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MenuWhat are the best options for email marketing service providers based on cost?
Looking for the best and cheapest bulk email marketing service providers- I thought sales-push.com had a good product, I did the demo ..any other suggestions?
Answers
If there’s one tool that I recommend above all other solutions it’s ActiveCampaign.
ActiveCampaign is the backbone of all of our ventures here at Venture Harbour. It’s easy to use, and easily the most feature-packed email marketing / marketing automation tool for small to medium-sized businesses. On top of that, it’s also one of the most affordable tools.
What sets ActiveCampaign apart is the fact that it has its own CRM system for managing leads, and marketing automation for nurturing your leads into customers. In short, it’s an all-in-one platform for handling small business sales and marketing. Unlike some of the other tools that do this, ActiveCampaign is affordable starting at $9/month – a twentieth of the starting cost of tools like Infusionsoft, Hubspot and Ontraport.
This depends on what do you want to achieve with email marketing. Depending on your budget, communication volume(current and estimated), features required, target audience, etc., there are different options. I will be happy to discuss this over a call with you.
If you are looking to do cold-email blasts to prospects a traditional provider like sales-push, mailchimp, or responsys is not going to get great click-through or response rates because people instinctively tune out and unsubscribe because it's spam.
A series of plain-text emails will be the best for this. Outreach.io ($100 / mo) or Yet Another Mail-merge (free Google Sheets plug-in) will be the best. Outreach.io is great because you can create email sequences and so much more, however.
I don't have all the details with regards to what you are looking to accomplish so it's hard to say. However, if you are getting people signing up for a list (via blog, paid ads, etc) then a mail list provider with marketing automation included is ideal. For starting out, most startups use Mailchimp because it's easy to set-up, has strong analytics, and includes Mailchimp automation (marketing automation) and Mandrill (transactional emails / basically competitor to Sendgrid).
Tools to use if you need mail-list / marketing automation:
High End
-responsys - most expensive but best
-epsilon
-exact target
-experian
Mid-tier
-Silver pop
-strong mail
-lyrics
-sail thru
SMB/Startup
-mailchimp - most startups use this to start and then switch later once it becomes less cost efficient
-vertical response
-icontact
-campaign monitor
I have actually written a blog post about this! Feel free to read this blog post that lists a bunch of different email software based on your monthly budget. I think the post will help answer a ton of questions and please let me know i you need more assistance or if you need help performing email marketing tasks or installing/setting up the software. http://www.bloominari.com/blog/email-software-choices-for-every-business-budget
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How do you approach an influencer, a "guru" or a podcaster /blogger in your niche offering a commission without being too direct?
Do the opposite. Think about it from their point of view. They get requests like these all the time and most of the time the request comes from random people they don't know. That would be kind of annoying right? You get an email from someone you don't know but they want you to do something for them? You'd delete that email too. Best way to get their attention...get a referral from someone they know and trust. Get someone else they know and trust to introduce you (this is the whole reason I built my business www.reverralriver.com). Referrals work the best. Second best way...develop a relationship with them before asking for anything. Don't email and ask for something right away. You wouldn't ask someone to marry you on a first date would you? Develop the relationship slowly. Give them value before ever asking for anything in return. Over just a few short weeks you could easily establish a relationship to the point where you could actually mention an "ask" which should be very open-ended and create absolutely zero work/friction for the person you are asking. One of my favorite techniques to warm-up a relationship...just email and tell them you appreciated (insert an article they wrote or service they provide, whatever, just stroke their ego). Tell them you're a fan and often point people their way. Then go way above and beyond and find their physical mailing address (it's not that hard to do) and send them a small gift or hand-written postcard in the mail just to say thanks. Then email them once you know they got it and just say thanks again. Then start emailing them various articles or things they might think are valuable, I'd say no more than once every 4 days. Connect on LinkedIN and message them funny pictures or GIF's. Show them you're human. Make them laugh and smile and just say "Hey I appreciate all you've done so just wanted to return the favor and make you smile (insert funny GIF here)". Then, once they know who you are, don't ask them directly to partner...ask them if they know anyone who would be interested in partnering. Below is a template I've used with great success...and the beauty is that they will often ask for more info and get interested themselves, but usually only if you have offered them some sort of value to stand out amongst the crowd. --- Hey (prospect first name), Hope you laughed at the last GIF I sent. I was just wondering if you knew anyone that would be interested in a partnership/affiliate opportunity… Real quick summary… I’m building a SaaS that automates the process of asking for referrals…it uses artificial intelligence to find potential leads in your existing customers network and makes it super simple for your customers to make the referral (one click of a button). If you know anyone that has an audience of people that would benefit from something like this I'd be grateful for an intro. I won't let you down I promise if you can make an intro. I’ll draft up all the marketing material and do all of the work, so all they would have to do is say “ok”, hit copy, paste, and send and I’d be happy to pay them 25% commission for life (or if there is another payment structure in mind I’m happy to talk about it) So what do you think? Can you help me out? Thanks, Parker ---- If you found this useful please upvote. Book a call with me if you want to know more or if I can help further.PW
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How do I get people to subscribe to my email newsletter?
