Mass email service. Services for transactional mailings

Recently (more precisely, since November 1, when SmartResponder closed) I have been in active search new email newsletter service. It would seem, choose, I don’t want to - Google gives dozens of options, but in practice everything is not so simple. But if there is a goal, then find best option really. So that you don’t have to go through the same long path as me, I want to give a few tips and present my brief overview of email newsletter services that are currently in the TOP in popularity.

A little theory

But first, let's dispel a few myths about email advertising. First of all, it really works, no matter what anyone says. This is best confirmed by statistics - for example, WolfgangJaegel.com calculated that more than 90% of people who have a virtual mailbox check it daily. On average, good service email marketing gives a return of 44 times every dollar spent, so this opportunity to increase profits should not be missed in any case. Moreover, according to rough estimates, next year the number of letter recipients will reach 2.7 billion people.

Secondly, services are needed not to distribute unnecessary spam, but to inform people who have subscribed to a series of letters because they are really interested in the product. By filling out subscription forms, users express their consent, that is, they become the target audience with which the services help to maintain contact. Using an email distribution service across your database, you can inform about various promotions, presentations of new products, opening branches or stores, and even offer a job. The goals may be different, as, in fact, the tools for achieving them, so let’s move on to selecting the optimal service.

Deciding on the criteria

A huge number of programs offering to send a series of letters with or without confirmation of the base makes it possible to choose exactly the one that suits you. But here a problem arises - which characteristics are considered basic, and which ones can be “turned a blind eye.” My personal opinion is that everything is important, but, of course, it is unrealistic to analyze absolutely everything according to all parameters.

So if you're looking best services, I advise you to pay special attention to:

• letter delivery rates – if the service’s rates are below 98%, you can immediately move on to the next “contender”;
• not too complex analytics;
• are able to adapt to mobile devices, design - almost all programs offer letter templates (or you can assemble them yourself using a drag and drop constructor), but only the best services provide the ability to display on different devices;
• proposed letter templates and their variety;
• Russian-language support for those who cannot boast of impeccable English;
• availability of a free trial version;
• cost and limitations of tariff plans;
• available payment options for mailing services;
• quality of technical support;
• setting up trigger letters and autoresponders;
• integration of buttons for popular social networks;
• provision of hosting services;
• Availability of an email scheduler;
• synchronization with CMS, CRM and the ability to integrate via API;
• integrated tools for A/B testing;
• effective anti-spam mechanism;
• a range of additional options (sending SMS, automatic posting on social networks and the function of viewing letters before sending, etc.).

You need to understand that there is no absolute ideal, so decide in advance on a list of priorities. Of course, everyone wants to get the maximum number of options for minimal money, but let's be realistic - you always have to pay for quality service! On the other hand, you shouldn’t overpay either, especially when there are services that offer really favorable conditions.

Pros and cons of the most popular services

So, which email marketing service should you choose to ensure you are satisfied? So that you can make a final decision, I suggest you look into key features the most popular programs. Please note that this is more of a review and not a comparison of email marketing services, because, again, everyone has different requirements. Well, let's begin.

Sendsay

The optimal choice for online stores, since it is integrated with all CRM and CMS, does not require too complicated registration, supports trigger, regular and transactional mailings, as well as sending via SMS messages. In addition, there are no functional restrictions and high-quality company analytics are provided. The only caveat is that you will have to get used to working with the letter editor, which is not very convenient.

Free plan: Up to 200 addresses, 1000 letters per month

Website address: https://sendsay.ru/

SendPulse

Pleases with its intuitive interface, the ability to send Push messages and minimal pre-moderation times. A free plan is available, however, you need to be prepared for the fact that it will not be possible to use automatic mailing via RSS.

Free plan: Up to 2500 addresses, 15,000 letters per month

Website address: https://sendpulse.com

Simplemail

Attractive with very affordable prices, the service cannot boast of an abundance of options (but the basic functionality is fully present) and good technical support. On the other hand, getting an answer to a question in an online chat can be very problematic. An excellent solution if your business is small and you don’t need any special hassles.

