With all the social networks and IM services we use daily to connect and communicate with others, email still remains one of the most used and effective communication tools. It is definitely among the most important tools in every blogger’s and entrepreneur’s toolbox. As a matter of fact, many of us depend on information stored in our primary email account so much that we are afraid to imagine what would happen if we woke up one morning and found ourselves locked out of it forever.
However, it is not easy to manage all that information and communicate effectively at the same time. Thankfully, there are lots of great and even free apps for managing everything email related, from creating email signatures to organizing inbox to creating and distributing newsletters.
Email signature creator
Writing an email that gets opened, read and acted upon is an art in itself. Every email message, no matter how short it is, consists of many important elements that will decide its success. One such element is our email signature which communicates a lot about us – who we are, what we do, our position, education level and even how we look.
1. WiseStamp
WiseStamp is an email signature creator that allows you to create multiple customized email signatures (two are fully free). You can easily insert logos or images and links to your profiles on social networking sites. But the real power of WiseStamp lies in the ability to spice up your email signatures with dynamic content such as latest blog posts, tweets, Facebook status, quotes, and more.
Organizing and uncluttering email
Our email accounts easily get cluttered with all sorts of messages, newsletters and daily deals. It’s sometimes hard to spot and discern what is really important and requires our immediate attention. This can result in decreased productivity and missed opportunities.
2. OtherInbox
OtherInbox offers set of tools for organizing and managing emails. One of them is Organizer which instantly sorts your newsletters, receipts and more into labeled folders to unclutter you inbox so you can focus on really important stuff.
3. Unroll.me
Unroll.me is a free app that automatically unsubscribes you from unwanted subscriptions. The app currently supports Gmail and Google Apps users.
4. PhilterIt
PhilterIt is a visual interface that helps you organize, read and manage your emails. It basically separates branded and personal messages.
Email scheduling and sending reminders
When it comes to sending emails, time matters a lot. Numerous research and case studies have shown that the time and even the day of the week one email gets delivered into recipient inbox play a big role in its success. Thankfully, there are great apps that you can use to schedule your emails to be sent at the time your recipients are most likely to read them.
5. LetterMeLater
LetterMeLater lets you write emails and have them sent at specified date or dates in the future. It offers lots of features like editing written messages before they get sent, sending attachments and recurring emails, creating HTML emails and group mailing lists, and so on. One of the most notable features is that no advertisements are sent with your emails.
6. Boomerang
Boomerang for Gmail is a Chrome, Firefox and Safari plugin packed with lots of great features. It allows you to write an email now and schedule it to be sent automatically later. Boomerang can also archive your messages and then return them to your inbox when you need to follow-up. Furthermore, you can request to be reminded if you don’t hear back from someone within designated time frame.
7. Memo to Me
A great free service for sending simple email reminders to yourself and others is Memo To Me.
8. Laytr.com
Then there is Laytr.com that lets you set up email reminders for yourself and schedule emails to an unlimited number of recipients.
Managing Attachments
9. Attachments.me
Attachments.me is a free attachment manager for Gmail users. It is available as Google Chrome or Firefox extension and as an iPhone app. This service helps you to quickly find attachments in your inbox. Attachments can be searched by file type, sender or keyword. You can also search for text inside attached files, not just emails. Attachments.me integrates your Gmail with cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Box, and lets you send email attachments into your cloud or instantly share your files from cloud services with email contacts. Additionally, you can set up automatic filing and have your incoming files automatically organized into the cloud.
Relationship Management
10. Rapportive
Rapportive is an addon for Gmail which shows all available information about your contacts right inside your inbox. It can be their picture, social media profiles, what they do, where they’re based, etc. This way you can easily reach out and connect with them on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and more. You can even write notes about each contact.
Creating Disposable Temporary Email Addresses
Temporary email addresses may come handy when you need to register or signup with different websites that require you to verify your email address.
11. Guerrillamail.com
Guerrillamail.com is a free service that allows you to create temporary email address without registration. The email address you create is valid for 60 minutes, but you can destroy it sooner than that.
12. 10 Minute Email
10 Minute Email is a similar service for creating temporary email addresses which expire in 10 minutes. No registration is required.
13. Spambox
Spambox also allows you to create a temporary email address that will forward incoming mail to your usual email address. You can choose the expiry date, ranging from 30 minutes up to one year.
Email Address Finder
It is not always easy to find an email address on a website or blog that you want to contact. Searching manually for email address can be both time consuming and frustrating. But, it is possible to speed this up.
14. Email Research Tool from BuzzStream
BuzzStream’s Email Research Tool is a free tool that can help you to find anyone’s email address.
Newsletter App
15. Feedburner
As a blogger, you are probably familiar with Feedburner, which is a very popular free feed management tool that supports email newsletter as well.
16. MailChimp
If you are just starting with email marketing, then MailChimp‘s free plan is a great solution for you and you marketing efforts. It allows you to send up to 12,000 emails a month totally free to a list of up to 2,000 subscribers.
17. FlashIssue
Apart from these all-famous newsletter service providers, there are other free services for creating newsletters that may appeal to your prospects, customers and readers. For example, FlashIssue is a free service for creating newsletters from web content. It is great for sending curated content to email subscribers.
18. TinyLetter
TinyLetter is another totally free and easy to use email newsletter platform. It’s very useful for keeping in touch with your social networks and blog readers. Just say hi and share a handy tip or resource to make sure they don’t forget you.
Have you tried any of these tools and how do you like them? Which apps do you use for managing your email communication and accounts? Share in comments!