Choosing Bulk Email Software |
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Rather than send bulk emails from Outlook or other desktop email systems, charities should be using specialist tools. This article outlines the options available, features to look for, and gives an overview of the most commonly used tools in the sector. Bulk email tools are now in use by many charities for sending email newsletters and marketing communications.
The ‘email sending’ part of the technology is simple and easily created, which means almost any technology company can do it.What comes before and after the sending – i.e. the tools to create, manage and report on the email, differ widely and these are the areas which differentiate the systems on the market.
In the modern world of computer technologies bulk or mass email has become one of the more successful ways to promote and sell a company's products and services. Like any marketing strategy, bulk emailing has advantages and downsides.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. |
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Types of bulk email software |
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There are two key types of bulk email software :- |
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| ASP (Application Service Provider) systems where the software sits on the provider's server and is sent from their system. You need no software or technical knowledge to start using the system. Upgrades are managed by the vendor. These tools are provided by Email Service Providers (ESPs). |
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| Email delivery management systems which you download onto either your web server or an internet enabled server, install and run in-house and the emails are sent from your IP address. System upgrades will need to be downloaded and installed. |
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Choosing the software |
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| Whether you choose ASP or in-house email management software there are a series of basic tools which can be compared, and should be considered when choosing a system: |
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| -› Address Book Management: Bulk email systems should offer multiple address books so that you can segment your audiences – or a way of easily selecting the attributes you want for each mailing. It should be easy to import and export both the contact details and history of each name. Many systems also allow you to hold additional data fields (although the number may be limited) which can be useful for capturing information such as organisation name or for holding a database reference number. |
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| -› Sign up form : The system should provide you with a sign up form for your website and if it allows multiple address books then it should allow a sign up form for each one. You should be able to personalise the sign up form to include as little or as much data capture as you want (subject to the number of data fields available). Some systems allow you to have a drop down list in the sign up which makes data management easier. |
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| -› Sign Up response : The system should allow you to write a reply email which is sent when somebody subscribes on the website form. You should be able to set a sign up response for each address book. |
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| -› Personalisation : You should be able to capture the name and details of sign ups (with separate fist and last name fields) and then use those details to personalize the email with both Dear ‘firstname’ and with fields in the body of the email. Good systems also allow you to set a default alternative for each field so that if the data is missing the field isn’t left blank, for example rather than Dear (blank) the system would send to “Dear Supporter” where Supporter has been set as a default. |
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| -› Template management : HTML emails can be complex and should be well designed. The system should allow you to build a template for each email you plan to send and hold the template for reuse. If you are having an email designed for you can you import it? |
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| -› Database integration : Very few of the standard email systems offer database integration, although a few are beginning to offer API’s which can write to your database. This is more because of the proliferation of database systems than any technical issue. If you have a web-capable database, the ESP can write a sign up form which sends to both email and database systems, and may be able to post reports to the database. Some advanced systems give access to coding which can be used for integration if you have the skills. Many ESPs can create an integration package but at a cost which may outweigh the benefit. |
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| -› Email editor : Systems should either come with, or allow you to integrate, an email editor known as a WYSIWYG editor. These should contain basic standard editing options for formatting and controlling the content of your email as well as options for managing images and links. In some systems the email is built using an external tool such as Dreamweaver and imported into the email system. You need to consider the skills and training requirements of the users before taking this option. |
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I can never imagine that emails go so quick! Now I know whether an email arrives immediately after I click 'send' button. Thank you providing this helpful software. I will recommend this software to all my friends. ... 
