E-mail Marketing Tracking Tools

How to Determine Success Rate of Bulk E-mails

The Internet has revolutionized advertising. Businesses can target specific markets, connect with warm leads and directly measure the success rate of bulk e-mail advertisements.

E-mail marketing tracking tools allow companies to send personalized bulk e-mails to a list of customers or subscribers and track how many opened the e-mail, clicked on links within the message or unsubscribed from the list.

Who Uses E-mail Marketing?

Businesses in every sector, whether operating online or in brick and mortar operations, use e-mail marketing to save money and get a better return on their advertising investment while targeting specific demographics. In fact, Datran Media's 2008 Annual Marketing & Media Survey found that 82.4% of the more than 2,000 respondents planned to increase their use of e-mail marketing in the next year. A staggering 80% felt that e-mail marketing performed strongly as an advertising method, compared to print marketing, which received only a 16.5% positive response.

E-mail marketing tracking shows companies just how effective their marketing efforts are, making it possible to account for every advertising dollar and constantly strive for improvement. 49.6% of online merchants maintain that e-mail marketing performs better than other forms of marketing, including paid search, search engine optimization, direct mail and affiliate marketing (Internet Retailer, 2007).

How Do E-mail Marketing Tracking Tools Work?

E-mail marketing tracking software stores contact information, bulk e-mail history and statistics in a database. Once written, bulk e-mails are sent to the entire list, or certain subsets of contacts, depending on the campaign and the contact's interests.

The software then tracks the delivery of each e-mail and reports back to the system whether or not the e-mail was opened, which hyperlinks were followed and how many contacts opted out of the campaign and off the mailing list.

Where to Find E-mail Marketing Tracking Software

With hundreds of solutions to choose from, selecting an e-mail marketing tracking system can be daunting. Price is an important factor for most businesses; however, saving a few dollars may not be worth giving up key features and functions. Select tracking software based on its ability to meet the needs of the company.

Constant Contact services more than 275,000 e-mail marketers worldwide and offers a free 60-day trial. How to Use Constant Contact is a step-by-step guide to signing up and navigating this popular e-mail marketing system.

SimplyCast.com offers an e-mail marketing system complete with e-mail templates, list management tools, tracking and deliverables management. Plans start at $4.95 per month and increase with the user's needs.

Toronto-based EliteEmail.com (a division of Eliteweb.cc), once featured on CTV and in the Globe and Mail, offers different e-mail marketing solutions for small to large businesses. Interested companies can try out the software, with 24/7 e-mail and live online support, by signing up for a free trial.

For more information on Internet marketing and advertising campaigns, see Online Marketing Programs Defined.