The Best Open Source Email Marketing
Open source software can help your business send secure, attractive marketing emails to your customers with little or no programming knowledge. Aside from the money you gain through marketing, your business can save money in software costs since open source email marketing software is often free.
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Features
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A major problem with using a typical email client to send marketing emails is the amount of time it takes to produce a quality email. For example, you could add all your customers to an email contact group and insert the group in the "Bcc" field of your marketing emails. Yet a customer wouldn't see his own email address in the "To" field, which might make him suspect your email is spam. Also, while you can copy-paste a design template into the email, you take the risk that it won't appear properly to recipients. Software takes the guesswork out of sending marketing emails since it provides the forms, processing and databases you need so you don't need advanced programming knowledge. Unlike proprietary software, open source software is often free, so you can focus your business efforts on making money, not paying to market.
Software Examples
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SendBlaster, phplist and poMMo are three popular brands of open source email marketing software. All are free and have similar features -- such as customizable email design templates, personalized email capabilities and subscription options -- yet your personal preferences may determine which works for your business. For example, you might learn by looking at the product demonstration or screenshots for one of the brands that you don't like the layout of the administration panel. Use these options before downloading a product to save time and frustration.
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Customization
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Open source software licenses usually allow you to change the software as you wish. You may alter the code until it barely resembles the original, for example, or you may change it slightly and redistribute it as your own product -- your limits depend on the particular license. Read the license before you download email marketing software to ensure it's what your business needs. You might find, for example, that the license forbids you to remove the maker's logo from the software, which may pose a problem if you don't want to advertise another business in your emails to customers.
Updates
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Since open source software makers typically allow the public to contribute to the software's code to improve it, updates may become available soon after someone discovers a "bug," or flaw, in the code. Frequent updates protect you by removing vulnerabilities in the software that may allow someone to hack your email system or that may detract from your recipients' enjoyment of your emails. Visit the maker's website at least once a month to check for new updates to your software.
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