Free plan: Up to 100 addresses, 500 letters per month

Website address: https://prostoemail.ru

The service is English-language and quite expensive, which is compensated by its adaptive design, automation of posting on social networks and distribution via RSS. Also, clients have at their disposal over seven hundred integrations and the availability of free tariff plan(limited options available). The program is reliable, with good technical capabilities, but not everyone can afford it.

Free plan:

Website address: https://mailchimp.com

Unisender

It is distinguished by a variety of letter templates, an absolutely clear interface, stylish design and prompt response to requests to the technical support service. A trial period is provided, but if you want to use the program for free, you will have to “reveal incognito” - Unisender will require you to enter a lot of personal data (it is not clear, of course, why, because in fact the user of the beta version is not a client...). You can also note some delay in confirmation of registration by email.

Free plan: Up to 100 addresses, 1500 letters per month

Website address: https://unisender.com

Expertsender

Has maximum capabilities in terms of setting user settings, allowing you to send different kinds notifications and automatically stop mailing when errors are detected in the content. True, the service also has a serious (for some, of course) disadvantage - the inability to use the free version.

Free plan: Absent

Website address: https://expertsender.ru

Mailtrig

Targeted at clients interested in sending trigger emails. Nothing supernatural, but quite convenient, especially for those who don’t want to waste time setting up the API or go broke on programmers’ services. A couple of things are confusing:

1. To register, you need to write to them by email.
2. To find out the rates, you need to write to the mail, etc.

Those. Everything is too hidden from view, it’s repulsive.

Getresponse

The service combines extensive functionality, modern design and user-friendly interface, variable mailing settings, detailed analytical reports and the ability to test options for free for a month. There are, of course, some disadvantages, such as the abundance of registration fields, but they are insignificant against the backdrop of the variety of options and quite reasonable prices.

Free plan: Absent

Website address: https://getresponse.ru

Another expensive service on English language, where to use the trial version you need to provide card details at the bank, transfer a dollar and allow personal data to be declassified. I must say that there is a lot to pay for: an integrated gallery, automatic publishing of posts on Twitter, Facebook, and a huge number of original templates on all topics. Aweber has built a reputation as a reliable email marketing partner, so if you don't want to take risks, then this is the option for you.

Free plan: Absent

Website address: https://aweber.com

Not as multifunctional as many others, but still a good service that offers standard package options. However, not everyone needs a complete set, especially when the budget is tight.

Free plan: Up to 1000 addresses, unlimited number of letters per month

Website address: https://mailerlite.com

Will definitely appeal to those interested in the free plan. I would also like to note the quick response from the technical support staff, but there are no special frills in the design - everything is quite standard, but understandable.

Free plan: Up to 100 addresses, unlimited number of letters per month

Website address: https://madmimi.com

Mailigen

It’s sort of “average” compared to the others with a basic interface, excellent technical support and the provision of a personal manager for the account owner, as well as options for conducting surveys. But there is a “catch”, namely, the presence of a trial period, but not a free plan.

Free plan: Absent

Website address: https://mailigen.ru

Campaignmonitor

Characterized by a variety of ready-made integrations, taking into account time zones, adaptability to mobile devices and the availability White label. But those who decide to use the free version will not be able to try out all the available functions (the list is very limited).

In my opinion, the most suitable program for those new to email marketing. Of course, the lack of a block editor is disappointing, but you can organize the sending of letters and do analysis in just three steps. One of the most “large-scale” free plans, but the site has layout glitches (this is alarming).

Free plan: Up to 3000 addresses, 15,000 letters per month

Website address: https://feedgee.com

Mailrelay

It is immediately attractive because it offers a free plan with extensive functionality, but there is no Russian-language interface, the design is outdated, plus the number of payment methods is very limited. So it makes sense to try the free plan, but I would not recommend using the service on an ongoing basis.

Free plan: Up to 75,000 letters

Website address: https://mailrelay.com

Benchmarkmail

A service without any particular disadvantages, but also without significant advantages. The free plan is quite acceptable, there is a block design, and there are no problems at all with using the interface.

