In the age of viral marketing and social media, it’s important not to forget the power of email. Open-source email marketing solutions offer mailing list management and variable pricing structures. As such, you can use them to streamline your email marketing campaigns while maintaining your budget. 

In this article, we’ll cover four of the best open-source email marketing solutions available. We’ll discuss their main features, pricing, and suitability for different businesses. Let’s get started!

Why Email Marketing Can Be Crucial to Your Success

Email is the most direct form of online marketing. Unlike a social media post, an email will reach everyone on your list. You can send sales promotions, exclusive deals, and newsletters. As such, it is one of the most valuable marketing resources available.

Email marketing can also be highly profitable. In 2020, it generated $7.5 billion in revenue. This number is expected to reach $17.9 billion by 2027. Additionally, the second-most common technology that businesses use to promote content is email marketing software. 

There are many tools that enable you to create and send messages using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor and user segmentation. As such, you can ensure you send the correct emails to the right people. 

While you can choose any solution you like, we recommend checking out open-source email software. These tools feature publicly-accessible code, which you can edit to fit your specific needs.This option provides you with more customization potential, and is often free or at least very cost-effective. 

4 Best Open-Source Email Marketing Solutions

If you’re not sure where to start looking for the right solution, we’re here to help. Below, we’ve compiled a list of four of the best open-source email marketing solutions. Let’s take a look at them now!

1. Dada Mail

Dada Mail serves two basic purposes: people can subscribe to your mailing list, and you can send them emails. It’s both open source and web-based. As such, you can customize it to fit your marketing needs. 

Arguably the best feature of Dada Mail is its subscription list. It contains four parts: settings, subscribers, archives, and schedules. 

You can use mass mailing to send HTML or PlainText messages to your subscriber lists. Additionally, you can schedule single or recurring emails to streamline your marketing processes. 

Dada Mail is very user-friendly. It stores previous messages that you can search for, view, and resend. Additionally, you can fully customize your email templates, subscription confirmations, and other layouts. 

Finally, Dada Mail includes in-built email analytics software. It can collect various data, including:

• Message opens
• Click-throughs
• Conversions
• Unsubscribes
• Bounces
• Sending errors
• Forwards
• Archives view

Overall, Dada Mail is a suitable open-source email solution for any business size. Companies from small to enterprise can benefit from its user-friendly settings and customizable features. 

Pricing: You can opt for a free package that supports three mailing lists of 100 subscribers or less. Alternatively, you can upgrade to Pro Dada for $99.95 per year, or $199.95 for lifetime access. 

2. GroupServer

GroupServer is a collaborative platform that you can use with Google Groups. The original intention of the software was to provide a scalable and flexible framework for diverse businesses. 

GroupServer is a mailing list manager, meaning that emails are sent from one address to multiple recipients. It also includes many of the administrative capabilities common to most open-source email marketing solutions. 

For example, this platform enables you to create user profiles. These categories can include multiple email addresses, images, and post summaries. You can also segment members into smaller groups, in order to share relevant messages more efficiently. 

Furthermore, GroupServer supports file sharing. You can send multiple items as a single link rather than uploading attachments. As such, it can be a valuable tool for large companies or collaborative teams. 

Overall, GroupServer can suit any business size. However, it is particularly suitable for B2B and internal communications, due to its administrative capabilities.  

Pricing: GroupServer is free. 

3. Mailman

Mailman is an open-source mailing list manager. It supports group discussion, and is distributed under the GNU General Public License. As such, you can customize it as you see fit. 

It’s also web-based. You can integrate the software easily with your website and access additional features. For example, you can manage lists and memberships through this platform. 

In addition, this is one of the best options for international companies. Mailman offers multilingual support with more than two dozen different languages. As such, you can reach different audiences around the world with your email notices. 

It’s also worth noting that Mailman has flexible user controls. For example, you can adjust its moderation and privacy settings. Furthermore, you can customize auto-responses and message delivery. Therefore, this platform could be an excellent choice if you’re looking to personalize your email marketing strategy. 

Overall, Mailman is a great starter software. With a strong feature list and a simple user interface, it’s an excellent platform to begin your email marketing journey.

Pricing: The Mailman software is free. 

4. pHpList

pHpList is best known for its scalable pricing and streamlined services. For example, it offers automated subscription management, registration, personal data changes, and unsubscribe requests. As such, you can use this platform to cut down your mailing list management time. 

Its software is comparable to Mailman and GroupServer. However, pHpList is for direct mail only, not for discussions. It also boasts a range of features suitable for expanding companies.

For example, phpList includes digest reports with analytical data. You can track various metrics, such as click-throughs, unsubscribes, forwards, and sending errors. Then you can use the information to adjust your email campaigns.

Furthermore, phpList enables you to monitor your email list. It checks for duplicate and false addresses, and immediately deletes and blocks them. Therefore, you can focus on your actual customers and their needs.

Overall, phpList can be the best option for growing businesses. Due to its customizable and scalable settings, it can adapt as your company does.

Pricing: pHpList provides monthly price quotes determined by the number of subscribers and messages you need to handle. You can visit the pricing overview page and create a plan that best suits your needs. 

Conclusion

Open-source email marketing solutions offer features that are important to many businesses. For example, they typically include email automation, analytics and metrics, and social media management and integration. As such, you can use these platforms to easily communicate with your customers and increase conversions. 

Do you have any questions about choosing an open-source email marketing platform? Let us know in the comments section below!

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash