With regard to specialties, for example, Constant Contact, a very popular service, fo-cuses on integrating emails with events. Let’s say you have a show coming up. Constant
Contact lets you set up an event information page that includes a description of the show,
its time and location, along with a map. Plus, these information pages are highly custom-
izable. You can add in links to your site, social media and even add links to sound bytes
and video. You can also add links to purchase tickets, merchandise and more.
The information page is tied to an email message that is sent to your subscriber list on
a predetermined day and time. You can also set up multiple email messages to be sent at
predetermined times on specific dates. After the message is sent, you can log onto your
Constant Contact account and review the message statistics. This is very handy stuff. You
can see how many subscribers, by name, opened your email; when they opened it; how
many times the opened it; what links they clicked; how many opt-out were requested and
how many email addresses bounced. These statistics, over time, allow you to learn what’s
important to your subscribers and to develop content that is valuable to them, based on
open rates and click thrus.
AWeber offers similar features and tools, but focuses on autoresponders. An autore-
sponder is an automatic email, or series of emails, that is sent after a trigger is activated,
usually subscribing to an e-newsletter or responding to a free download offer, usually
some sort of e-book or report. It can be a great way to keep in touch with your sub-
scribers without needing to craft emails all the time. You create the response, or re-
sponses, once, set up the sending schedule and you’re done. Autoresponders can be useful
to promote a new CD or single song downloads, upcoming shows, news and other infor-
mation.