Free plan: Up to 2000 addresses, 14,000 letters per month

Website address: https://benchmarkemail.com

Having lost a lot of fans after the cancellation of the free plan (now only a trial period), the service pleases with moderate prices, a function for correcting fingerprints and the ability to identify subscribers by gender.

Free plan: Absent

Website address: https://mail365.ru

Falconsender

A young, rapidly developing service that was created by a team of developers who had been working on another major project for a long time. The guys assure that they tried to take into account all the pros and cons of the current market and embodied this in the new project. Users will be attracted by very affordable prices - one of the lowest on the market. Simple and convenient interface.

Among the minuses, it is worth noting that the service has only recently launched, so in terms of functionality it may be inferior to its competitors in some ways. Technical support is excellent, they respond quickly. There is a free plan for up to 1000 subscribers.

Free plan: up to 1000 subscribers

Sendgrid

A service practically devoid of serious shortcomings, which will especially appeal to those who want to organize trigger mailings. One of the pitfalls is the need to personally communicate with technical support in order to explain in detail what you need for work.

Free plan: Up to 2000 addresses, 12,000 letters per month

Website address: https://benchmarkemail.com

So what's the result?

So we looked at the main services that provide the ability to send emails. Of course, the list could go on and on, but these services are the best, so it makes sense to choose from them. Based on my experience, I can say that I am most impressed by Mailchimp, Getresponse, Sendsay and Sendpulse (which has strange reviews on the search): the first is optimal for solid projects, while the second will be a good compromise in terms of financial costs and practical capabilities , about 3 and 4 - here I am undecided.

But everyone makes the final decision themselves, so the last thing I can advise is that before making a choice, carefully study customer reviews on the forums! The service itself can advertise its services in any way it likes, but you and I know that in practice everything may turn out to be completely different...

What mailing service do you use? Write in the comments!

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Email newsletter(or Internet mailing) is, as you should already know, a way to create trust with readers by regularly sending useful information in the form of E-Mails. Electronic distribution can be carried out either in manual mode(although I can hardly imagine this), and automatically - with the help of special services.

Although this service is paid, it also has a free account. And if earlier this meant that in your letter Necessarily Since there will be advertising, then from January 23, 2012 it was decided not to publish advertising in free accounts.

In order to register for this service, click on the button “ Registration", choose a suitable package for yourself and, entering the necessary data, go through all 5 stages (or 4 - if without payment)

After successful registration, log into your account by clicking on the button " To come in»:

Please note that in the window that appears, you can choose how to log in to the system - as an author, as a reader or as a partner (I focus on this, because for a long time I myself could not find the login form " as a partner"after changing the design of the service website).

Once you log in, you will see a window similar to the following:

If this is your first time here, I recommend “climbing around” and clicking all the buttons and links to get a little familiar with the system. And if it seems difficult to you, this is only at first. As soon as you start using this service, you will immediately see that everything is simple and easy.

In addition, do not forget that for each section there is a very detailed video instruction - be sure to use it.

Newsletter by e-mail It is considered a convenient and inexpensive way to attract customers. It is actively used by Internet entrepreneurs and others. How to make a newsletter via Email, how to increase its effectiveness, what myths are associated with it - read the article.

Basic misconceptions

It is generally accepted that mailing is easy and simple. It is enough to have a database of addresses and regularly send letters with offers to buy this or that. However, look in your drawer. How many emails do you send to spam? How much do you delete without even opening it? When was the last time you bought something after receiving an email like this?

Technical knowledge on how to send mass emails is clearly not enough to achieve good results.

Firstly, the address base must be legal; subscribers purchased or received from a partner will not meet your expectations. Ideally, a target audience should be gathered.

Secondly, the letters should contain interesting and useful information. The form of presentation of the material is no less important. You need to write in such a way that you want to read the letter. Headlines are extremely important, otherwise no one will open the newsletter.

The plan is important. You should know in advance when and what you will tell your readers about.

