Five mostly free mass mailing applications

Reaching large numbers of customers, clients, or members takes special tools. Here are five applications that can facilitate mass mailings.

Although I would never condone spamming, there are plenty of legal and ethical uses for mass mailing applications. Mass mailing applications are commonly used for opt-in advertising, communicating with group members (clubs, churches, etc.), or for newsletter or blog post distribution. This article lists five applications that can facilitate mass mailings.

Five Apps

1. Bigg Mass Mailer

Bigg Mass Mailer is a free tool for generating mass mailings. The best thing about this tool (aside from the price) is probably its simplicity. Bigg Mass Mailer has a very clean and straightforward interface that allows you to specify your mail server’s credentials, compose your message, import your mailing list, and click Send. This utility could not be any simpler to use.

2. e-Campaign

e-Campaign is a full featured mass E-mail tool that is a good fit for those who wish to create and monitor an E-mail marketing campaign. The software allows you to create a series of mailing jobs, and messages can be sent in HTML or plain text. More importantly, the tool has rich reporting features and offers tracking capabilities so that you know who has opened your message and who has unsubscribed.

e-Campaign sells for $149.95, but a free trial version is available for download.

3. MailList Controller Free

MailList Controller Free is a free tool for generating mass mailings. The initial setup process walks you through setting up your SMTP server and setting up your first mailing list, but you can create additional lists later on. It is worth noting however, that the free version only allows for a single list with up to 100 recipients. The professional edition allows for ten lists with up to 10,000 recipients, while the extreme edition is unlimited.

The software seems to have all of the basics covered. It allows you to import list members or add members manually. There is also a very rich interface for composing messages. You can also keep track of outgoing messages and previously sent messages.

4. GroupMail Free Edition

GroupMail Free Edition is a free tool for sending out bulk E-mail messages. This application has all of the basics covered, but it also has a few nice extras. For example, the software can use its own internal database, but it can also connect to an existing external database or pull recipients directly from your address book. There is also a scheduler feature, but to use it you have to upgrade to the paid version. My personal favorite feature is that even if you decide to use the internal database, you can create and modify database fields so that you can create rich, personalized messages.

5. Sendblaster Free Edition

Sendblaster Free Edition is a free tool for mass messaging. The tool is full featured and provides a very nice reporting and tracking engine. The software is also designed to work with Google Analytics so that you can track which of your recipients actually made a purchase after receiving your E-mail. Another nice thing about this application is that it includes a number of different message templates that you can use, although some of the templates are only available in the paid version.