Choosing a New ESP Partner

Following on from my recent posts ' What we learned selecting an ESP Partner: Work Backwards' and 'Picking a ESP?' , I thought you might be interested in the Whitepaper produced by ClickMail 'Digital Marketing Solutions Guide: 29 Factors to consider in 2012'

For each of the 29 factors, this guide covers:

• Why it matters
• What to look for
• Which questions to ask

Picking a New ESP?

Email Vendor Selection very kindly asked me to write a few words on selecting an Email Service Provider. And as last year I went through the process of selecting a new Email Service Provider, for the digital agency where I was Head of eCRM, I felt up to the challenge.

A few things to think about: ( all links go to Email Vendor Selection)

1 – What the email platform needs to to for you

What will the email platform need to do for you? Crazy Suggestion? Not really. Too many organisations don’t think about what their email strategy is. What are you using and planning to use your emails for. Are they transactional or service messages? Are they for marketing?

Are you looking at just emails or are you actually looking for a platform that will deliver through other channels such as mobile, social, web etc.

2 – What are your volumes?

This can help you eliminate perhaps some of the platforms that can’t cope with the ‘enterprise’ volumes or indeed the speed with which you need to get the messages out. It good to know the difference between small midsized and enterprise email marketing solutions.

You’ll also need to know, because the ESP will want to know to give you a price. And that price will be a reflection also of the commitment you give them in terms of volume and length of contract.

3 – Who needs to be in the decision making process and at what stage

This isn’t just about IT and Marketing. It’s also about Customer Service and Operations. Think also about the teams who will be pulling the emails together internally. At the agency they were called Campaign Managers. And when does Finance want to look at the numbers with you. What does your ESP selection team look like?  There is often a Business Case to be created.

If you are working at an agency, do you need to get the input from your clients as well?

This is also an opportunity to think about what is missing from your team and so what gaps the ESP could fill in terms of technical or strategic expertise

4 – What does it need to integrate with?

Think Website, Databases, Social Platforms, CRM systems, Content Management Systems, Finance Systems.

5 – Flexibility

Particularly true if you are an agency with a mix of clients. A platform that is geared up for truly sophisticated multi-channel messaging with 50 million emails per year may not be the right platform for a client who sends out just 50 thousand emails per year

But also think about how flexible you might want the ESP to be in terms of support. Do they need to at least be in the same country? Do you want them on site?

The original piece can be found here

Keeping the Flame Alive

So how do we keep email subscribers engaged?

My view is that we can't really focus on the business as usual aspects of our email programmes, but look at the whole subscriber experience.

So we are talking about

Lighting that Flame
Keeping the Flame Alive
Last Minute Relighting

Lighting the Flame - The Sign Up

It always pays to start as you mean to go on. The sign up provides the launch pad for the rest of the programmes. It's important to manage customers expectations from here on on.

Key tips include
 1.Make It Easy to find and do 

2.Provide one newsletter subscription page including information about all  newsletters

3.Clearly state when users have navigated to the newsletter sign-up process

4.Don’t pre-select any newsletters for users

5.In multi-step processes, let users know how many steps remain

6.Explain the ‘value proposition’ – what’s in it for me?

7.Manage expectations – what will I get when and how often?

8.Have a clear privacy policy

9.Use incentives - but  be transparent

10.Send a confirmation email, or maybe even the last newsletter

I think this is also a real opportunity to get some information from subscribers as to what other channels they might like to receive information through. And don't just stop at Social channels. I've been working recently with clients where mobile and direct mail are still playing a strong part in the mix for certain segments


Keeping the Flame Alive - Relevance

When we talk about 'inactives'. We need to be careful as to what the definition is we are using. This definition will vary from Client to ESP to ISP. Reminding me of the old adage

''there are lies, damned lies , and email metrics''

Some of the key take outs included

 - They were never ever going to be active. Beware email addresses that were acquired as a result of a competition or a prize draw.

 -  They never got your emails in the first place. Data hygiene is an issue. Use of double entry of email addresses and some data tidying behind the scenes can pay high dividends. As can looking at Inbox Delivery. Return Path believe that only 81% of permissionable actually hit the inbox.

- Nothing lasts forever. There will always be subscribers who out grow what you have to offer. People move on and in true old school marketing speak you will need to pour more subscribers in the top end to cope with the leaky bucket. Of course you can minimize those losses by keeping relevance up by understanding the value of delivering

a - the right content
b - at the right time
c - optimised messages for the relevant device
d - context specific messages


 Last Minute Re-lighting - The Unsubscribe

The time to say goodbye will come - but that doesn't mean giving up without something up your sleeve

Some tips include

1.Provide a way to unsubscribe directly via the website

2.On the un-subscribe page, list the user’s email address and current newsletters, 

3.And a simple way to unsubscribe from any or all newsletters.

4.Provide a separate process for unsubscribing.

5.Offer users an option to change frequency as an alternative to unsubscribing

6.Provide a confirmation screen verifying unsubscription

7.On the confirmation page, list other ways to receive updates eg: through social or a blog

8.Ask for feedback about why they are unsubscribing

9.Send only one email confirmation to users after they unsubscribe

10.Unsubscribe users immediately.

But a good point to bear in mind is that if deliverability isn't an issue with you and neither is CPM - do you really need to take these subscribers off the list?

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In the words of someone famous

“  we didn’t improve one thing by one hundred percent 

we improved one hundred things by one per cent.”

There is no magic bullet. As with most eCRM, it's all about improving step by step.

Content is a summary of my presentation at the DMA Email Event on Winback in November 2011

Choosing an Email Service Provider - Think About the Destination and not just the Cruise

We've recently been involved in looking at our Email Service Provider (ESP) partner of choice .

There are many other sources, some listed below, that have helped in the selection process by providing key areas to look at and points to consider.

And yet the best description of the number one area to focus on sprang to me as I listened to the sermon at the local church one weekend. The sermon was about how we look at the journey without the destination in mind, simply enjoying the services and facilities of the Cruise Liner we are on called Life. We have no real sense of where we are going with this and don't really know how we are progressing on that journey.

So how does this relate to selecting an ESP?

Well, my one tip would be to think about where you want to be medium and long term with your Email/Social/Mobile marketing and select your ESP accordingly. There are 100s of ESPs out there and the task of matching to your needs is difficult, especially when most of them will actually do what you want and more.

Don't be swayed by the vast amount of technology , services and consulting that is available . Be clear about where you are now and where you want to be in 6, 12, 18 months. You don't want to be in  position where you have outgrown your ESP in year 1. A shelf life of 2 to 3 years is great but in some cases you may be looking to 5 years to cover the costs of the original switch.

Make sure that the fundamentals are covered before getting excited by the extra widgets available. In many cases ESPs are dumped not because they can't provide the functionality, but because the client didn't use the functionality they were paying for.

I am not advocating that you stick with one ESP for life, but then they are not just for Christmas either.


Useful Sources of Information

Email Vendor Selection

ClickMail Marketing

Counterpillar - Its like choosing a spouse

Be Relevant Email Marketing Blog

Chief Marketer - It's like buying a house

Email Experience Council 

eConsultancy Email Marketing Buyers Guide