“We’re recognizing that there are a lot of SMBs out there that should be communicating effectively using email marketing but aren’t,” iContact CEO Ryan Allis told DemandGen Report. “We’re trying to remove barriers so more people can use effective, opt-in, permission-based marketing.”
According to a recently released 2011 Outlook Report from Borrell Associates, the SMB market accounted for more than 70% of all online advertising expenditures including email, search and run-of-site display last year. While individual SMBs on average spent less than $12,000 on all advertising in 2010 — about $2,300 of which went online — they represented 95% of U.S. business locations.
iContact Free Edition offers email creating, sending and tracking capabilities for up to 500 subscribers, as well as designer templates. The company’s Social Media Tools Integration with Facebook and Twitter allows users to create and share links to their email communications from within the application. The solution also offers a built-in survey tool so organizations can create questions and choose response types, such as a text box, radio button, drop down menu or selector.
Based in Raleigh, NC, iContact currently serves 70,000 paying customers and has grown its revenue aggressively since its 2003 inception. The company reported $38 million in revenue in 2010, and is on track to continue its growth throughout 2011, Allis said.
