Email marketing software in Europe

What types of email marketing tools are there?

There are so many different types of email marketing software, sometimes you get dizzy. And which one suits your webshop best? You can divide email marketing software in three kinds:

• Email software for sending out your newsletter: With this software you only send your newsletter. No more and no less. You have your newsletter subscribers to whom you mail on a regular basis. This software is purely focused on sending information.
• Email software with marketing automation: This software goes one step further. With this software it is possible to send automated emails. A good example is Mailchimp. Through a flow you can send automated emails based on what your customers bought last, for example.
• Email Software all-in-1 (including marketing tools): Do you want to expand your email marketing and get the most out of it? Then go for an all-in-one software. This means you have other options in the software besides email marketing. Think for example of building landing pages, showing pop-ups on your website or the integration with social media like Facebook. The all-in-one software is no longer specifically aimed at sending newsletters, but at generating turnover and profile enrichment.

Think about what you want from your email marketing. Sending out a newsletter once in a while is totally fine. None of the above is wrong. But be aware of the fact that if you opt for software that only sends out your newsletter, you will not be able to use all the benefits of email marketing. For that, you need marketing automation anyway. With all-in-one software, up to 80% of your email marketing activities can be automated and still be very relevant to your target group.

Criteria for email marketing software

Do you know what you want to do with your email marketing based on the top points? Great! Then it is now time to check which criteria you find important in your email marketing software.

Does it help to grow your email list?

One criterion for deciding on your email marketing software is that it should help you to grow your email list. For this, it is useful that the software can integrate with as many systems as possible. Think of your CMS system or a customer data platform such as Datatrics or Zapier.

Arrow your own level in knowledge of email marketing

Another thing to consider is how much time you want to put into email marketing yourself. Some email marketing tools are easier to understand than others. The ease of use is far, far apart. Do you know less about email marketing or are you less technical? Then save yourself time and go for a simpler programme (or immerse yourself in it).

How user-friendly should the software be?

It is also important to look at whether the software helps you to sell more through its ease of use. Is your email software tool able to segment your email list on people who open or click through your emails? When you can exclude customers through segmentation or when you can approach a target group very specifically through segmentation, then this is definitely worthwhile.

How much do you value the support?

Also look at the support you get for certain software. Is the support in Dutch, English or another language? Can you always contact them? And how quickly do they respond? Definitely a point of attention to take into account!

Other criteria

More examples of criteria you can look at:

• Quality of the reports you see (do you see a click rate, open rate and bounce rate? And the revenue per newsletter? The number of orders per newsletter?)
• Price per month (depending on the number of emails or contacts);
• Price/quality ratio
• Quality of support and help desk
• Extra marketing tools: Think of a landing page builder, registration forms, offering a webinar etc
• Integration with e-commerce
• GDPR compliance - to what extent does the software comply with the stricter European privacy legislation?
• Deliverability rate
• Presence of a built-in CRM - record your knowledge about customers in a CRM

The price of your email marketing software

Not unimportant to consider is the price of your email marketing software. Price models are often divided into two different categories:

• You pay for the number of mails per month without a maximum number of contacts.
• You pay for the number of emails in your list without a maximum number of emails.

There is something to be said for both options. When you pay for the number of emails you send out per month, the costs can mount up considerably. Do you have 5,000 customers in your email database, for example? And do you mail these customers twice a week? Then you are already sending 10,000 emails per week and 40,000 per month. Think carefully about this! Do you pay for the number of email addresses in your list? Then take into account whether a distinction is made between all email addresses that are on your list or all active email addresses that are on your list. Some software takes this into account, others do not. At Reloadify, we sync all contacts from your webshop, but you only pay for your active customers. We think that is fair.

Email marketing software glossary

In your search for a suitable email marketing software, you will come across a lot of jargon. Are you new to the email marketing world? Then you must be getting dizzy from all the terms you have never heard of. We would like to help you on your way.

• Transactional emails. Transactional emails are the opposite of newsletters. They display information about your order, such as an order confirmation, shipping confirmation or an email to write a review.
• Cross platform. You are dealing with a cross platform when the software is capable of connecting multiple platforms.
• Trigger. A signal that triggers your emails. In Reloadify it is for instance possible to fire off a trigger as soon as someone has subscribed to the newsletter. With the trigger, an automatic email is sent to the person who signed up for the newsletter. But also a birthday email when it is your customer's birthday can be set via a trigger.
• Flow. A series of emails that together form an automation
• Lead collection / lead generation. Lead generation software turns website visitors into 'leads' by having them sign up for your email list via a subscription form. You do this through a pop-up or landing page.
• Email deliverbility rate. The percentage of sent emails that actually make it to your customers' inboxes and do not end up in spam.
• Open rate. The percentage of customers who have opened your emails compared to your total number of customers.
• Click rate. The percentage of customers who click on a link or image in an email.
• ROI rate. ROI stands for Return On Investment. It indicates the return on your investments. In other words, it indicates what you will get out of the investments you have made.
• Funnel. A funnel is a model that helps you gain insight into the various phases that the customer goes through before proceeding to purchase. A funnel has a model of a cone.

Get a demo!

It is a matter of weighing things up. Which email software will you go for? Let the software convince you! In almost all cases, you can request a demo. At Reloadify, you can try the package for free for 14 days. Linking your webshop is a breeze. This way, you can walk through the software yourself and see if it suits you. Because let's face it: pictures say much more than promising words.