You've already discovered that email marketing is the most cost-efficient way to spur-on repeat business. Now, you need to determine: What is the most cost-effective way to use email marketing for your business? If you are a small-business owner, your needs are going to be different than those of an enterprise-level business. The differences in terms of cost are whether or not you will sign-up for a monthly billing plan or a plan based on credits.

Using a monthly billing plan for email marketing will mean you incur a monthly cost based on the size of your subscriber list (the higher the number of subscribers, the higher the cost per month) that allows you an unlimited amount of sending within that month. This works great for enterprise-level businesses that are constantly sending out to hundreds of thousands of clients on a consistent basis.

With the credit system, you purchase an amount of credits depending on how you want to structure your email marketing strategy. Because one email address is the equivalent of one credit, you can determine how many email blasts you plan on doing for any certain campaign. As an example, if you have 3,000 subscribers that you want to send to 5 times over the next 6 months, up front you will purchase 15,000 credits (3,000 x 5). This saves you hundreds of dollars, as credit packages' cost per thousand are reduced if you purchase more up front. Because the credits do not have a roll-over fee, nor a monthly charge, it puts you in full control of your marketing. You are not tied into marketing every single month. You have the freedom to choose whether or not you will market that month, depending on the needs and seasonality of your business.

The credit system tends to work better for small and medium sized businesses. The monthly costs can get expensive and the need to market every month isn't always there. Plus, if you have a budget set aside for a certain campaign you are doing, you can use the credits to match your needs in terms of that budget.

This can be a financially unsound decision if you are an enterprise level business. Using Email Marketing in the form of credits is just not cost effective for a company that sends out hundreds of thousands of emails per month. Because you are essentially paying per email you send out. Therefore an unlimited plan works much better.

The other great benefit of the credit system is that, with the top email marketing providers, credits never expire. This means that if you have leftover credits after sending out your campaigns, or if you end up postponing one of your campaigns, you'll never have to worry about 'wasted' payments. Your credits stay in your account forever, and you can use them whenever you want. If you need to replenish your credits, you can do so online with the click of a button. Or, if you'd prefer to speak to someone, you can simply pick up the phone and call your dedicated account executive.

The best email marketing companies recognize that not all businesses are the same, giving you the option to choose between credits or monthly payment. This way, you can make the choice based on your specific business needs.

There is no question that email marketing will benefit your company by driving repeat business. The question becomes: how can you use email marketing so that you can maximize cost effectiveness based on your business needs? Using a credit system will help the little guys immensely, but a monthly unlimited plan suits the big boys. Now you know, and an informed decision is a smart business move.