A Step-by-Step Guide to ESPs

Email service providers, also known as ESPs, are tools that help to completely change the way you do business for the better.

ESPs are referred to as front-end platforms that allow users to set up things such as subscriber lists, templates, schedules for messaging, and email marketing campaigns.

With that being said, ESPs come in many different forms. That is why it is so important to take the time and consider which one is the right fit for you. Email service provider refers to the platform you use to create and launch an email campaign. It also helps a user successfully send an enterprise email marketing campaign.

Functionalities

The functionalities of ESPs are important to know. Some of them include:

• See statistics as well as reports of email campaigns and individual emails to measure your email campaign success
• Create email templates or use pre-made ones to suit your campaign
• Send emails and allow users to distribute their messages to subscribers
• Maintain a healthy subscriber list uploaded by the user for distributing messages

The most popular ESP

As of now, the most well-known email marketing service is Mailchimp. Mailchimp is mostly used by smaller and mid-sized email marketing senders who aren’t really looking to get a lot from their email marketing service. Some competitors are far cheap.

Others are also far more advanced with more customer service. However, Mailchimp seems to continue to lead the way. There are well over 450 different email service providers. Each one differs and has its own way of doing things. This is just one of the reasons that it can be so hard to make your selection.

The main benefits

Working with an effective email service provider allows you to engage with your customers effectively via email marketing. It has been proven that email marketing is the number one channel consumers use to maintain contact with the specific brands that they follow and enjoy. This is mainly attributed to the fact that customers can easily access their email through their mobile devices.

Email marketing is also one of the top channels that customers use to respond to offers. That is why working with an email service provider helps to maintain subscriber loyalty while also nurturing your customers.

Common email marketing mistakes

One of the biggest mistakes that companies make is buying their subscriber lists instead of only keeping in touch with their loyal customers who have opted into receiving their emails. Consumers usually hate random emails hitting their inboxes. Studies have shown that consumers receiving emails they didn’t ask for can significantly affect their opinion of the brand itself.

Another huge mistake is sending too many emails. Most of the time, this ends in subscribers not engaging at all or simply unsubscribing. Companies can easily avoid these mistakes by monitoring their engagement.