Since email marketing involves sending email to a list of addresses, it seems reasonable to use standard email software or a webmail account to do so.
Unfortunately, neither meet the special needs of sending marketing emails to large contact lists.
Advantages of a professional service or software
- Automated contact list management: web forms let people subscribe and unsubscribe automatically. Dead addresses that “reject” new emails are removed automatically.
- Automated emails: emails can be setup for automatic distribution in response to specific customer actions. So a new subscriber gets a Confirmation or Welcome email within seconds of subscribing.
- Reports: That help by providing insight that can be used to adapt and improve future messages.
- Email optimization: most important, perhaps, are the built-in features and functionaties that make email production easier and marketing more effective. Features, for example, that:
- Ensure emails conform with legal requirements.
- Make it easy to build and test professional-looking emails.
- Provide the right infrastructure needed for timely and successful delivery.
- Support segmentation and personalization, based on customer data and past email responses. This can even extend to ensuring each individual subscriber gets their own customized email tailored to their needs and characteristics.