In yesterday’s post, I reviewed Cakemail, a software that, in general, is likely to provide law firms with the basic tools they need to do email marketing. Today, I’ll review FreshMail, another popular marketing automation software.
If you’re already familiar with FreshMail and you’re looking for other marketing automation reviews, you can visit our Email Marketing For Lawyers series page.
Review of FreshMail for Attorney Marketing Automation
FreshMail was created in 2008 and has since won a number of awards for both its creativity as an email marketing software, as well as its effectiveness. FreshMail describes itself as a company interested in making “the friendliest and most powerful email marketing campaign solution in the world.”
FreshMail’s Main Features
Email templates and design: FreshMail has a library with websites that use responsive design, and users can browse through to find templates of interest. Users can also customize templates with the FreshMail designer. If building your own template from scratch is your preference, FreshMail lets its customers use their own HTML designs.
For those who code: FreshMail has a code inspection tool that catches common mistakes while coding email messages. This tool helps users be sure that they’re not using Flash or JavaScript, that they have an unsubscribe button, and more.
Importing contacts: If you’ve got contacts all in one place, or spread out in .csv, .xls, Google or other online services, FreshMail allows you to upload, manage and update your subscribers easily. If you have any overlap in contacts, FreshMail automatically detects and removes any duplicates — which leaves users with a nicely organized list of subscribers.
Subscriber insights: This tool lets users access in-depth information about their subscribers, such as what they’re clicking on, what messages they’re opening, where your subscribers are, what email clients they’re using, and more. FreshMail can also be integrated with Google Analytics.
Sign-up forms: Not only can users add sign-up forms to their website easily, this form immediately adds new subscribers to your contact list, so you won’t have to worry about adding them yourself.
Subscribe on the go: If you’ve got a tablet, FreshMail has an application form so that you can add subscribers while you’re actually interacting with them, whether you’re at a conference, workshop, or other events.
Autoresponders: Automated responses can help facilitate uninterrupted workflow by allowing users to create and send personal follow-up emails which can be triggered automatically by subscriber sign-ups or other customized actions. FreshMail also offers advanced email scheduling.
Inbox inspection and delivery: FreshMail users have the ability to examine their emails from the perspective of over 20 different email clients to ensure that subscribers have an optimal email viewing experience. Additionally, FreshMail customers can utilize a free spam test to make sure that content gets to inboxes rather than spam folders. The test can identify email words that might be considered spam.
A/B (Split) testing: This tool gives users a chance to customize their newsletters based on what appeals to subscribers. You’ll be able to create two versions of one campaign that can test variables like subject line, content or layout, then send the two versions and see which is more likely to engage readers.
Weekday and time optimization: You can send an email at any time — but what if you knew that readers were more likely to open your message on a certain day or at a certain hour? This tool helps users test which day or time is best to reach subscribers.
FreshMail’s Pricing Structure
Of the various email marketing software I’ve reviewed, FreshMail has among the most flexible payment policies. They offer users an option for frequent email senders, and also a pay-as-you-go policy for those who may send fewer, more infrequent emails. Here’s what their pricing looks like:
Advantages for Law Firm Email Marketing
Between its pricing and extensive features, FreshMail has plenty of advantages for law firm email marketing. Best of all, FreshMail offers everyone a free trial of their software. For those who send fewer than 2,000 emails to up to 500 subscribers, FreshMail is completely free. For law firms who have larger subscriber numbers, FreshMail gives users the choice between a monthly plan or a pay-as-you-go option, depending upon your needs. At any number of subscribers, FreshMail is competitively priced, and you can change your plan at any time.
FreshMail will likely offer law firms all of the basic features they need to get started with email marketing, and then some: whether you’re brand new to email marketing or have more experience and thus require advanced tools, FreshMail appears to have lots of ways to help improve your law firm’s marketing automation and subscriber engagement.
For much of the email marketing software I’ve reviewed, one thing that consistently seems to come up is the lack of — or over-abundance of — email templates. Too few or too many templates can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending upon your personal preferences. While FreshMail gives users many different features, they seem to take the middle of the road approach with their templates: Not too few, not too many, and always with the option to customize. This approach may lift some of the “analysis paralysis” worries from lawyers who struggle to make decisions when presented with too many options, or for those who might get frustrated when they’re not given enough choices.
FreshMail’s Potential Drawbacks For Law Offices
While overall this appears to be a great email marketing software, there might be one drawback when it comes to HTML-savvy users: It appears FreshMail doesn’t allow its users to edit HTML templates within their own, “FreshMail Designer” editor. Instead, it appears users must create and edit the code elsewhere and then add it to FreshMail. However, FreshMail does offer another tool, the CKEditor, upfront. FreshMail describes this editor as one that “create(s) simple emails with basic options of formatting and the ability to edit in HTML.”
It’s a small issue, but it could be a bit frustrating for those who are highly detail oriented and would like to do all of their email marketing work within the FreshMail editor.
Summary of FreshMail for Law Firms
Between their competitive cost and flexible pricing options, as well as the number of features this software offers users, FreshMail is likely a good choice for law firms who are looking to improve their email marketing and increase their productivity.
Are you interested in an email marketing software that we haven’t yet blogged about? Send us a message to make a request, and we’ll be happy to review it.
