As a tech nerd, most of the ESP’s out there seemed pretty similar. But with the onslaught of client complaints about their respective ESP’s I had to take a step back from my geek-ness and see what it was about all these services that was making my clients struggle. You see for me, the creation of a fancy email newsletter was cake – I can design and create a template on the fly, paste that sucker right into the ESP’s editor and be sending the issues out in minutes! But not everyone is like me (and thank goodness for that) — many of my clients ran for the hills when presented with html code, icky WYSIWYG editors and all that crazy terminology that come with ESP’s. (“Broadcasts” “Campaigns” “Split Tests” Oh My!)

Since my main goal is to help clients create a business that is EASY to run, sending them off into the world with a complicated html ezine that takes them hours upon hours to put together to send was anti-me. Your time is much better spent creating products and programs, writing content, running webinars, etc… not fighting with a vicious WYSIWYG editor.

So I sent my lovely husband on a mission. Not being the tech nerd that I am, I thought having him test out the popular email service providers would give me insight on what my clients go through. After just an hour, he was curled up in the fetal position, sobbing. (In a VERY manly way, I might add). I let him off the hook to save our marriage, and wrote up this little piece for my own newsletter subscribers.  If that’s what happened to him, I can imagine how frustrating it can be for you, too.

Over the next few months I tested out a few email services providers on my own and gathered a bit of intel from my clients about why they struggled. The programs I reviewed were: aWeber, MailChimp, iContact, Constant Contact, Vertical Response,  MyEmma, EmailBrain and OneShoppingCart. (I know there are a TON more, but these seem to be the biggies). See the previous newsletter article to get the quick initial review on these…

Many of these ESP’s were similar in their set up. From dashboard navigation, terminology, list set up, form creation, etc — they vary on ease of use but for the most part are apples-to-apples once you get used to the system. Cost is an issue, but for my clients it did not seem #1. The double opt-in issue was a sorta big one for clients, but they were all gathered in different corners of that, since some hate double opt in and some love it, so I left that as a low priority. All these reputable ESP’s comply with CAN-SPAM laws and have pretty darn good deliver-ability. Sign up forms are an issue, but the only one that seemed sub-par was MyEmma, who does not allow self hosted forms for standard account and still uses iFrames, which is caveman-esque.

It seemed to me the two biggest struggles for clients were:

1)Creating/Managing Lists. Being able to import email lists without going through the rigamaru of making people opt in again or adding your personal email list without making them opt in was a biggie.

2)Being able to send out a consistently professional looking email quickly, easily and with no drama. That is, not having to fight with a WYSIWYG editor from hell.

I am planning on doing my quick review of each of these systems over time (must actually finish my own website redesign first though… ya know, priorities and all) – but I did not want to postpone the announcement *DRUM ROLL* of my most favoritest email service provider now – newbie’s on the block ♥ MailChimp ♥

Have you met the chimp?

He’s adorable. You’ll want to hug him.

Here’s the short list as to why I ♥ MailChimp.

• They don’t try to sound all cold. The voice they use on their site is regular-person voice. They make jokes, they are cutesy. They explain things the way they would talk to you. I like that. I respect that.
• Their dashboard makes sense. They don’t add all kinds of extra tabs and menu items that confuse people. They have simple tabs relating to what you actually need.
• It’s easy to add or build your lists. You can import old lists without problems or a need for a re-opt-in. You can integrate a TON of programs, like paypal, to automatically add your contacts to your lists.
• Forms are pretty simple to create. Spend just a few minutes getting used to their form builder, add the drag-drop, clickable-ness of it all will be a welcome change.
• Support is nice. Support is human. Support actually wants to *gasp* support you.
• They integrate with a ton of programs. They partner with a ton of programs (so you get discounts). You may discover some new software that will solve a problem you had by looking at their partner list. For me, that was FreshBooks. I ♥♥ FreshBooks and would never have tried them if it were not for MailChimp.
• It’s free for small lists, and cheap for large lists. You can earn credits by promoting them.
• There’s more… but I won’t keep droning on and on for you, except to tell you my #1 reason:

The email editor is simple. It’s easy. These days the super complex fancy html newsletters are being replaced with simple html layouts: header – content – footer. And do your subscribers really need all that glam to read your newsletter?? With MailChimp, if you can get yourself a pretty header designed you can create a template by uploading that header, changing the colors of the template to match and you’re done!! Each time you send an email or newsletter, you can choose the content layout (one or two column) and plop your content right in there!!

Seriously, it’s that easy.

To me, a fancy-schmancy email newsletter is pretty much not worth all the effort, especially if it means struggling for hours trying to get it to work! When I open the newsletters I subscribe to, I look for a nice header displaying the brand, a footer with some contact links, and the content. Content! That’s what it’s all about.

In the upcoming weeks I will be working on a tour of sorts of MailChimp (and the others) to walk you through the process of setting up a MailChimp account (it’s easy, but a lot easier with a roadmap!) so if you want to get notified of that launch (and all the other cool stuff that will come with it) then sign up for either my email list in the sidebar (I only send out email once in a blue moon, no weekly sends for this girl!) or subscribe to the RSS feed cause I will announce it on the blog as well.

