If you've got a mailing list, these tools make it much easier than using your own email to stay in touch, create newsletters and track who's reading your communications. Most of them are hosted solutions, which means you use them through a website and there's no software to download. Pricing is either a flat rate per month, or by number of contacts or number of emails sent per month.
Most offer the following key features:
- List management
- A way to collect emails from website visitors
- Email creation in text or HTML (ability to add color, fonts, images, etc.)
- Tracking and Reporting
Constant Contact: Most of the functionality you'll need for a pretty low price. However, the templates are a little dated, and the newsletter creation tool is somewhat clugy. Also have a built-in survey creation tool which is pretty handy (costs extra).
Emma: Have all the basics, but their claim to fame is they'll create a custom newsletter template for your business for about $200. Not a bad branding option if graphic design isn't your strength.
Vertical Response: What makes these guys different is that they'll create coordinated postcards for you too. Good for when you want to combine email and snail mail.
MailChimp: Haven't tried this one myself, but one of my clients is very happy with this one.
StreamSend: Have some advanced tools which are pretty cool, like one that lets you set up A-B tests to measure the results of different emails. Claims to be the email marketing tool for marketers. Have to try this one myself.
AWeber: An autoresponder that allows you to get back to customers, even when you don't have the time to answer every email. Could be very useful for predominantly ecommerce sites when you get a lot of tire-kickers.
GotMarketing Campaigner: Offers many of the same bells and whistles as Constant Contact. Sign up for the free trials to see which one is better for you.
iContact: Here's a new one not added to the downloadable list yet. Haven't tried it myself. They claim to be less expensive than Constant Contact, and it looks like they offer about the same features.
If you know of others we haven't mentioned or have feedback about our list, please let us know.