monitor campaigns through smart analytics and reporting. Having the right tools to build and launch an email marketing campaign is great, but you also need an effective solution to properly monitor its performance so you can make the necessary improvements to maximize results.

Email marketing software can help you develop email campaigns and help you manage every step of the process more efficiently. The solution simplifies every aspect of email marketing and when used effectively can increase open rates, conversions, and engagement with your campaigns.

Common Features of Email Marketing Software