The main disadvantage of the bulk email strategy is that the email may not reach its target recipient. This can happen because of bulk email blockers setup for email accounts. Blockers direct bulk email into a separate email folder, so the recipient cannot directly access it from his inbox.
At the same time, one of the advantages of bulk emailing is that it makes it possible to communicate directly to the target market. Such communication is done individually, so that the recipient may be addressed personally in the message. Another benefit for companies and organizations using this strategy is that they do not have to spend much on advertising. Promoting services and products by means of bulk email is actually much cheaper than using print, radio, or television advertisements.
How to send bulk email? One of the most commonly used ways is signing up for bulk email services and hosting. Companies that provide those services usually offer a variety of product packages with different specifications. The customer can choose a reputable company and the plan that best suits the needs of his business. You can search the Internet for the companies that offer bulk email services and hosting.
Another way to distribute bulk email is by using computer software. Different kinds of programs designed to cope with this task are available on the Internet.
How to choose the right email management software? Email marketing, with its ever-growing complexity and infrastructure, requires perfectly suited software. The email messages emails are the least responded forms of communication and therefore bulk mailing is needed most of the time. Bulk email marketing is surely one of the most cost-effective strategies on the Internet as the cost of a single email is minimal. There are many types of email marketing software that are designed to send bulk email. Some programs are freeware and do not require any investment at all. Even though these freeware programs don't have many valuable features included in paid software packages, they generally suit for a small email marketing campaign.
For a successful email marketing campaign, bulk email management software must have some basic features such as email templates, tracking system, and contact list management capabilities. A good software package must handle both plain text and HTML messages. A tracking system is important for measuring an email campaign response rate. Most standard email programs are capable to let you know whether or not the email messages you sent to your mailing list were delivered or read. Another important feature of the email marketing software is the ability to manage mailing lists. A good email marketing program must allow maintain multiple lists in the address book. This is very convenient because you can segment your recipients by their preferences and send more relevant email messages to each list. The Merge capability is also one of the essential features you should look for. The experience shows that impersonal emails get less response rate. Using the Merge feature you can personalize the message for every recipient and thus, build stronger relationship with your email list.
So, before buying an email marketing program, look at the various features it provides, as well as its cost. Another thing that you should take into account is the compatibility of the software with your system configuration. It's ideal if the company offers a free trial period for software. Many companies allow a 30-day trial period for their software. It's quite enough to evaluate all the features of the program and decide whether it suits your business needs.
Email Response Management Software
This question goes unaddressed by almost everyone. It is almost always the cause of ineffective results in what would otherwise be successful search marketing campaigns. But the common-sense answer is easier said than done:
ANSWER: You respond to them immediately and often to turn them into prospects.
Many organizations expend thousands of dollars each month with MSN, Yahoo and especially Google to generate clicks to their website. These same companies invest significant amounts up front in building a website to attract clicks. They even use analytical or testing tools like WebTrends, WebSideStory or Omniture to analyze how to convert these clicks to leads.
The frustration comes when they let those leads to languish in some sales managers? inbox for 48 to 72 hours before they get imported into a customer database like Salesforce.com or RightNow Technologies, and finally get routed to the correct salesperson to get back with them.
Our research shows that the average salesperson only tries 4 to 5 times to get in touch with them within the first week then they move on. That means barely half of a company's costly internet leads will actually get contacted.
By the time they get contacted (if they get called back) a competitor has often reached them first and is well on their way to another customer, your customer.
Why? Because they started the contact process immediately, and followed up often enough to make contact.
Just how quickly do they begin attempting contact? Within minutes and seconds, not hours and days. And they keep trying to contact, often at different times of day and different days of the week until they get in touch.
Why spend thousands of dollars on driving traffic, high conversion websites, and powerful analytics if you are going to let your leads sit for 48 hours and contact 55% of your potential prospects? The question is almost insulting, yet that is what most organizations do.
There are solutions just coming out that take control of lead response almost immediately. They will continue to make dozens or more attempts at predefined times of the day and different days of the week to boost contact rates above 85%. Also, these same solutions can be set up to automatically market to leads and continue to generate prospects every 3-4 weeks for many years or more.
We at InsideSales.com call this ?Lead Response Management?. Wringing every last pound of value out of your costly leads and tracking a true return on investment from your lead sources.
This forgotten oasis of opportunity may just be the next key to internet marketing. It lies unnoticed somewhere between the Lead Generation Process and the Sales Process or right where the handoff commonly occurs between the Marketing Department and Sales. It's the frustration that everyone realizes but no one is doing anything about, until now.
Both Julia Gulevich & Ken Krogue are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Ken Krogue has sinced written about articles on various topics from Management Software Solutions, Internet Marketing. Kenneth D. Krogue is the President and Co-Founder of InsideSales.com, the first web-based lead response management database software solution with built in voice messaging and dialer technologies. Kenneth has nearly 20 years experience in managing and bu. Ken Krogue's top article generates over 1600 views. Bookmark Ken Krogue to your Favourites.
Design A Website Online This is why I invite you to read my future articles where I will be providing more detailed information on each of the above categories as well as information on how to find do-it-yourself informatio...