A simple conclusion follows from this. You need to learn how to do an email newsletter correctly. Read books, take part in trainings and, of course, try in practice, look for your own approaches and methods.

How to send email campaigns correctly

The purpose of letters from a company is to sell your product. But this can be achieved in different ways.

1. The first way is play. A certain fictional character is created - the hero of the letters. Stories are told on his behalf, and he can also share his opinion or impressions about something. The purpose of such letters is, first of all, to entertain the reader, but also to offer a product. Playing and selling should be kept separate. As an analogy, we can recall an interesting program with advertising blocks.
2. The next path is educational. This is exactly the strategy that is followed in the Megaplan newsletter. Letters is a kind of business magazine filled with useful information. Articles are written by the authors or reprinted from other sources. Thanks to this approach, audience loyalty and an expert image of the company are formed.
3. The third option is direct sales. It is considered the most ineffective of all possible. These are the types of emails that most often end up in spam. Even with this approach, only 20% of the information should be selling, and 80% should be useful. Otherwise the method will not work.

How to form a database and not become a spammer?

When choosing a newsletter, you find yourself on a slippery slope. Letters are a real invasion of personal space. People don’t like this, so they click the “Spam” button and complain. It is important to ensure that the information is interesting and relevant to readers.

How to make email newsletters useful? Don't write about your company or how good your product is. Take more broad topics that will hook the audience. About success, about life around you, share working secrets and techniques. Let your emails help people solve problems, even if they haven't purchased anything yet.

The effectiveness of mailing is directly related to the quality of the database. Accept the fact that a maximum of 20% of addresses will be working, and 80% are dump boxes that are not even checked. The database will be of higher quality if it includes people who signed up themselves because they were interested in something. To collect just such addresses, you need to treat mailing as a serious project that requires an investment of effort and time.

Regularity

Naturally, you need to contact your audience regularly. If you don't plan for it, then you shouldn't start. Most often, letters arrive once a month or once a week. It is better to send high-quality material, but less often, than low-quality material, but often.

It is believed that the most effective regularity is in the range of two letters per week to one letter every two weeks. Frequent calls are perceived as a sign of importunity, and if you remind yourself too rarely, they may completely forget.

Technical points

So, you have decided on the content of the letters and the frequency, and have collected a database of addresses. What's next? How to send a newsletter by email?

If the database is small, then a very real task is to send letters without using paid services. How to make an email newsletter yourself? Very simple.

When you finish your email, fill out the To, Cc, and Bcc fields. Addresses must be separated by commas. There is a limit on the number of recipients. For example, in Mail.ru there cannot be more than thirty of them.

In addition to the fact that this method is time-consuming, there is another danger in it. Spam filters emails with big amount recipients are perceived as undesirable. To bypass this protection, you need to send messages not in bulk, but send each one separately. With a large database, this is simply impossible to do manually. How to make an email campaign yourself in such a situation? You will have to resort to the help of special mailing services.

How to send email to everyone: links to services

There are three most popular today: SmartResponder, Subscribe, UniSender. All three are domestic. Thanks to this, they have a Russian-language interface and Russian-speaking technical support, which is very convenient.

They also all provide official documents for services, which is extremely important for legal entities.

UniSender and Smart Responder are democratic. If the database is small and there are few letters, then you are given the opportunity to use the services for free.

In addition to email, you can send SMS messages through these services. It is also very important that you have access to statistics: how many emails are opened, how many are sent to spam, how many people click through to the site, etc.

Another advantage of the services is that they are actively involved in training their users on how to effectively send emails to unfamiliar subscribers. You will receive articles and books the very next day after you complete the registration procedure.

Now you not only know how to send a newsletter by Email database, but also have information on how to make it interesting, effective and help promote your business.

“Subscribe to the newsletter!” - scream pop-ups on information sites. It’s not in vain that they scream, because every subscriber is worth its weight in gold, especially for young projects. Each subscriber is a regular reader who will come to you again and again.

That's only if you run new project, a problem may arise - letters need to be sent somehow. Don’t sit down and do it yourself!

