As a speaker or coach, email marketing can be a hugely powerful marketing tool that offers an incredible return on investment. You might be thinking about doing your email marketing yourself.
I mean, how hard can it be? You choose some software, write some content and hit send? While many people can and do run their own email marketing, it’s important to be sure you have the skills and the resources you need to make it a success.
The software you choose for your email marketing can have a huge impact. So you need to choose your software wisely. The email marketing platform you decide on will determine how easy, hard, successful or unsuccessful your campaigns will be.
The good news is that there are plenty of options on the market for you to compare – the bad news is this can make it an overwhelming process.
To make your life easier, there are some key features to look out for when deciding.
The range of email marketing software out there is huge. When it comes to pricing, they can go from free all the way up to $495 per month. The price you pay is determined by the package you choose, the number of people on your list and whether you pay annually or monthly.
So want to work out which platform is right for you? Some of the most important aspects to consider include…
Ease Of Use
You won’t regret choosing an email marketing platform that is easy to use. One way to find out if software is going to be straightforward and beginner-friendly is to look for drag and drop editing.
This means that you can easily and quickly select, drag, and insert elements into your emails. An example of this is Mailchimp’s email campaign editor, allowing you to choose from a selection of pre-set blocks that you can then edit and personalise.
Aside from the email editing function, you should also make sure the overall user interface is simple. Ideally, navigating between pages and knowing the location of all your tools should be intuitive and easy to learn.
No Coding
If you’re a technophobe, this one will ring true! Avoid any software that requires coding. Some platforms are for advanced users with a deeper understanding of coding.
Infusionsoft is one to avoid for a newbie DIYer. While it is super powerful, most business owners end up hiring someone to run it for them because it can be a steep learning curve for beginners.
Any email marketing software that involves coding is not viable for a small business or coach in my experience, as you need that extra time to focus on delivering a stellar service.
Good Reporting
A sign of a good all-rounder email platform is its reporting. Whatever you use needs to track how well your emails are performing. As the bare minimum, look for one that will show you statistics like bounces, opens, and click-throughs. These are the stats that will help you to understand if your emails are reaching people, if they are opening them and if they are clicking on the links you’ve included.
To learn more about which metrics to track and why then check out my previous blog post here…
Reliable Deliverability
This might not seem like such a big issue, but check that you’re using software with a good reputation for actually making it into inboxes.
It’s incredibly frustrating to spend hours on a coaching email campaign, sending it to your hard-won email list, only for it to get stuck in a spam folder. There are several things you can do to avoid getting condemned to the promo or spam folders, but your choice of software matters too.
Do your research online before committing to any paid plans. Discover what the reputation is for the software you’re considering and see what other users say about the deliverability rate.
Which Email Marketing Platform Is Right For You?
Ultimately, which email marketing software is right for you depends on your personal needs. You might need detailed reporting and connectivity with other apps, or you might just want a basic email creator for the best value.
You need to weigh up the pros and cons of each software and decide which best suits your needs but to make it super simple for you I’ve included a couple of my favourites for beginners below…
Campaign Monitor
This is a great choice for newbies and anyone looking for an easy-to-use email builder. It offers simple automation options, which is easy for inexperienced marketers to get the hang of.
Campaign Monitor is an affordable option starting at $9 a month with all the core features a novice email marketer would want. That works out to pretty good value considering the return you’ll get from your campaigns.
ActiveCampaign
This is the platform to choose if you want extensive functionality. Be warned, it may be a bit of overkill if all you want to do is send a regular newsletter and occasional follow-up emails.
It’s an excellent software choice if you’re looking for complete conditional automation, although its cost reflects the extras you get. Starting at $18.75 per month up to $171.75 per month, it’s not the cheapest option but a great software for more complex campaigns.
Speakers and coaches should definitely be taking advantage of everything email marketing can do for your business. The options above are a good place to start, but of course, if you’d rather not DIY your email marketing book a discovery call here to find out how I can help.
