Challenge: reaching current and potential clients
Remaining in contact with current customers and reaching out to potential clients can be difficult for any business—both small and large. And in today’s current economy, marketing budgets are sometimes the first to be cut. However, when marketing budgets are cut because of decreased income and profit, it just adds to the problem. There are many ways to retain marketing budgets and increase profits and customers. It can be as simple as the right email marketing provider.
1. MailChimp
MailChimp – With a long list of features, including RSS-to-email, autoresponders, mass email delivery, and linking to social network accounts, MailChimp is a top competitor in the email service market. MailChimp offers a wide range of pricing—to fit any marketing budget—and even has a no-hassle free account that never expires and doesn’t have a contract for those who send less than 12,000 emails per month. MailChimp also offers monthly, pay-as-you-go, and high-volume plans that range anywhere from about $10 to over $12,000 a month.
2. MadMimi
Mad Mimi – Mad Mimi offers unlimited list management, email tracking and analytics, and easily customizable emails—to name just a few available options. According to Mad Mimi’s website, it was created with simplicity in mind- “so simple that even a grandma can use it.” With pricing plans ranging from a free account for 100 contacts to $699 a month for up to 350,000 email contacts, Mad Mimi and their drag and drop, easy to use interface is a good place to start.
3. Emma
Emma – Emma offers a free 60 days for those sending between 1,000 and 10,000 emails a month. After 60 days, there is an option to go month-to-month rather than signing an annual contract. These monthly plans begin at $30 per month and increase to $125 for 10,000 emails. For businesses needing to send additional emails, there are monthly plans for 25,000, 50,000, and over 100,000 sent emails. Features include easy-to-create email campaigns and online surveys. This young contender in the field is well known for their customer service which can be especially useful for the frustrated business owner.
4. iContact
iContact – With over 600,000 users across the world, iContact’s main focus is empowering small businesses with needed services and tools. iContact offers a free 30-day trial for all price points and any number of monthly emails sent. Once the trial ends, there is an option to pay monthly or annually, with monthly prices starting at $10 a month for 500 subscribers for a monthly contract and $8.50 a month for an annual contract. For 100,000 subscribers and over, a monthly plan is nearly $700 while an annual plan is under $600 dollars a month. iContact’s advanced features include autoresponders, blogs, RSS feeds, and customizable online surveys.
5. ConstantContact
Constant Contact – other than being the best known contender, Constant Contact is set apart from many of its competitors because it bases its prices on the number of email addresses and not the number of emails sent. This means that a business has the ability to send an unlimited number of emails. For $15 a month, a business can store up to 500 email addresses and between 10,001 and 25,000 emails for only $150 a month. Constant Contact’s features include event marketing, online surveys, social media, and email marketing.
6. Vertical Response
Vertical Response – Vertical Response offers event marketing, automatic email list management, email marketing, and full-color direct mail postcards. When it comes to event marketing, Vertical Response advertises that if it’s a free event then it’s a free service. However, if it’s not a free event, it costs just under one dollar per ticket and 2.5% of the ticket price. One unique feature of Vertical Response is that a business can pick and choose which features it wants to implement because each is priced separately.
7. AWeber
AWeber – Features offered by AWeber consist of signup forms and automatic messages, HTML email templates, autoresponders, email newsletters, performance tracking or analytics, and social media integration. For a sign-up fee of just one dollar for the first month, AWeber offers affordable email marketing for up to 500 subscribers. And for under $200, businesses can retain those 500 subscribers and use all of AWeber’s features for an entire year. Similar to Constant Contact, AWeber does not limit the number of emails sent, just the number of subscribers.
There is a unique and affordable email marketing service for every business, even for businesses with minimal marketing budgets. These email providers allow businesses across the country (and even across the world) to keep their current clients updated with newsletters and online surveys and build a more reputable and consistent online presence by linking social media efforts with email marketing. The best thing a business can do is to research its options and make an informed decision, a decision that can revolutionize the way business is conducted and profits are made.
