Plan (1) by Juan

I have tried several e-mail marketing providers. I started with Constant Contact, continued with Vertical Response, and the latest one I have been using is GetResponse.

Of the three mentioned companies, the one that impressed me the most is Constant Contact. Unfortunately to me, I was a newbie in the e-mail marketing world and did not have a good idea of the rules that companies have. So I was able to send two or three newsletters, and was amazed by the reporting available. I was able to tell who opened an email at what time, and what links attracted a person, and even tell if they filled out a form or bought a product. I was amazed by this.

As I was saying, misfortune ran by my side, when I got a phone call by a Constant Contact rep explaining that according to their standards, we had surpassed the limited amounts of SPAM requests, which was roughly about 1-2% – We had a 7% of spam requests.

After some time without an e-mail marketing solution, a co-worker came up to me and mentioned that at his previous job they used the services from Vertical Response. I went ahead and tried their product. I figured their reporting was not as precise as the Constant Contact ones, yet the variety of the newsletter designs offered and the simplicity to send an e-newsletter motivated me to buy a package of a couple of thousands contacts.

After some prepared newsletters we decided to start an auto-responder campaign. Bad news:  Vertical Response did not offer an auto responder nor they were planning on offering one for quite some time (as per a rep that I chatted online).

It was, then, a good time to re-start my search for a suitable service. I couldn’t get Constant Contact back, nor I wanted to. So I remembered that I had tried another service – GetResponse. To be brief, their service is simple yet comprehensive. You can send newsletters, auto-responders (called Follow-ups) and surveys, all for one price. Now, this is important, because most companies offer surveys as an extra, meaning that you have to pay more or even get a different account for surveys.

In a time where interaction with clients and prospects is fundamental in any part of the funnel, I found the service from GetResponse one of the most comprehensive in the market. I would like to keep researching for companies. I know Experian has one that I currently do not remember its name.

So, hope you enjoyed this post and I would like to encourage you to join the discussion and post your opinions regarding e-mail marketing companies.

Thank you for sharing.

As an ex- loyal customer of T-Mobile’s services, I had to switch to MetroPCS. At the beginning I thought there was only one reason for me to change to the later brand: lowest price in the market.

I am getting unlimited talk + text + web + international calls (to fixed phones) + international text messaging, all for only $55 a month – in a family plan. Don’t tell me that is not a bargain, because it is, however you look at it, there is no other carrier that offers these services for such a low cost.

As I was saying, I thought that the pricing was the only reason for my departure from T-Mobile. Well, after a not-so-deep research, I read some blogs saying that MetroPCS is planning to implement a (pay attention to this) 4G network service by the end of 2010. Having in mind that their phones + accessories are kind of prehistoric, there is the rumor that MetroPCS will bring some Android phones. Should we believe these rumors? Can it get better than that?

The truth is that I am so excited about what “is” coming, and the pricing for its services, that I needed to devote a blog post to it. I was in a family plan with other 4 people, sharing 750 minutes, unlimited text messages and web (only me), and I was contributing $47.50 (not including a $12 Skype plan called “Unlimited World”). So please, MetroPCS, please, do not change your pricing structure!

The only defect? the phones, as I said. But with this 4G + android gossip, they have me full of hope. Do not disappoint me!

In a downturn economy, the best thing a company can offer is great value for the price it is charging, and why not, promise even better service for the same low price. Oh! and, by the way, I am now able to use my Google Voice number – although I wish I could sync it to my Samsung BB-like phone… but well, for $55, I am not asking for anything else right now. Maybe in 4 months.

Thanks for sharing.

Yes, I know – I have been busy at work, attending several webinars (per week), reading articles online, commenting on other people/companies’ blogs, and just learning more about what I do, and about what I want to do with my career. I have been trying to update my Linkedin profile, but I haven’t even had time to do that. Embarrasing, yup.

Predicating what to do, but showing what not to do. Well, in the past couple of weeks I learned several things that I want to replicate here:

- First of all, I have been attending several of MarketingProfs webinars/ online seminars for social media. The most recent one was last week, on their newly implemented Digital Marketing World 2010 (highly recommended)

- Well, according to some of the speakers, the best bloggers (or real bloggers) blog about 2-3 times every week. I am far from that! and I need to work on this feature – I’m willing and eager to begin.

- Most of the time my problem is, “what do I write about?” since this question has been appearing several times, much more than what I can accept, I decided to take a look at a 10-tips-list by jimvesting.com

1. Make a list.
2. Interview Your Peers.
3. Review a Service Opportunity.
4. Bash a service/opportunity
5. Answer a reader’s question.
6. Write a tutorial post
7. Add to a blogpost or conversation
8. Niche blog posts
9. Write what is Hot!
10. Go to Bed (most likely)

Of course, I won’t do all of these at once, but I’ll work on writing three times a week, about something, anything, wahtever comes into my mind.