A newsletter system is a system that helps the newsletter publisher manages their newsletter. Managing a newsletter manually can be very tedious and overwhelming. Therefore, there was a need for devising systems that assist newsletter publishers in accomplishing the tasks that the running of a newsletter entails. Newsletter systems are frequently called autoresponders, automatic responders, email newsletter management services, email newsletter managers. All these names designate the same thing. There are a few newsletter systems but most of them, if not all, are of poor quality. A good email newsletter system costs around $19 per month.
The question that a publisher may ask is ‘what should I look for when choosing a newsletter system?’ Since there are several newsletter management systems on the market, it is wise to choose the most appropriate one. The cheapest one is not always the right choice. We will try to shed some light on some important features that a good newsletter manager should provide. Some of these features are essential whereas others add extra benefit and further help the publisher save time and effort.
Your newsletter service should help you manage and automate subscription. The subscription process can be usually fully automate, so it goes smoothly without the intervention of the publisher. Additionally, your autoresponder service should provide you with ready made signup forms that you can place directly on your website. These forms are used to collect subscriber details such as their first name and email address. If you do not have readymade subscription forms, you will have to create them yourself or buy them.
Your autoresponder should also automate the subscription confirmation process. In other words, when a person subscribes to the newsletter, the autoresponder sends them a confirmation email and prompt them to click on the confirmation link contained in it. The newsletter email personalization feature is another thing that your autoresponder should support. In other terms, your autoresponder should automatically personalize your newsletter emails by placing the first name of each subscriber in the newsletter issue that is sent to him or her. This feature enables you to create a sense of familiarity with your readers, build a relationship, and eventually gain their trust.
The sending of the newsletter needs to be fully automated. You should be able to set the time (date and hour) on which the newsletter is to be sent to subscribers. You also need to be capable of determining the order in which the newsletter issues are sent.
Tracking performance is a vital task that each newsletter publisher should attend to. Your newsletter service should give you detailed statistics and reports on the performance of your newsletter. It tells you, for example, how many subscribers you have, the number of confirmed subscribers, the number of nonconfirmed subscribers, the open rate of your newsletter articles, the number of subscription cancellation, the pageviews of the subscription form, etc. These data will help you spot any weaknesses that you may have in the running of your newsletter so that you can fix them. Some email newsletter systems give geographical data as well, such as the countries from which subscribers come.