Running an online business is pretty hard to do without a way to communicate with your prospects and customers. And in a virtual world, the most reliable way to do that remains email.
But how do you send emails to your audience? What is the best way to reach your audience when you want to reach them, and to control the message they get?
By sending emails.
Seems like a simple answer, I know. You know you can’t send them out from your personal email in a one off way, that’s way too much work and would take your entire day.
So you start looking at other options, ways to send email in bulk, to add people to your list, and to have a conversation with them. You look online, in some FB groups, and it seems like everyone has an opinion.
So, how do you sort through all the noise and choose the best platform for your business, whatever stage you are in?
By asking yourself some simple questions, and then asking the platforms some simple questions.
Questions to ask yourself
- How large will my list likely be in 12 months
- How will I add people to my list (imagine all the ways you will want to add them, not only now, but in the future)
- What types of emails will I send? Promotional, delivery, segmented
- How much time am I willing and able to put into sorting and managing email addresses?
- Do I usually work last minute, needing things set up and sent out very quickly, or do I work with a longer timeline from conception to action?
- How technically proficient am I?
It is valuable to be as realistic as possible when you answer these questions. There is no right or wrong answer, and it is a waste of time to judge your answers.
The important thing to to answer these questions honestly. It is through honest answers that you will be able to best choose the software that will work for you.
Once you’ve answered these questions, and written the answers down, it’s time to formulate the list you will ask the companies you are considering working with.
Whether it is MailChimp, InfusionSoft or Keap, ActiveCampaign, Zoho One or something else, these questions must be asked before you make any decisions to make sure you get the most out of the system you choose, and that you aren’t surprised later on.
Questions to ask your prospective email service:
If I change services, is my data my own?
How do you handle spam complaints? Is there a magic number that triggers you to do something specific with my list and, if so, what is that?
Do you require all opt ins to double opt in, or do you leave that up to me?
Will I be charged based on services, subscriber count and/or any other variables?
Can I have multiple users or do I need to share my login info if I have anyone else help with my account?
Is there a limit on how many emails I can send to my list on a daily, weekly or monthly basis?
How much segmenting do you allow? Are there any automations that I can run to segment my list?
Again, write all these answers down and make sure you know which answers came from which providers.
Once you have all of the answers, you simply need to look at your answers, look at theirs, and find the company that the answers intersect with the most.
Going through this process doesn’t have to take a lot of time. This can all be done in an afternoon if you buckle down and get it all done at once.
And I promise you, the time you take now will save you multiple times over from making the wrong choice and having to change systems in 60 or 90 days when you realize you need a different system.
So there you have it. The 13 questions that will help make sure you choose a system that will work with you and your business.
Remember, these questions apply to you whether your business is just starting or you are preparing for growth and scaling.
Do you have other questions you like to ask when choosing software platforms? Drop them in the comments below and let’s help each other make great choices and build strong business systems.
