Email marketing software: 8 criteria to evaluate before choosing your solution
In 2019, email marketing remains an essential channel for developing your business, whether for e-tailers, bloggers or NGOs. Inexpensive and highly profitable, email marketing also allows you to send personalised messages and bypass the chaos of social media by arriving directly in your recipients' inboxes.
Although this type of marketing tool is fairly simple to use, not all emailing software is created equal, as they often meet different needs. In this guide, we explain what features any self-respecting software should offer. We'll also show you how to define your needs and determine the type of features and pricing model that suits you best.
Confused by the sheer number of providers on the market? Don't worry: after reading this article, you'll know exactly which email marketing software to choose!
The essentials: what emailing software should offer you
The choice of email marketing software depends very much on your needs. That said, there are a number of things that any good emailing solution should offer. So make sure you opt for a tool that gives you high inbox placement and good usability, so you don't waste unnecessary time creating your campaigns.
High deliverability
For an email campaign to be effective, your emails must first and foremost arrive at their destination, i.e. be delivered to your recipients' inboxes and not end up in the spam folder. To guarantee high deliverability, email marketing software must offer you certain essential services.
Authentication methods
Over the years, email systems have put in place numerous barriers to intercept spam. The problem is that, often, perfectly legitimate messages can be mistaken for spam. This is why your emailing software must offer authentication methods. These make it possible to authenticate that you are the legitimate sender of your messages and to certify them to the messaging services. There are several authentication standards, but without going into detail, make sure that your emailing software offers the essentials: SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Reputation management for your IPs
If your IP address has a bad reputation, because it has often been used to send spam, you have virtually no chance of reaching your inbox. You therefore need to opt for an emailing software provider that monitors and manages the IP addresses used for sending. Only this type of service provider will give you a good reputation as a sender. Don't hesitate to ask the support team how the provider of your choice manages the IP addresses used.
An intuitive interface
To set up great email campaigns, you need easy-to-use software that lets you create messages with designs tailored to the expectations of Internet users. What's more, once your campaigns have been sent out, you need access to exhaustive reports, enabling you to optimise your strategy in the future. Many email marketing software packages offer a test version, so we advise you to create an account and try it out for yourself to see what suits you best.
An easy-to-use editor
The most important thing when creating your email campaigns is to have access to an easy-to-use, intuitive editor. This should enable you to easily create responsive emailings by inserting your content in drag-and-drop mode. It should also allow you to preview your email on different platforms (desktop, smartphone, tablet) so that you can test it. Some emailing software offers pre-designed templates into which you can easily insert your content without even having to worry about the layout. Others, like Newsletter2Go, even allow you to synchronise your account with your shop system, CRM or CMS, so that you can import all your products and content into your newsletters with a single click. It's up to you to test and see what works best for you!
Customisation options
It's high time to say goodbye to impersonal mass emails! To create a lasting relationship with your recipients, you need to send them personalised messages and respond precisely to their needs and expectations. So make sure you opt for email marketing software that gives you the option of inserting personalisation modules. These allow you to dynamically modify certain elements of your content according to criteria such as first name, age or purchasing behaviour. For example, you can address your recipients by their first name and offer them products in line with what they have previously purchased.
Comprehensive, easy-to-read reports
But it's not enough just to create newsletters and send them out. You also need to be able to analyse the success of your campaigns so that you can optimise them in the future. To do this, the emailing software of your choice needs to give you access to a number of reports. Most emailing solutions allow you to view delivery, open, click and conversion rates. Some even go a step further, offering geolocation functions or the ability to see exactly which links your recipients have clicked on.
Identify your needs: what do you want from email marketing software?
Email marketing software allows you to send email messages - so far, nothing surprising. That said, there are many different uses that can be made of this tool. Some will be content, for example, to send product newsletters, i.e. emailings designed to inform their customers of new products in stock. Others will want to go much further and use emailing software to automate their entire business. Once again, it's up to you to know what your needs are so that you can identify the emailing software that can meet them.
Newsletters
The easiest way to use email marketing software is to send out newsletters. These are created manually and can regularly inform your recipients of new products in your shop or new articles on your blog. To do this, you need robust emailing software that lets you quickly create beautiful, responsive and personalised newsletters, like Newsletter2Go.
Automated emailing
Another way of using emailing software is through marketing automation. You can programme automated emails that will save you time and greatly improve your customers' experience.
There are several types of automated email. Transactional emails allow you to automate certain important processes, such as sending invoices, purchase confirmations, basket reminders or password reset confirmations.
Classic automated emailings, on the other hand, allow you to send messages in response to a specific event. For example, you could send birthday emails containing a voucher. These will be sent automatically to your recipients when it's their birthday: all you have to do is programme the emailing once and it will be sent automatically thereafter.
Many emailing software packages offer automation features. It's up to you to find out what suits you best: from simple automated messages to advanced systems that allow you to set up more complex automation scenarios.
Choose a price that suits you: emailing software comparison
Finally, when choosing your email marketing software, you need to find a pricing model that suits you. The various existing emailing solutions offer very different types of package. Some charge per contact (you pay more depending on the number of recipients in your address book), while others charge per email sent (in this case, it doesn't matter how many addresses are on your list). Some solutions give you access to all their features from the outset, while others offer different packages with different features (which can be handy if you don't use advanced features and can therefore pay less). Finally, there are also different subscription models: monthly, yearly, with or without commitment.
To give you an idea of the prices you're likely to encounter, let's take the example of Newsletter2Go, a French service provider that offers a comprehensive and very affordable package. Here, you pay according to the number of monthly mailings and features. If you don't intend to send very complex automated emails, you can take advantage of the Lite offer - here you get 1,000 emails free each month.
If you want to use the more advanced features, Newsletter2Go offers a standard rate containing almost all the features at a very attractive price:
- For 1,000 emails/month: €0 at the Lite rate or €20 at the standard rate,
- For 5,000 emails/month: €30 at the Lite rate or €50 at the Standard rate,
- For 10,000 emails/month: €60 at the Lite rate or €90 at the Standard rate.
Article translated from French