All About Targeted Email Advertising

One of the most important aspects about targeted email advertising is the list of addresses to send mail to. These email addresses for targeted email advertising can either by farmed by you, rented from a list broker, or purchased from a list manager. Whatever method or combination of methods you choose should be evaluated for results because the purchasing and renting options for lists in targeted email advertising can get very expensive. You want any type of advertising to produce results effectively, quickly, and cheaply. Targeted email advertising is no exception to these goals. These goals can be achieved much more efficiently by using software tools to help you in your targeted email advertising campaign. Here are some features you should be looking for when evaluating a targeted email advertising software tool for your campaign:

Targeted Email Advertising Software Feature 1: The tool should read from files or a database

The targeted email advertising software tool should be able to read a list you purchase from a database or file. A targeted email advertising software tool typically will read a list of email addresses stored in a computer file or database and one by one assemble the text and attachments and send out. This can happen very fast.

Targeted Email Advertising Software Feature 2: The tool should allow for management of lists

If you are being charged by the email that leaves your server, you had better be able to manage the lists in your targeted email advertising software. That means that the targeted email advertising software tool should track the bounces or at least the returned mail with no recipient. Some tools can even track mail you sent reported as spam.

The targeted email advertising tool should also allow one to organize the lists so that email can be sent to specific interest groups. For example, if you are selling medical supplies, you only want to target email addresses associated with medical services.

Targeted Email Advertising Software Feature 3: The tool should be configurable

The targeted email advertising software tool should be configurable for items such as the reply-to address and the outgoing SMTP server. This is a good place to mention about the SMTP server. If you buy a Windows desktop or server-based (as opposed to a web-based service) you will need a SMTP client running. SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transport Protocol. Your internet service provider (ISP) usually provides you with access to their SMTP server however you typically cannot use it for bulk mailing (they will lock your access). It is best to buy a subscription to a service such as Smtp2go (www.smtp2go.com) where you pay the subscription rate based on how much email you send out. This is for non-web based mailers. If you use a web subscription service then you are paying them for the traffic handling.

Targeted Email Advertising Software Feature 4: The tool should have a WYSIWYG editor and templates How your targeted email advertising message is formatted is just as important as to how it is delivered. It should provide with you an editor so you can format it the way you like in a "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) method. The targeted email advertising tool should also have pre-formatted templates so you can format messages even quicker with a professional look.