the ultimate buyer s guide to Selecting an Email Marketing Platform The most comprehensive, practical, and objective guide to choosing the email service provider that best meets the needs of your business. Unleashing the Power of Online Marketing
Introduction The target audience for this Buyer s Guide is the business person who is investigating the purchase or upgrade of an email marketing software platform. The business may be ready to buy now or may simply be reviewing its capabilities in the face of a rapidly changing business landscape. To help these buyers, faced with a complex undertaking (one that may include its own project management, RFP process, vendor presentations and bidding, TCO and ROI analysis, and user acceptance testing), the buyer s guide discusses the technology and business trends influencing a purchasing decision, and offers guidelines to the buyer who is identifying and evaluating the vendors in the email marketing software arena Helping buyers to identify the best product for their business goals and marketing strategy. About MediaBrains For 17 years, MediaBrains has provided business professionals the essential tools required to effectively explore their purchasing options and reach a confident purchasing decision faster. With a network of over 120 directories covering 21 vertical markets, our business-related content and effective vertical search delivers a reliable source for businesses to research and compare companies and products. MediaBrains Buyer s Guides feature product assessment guidelines and discuss the business trends influencing a purchasing decision. MediaBrains recognizes the importance of maintaining a clear separation between our editorial content and sponsorships. While we allow our sponsors to bring you their marketing message the content of this Buyer s Guide is not editorially controlled or influenced by the sponsors. Sponsored by: JangoMail (937) 701-7140 www.jangomail.com JangoMail is a web-based email broadcast and email marketing system designed for businesses. It allows you to create, send, and track email marketing campaigns. Created in 2000 by its parent company, Silicomm Corporation, JangoMail has thousands of satisfied customers around the world. JangoMail offers a feature rich application, VIP customer support (24/7), inbox delivery, easy integration, detailed reporting, and a low price guarantee. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents Section 1: Executive Summary... 1 Section 2: Technology and Business Trends Support Email Marketing... 1 Section 3: Determining Your Present and Future Needs... 3 Heads Up! Things to Watch Out For... 4 Section 4: Choosing the Right Business Model and Vendor... 5 Making the Most of Your Vendor Relationship... 6 Email Marketing Software Platform Business Models... 6 SaaS and ASP... 6 Purchase and On-Premises Hosting... 7 Pricing Options... 7 Other Considerations... 9 Training and Learning Curves... 9 Learning Communities... 9 Additional Support... 9 Section 5: Evaluating the Features of Email Marketing Software Systems... 10 Scalability... 10 Email Broadcast Capability... 10 Automated Emailing Features... 11 Auto Response Email Event, Transaction, and Behavioral Triggers... 11 Sequenced Messaging... 11 Scheduled Mailings... 11 Retries... 12 Usability Features... 12 Customizable Dashboards... 12 Flexible User Customizable Content Editing Tools... 12 Customizable Email and Newsletter Templates... 13 Graphics Design and Management Tools... 13 Marketing Campaign Design and Automation Tools... 14 Social Media, Web Landing Pages, Forms, and Mini-websites.... 14 A/B Testing Support... 14 Ability to Include Attachments... 14 Inbox Previewing... 15 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents Mail Customization... 15 Mail-Merge Personalization... 15 Dynamic Conditional Content... 15 Integration with Location Data... 15 Publish to Social Sites and RSS... 16 Forms Design Feature... 16 Alias From Fields... 16 Message Tracking... 16 List Management Tools... 17 Adding Subscribers to Mailing Lists... 17 List Hygiene... 17 List Import and Export... 17 Frequency and Date Limits... 17 Automatic Handling of Opt-Ins, Subscribes, Unsubscribes, and Bounces... 18 Integration with Other Online and Offline Systems... 18 Mobile Web Apps and Remote Login... 18 Segmentation Tools... 19 Data Collection, Reporting, and Analytical Capabilities... 19 Deliverability Enhancement Features... 20 Multiple Languages and Encoding Support... 21 Administration and Security Features... 22 Section 6: Your Responsibilities... 22 Section 7: Features Checklist... 24 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved.