No, you don't need to bother yourself with such routine work. Because there are special services for mass mailings.

There are a lot of them, and today we will introduce you to the ten most popular ones. Let us first focus on the tariffs of each, but a detailed analysis of the features and advantages is the topic of another article :)

Mad Mimi is a simple service for creating, sending, sharing and tracking emails in the Internet. Founded in 2008.

More than 40 million emails are sent from it every day.

The service offers 4 tariff plans:

Forms, templates, and email themes are available. Mad Mimi uses SSL to protect transmitted information - this is the same technology that banks and large electronic stores use to prevent eavesdropping, falsification or counterfeiting.

Without exaggeration, the most popular service is primarily due to its attractive rates. Operating since 2001, it is trusted by more than 12 million users.

The Russian version of the site is lame, so it is better to come here if you have at least basic knowledge of the language.

If you have 2,000 or fewer subscribers, you can send up to 12,000 emails per month completely free.

Another foreign service for email newsletters, with a convenient and intuitive interface. Uses cloud software technologies.

Streamcontact is reliable: the email will be delivered at the required time without delay.

Using the service, you can plan mailings, create new ones, conduct testing before sending, track targeted mailings, and send messages automatically.

Domestic mailing list service, founded in 2002. Very popular among small and medium-sized businesses on the RuNet.

Tariffs for services are quite reasonable:

Provides a visual editor, detailed statistics, full subscriber management, automatic mailing, surveys and testing, and many other useful features.

Domestic project founded in 2008. UniSender allows you to send both email and SMS mailings, set up letter chains, and embed social media buttons in your mailings.

The service rates are very affordable:

For mailings from 50,000 contacts, conditions are discussed individually.

A unified platform for email campaigns, SMS, push notifications and transactional emails. The service is easy to use and is suitable for solving most standard tasks: sending an email newsletter that can be viewed, including from mobile devices; make a series of letters, create letter templates, conduct testing, and much more.

The easiest way to attract or retain customers is through direct marketing methods. The oldest, but still effective method interaction with the target audience is.

What are mailings?

Mailings - budget method marketing communications. Sending emails allows you to market quickly various goods and services (advertising and PR), as well as actively interact with the existing customer base (loyalty, information about new products), therefore it is in a good way promotion.

The most popular forms of email newsletters are:

• letters and commercial offers;
• advertising brochures and catalogues;
• Greeting Cards and invitations.

Initially, such letters were sent manually to a pre-prepared list of recipients, which took a lot of time and effort - monotonous work completely killed motivation valuable employees. Times have changed! Now it is much more profitable to carry out automatic sending using online email marketing services.

Mailing services operate on cloud technology, which ensures a high level of reliability in the delivery of letters and relative ease of passing spam filters.

This tool allows you to create a huge online database of contacts from different sources, manage multiple mailings and conduct an accurate analysis of their effectiveness.

Paid and free mailing services

Modern services are rarely 100% paid or free - competition in this area is too high to lose customers. Most services offer both options, albeit under different conditions.

Payment for services is mainly carried out through electronic money(most often Webmoney, Qiwi or Yandex.Money), payment is much less possible bank cards(usually Visa or MasterCard, sometimes credit cards).

Most popular services

Subscribe (Sendsay) - leader of e-mailers

Subscribe (after rebranding Sendsay) is one of the oldest email newsletter services on the Runet - it has been in steady demand since 1999. It occupies a stable position in the market (more than 5 million subscribers and 50 thousand subscriptions) and is even included in the top 20 of the world's best mailing services. I am pleased with the reliability and ease of management, but I am saddened by a number of limitations associated with managing the client base and the abundance of self-promotion in each newsletter.

The free service package divides letters into three conditional groups: “Gold”, “Silver” and “Bronze”, which on the one hand is quite convenient, but on the other hand may not always correspond to your vision. Service administrators distribute letters into categories, focusing on what materials will potentially be of interest to recipients.

Delivery efficiency is: 99.9%

official site .

