I have a question I want to put out to all of the email marketing experts in the forum. Everybody knows that one of the greastest assests your business has is your customer list--people that have ordered from you before. Following up on this list with more offers is key to success and increasing your sales. But what is the best way to do this using direct email? Many people seem to use a subscription service to manage your list, take care of "remove" addresses, make the email look nice, and deliver the email. But I don't see a real reason to pay for a subscription for something that can easily be done in house with a non-subscription software program. Can anyone recommend from EXPERIENCE a good email marketing software system that will do what the Constant Contacts of the world do, but in-house for a one time purchase?
Subscription based email marketing can be effective, one of the alternative options is to have a good CRM system in place.
why would you skimp on this? the monthly fees aren't that much. plus they take care of spam issues better because it is their specialty. if you do it in-house there are some scripts you can run from server or from desktop but none of them I have found are all that great. I think it is just an issue of convenience
I don't want to skimp, there are just a lot of benefits to being in control of your own list. If you feel that the subscription based email programs are better, which ones in your experience are the best? And do they give you your mailing list back (that you have used their platform to accrue) if you decide to leave them? The concern here is the proprietary nature of the information as well. Thanks for your reply. And bob, do you have any suggestions for a good CRM system?