Chances are you’ve also noticed some limitations in what you can and can’t do with a personal email account.
One of the biggest limitations of using a personal account is in the design of your emails.
If you’re not a professional designer, it’s tough to create emails that actually match your brand and make your business look professional.
Other limitations include:
- Problems getting messages delivered: Has anyone ever told you they didn’t receive your email? Sending mass emails from a personal account can result in more emails being sent to the spam folder.
- Difficulty keeping track of your email contacts: Manually keeping track of new email addresses and people who have asked to be taken off your list can cause headaches and take up hours of your time.
- No understanding of who opened an email or clicked a link: You hope your emails are getting opened and read, but personal accounts don’t provide that information.
Email marketing services like Constant Contact are built to make it easy to create beautiful emails that drive real business results.
They have the tools you need to manage your email contacts and provide in-depth reporting tools to track important metrics like opens, clicks, and shares for your emails.
They also provide tools and training to help you stay compliant with important email laws, which are easy to violate if you’re trying to do marketing from a personal email account.
One of the best ways to see how an email marketing service can benefit your business is to try it for yourself.
1. You’re not prepared to send bulk emails.
Many email accounts and most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) limit the number of emails that you can send at one time. This means that as your email database grows, you could run into more and more problems with getting your emails delivered.
Email providers like Constant Contact work diligently to maintain strong relationships with ISPs and establish reputations for sending permission-based emails. As a result, our customers see more of their emails delivered to their recipients’ inboxes, and less emails in the spam folder.
2. You’re putting relationships at risk.
When someone joins your email list, they trust you to protect their information. They also trust that you’ll respect their privacy and give them the option to opt-out.
But as hard as you try to fulfill these obligations to your audience, when sending email using Outlook or another email account, mistakes can happen. Perhaps the biggest mistake is exposing your entire list in the.
3. You can’t host and manage your list from one location.
An email marketing service hosts your email list and automatically performs critical list management functions. These functions include sign-up for new subscribers, editing capabilities so that subscribers can edit their own profiles, and the ability to unsubscribe with one click.
4. You’re on your own.
If you’re switching from a personal email account, they’ll give you the tools and training to help you get started — from uploading your existing email contacts to setting up your first email campaign.
5. You’re unable to deliver emails in the right format.
In comparison, your email account can’t tell which email format each recipient is able to receive — which can make your email unreadable or send it to the spam folder.
6. You can’t create professional-looking emails that match your brand.
With an email marketing service, you’ll have access to hundreds of professionally-designed email templates that make it easy to create great looking emails.
7. You can’t protect yourself from delivery problems.
A good email marketing service maintains strong permission policies and has an active anti-blocking team working with ISPs on your behalf to ensure that your email is delivered.
8. You can’t see who opened or clicked.
This will allow you to see what’s working and identify opportunities to make improvements, or identify potential issues that could put your business at risk.
9. You don’t have the newest tools and features.
members of groups like The Email Service Provider Coalition (ESPC). The goal of the ESPC is to provide unique and effective spam-fighting solutions that will optimize your email delivery and response and minimize the spam in your subscribers’ inbox.
10. You could be breaking the law.
You don’t have the time or resources to stay up-to-date with the latest email laws and regulations. Unfortunately, if you’ve been using a personal email account to send your marketing emails, there’s a good chance you’re already in violation of some important laws like Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM) and the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
Don’t wait to make the switch.
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