How Should I Get Emails To My Customers?

eMarketing

I currently have a list of customers in Quickbooks and want to start sending out an email to everyone in my list. What should I do?

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Jay’s Answer:

No matter what you choose, your first step is to get the email addresses exported from QuickBooks into a file that your email program can use (for example, http://quickbooksgroup.com/webx/forums/importexport/413).

Using Outlook, you could send a single email to everyone that’s on your list, using the blind cc (bcc:) function. Basically, create your email, send it to yourself, and bcc: all your clients. The clients will receive the email, and won’t be able to see the other names on your list.

  • Pros: you have Outlook, it’s easy to create an email, it’s easy to import into (for example, http://intuitlabs.com/blog/2007/08/email-contact-manager-2/), and it doesn’t cost you anything additional.
  • Cons: the email isn’t personalized, and you have no way of tracking who’s read your email, etc.

To send a customized email to each customer, you’ll need to either perform a mail merge or use a bulk email program. To do a mail merge, you could use: Email Address Manager A bulk emailer is meant to do the mail merge and send the emails in a single package. Here are some options for a bulk emailer: SendBlaster, Email-Unlimited, or FairLogic

  • Pros: you can send a customized email (so each person receives an email to them) using software that’s meant for this purpose. Some bulk email programs can also track the email delivery.
  • Cons: you need to learn/purchase another program and have to update that program on your computer over time.

Lastly, you could use a contact manager to compose and send a customized email to each customer. A contact manager is a web application (so you don’t have to install it on your computer) that’s intended to send out emails to a list of people. Contact managers generally send out fancier looking emails that your plain text and the software can track who opened the email, etc. Here are some options: MyEmma (about $30/month), iContact (about $9.95/month), or VerticalResponse (about $8/month).

  • Pros: you get nicer looking emails and tech support
  • Cons: you pay for the software each month, whether or not you use it. You need to learn to create nice looking templates for sending your emails (or hire someone to create one for you).