How An SMTP Rely Service Helps

Unless you are an IT professional or have a special interest in learning more about how to use email more efficiently you have probably never heard of an SMTP relay service. Don’t worry if you haven’t, they are relatively simple to understand and once you know the basics seeing why they are so useful will be a breeze.

Understanding the Basics
SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and it is the most common way that all internet email systems communicate with each other. Basically the SMTP relay acts a lot like a snail mail post offic mail sorting facility. It reads the incoming email to determine where it should go to and then sends it to the respective SMTP server.

The use of SMTP means that the email address us type in to the receiver, and yours as the sender, are unlikely associated with a particular email client on an SMTP server. This is why email gets to you each and every time through the same server systems.

What are SMTP Relay Services?
Without using an SMTP relay service every individual email sent and received has to come from a specific dedicated email client which is on your SMTP server. This then relays or passes forward the message to the receivers SMTP server, even if it is not the same as yours.

Without the use of an SMTP relay service your email server could only send to email addresses also on that server, which would make emailing virtually impossible as a technology. It would be as if you could only mail letters to people that use your same post office and same postal code.

Open and User Authentication SMTP Relay Service Options
An open SMTP relay service allows the server to send emails anywhere and to and from any email address. In other words, it is completely open to all users. If spammers are on these systems they can quickly send millions of emails to all other open SMTP servers through the relay.

User authentication SMTP relay service is stricter in the types of emails they can process. This is because the user is authenticated through their SMTP server which is then relayed to the receiving SMTP server as proof that the email is not spam and, in fact, is from an authorized sender.

Using an SMTP relay service, particularly a user authentication system, will ensure that your emails get where you need them to be without being mislabeled as spam.

The Benefits Of Using A Bulk Email Service For A Small Business

As a small business owner or a manager you may think that your current email provider is doing a great job handling your email needs. What you may not know if you are not using a bulk email service is that some of your emails, including your sales and marketing bulk emails, are either not being delivered or are ending up going directly to spam.  

The Problems with Your Email
The reasons that these issues happen has to do with how an email server both handles the outgoing bulk email and how the receiving email servers see it. When there are bulk emails sent from specific email addresses, and you are not using a bulk email service, they are simply tagged as spam and never hit your customer’s inboxes.

The other issue that you may not be aware of is that all email servers have a limit as to the number of outgoing emails they will process per day. This can be as low as 200 or much higher and it is based on the service and the system in use. If you are not using a bulk email service any emails over that amount may be queued until the system resets, typically in 24 hours, or they may simply be deleted off the system.  

The Answer is in a Bulk Email Service
A bulk email service, on the other hand, is set up to handle any number of outgoing emails without impacting your regular email server. You simply develop a professional looking email using a customizable template and send it through the bulk email service that has all your contacts in a database.

The system will quickly send all your emails, complete a track and trace, and even provide real time reports on when they are delivered to the customer’s inbox. Top systems can even go beyond that and tell you the time that your customers opened the email sent through the bulk email service and even if they opened the email more than once.

 Using a bulk email service is the only way for any sized business to make sure that their mass marketing campaigns are delivered, tracked, and don’t end up as spam.

Choosing The Best From The Top Email Marketing Providers

As a business owner, marketing manager or an entrepreneur finding email marketing providers can be a bit overwhelming if you aren’t familiar with all the different features, options, packages and variables offered.

This can become even more complicated when browsing through the websites of email marketing providers you are considering and getting caught up in the package that they are promoting or the services that they indicate you have to have. 

 

To avoid these issues, and to ensure you get the right company for your needs, there are some simple steps that you can take even if you aren’t a techie. By using these strategies you can compare different email marketing providers and find one that works for your business at a price that you can afford. 

 

List Your Needs

Start by considering what you want the email marketing providers to be able to do for your company. This can include how many subscribers you have now and how fast you anticipate growth. Since you will be paying by subscriber you don’t want to overestimate or take on a big package and end up paying for systems that you don’t use. 

 

Consider how each of the email marketing companies allows you to upgrade as well so your email provider can keep pace with your growth. 

 

Ease of Use

For those not comfortable with doing things on their own look at email marketing providers that have a good selection of templates, easy user interfaces and basic control options that are intuitive to use. 

 

Most companies will provide a demo or trail of their services so you can test out the system and get a feel for its ease of use. 

 

Analytics

Carefully reviewing the different tracking and reporting options that different email marketing providers give you is also critical. Like user interfaces and templates you want these reports and tracking options to be simple to use and understand and also designed to track relevant information. 

 

The top email marketing providers actually provide real time reporting and tracking of emails, which can be valuable in many ways for companies. The more options that the company offers for tracking that is relevant and insightful the more effective you can make your email marketing right from your first customer contact.

Tips For Setting Up A Great Corporate Email ID System

Choosing a uniform way to set up your corporate email ID that can grow as your business grows is an important consideration. Unfortunately many companies don’t stop to think about the little issues that can come up in setting up an email throughout a business and end up with unworkable email addresses. 

 

One of the least effective ways to set up your corporate email ID system is to simply allow employees to choose their own identification. This results in an inconsistent way to identify people throughout the company and can lead to emails constantly going astray. 

 

Choosing a Top Corporate Email ID

One of the first things that you need to do is decide on the corporate ID itself. Ideally it should link to your website or company name in a very clear and easy to determine way. For example if you are starting the XYZ Toy Company a good corporate email ID could be:

• xyztoyco.com
• xyztoys.com
• xyztoycompany.com

These clearly indicate your brand and allow people to easily email you even if they aren’t looking right at their contact list. Less effective email IDs would leave out the XYZ or the toy company information. 

