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Saving money, especially when you are starting a business, may sound like the best option. In the long run, it can actually harm your business, sabotaging customers’ trust and your hard-earned reputation.
A severed reputation is a much bigger problem than a handful of cash ever would be. I mean, money can come back, but reputation… not very easily. In fact, 95% of consumers trust a corporation with a positive reputation, according to Status Labs.
Sometimes businesses take this mindset for their emails as well. Refusing to pay for SMTP solutions can be a bad idea, considering the fact that emails are a vital part of a business, regardless of its size and budget.
Given that it’s a bad idea, let’s explore seven reasons why it is so.
7 Reasons To Pay For a WordPress SMTP Plugin
Before diving into the details, the short answer is: businesses should pay for premium plugins (including SMTP plugins) when the plugin is supposed to provide a return on investment by saving time, improving functionality, increasing revenue, or any way it could help with the betterment of the businesses.
Now, let’s jump into the reasons:
1. Detailed Email Reporting
Imagine trying to drive a car without a dashboard. You wouldn’t know your speed, how much gas you have, or when to get an oil change. In the world of business emails, detailed reporting is just like your dashboard. It gives you a clear look at how your emails are performing.
When you have access to good email reporting, you can see key stats, such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, bounce rates, subscribes, unsubscribes, and more.
These numbers show a clear picture of how your emails are performing.
For example, a low open rate might mean your subject lines aren’t catchy enough. A low click-through rate could mean your email content isn’t interesting to your readers.
Email reporting also helps you understand your audience better. It allows you to divide your email list into smaller groups, or “segments,” based on factors such as what they have purchased or what they have shown interest in. This allows you to send more personal emails.
For instance, if you sell dog food, you can send an email about a special sale targeting people who have already bought from you—they are most likely to own a dog. This is much more effective than sending a generic email to everyone.
Studies show that personalized emails have a 29% higher open rate and a 41% higher click-through rate compared to non-personalized ones. In fact, 63% of customers never respond to non-personalized emails.
This means that a business that does not use data to personalize its emails is potentially losing out on a significant amount of revenue and customer loyalty. To be precise 63% of customers, at least.
2. Backup Server
Servers can fail, a host might go down, or technical glitches can prevent your emails from getting where they need to go. If your email system relies on a single server, you’re at risk of losing crucial business communication.
Plugins like Post SMTP have a fantastic feature that allows for setting up a backup server to take over email duties when the mail server fails for some reason. This ensures important messages—like customer orders, password resets, or critical support tickets—are not lost in the void.
A single lost email can have a significant financial impact. A study by Mailtrap found that undelivered emails cost businesses over $164 million every day in the United States, totalling more than $59.5 billion annually.
So, how much could you lose?
Even for a small business, the cost of downtime can be significant. One report suggests that for small businesses, the cost of downtime falls in the range of $137 to $427 per minute. This doesn’t just include lost sales; it also accounts for employee time and the cost of fixing the problem. By having a backup server, you minimize downtime and protect your business from potential financial disaster and a damaged reputation.
3. Auto Resend Failed Emails
Every email that fails to deliver is a failed opportunity. For better comprehension, imagine that the email could have been a sales receipt, a crucial password reset link, or a new offer that could have pushed the customer to take action.
When these emails don’t arrive, it can lead to frustrated customers, lost sales, and a damaged reputation. Thus, investing in a WordPress SMTP plugin that has a feature that automatically sends failed emails can be super useful for the business.
This feature works in the background, acting as a safety net for your most important communications. If an email fails to send on the first try—perhaps due to a temporary server issue or a full inbox (a “soft bounce”)—the plugin will automatically retry sending it using a backup server. It gives your emails a second chance to reach their destination.
The financial cost of these lost emails can be substantial. A report by Kickbox found that 65% of businesses say that email deliverability issues have directly impacted their revenue or customer retention.
Earlier, we looked at a study that pointed out the impact of undelivered emails on U.S. businesses. In case you missed it, it is $164 million every single day.
When you consider that a significant portion of emails that fail on the first try are soft bounces, the ability to automatically resend them is an invaluable tool for recovering potential sales and maintaining customer trust.
For the record, let’s take a look at an example: Post SMTP’s Professional and Business plans cost $80 and $100 per year, respectively. Alternatively, you can also pay once and for all by switching to the Lifetime option. By investing $100 per year in Post SMTP’s Business plan, you can save yourself from being part of the group that loses $164 million every day due to email deliverability issues.
It’s important to note that this feature helps you to turn a failed communication into a successful one, protecting your bottom line and ensuring a smoother customer experience.
4. Priority Support
Businesses lose $75 billion annually in the United States due to poor customer service. Every minute of downtime means loss of customers, business, and trust. When an email delivery issue arises, you need fast, expert help. This is the core value of the priority support often offered with premium plans only in SMTP plugins.
