Looking for ideas on companies to do my emails

I do weekly emails to my email list. I've recently decided it's time to do it more professionally so I'm looking at Constant Contact. I'm wondering if anyone else is using other companies and what their experiences are with them.

I don't have an email list of THOUSANDS of names--at least not yet--so I don't need something for a HUGE company. Just need something I can manage sending out HTLM emails regularly. Something that can handle requests for removal, bad email addresses, etc.

Thanks.

Sorry, I, like many others, get enough spam without helping someone to make the matter even worse .

I tried Constant Contact. Their support was good but they were a little too in my face...even calling me to "help me".

I found Mail Chimp to be easier to use and its been great for me since September.

DunnoWhen wrote in post #13765641
Sorry, I, like many others, get enough spam without helping someone to make the matter even worse .

It's not about spam, it's about communicating with your customers/potential customers.

CosmoKid wrote in post #13765662
I tried Constant Contact. Their support was good but they were a little too in my face...even calling me to "help me".

I found Mail Chimp to be easier to use and its been great for me since September.

Yes, this is one of my complaints (so far) about CC. I'll check out Mail Chimp.

Thanks.

GadgetRick wrote in post #13766680
It's not about spam, it's about communicating with your customers/potential customers.

Well technically anything unsolicited is spam. Even the sleazy ones consider everyone they hit to be a potential customer. That is, after all, the entire purpose of sending it out.

If people opt-in, that's an entirely different scenario.

GadgetRick wrote in post #13766684
Yes, this is one of my complaints (so far) about CC. I'll check out Mail Chimp.

Thanks.

They're merely doing to you what you pay them to do to others. Constant contact (the premise) is rather annoying.

cdifoto wrote in post #13767321
Well technically anything unsolicited is spam. Even the sleazy ones consider everyone they hit to be a potential customer. That is, after all, the entire purpose of sending it out.

If people opt-in, that's an entirely different scenario.

Exactly my point. I'm not scrubbing sites for emails then sending out emails to them. These are all people who have expressed interest in receiving information from me.

So I've been playing with Mail Chimp and sent an email out. It's a bit more difficult to fumble through it to get it all set up but it's not horrible. And they have a free option for someone (like me) who isn't sending out much so it's cheap for me to try (in all fairness, Constant Contact offers a free 60 day trial).

There are a few little things MC doesn't have which CC seems to have but none of them are too much of an issue for me. I'll try MC for a while and see how it goes.

Thanks for the suggestion!

And if anyone still doesn't understand what I'm doing, research referral-based marketing. This is what I'm doing, not spamming people. There is a difference and it does work if done correctly (i.e. don't send too many emails, etc.).

I get what you're doing. My lab does the same thing. It's still annoying though.

cdifoto wrote in post #13771332
I get what you're doing. My lab does the same thing. It's still annoying though.

It's only annoying if you do it too often. I average about 1 email a week so it's not too much in their face.

You'd be surprised at how much referral business is generated this way.

The main thing to keep in mind--besides not doing it too often--is to not to worry about a call to action. Just share something you've done for someone. Many people don't know or don't realize you can do a lot of other things besides what you might have done (specifically) for them. If I never shot baby photos for someone, they may never think to refer me to their sister who is having a baby (as an example).

Also, I want to use a company to do this so it's easier for someone to unsubscribe who doesn't want to receive emails any longer. Just a click rather than having to reply and type out a request to remove them. If I forget to take someone off, they get annoyed. It's all handled by the company so I can't forget to remove someone.

There are many very good reasons to send regular emails and to use a service like this.

My customers are fine getting my emails. These are people I have done business with or who have opted in to receive this from me.

I send one per month that is my newsletter that features all of the work from the prior month. I can't tell you how many responses I get from those emails.