Email newsletter software is available to help businesses prepare and send email newsletters for their advertising and marketing needs. Service providers offer full-service, on-demand products, or self service solutions. These products are generally included with email marketing software which offers a variety of marketing services, such as surveys, email merging services, and a range of other services.
Some of these products are web based, while others are installed directly on your PC. Some are stand alone solutions designed purely for newsletter support, most include software applications designed to meet other email marketing needs.
Recent legislation in the CAN-SPAM act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) has established requirements for those sending commercial emails and includes penalties for those who violate the law. These email software programs should help businesses insure that they are in compliance with these laws.
Some features of email newsletter applications include:
- Newsletter templates
- Personalized email
- Email merge
- mailing list management
- Self service or full service
- Rich media (flash)
- Video and audio email
- Strategic consulting
- Campaign set-up
- Web based or installed software
- Event triggered emails
- Demographic records and filters
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integration
- CAN-SPAM compliance features
- Customizable surveys and forms
- Reporting
Major Vendors in the e-mail newsletter software area include:
- eNewsletter Pro
- Newfangled
- JangoMail
- Arial software
- Email labs
Factors that should be considered when selecting software for your email newsletters include:
- Are you looking for web based or an installed solution
- How much response monitoring are you looking for
- Ease of use and training
- System resources: Not usually an issue, but sometimes small business environments are on over-taxed hardware already.