A Review of Newsletter Emailing Software
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Newsletter emailing software automates what would otherwise be a pretty tedious task: putting your newsletter together and sending it out via email to all of your subscribers. This article reviews the prices and features of four different newsletter emailing programs: iContact, Constant Contact, OnMarketer and EliteEmail. One of these packages may be right for you.
iContact
One of the premier pieces of newsletter emailing software today is iContact, who, according to their website, provides services to such clients as AT&T, Symantec, and Viacom. However, iContact also scales quite well to smaller newsletter projects for any user. The basic pricing plan is extremely competitive, offering up to 500 contacts for the simple price of $9.95 per month. Although pricing is based upon the number of contacts to which you send your newsletter, the software does have a cap of sending out a maximum of six times the number of contacts you are allowed (for instance, if you are allowed 500 contacts, you can send out up to 3000 e-mails in a month).
iContact comes with a full suite of supporting features that will satisfy even the most picky of newsletter managers. There are over 300 templates included with the software, as well as the ability to pay $395 for a custom design. The basic pricing plan includes the iContact logo in your newsletter; however, for 10% of your base rate, you can swap out the iContact logo for your own. Although you are only allowed 500 KB of image storage with the base rate, for a little more per month you can store much more. E-mail archiving is provided for free with the software, meaning you can store newsletters you have sent to post on your website or for future use.
iContact offers an industry-standard 15-day free trial which will allow you to send up to 1,500 e-mails to up to 250 contacts. The company offers extensive customer support with a phone line which is open on weekdays from 9 A.M. until 8 P.M. They also offer incentives such as a 10% discount with a year of prepayment as well as a 20% discount for non-profit organizations.
One of the unique features of iContact is the ability to send plain text e-mails to your contacts, just as you would send a normal e-mail. The software also monitors your progress toward your monthly e-mail/contact limit, and rather than charging overages, will just prompt you to upgrade your account once you have reached the limit.
In summary, iContact overpowers its competition with its highly competitive pricing and generous support. The software is extremely well developed, and it is obvious that its developers intend to continue working with and supporting the software.
Next: Constant Contact >>
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