I have found that no matter how popular or how simple something is to the majority of people, it is never that simple for someone new. This is particularly true when it comes to email marketing. Although the concept is quite simple—send out a message via email to past customers and those who sign up to receive the emails—actually putting the campaign into action can be tough. While quality content is a must, it’s also important that the content is engaging enough to keep readers on the page.  There are lots of different features you can employ to try and create what I like to call “stickiness.”

Almost all email-marketing campaigns are created through software.  If you’re new to the business world and want to get started with this type of advertising, buying software is the way to go. However, software differs from one to the next because each offers a variety of different features. This can be very overwhelming if you’re new to the software and new to email marketing, but don’t sweat it; once you know what the features mean, you will be able to make the right decision for your company.

5 Email Marketing Features and Their Functions

There are many different and advanced features to choose from when getting started, but below are some of the most popular features that are almost always necessary in any email marketing campaign:

      1. Social Sharing Abilities: There is no denying that social media has become a huge factor in the creation of a brand. With all of the liking and tweeting and sharing, social media is one of the fastest ways to get your message out to the world. For this reason, many companies find that this is a must-have feature in their email marketing campaign. The feature will allow you to share your content and message easily on social networks and will give the same luxury to your consumers. If they see your message and want to share it to their 2,000 friends, this feature will make it easy.

      2. List Segmentation: This may not be totally necessary if you have a very small number of customers, but works well if you have a lot to manage. With this feature you can separate your messages into groups based on the types of people who are targeting. For example, you may want to send a welcome message to new customers, whereas you may want to send a more detailed message to your loyal customers. List segmentation allows you to do that.

      3. Different Templates: Some software offers different templates. Although this may seem as nothing but an aesthetic perk, templates can actually make a huge difference when creating the campaign. Not only will it show you what the message will look like, but it also allows you to fit in your images and messages exactly to the template. In other words, you don’t have to worry about design with templates.

      4. Auto Responders: Although this feature is not totally necessary, I find it to be extremely helpful. This feature allows you to schedule messages to send whenever you wish. If you’re like me and you like to get things done early, auto responders make that possible. This also works to send automatic messages to those who just signed up to receive your messages. Without this feature, you’re all on your own when it comes to remembering to welcome your new subscribers.

      5. Analytic Tools: An email marketing campaign can never be improved if you don’t know how it’s working in the first place. Analytic tools will let you know how many of your messages were received, how many were opened, and which ones were opened. This will help you determine what is working and what is just getting thrown to the trash.

In the end, email marketing is a great way to gain exposure for your brand. Even if customers don’t actually read the message, it is a way for your company to pop up right in front of their eyes. It is fairly inexpensive and a great place to start for a new business. 

Photo Credit: clickmailmarketing.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a graduate of Illinois State University. Although she graduated with an English Education degree, she found herself working as a full-time blogger at HigherVisibility.com, a leading SEO Company. Connect with HigherVisibility on Google+ and Twitter to learn more!