Smart Responder - great opportunities for mass mailings. (Updated: The service has been closed)

Smart Responder is a very popular domestic service focused on the needs of medium and small businesses. Known in Runet since 2002 as a useful tool for direct marketing. Analysis of the effectiveness of mailings is facilitated by the ability to add to letters and redirect recipients to a specified site (after subscription). (Updated: The service has been closed)

The free package allows you to interact with 1000 subscribers, sending them 50 thousand emails monthly.

The email design is quite simple - users can only choose from 10 ready-made templates. Database import from Microsoft files is available, integration via API is possible, and interaction with some CRM systems is also possible.

Delivery efficiency is: 99.8%.

You can use the service by going to the official website.

MadMimi is an excellent business tool

MadMimi is an extremely simple and effective mailing service. The main disadvantage is the small number of functions, which is compensated by the excellent free version. An important advantage for small and medium-sized businesses will be prompt service technical support.

The free version allows you to manage a base of 25 thousand subscribers and send 12,500 emails monthly. The design of messages is laconic, there is a choice of different shades for block templates.

The letters are optimized for mobile devices, there is integration via API and with some platforms for online stores, it is possible to manually import client databases from Microsoft documents.

Delivery efficiency is: (exact data not specified).

You can use the service by going to the official website.

Mailchimp - simple, fast, reliable

Mailchimp is a worthy favorite of the Russian Internet community. A nice interface and simple controls make it indispensable for sending mass mailings.

The main disadvantages can be considered the high cost of the paid version, as well as the possible the language barrier when interacting with technical support (English only).

The free version is designed to send 12,000 emails monthly and create a base of 2,000 subscribers. Personalization of mailings is carried out on high level- in a matter of minutes you can create a nice design based on ready-made templates(more than a hundred interesting solutions). I'm pleased with the ability to import a contact database (manually), the availability of API integration, as well as with different CRM systems and platforms for creating .

Delivery efficiency is: 96-99%

You can use the service by going to the official website.

GetResponse - ideal for reputation

GetResponse is the brainchild of Polish developers. The service will be useful to companies operating not only in the CIS, but also abroad. Technical support is provided in Russian, English and Polish.

It is possible to import a database (manually from Microsoft documents, automatic from Google services). The postal service has powerful internal analytics that allow users to easily evaluate the effectiveness of mailings.

The free version is available for a month after registration.

Unfortunately, the “trial” package is very limited - you can create a very small database of recipients (up to 250 people). But the letters are designed extremely attractively thanks to a large number of extraordinary templates (more than 500 design varieties).

The effectiveness of email campaigns

Email newsletters are effective if they hit the target. Strive to reach target audience and minimize the percentage of emails ending up as spam? Follow the basic guidelines:

1. Intriguing subject line. The headline should be relevant to the essence of your proposal and grab the reader's attention. Let's allow moderate humor and “selling” tricks. Do you constantly notify your customer or partner base about new changes? Try to come up with the most original names for each shipment.
2. Clear content. Brevity is a prerequisite for email newsletter. The first two paragraphs of the letter should contain 60-80% of the main message. Would you like to provide more information? Add a more extensive attachment to the “selling” part.
3. No unnecessary investments. Avoid sending large quantity attached files. Ideally, their number should not exceed 2-3 documents (text and graphic). An interested client will find a way to contact you (don't forget to include up-to-date contact information). You should definitely not send archives via email - such letters are instantly sent to spam.

Using a decent email marketing service

Whether an email reaches its recipient depends 30-40% on the quality of the service you choose. Especially when it comes to large-scale and frequent mailings. You should not get involved with “quarrelsome” email mailing services, which, upon receiving several complaints about spam, arrange real quests for their clients (requests to reactivate a huge database of email addresses, blocking mailings until the complainants provide a written apology for spam, etc.)

• high rates of opening letters (in comparison with the total mass of ignored ones);
• the frequency of recipients clicking on the link specified in the text (or the number of live calls);
• minimal sending to spam.

However, competent letter writing and cooperation with powerful email marketing services make the task much easier. Popular services show a very high delivery rate - from 98 to 99.5% hit rate!