Mailing list management software helps businesses manage their address lists for newsletters, announcements, discussion groups. These products should have some kind of contact management program or customer database integration.
Some of these products are web based, while others are installed directly on your PC. Some are stand alone solutions and others offer a complete desktop solution designed to meet other emailing needs such as mail merge, auto responder, virus protection, etc.
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. Some of these email software programs will help businesses insure that they are in compliance with these laws.
Some features of bulk email marketing software include:
- Built in virus protection
- Automatic bounce handling
- Allow users to automatically subscribe, unsubscribe through web settings
- Searchable message archives
- Multiple license sizes
- Database integration
- Customizable web interface
- Automatic processing of web forms
- Email merge tools
- Opt-in list management
- Mailing list manager
- Web based or installed software
- Event triggered emails
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integration
- CAN-SPAM compliance features
- Reporting
- Free trail period
Major Vendors in the e-mail list software area include:
- Postcast
- GNU (Mailman) – free, lower end product
- ACT
- Constant Contact
- L-Soft
Factors that should be considered when selecting software for your email marketing include:
- Cost
- Are you looking for web based or an installed software solution
- Special unique needs of your business not handled in standard packages
- Ease of use and training
- System resources: Not usually an issue, but sometimes small business environments are on over-taxed hardware already.