Techno Granny, E Mail Marketing Compare ConstantContact, AWeber, Mail ChimpTime: 11/20/2012 10:00 AM EST
Episode Notes: What is an E Mail Marketing Program? How can you use it to get the word out about your business or non-profit organization? How do you know the best server to use? Today Email List Building Expert, Matt Tomsho of the Effective Detective will give comparisons between three major email marketing servers--ConstantContact, AWeber and Mail Chimp. Find out the major similarities and differences in this Email Marketing Program Comparison.
Listen to Archived Show Here:
Bio:
Matt Tomsho, The Effective Detective™ brings over 30 years
of eclectic experience in technology, management, marketing, and sales to bear
on a very specific problem: how small businesses can be more effective at
making money with their existing resources. The secret is in the data that
flows into a business everyday. Customer data, prospect data, product data,
sales data, everything involving the business can
typically be utilized to reveal how to market more cost effectively. From
segmenting lists to using email list management software, The Effective
Detective™ can help you uncover the clues that are hiding in plain sight that
can lead to a goldmine of business.
Talking Points: comparison between email marketing programs
1.
Why
do you need this? What good is email marketing? Why not just email yourself?
a. Email
is simply the most cost effective way to maintain a relationship with prospects and customers.
b. Internet
providers don’t like it when you send out lots of email (SPAM)
c. You
have to do all of the work.
2.
What is
“all of the work”?
a. Very
specific laws about SPAM these days.
b. Need
an opt-in.
c. Need
a way for people to opt-out
d. These
programs handle that for you.
3.
Who
are we talking about here?
a. There
are a ton of these providers out there, but 3 really stand out for a couple of
reasons
b. Aweber,
Constant Contact, and MailChimp.
4.
Key
things that they all do:
a. Handle
your opt-in and opt-out
b. Auto-responders
c. Broadcasts
d. Templates
for messages
e. API
– Application Programmers Interface
i.
Advanced functionality but in the right hands
can do some amazing things.
5.
Where
are they different?
a. The
difference isn’t so much in what they offer as much as how they offer it.
i.
Example: Mailchimp and Aweber offer a way to
connect your blog so that every time you post a blog entry (or it can wait
until there are a few) it will send out the entry to your list. Constant
Contact lets you send out a particular blog entry, but not every one you post.
However, this might be a better solution depending on what you are doing.
ii.
Constant Contact lets you advertise events and
sign up people through them, Aweber integrates with Eventbrite.
iii.
Somewhat on price. If you only want to send out
broadcasts, Mailchimp is free with a few other limitations. Constant Contact
has a 60 day free trial, Aweber is 30 days. All of them have various add-ons
that cost extra – beyond their base subscription rate.
iv.
All of them offer pretty reliable delivery of
your email.
6.
Which
one should I pick?
a. The
$10,000 question, or should I say the $10, $20, $30, or more / month question.
b. It
depends. When anyone asks me what software should I buy, the first thing I
respond is: what are you trying to do?
i.
If hosting a lot of paid events, to a set list
of people you already have, Constant Contact might be good for you with their
event option.
ii.
If you are just starting out, and only sending
broadcasts or blog entries, Mailchimp could be a great way to start (especially
since it could be free if you have a small list that you only email to a few
times a week).
c. Word
of warning: If you decide to switch, you may need to opt-in your list again.
This actually isn’t as bad as people think. Why? Because if someone wasn’t
reading your email and they drop off,
they were worthless (to you at least) anyway.
i.
The easy way to do this is to send them a couple
of broadcasts from your old system before you do the switch asking them to
watch for the confirm email from your new provider.
7.
What
is the process to pick one of these providers?
a. Decide
what kind of marketing you are going to be doing. Will you be sending a lot of
spontaneous messages (broadcasts) , or
do you have a very specific set of emails that are sent at a predetermined
schedule (follow-ups or auto-responders), or both, along with a newsletter,
blog entries, etc.
b. Look
at feature sets only in terms of what you are doing, or might be doing in the
very near future (remember you can switch between providers – I just wouldn’t
recommend doing it in a short time span).
c. How
will you be formatting the messages? Do you like to have a lot of different
formats for different types of emails, or do you like doing seasonal type
emails with a different format? The message editor and choice of templates
might be of interest then.
d. Try
it out. Mailchimp is free (except for autoresponders), Aweber offers a 30 day
trial and Constant Contact a 60 day. Select a small group of people (friends,
business associates, friendly clients) and take the system for a test drive.
How do the messages look? How is the editor? Do the messages get through? How
does the opt in work?