I would seriously consider launching a blog and posting content of the same type to the blog, in abundance. Then add a popup box to the blog to collect email addresses. Post daily blog posts about topics related to your blog and your newsletter. If you do this consistently, over time, you will build up traffic to your blog and also get people entering their email into your popup. This is the free way to do it...EW
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I sell an actual item worn by women, mostly middle-aged. Need to strengthen our conversion rate. Which social media is best for this age group?
I've found that with the saturation of retail on social media sites in general, the best way to make a sale is to target the right people who are already looking for what you offer... For you: I'd recommend using highly targeted Facebook Ads (Target by age & gender plus any other things you know about your audience/buyers in terms of things they are interested in). You might also research companies who provide holistic relief for hot flashes, find their facebook pages and create a filter for your ads to target fans of theirs. You could see a HUGE return on just $100 Facebook ad buy. Good Luck and let me know if you'd like to schedule a follow up call; I'd be happy to walk you through the setup and some additional strategies!MH
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What is the industry average conversion rate for cold emailing?
Cold emailing is just as bad for you and the recipient. Even if you have the perfect list, the attempt to sell in a cold email is rarely going to be effective. You're better off curating the list to the top prospects, find a mutual connection on LinkedIn or even just cold-invite them on LinkedIn,. Worst case scenario, send a 'permission pass' email where you simply gauge interest and let them know you won't be emailing them again if there's no interest. Keep it very short, non-commercial with just solid information/links to web, and an easy to reply yes/no answer.BI
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We are launching a white label platform on Goodsie targeting small/medium size design/devs firms. Any ideas on where to start our marketing efforts?
The 1st thing you should do it to identify 100 potential customers from your group to approach them and to offer them to use the platform to test it out. These people will not only give you feedback on how to improve it but also will give you testimonials for your website. The next thing to do (when you have the testimonials) is build some landing pages and to run some Google AdWords. Do some A/B testing and test different value propositions. I recommend adding some retargeting to your site so you don't lose visitors forever. When you have tested out which keywords work best, you cans tart investing more in SEO. It will take time to rank well but it's worth to start doing it early. Focus on content marketing that is related to your product and at the same time attracts and educates your target audience. Use ebook and webinars to generate leads and engage your audience. Don't forget to focus on blogging. That is really important in your type of business. Share your content on social media during the day. Use followerwonk to know when to share on Twitter and run some tests to figure out the best time for Facebook and Google+. Find influencers in your industry and connect with them online. These people will make the difference in your business. I believe in the first months you should focus on: 1. Getting feedback about your product 2. Generating leads through PPC, SEO, content marketing and social media. 3. Using your first users feedback to generate some publicity If you're looking for a more in-depth strategy for your business, don't hesitate to schedule a call for me. I'd love to learn more about what you're doing and to help you out craft the strategy that will help you achieve your goals. This is my VIP link for a free consultation https://clarity.fm/martinzhel/inboundMZ
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