I would LOVE to hear from you about your struggles with your email service providers, things you love or hate about them, or praises for the ones you like. Why do you use what you use? Are you happy there? Shoot me an email to victoria[at]lynnraedesigns[dot]com or comment below.

Seriously,  check out MailChimp. MailChimp makes email fun and easy. Get your free account today.

Until next time!

~Victoria Potts Keale is a newbie blogger, website designer, entrepreneur extraordinaire, mom, wife, daughter, sister… well, you get the gist. She lives in her hometown of St. Louis, MO in an old haunted farmhouse with her 2 kids and drummer hubby. She has 15 tattoos and wants more. She loves 80’s music. She thinks writing bios in the 3rd person is wacky. You should email her and tell her what else to put in her bio – victoria@lynnraedesigns.com – but don’t spam her, cause she’ll get angry.

Please feel free to use this blog in whatever, but make sure you credit it back to the author (link it up here!!) and send us a note that you used it, cause we’ll give you some link-love right back.

PRICING

It seems many people base their ESP decision on pricing – and this can be the biggest mistake internet marketers make!! You should really pay attention to the restrictions the ESPs put on their pricing – depending on your list size and the amount of times you send out emails per month, the cheap $9.99 /month ESP you signed up for last year could end up costing you $99 /month when your list gets big. Steer clear of ESPs that charge per email – while you may have a small list and only send out one email a month, you need the functionality as you grow to send updates and notifications throughout the month. Look at the pricing scale with the idea that your business WILL be growing – most of the ESP’s have the same base rates for pay-by-subscriber plans, but some have little loopholes that may catch you by surprise.

BEST PRICE STRUCTURE: iContact
WORST PRICE STRUCTURE: MyEmma & Email Brain (it’s a tie)

LIST MANAGEMENT

A big thing to look for in an ESP is their ability to grow with you. Some ESP’s only allow you to set up one list of subscribers, some allow multiple lists but require you to use the same autoresponder welcome note (which can get confusing for someone signing up for a special program). Make sure your ESP has the capability to create multiple lists, multiple campaigns and custom sign up forms. Another part of list management – autoresponders. It’s worth a few extra bucks to use an ESP with this capability – even if you don’t use it now, you will probably want to in the future.

BEST LIST MANAGEMENT FEATURES: MailChimp & aWeber (another tie!)
WORST LIST MANAGEMENT FEATURES: Constant Contact

THOSE PESKY EMAIL CREATORS

This is probably the biggest complaint I get with ESPs – the method in which you have to create and send your actual email is infuriating! Some have custom templates (some are really good, some are really horrible), some have visual editors, some offer “build your own” – and some just don’t work at all. If you are looking for a fancy-pants html newsletter, choosing an ESP with a user-friendly editor and nice, clean templates to use is your best bet at success – and if you plan on having a custom template built for your business, make sure your ESP accepts copy & paste HTML code.

BEST VISUAL EDITOR / TEMPLATES: Vertical Response
WORST VISUAL EDITOR / TEMPLATES: iContact / Constant Contact (another tie!!)

WEB FORMS!

I’ve worked in the past with a few ESPs that had insane restrictions on their web forms and little to no customization on the success pages and welcome emails. While some ESPs tout their software “does it all for you”, be wary of the amount of stuff they do for you – because allowing an ESP to control your forms and follow up pages/emails takes the control away from you. As your business grows, you may want to incorporate tracking on your sign ups, require more then just a name or email in the form, or send people who sign up for a program to a page to download a freebie – and when you have no control over your form set up, you lose that something special that sets your business apart from your competitors. When shopping for an ESP, make sure they allow you to send subscribers to a URL of your choosing after sign up. Finding a program that allows you to customize your web form is key as well – I know of one ESP that houses their sign up forms in frames – which many people can’t even (or choose not to) accept in their browser – so you lose the opportunity to even get their info!!

BEST FORM FEATURES: Mail Chimp & aWeber (tie!!)
WORST FORM FEATURES: MyEmma

I’m going to leave you with those little sneaks at reviews on ESPs – as I dig deeper into the world of email marketing and test out all these programs, I will post my results  so you can see the nitty gritty of the ESP world.

Again – if your having problems with your email marketing campaign or need advice on which one to use, please send me an email to admin@lynnraedesigns.com and I will investigate your issue in my research.

Thanks – and happy marketing!!

~Victoria Potts Keale is a newbie blogger, website designer, entrepreneur extraordinaire, mom, wife, daughter, sister… well, you get the gist. She lives in her hometown of St. Louis, MO in an old haunted farmhouse with her 2 kids and drummer hubby. She has 15 tattoos and wants more. She loves 80’s music. She thinks writing bios in the 3rd person is wacky. You should email her and tell her what else to put in her bio – victoria@lynnraedesigns.com – but don’t spam her, cause she’ll get angry.

Please feel free to use this blog in whatever, but make sure you credit it back to the author (link it up here!!) and send us a note that you used it, cause we’ll give you some link-love right back.