Section 1 Executive Summary Because email marketing has established itself as a business marketing workhorse, it may not be given the importance it deserves when company marketing budgets are being forged. But market leaders are taking advantage of platform innovations by investing in new systems and re-investing to improve existing systems. Similarly, forward-looking companies are thinking beyond simply tracking email activity like opens, click-throughs, and unsubscribes to monitoring behavior beyond the message itself and dynamically tailoring interaction and content. Auto-response message triggering and other types of automation, along with integration with the latest Internet technologies, make ever higher levels of sophistication cost-effective. On the Future of Email Marketing I think email is the best way of communication especially for a marketing company like us. If anything, it will just get better more interactive and cooler. Vertical Response client John McMillan, COO, Vyral Marketing The target audience for this Buyer s Guide is the business person who is investigating the purchase or upgrade of an email marketing software platform. The business may be ready to buy now or may simply be reviewing its capabilities in the face of a rapidly changing business landscape. The guide discusses the technology and business trends influencing a purchasing decision, and offers guidelines to the buyer who is identifying and evaluating the vendors in the email marketing software arena. It can help navigate the maze of currently available products, and give an overview of the main features available with today s email marketing software products. Throughout can be found advice, best practices, and tips for a successful choice of vendor and product. Section 2 Technology and Business Trends Support Email Marketing Email continues to offer unique advantages as a marketing tool. Pew Internet Research found that 92% of all adults surveyed use email to communicate. The study stressed that this is true even as new platforms, broadband and mobile devices continue to reshape the way Americans use the internet and web. 1 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 1
Because of email s wide popularity, email marketing is the easiest way to get information into the customer s hands, to generate leads, and to open sales opportunities. Email marketing programs are cost effective, quick to deploy, and deliver fast, measurable results. The rapid expansion of paid search, mobile, and social media channels has done little to diminish the growth of email as an effective marketing medium. Email marketing continues as a lifeline between vendors and customers before, during, and after sales, even as businesses realize the importance of newer crosschannel marketing communication approaches. Study after study confirms that the expanding use of mobile devices and social media are enhancing and increasing the use of email rather than the reverse. 2 And email rightly continues to command a lion s share of the digital marketing spend. 3 Growth for the foreseeable future is being fuelled by integration of email with other communication channels, adapting to mobile and tablet devices, and by personalization and targeting that heighten effectiveness. Timely, relevant, and compelling email will continue to play an increasingly important role in the digital channel mix, driving strong ROI in lead prospecting, customer acquisition, and engagement. Implementing an email marketing software platform is a big step toward tapping the business potential of this trend. One final note implementation of an email marketing software platform is not an end in itself. The soundness of the marketing strategy that underlies the use of the email marketing platform is paramount. With a strong strategy as a starting point, your email marketing platform can combine with other campaign management tools and marketing channels to achieve optimum results. On the Future of Email Marketing ESP technology no matter how well packaged or good looking does not trump a sound marketing strategy Make certain that all technology purchase decisions are made in support of a thoughtful strategy rather than in the expectation that the technology will provide the strategy. Alex Lustberg, CMO, Lyris, Inc. Take a close look at your other marketing activities. Email cannot exist within a bubble, and it is at its most effective when it is integrated with other marketing channels. Ron Cates, Director of New Market Development, Constant Contact Depending on the size of an implementation, deciding on an email marketing software solution can be a complex undertaking that may include its own project management, RFP process, vendor presentations and bidding, TCO and ROI analysis, and user acceptance testing. Nevertheless, the task really comes down to a few closely connected decisions: analyzing the needs of your organization, choosing the right vendor (and business model), and finding the best product for your business goals and marketing strategy. The remainder of this Buyer s Guide gives a brief overview of the email marketing platform selection process. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 2
Section 3 Determining Your Present and Future Needs Because of the variety of solutions available, you need to ask yourself a few questions before you can intelligently enter into partnership with a vendor and select a suitable email marketing software platform. How will enhanced emailing help carry out your marketing plans? What problems do you want to solve? What are your expectations? What is the competition doing? Advice for Buyers Size matters. Explore whether the vendor supports senders with your volume, data complexity, segmentation, programmatic sophistication, and reporting needs. Can the vendor do more than accommodate your current needs can they provide real guidance to help you grow and improve? Return Path Spokesperson Your answer to these kinds of questions will help determine what capabilities your system needs in order to carry out your marketing plans; ultimately, your answers will also impact your operating costs. For instance, will you be introducing a monthly newsletter or employing frequent email blasts to segments of your subscribers? What level of coordination do you want to achieve between email and other marketing channels? Think, too, where your business is headed in the next 5 to 10 years because you ll want the system you choose to be able to support your growth. Don t forget to consider the impact of the new system on your operations. How will the email marketing system fit into my organizational structure? Who will be the principle users? Who will synchronize marketing efforts? Questions like these will determine the level of automation you require and the administrative features you need. These questions will also give you insight into what kind of training and support (and possibly staffing) may be needed. Section 5, page 10, describes many of the most important email marketing software features you should consider. With an understanding of your marketing goals and operating environment, use it to develop a checklist of features that your ideal email marketing platform should include. It is important that you have a clear understanding of what is available before interacting with a vendor, even though your requirements will almost certainly be shaped by the guidance that a good vendor can provide. Section 7, page 24, is a Features Checklist that can be used as a starting point when drawing up an inventory of the features you seek. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 3
