EMAIL MARKETING APPS

[webracadabra]

We do printed newsletters and are wanting to convert it to email format. In addition, we want to do very occassional marketing emails a few times per year. Any suggestions on email marketing management software, either web service or stand alone?

I think we prefer web service for one main reason, too much trouble trying establish being white listed on our own with the various ISPs and our own email host.

One fairly important feature we are interested in the ability to track not just what links in an email are clicked, but where they go once they land on our website.

I'm currently looking at Constant Contact, EmailLabs and Full Contact. Full Contact is nice, but perhaps too basic. Constant Contact won't track users through our website. And Email Labs I just found. They seem to do everything. But at what price?

Suggestions? Experiences? Thanks.

James

[jesse1]

I'm happy with aweber.com

have 10 campaigns and about 100 follow up messages between different email campaigns.

wouldn't hesitate to recommend them

[jackpowers]

I use getresponse but am in the process of swithching to a simple
inexpensive script on my server. Just like the control.

[mktgbiz]

I've been using VerticalResponse.com for over a year now. It's simple. AND you only pay when you use the service. In other words if you don't send out an e-mail for 3 months, there's no fee.

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[Duncan Pollock]

You may find it worth looking at IntelliContactPro as well. I've been using them for the past four years and have found them very satisfactory.
However, however ...
Switching from snail mail to e-mail isn't as simple a matter as you may think. There's the whole CANSPAM issue that you ignore at your peril. Indeed, Constant Contact., etc., etc., are going to start out by bringing you face to face with the need for permission to send your newsletters out.
Probably you're going to have to do something like the following:
1. Snail mail your present list with advice of your wish/intention to switch to e-mail.
2. Ask for confirmation of their e-address -- assuming you have it -- AND their willingness to receive e-mails from you in the future -- which you CANNOT assume they'll give you.
3. Accept the inevitable. Your mailing list may shrink and your OPENS may be less than they are at present (even though you really can't know how many of your snail mail pieces now get immediately consigned to the waste bin).
4. Provide -- and learn to live with -- the need to incorporate an Opt-out option with your e-mailings.
5. To offset the potential fallout, you no doubt need to add a Sign Up box for visitors to your website (assuming again that you have one) or, at the least, have some form of ongoing invitation (e.g. on your business card) to the same effect.

In other words, there are advantages to retaining a direct mailing program. It's more expensive, but you cannot expect to change to an e-mail program without incurring some costs that are not as apparent as you may realize.

Duncan