 

Personal Identification

Having a personal approach to corporate email ID development is preferable over simply using a title or a department. This helps to create the interpersonal connection between your clients and your employees that is essential in business growth and client retention. 

 

Instead of having an email that is sent to “complaints”, “orders”, “techsupport” or “customerservice” @xyztoyco.com use the actual person’s name that will be assisting the client in ordering, with technical support, or in placing an order. 

 

Personal Names

Having a standard way of identifying people in corporate email ID that is uniform throughout the company is also important so emails get where they are supposed to go. Use a standard system that can include first and last names, first initials and last names or any combination. 

 

Try to avoid just first names as your corporate email ID system as hiring two people with the same name then creates the need to add to the last hired email address that makes it out of synch with the others.

How To Increase Your Mass Email Marketing Contact List

There are a lot of different options to generate a list of people that want to be included in your company’s mass email marketing campaign. Unfortunately some companies use strategies and options that not only are irritating to customers but that are considered to be unethical and even against internet use policies. 

 

It is important to avoid mass email marketing where people have not elected to be included. In other words, have people opt-in to your emails rather than simply cold emailing from a list. Ideally customers will get to your opt-in button through visiting your website, interacting with your business Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram account or through actually providing their email at a trade fair or other type of personal interaction with your company. 

 

Current Customers

Asking your current customers, at the time of purchase, to opt into your mass email marketing program is a great idea. At this time they are interested in your products and your company and, if they get a welcome or thank you email and the newsletter attached, they can then choose to continue to receive them through the opt-in process. 

 

People do like practical, informative and relevant mass email marketing programs that share what they want to learn more about. Short stories, how to tips, videos, links to other resources and even ideas for alternative uses for products are all popular with consumers. 

 

Target Different People for Different Mass Email Marketing

Although it may be called mass email marketing, everyone that is on your contact list or in your customer database is not interested in the same things. Learning more about your customers through surveys during the sign-up process can be helpful in sending just the email marketing that they need to have. 

 

By shorting or categorizing clients or customers by interests, purchases and buying habits, geographic location, age or other relevant data you can easy tweak a newsletter to be relevant to many different groups. Using templates that are very user friendly further simplifies this process. 

 

Taking full advantage of different mass email marketing strategies to build your contact lists and customer databases is essential, but getting a top quality newsletter out to your customers is just as important.

Three Reasons A Dedicated SMTP Server Is A Business Asset

In business, regardless of the size or the type, everything is either an asset or a liability. Those things that help your business grow, expand and thrive, such as a dedicated SMTP server, quality marketing and advertising programs, and use of social media are assets. Those that don’t benefit your company and cost you money are costly liabilities.

There are several ways that you can use your dedicated SMTP server asset to help your business, learn more about your email marketing campaigns, and even speed up how your email is being delivered to your customers and clients.

Avoid Becoming Spam
When you use a top company offering a dedicated SMTP server and management package you have the ability to literally track each and every email you send, even those bulk marketing emails. This is not offered through all packages and all companies, but it is an important option to consider.

With this ability you can easily eliminate people from your distribution lists and databases that are indicating that your marketing emails are spam. This will ensure that your company’s corporate ID is not compromised and that your emails get through to those that request them, open them and that value the information you provide.

Routing in the Fast Lane
With a dedicated SMTP server you never have to worry about your bulk delivery ending up in a queue waiting for everyone else’s bulk delivery to go through. Instead, the email will be send as soon as you schedule it and you can track it, in real time, to see just how quickly it reaches your customers and then when and how often they open it or click on embedded links.

Another benefit to consider with routing is that a dedicated SMTP server will always ensure that the routing for your email delivery is the fastest option. Your email will go from Point A to Point B quickly and efficiently.
Remember also that a top company that provides dedicated SMTP server services should also provide 24/7 support. This will ensure that your email is always up and running and integrates with all your current applications including webmail and bulk mail sending systems and applications.

3 Ways To Enhance Your Bulk Email Marketing Strategy

Most businesses use some form of bulk email marketing to get their product, brand, service or company front and center in the minds of their customers. However, email marketing that is never read, or even worse marked as spam, is not effective and may actually be hurting your ability to reach new clients and customers.

The key to a successful bulk email marketing strategy is to know what information you want to provide to your customers, what your customers want to know to get them interested in your products, and what types of writing, content and marketing campaigns actually generate trips to your website to make a purchase.

This is all information that is available from a bulk email marketing service that offers tracking options. Using the analytics available today prevents you from simply thinking that your customers find value in your emails to actually having the data that backs up that claim. 

 

Newsletters

Newsletters are a wonderful way to both promote your business and products as well as provide selective information for your customers about what you want them to buy. By carefully selecting your newsletter content to address how your products and services can fill a need in their life your bulk email marketing campaign will generate interest in your website and increased sales.

To monitor this use a bulk email marketing program that offers link tracking. This will allow you to see if customers get to your website by clicking on links from your newsletters. 

 

Targeted Promotions

Another essential consideration is to have some way through your bulk email marketing service to track customer interests, purchases and their geographic locations. This will provide you with the data you need to target your newsletters, promotions or even special event sales to only those that the information is relevant for. 

 

Set Up Reminders or Reorders

Sending customers a reminder or reorder form through bulk email marketing is a simple way to ensure that they order again from your company. These emails can be custom set depending on the reorder timeline based on the customer’s initial purchase. 

 

There is so much more to bulk email marketing campaigns than just sending out a sales flyer or a brochure. To take full advantage of the options you do need to collect information and data through tracking and not just rely on what you think is working.