Direct email marketing software is software that enables you to handle your very own bulk email marketing campaign rather than paying per piece to use online bulk emailing services or paying a marketing firm to do your bulk email promotions.

Bulk email marketing is certainly one of the most cost-effective strategies in internet marketing, especially if you do not have to pay a set price for every email that is sent out.

The pricing structure associated with your method of accomplishing bulk email marketing has an impact on the cost- effectiveness of your email marketing campaign.

Using software can save money if you have the time to put into developing and managing your own email marketing.

There is a number of direct email marketing software packages available on the market. Some are even shareware programs that don't require an initial investment or ongoing costs.

They don't generally have the value-added features that come with software packages that you purchase; however, if you aren't running a large email marketing campaign, they may suit your needs for accomplishing specific tasks just fine.

A good, comprehensive email marketing software package should provide some basic features that will enable you to effectively develop and manage your email marketing campaign.

Some of the features to look for include templates, list management capabilities, and a tracking system.

With these basic features, you will be able to build your mailing list, craft your email marketing message and analyze the results from your email marketing campaign to determine what is and what is not effective.

The ability to send both text and HTML messages can be important, especially if you want to personalize your email messages automatically.

HTML templates that are pre-designed are available with some direct email marketing software.

With such templates, you simply fill in the blanks and you don't have to worry about knowing how to write HTML code to accomplish personalization.

The flexibility of the templates in regard to being able to alter them to suit your company's image or to devise your own customized design is something to consider as well.

List management features of direct email marketing software should provide you with the capability of building an opt-in list as well as providing automated management of opt-outs which enable recipients of the email to unsubscribe or to be removed from your mailing list.

Manual management of the task of opt-ins and opt-outs can be incredibly time consuming and if you use email marketing on a large scale, it can even be impossible.

You should also be able to categorize the addresses on your email lists so that you can send relevant information to interested parties.

Tracking features in direct email marketing software are highly desirable.

Software packages with tools that provide you with a statistical breakdown that tells you whether or not your email messages are being read and which links in your messages are being followed will help you to better manage your email marketing campaign and to improve its effectiveness.

There is no sense in sending marketing messages that don't draw results, so tracking the results of your messages and making changes as needed is essential.

The capability of setting up auto responders for the purpose of follow-up or to answer subscribers' questions is also a value- added benefit of some email marketing programs.

Reviewing a large number of email marketing software options is definitely in your best interest.

Features of the software programs as well as costs are something to consider when choosing software for your email marketing campaigns.

Compatibility with the hardware you are using is also something to consider. With a good email marketing software program you can stay in contact with your customers and leads, save money on marketing and simplify your email marketing campaign so it won't be too time consuming for you.