SendX
Email software to send campaigns, build lists, and automate marketing
Email Service Provider (ESP) 101
Table of Contents
What is an Email Service Provider (ESP)?
Email Service Providers or ESPs let you send bulk emails to a list of people who have subscribed to your email list.
ESPs are companies that help you store the email addresses of your subscribers, provide you with the necessary tools required to craft emails and then send the emails to everyone in your email list.
Apart from just sending emails, ESPs offer a variety of other features as well, to help you make the most out of email marketing. For example,
- Automation: to help automate certain tasks such as sending a welcome email when a new persons subscribes, or tagging people who have not engaged with your emails for a while
- Segmentation: categorising your audience based on their behaviour and interests so that you can send targeted emails.
- A/B testing: on email subject lines and email body to test different forms of content and use the one which works the best.
- Landing pages and embedded forms: to help you capture the traffic on your website and get more people on your email list.
- Email Analytics: to see if your audience is engaging with your content or not with the help of data (quantitative metrics & qualitative heatmaps)
Why do you need an ESP?
To put it bluntly, you need an ESP to grow your business. With ESPs, you can grow your business at a greater pace. Why? Because 3.9 billion people check emails everyday and a whopping 73% of them prefer emails to communicate with businesses. If your potential customers or audience are using emails and you are not, then you are missing out on an awful lot of great opportunities. You need to be wherever your customers are.
If you still think that your regular email providers like Gmail and the likes can rescue you here, then I suggest you read this guide by SendX to understand the issues that you might face with Gmail.
| Gmail | ESPs |
| Gmail has a limit of 50 or so emails that you can send per day. | With ESPs like SendX you can send unlimited emails everyday. |
| No information whether subscribers are opening the emails or not. | Get a detailed report with a variety of data metrics like open rates, etc. |
| People will start marking you as spam as there is no unsubscribe button. | Little chances of being marked as spam as there is an unsubscribe button at the end of the email. |
| No additional features to make email marketing easy for you. | Features are automation, segmentation, A/B testing makes email marketing easier and efficient for you. |
If you still think that your regular email providers like Gmail can rescue you here, then I suggest you read this guide by SendX to understand the issues in detail.
With ESPs you can catch the attention of your subscribers as they will see you popping in their inbox everyday. Without any fear of being marked as spam.
You can send emails to sell your products directly to your subscribers, give them coupon codes, inform them about necessary updates, and a lot more.
As you move ahead with your email marketing, you will build a relationship with your subscribers. You can further nurture this relationship by sending them a birthday wish, or giving them extra discounts when you achieve milestones, like completing a year with them, etc.
Okay, now you know how ESPs can change the game of your business. But how do you choose the right ESP for your business? Let’s see how!
How to choose an ESP?
Three key things to keep in mind when choosing an ESP:
Marketing Goals: Choosing the right ESP that caters to your email marketing needs is extremely important. If you choose the wrong one then you will either overpay for the features or services you don’t even need. Or even if you get a cheaper deal your email marketing requirements might not be met.
Budget: When choosing an ESP, go with the one that strikes the perfect balance between your email marketing needs and your budget. For example, if you are just starting out with email marketing, then you won’t need any advanced features. Most probably, your email list is small too. And it would be awesome if the ESP has great customer service to guide you through your email marketing journey.
Resources Available: There are hundreds of ESPs out there and deciding which one to go ahead with, might be a little overwhelming. To help you there, I’d suggest giving SendX a shot. Whether you are a beginner, a pro email marketer or someone in the middle, SendX has affordable plans for every email marketer.
With Sendx, no matter which plan you opt for, you get access to all the features, from basic to advanced. And the pricing starts at just $7.49 per month.
Don’t believe me? Looks unreal? Try the 14-day free trial and decide for yourself. No credit card? Not a problem with SendX. Go check it out!