With a free service or a plugin without dedicated support, you may find yourself waiting hours for a response to your problem. When a critical email—like a new order confirmation or a password reset link—fails to be sent, your customers are left in the dark. This causes frustration, causing them to leave, only to never return. At least, that’s the case for 80% of customers.
For customers with an urgent issue, like a login problem or a failed purchase, a slow response can be the final straw. It’s not just about a single lost sale but losing a customer for life, which can be 5 to 25 times more expensive to replace, according to the study linked above.
By investing in priority support, you get immediate access to experts who can quickly diagnose and fix issues, ensuring your email communications are always running smoothly and protecting your hard-earned reputation.
5. Advanced Mailers
Not all email services are created equal, especially when it comes to cost. Many email marketing platforms come with high monthly fees that can quickly become a burden, especially for a new or growing business.
Mailers like Amazon SES, Zoho, and Google’s services stand out in such cases. They are designed for businesses that aim to scale significantly, with affordability and scalability in mind, making them excellent choices for businesses of all sizes.
The connection to these mailers is often exclusive to premium plans.
Here at Post SMTP, you can avail these mailers by using any premium plan of the plugin. In fact, we also discussed how to set up an SMTP server for only $100/month using Post SMTP Premium by sending emails through premium and affordable mailers, such as Amazon SES and Zoho.
The main reason for their cost-effectiveness is the “pay-as-you-go” pricing model.
Instead of paying a flat, high monthly fee for a set number of emails, you only pay for what you actually send. This is a game-changer.
For example, Amazon SES is famous for its low costs, charging as little as $0.10 for every 1,000 emails sent after a free tier that offers up to 3,000 emails a month.
To put that in perspective, a well-known competitor like SendGrid might charge you over $35 per month for the volume of 100,000 emails, whereas Amazon SES would cost you only ten bucks!
This affordability makes it incredibly easy to scale your business. Whether you are sending a few hundred emails a month or millions, the cost remains manageable. As your email volume grows, the cost per email can even drop, allowing your business to expand without breaking the bank.
6. Mobile App
Convenience is totally required nowadays. This is why a mobile app for your SMTP plugin is a game-changer. It provides the ultimate convenience by giving you a way to monitor and manage your critical email system right from your phone.
With a dedicated app, you get a real-time view of your email delivery, including a log of all sent emails and their delivery status. You can see when an email fails, why it failed, and get instant notifications about critical issues.
This allows you to address problems immediately, without having to rush back to your desk.
The value of this instant visibility is immense. According to a study by Business.com, real-time monitoring leads to faster incident response, which in turn means less loss for the company.
Another observation (albeit, a bit unrelated) from JumpCloud reveals that 80% of C-suite executives report sending work-related emails from personal mobile devices, showing just how important it is for businesses to be managed on the go.
The ability to have this level of control in your pocket ensures that your business operations never miss a beat. This convenience provides peace of mind, knowing that your email system is always in check, no matter where you are.
7. Integrations
The true power of a premium SMTP plugin goes beyond just sending emails; it lies in its ability to seamlessly integrate with other essential business tools. This creates an automated and efficient workflow, saving you time and preventing costly errors.
A prime example is the one-click setup with major services like Google using OAuth 2.0. This is a secure method that allows the plugin to connect to your email account without you ever having to share your password. You simply give permission, and the plugin can send emails on your behalf, creating a secure bridge between your website and a professional mailer.
Beyond major email providers, many paid plugins can also connect with a variety of other services that are crucial to your business. For instance, with any plan of Post SMTP, you can connect with Gmail, Microsoft 365, Zoho, Amazon SES, Brevo, Postmark, SendGrid, Mailgun, Elastic Email, Sparkpost, Resend, Mailersend, Emailit, and many more.
These integrations are a key part of business process automation, and the results are significant. A study from Salesforce found that 74% of employees who use automation say it helps them work faster, while another report found that automation can reduce errors by as much as 70%.
By connecting your SMTP plugin to other tools, you ensure your email system isn’t an isolated part of your business, but a reliable and efficient hub for all of your critical communications.
Secure Your Business’s Future Today
At every stage of your business, from a single customer inquiry to a major product launch, your email system is at the heart of your success. Ignoring its importance can lead to lost opportunities, a damaged reputation, and, ultimately, a decline in sales and business.
Investing in a premium SMTP plugin, such as Post SMTP, is a strategic move that pays for itself many times over. From this extensive list, we selected Post SMTP due to its comprehensive feature set and affordability.
The plugin offers features like auto-resend failed emails, backup mailer, priority support, advanced mailers, email reporting and tracking, and much more. It acts as your business’s safety net, ensuring every message gets through and every customer feels valued.
As a final thought, remember that email marketing delivers an incredible return on investment (ROI). On average, for every $1 spent on email, businesses can see a return of up to $36. But this return is only possible if your emails actually reach your audience’s inbox.
That’s why a solution like Post SMTP Premium is so vital!
Don’t leave your most important communications to chance. It’s time to invest in a solution that provides the peace of mind and reliability your business deserves.