Heads Up! Things to Watch Out For Ensure stakeholder buy-in at all levels, including C-level. Gain senior management support for the initiative by showing how improvements available in a new email marketing system will be aligned with the company s goals or improve the bottom line. Focus on choosing a system with features that you anticipate will bring the biggest return in sales or lead conversion rate, eliminate or simplify manual processes associated with email campaign management, improve deliverability, and add to the quality of your message. Use metrics to bolster your case. Gather hard data such as comparisons of open rates, subscribe/unsubscribe rates, and click-throughs before and after implementation to prove the effectiveness of the new or upgraded email marketing software platform. Consider using customer satisfaction surveys. Advice for Buyers Pay attention to what questions the vendor is asking. Are they questions that demonstrate a concern for your metrics and your success? And the vendor must be honest about what email marketing technology can do. Find a partner who is willing to have that conversation. Joe Devine, Solution Consultant, Listrak Go beyond Marketing. Get endorsement from Finance, IT, Customer Service, Operations, and Web Development in the decision process because the choice of a system will likely impact all of these functional areas. In fact, a new email marketing platform may call for changes in the way things are done or how responsibilities are divided among departments. New lead management processes may be called for, or the current organizational structure may need to be modified to accommodate differences in company visibility, quality of marketing intelligence, and customer engagement that may come with the new system. Set reasonable timelines. Complexity of integration needs, condition of existing mailing lists and databases, and the number of users and their training needs can all affect how soon you start to see results. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 4
Section 4 Choosing the Right Business Model and Vendor Armed with your list of requirements, begin looking at vendors and matching your criteria to their solutions. Like any purchasing decision where significant investment is involved, a few common-sense rules apply. Of course, price is a consideration. But price shouldn t be your only criterion when choosing a vendor. You are forming a partnership. Evaluate vendor reputation and expertise. Make sure the vendor you select has sufficient experience (length of time in business and number of implementations are good indicators), and has successfully handled top name customers running high-profile, mission-critical applications. Ask for references and take the time to check them out. Hints and Tips Carefully define your requirements. Then look for a vendor that will do what it takes to build the right solution for your business. Ask them if they re willing and able to incorporate your current tools and develop new technology and features to meet your needs. Kim Wright, President and COO, JangoMail Vendors sometimes have business specialties and cater to clients in selected domains such as healthcare, manufacturing, high tech, finance, or education. Or, the vendor may specialize by business size. This kind of expertise may help narrow your choices. If the vendor doesn t specialize, ask for a reference in your line of business. Consider, too, the likelihood that the vendor and the product will be able to support you with an application that is vital and in tune with emerging technologies and business developments. Ask vendors about their vision for the future and whether they have a roadmap for their platform. Finally, be sure to review the terms of the vendor s warranty. A vendor s willingness to stand behind the product is a good indication of its quality. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 5
Making the Most of Your Vendor Relationship The successful vendor wants to help the customer select the right email marketing software system for their situation and then use it to its fullest potential. You can get a good feel for the level of commitment the vendor offers by taking advantage of a thorough demo and trial of the product. Some self-directed online demos and trials may not give a clear enough picture of the capabilities of the system. A free trial should come with expert advice from a sales staff that is interested in being your partner. If necessary, the vendor should give you access to marketing and technical experts who can answer more detailed questions. Email Marketing Software Platform Business Models Email marketing software is offered under a variety of business models. In some cases, a vendor will offer a product under more than one model, but they typically specialize. Regardless of business model, email marketing software applications are often combined with a menu of service and support features. Decide which is best for your business needs and budget. SaaS and ASP ASPs (Application Service Providers) and SaaS (Software as a Service) providers both offer on-demand application hosting options via the Internet. No software is deployed on the customer site. The buyer negotiates a contract to access the software, but because the customer does not need to invest in hardware and hardware maintenance, ASP and SaaS usually have minimal IT infrastructure requirements and a correspondingly low entry cost. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 6
The ASP utilizes a secure centralized data center and connects the user to the software product over the Internet. Each client uses a separate licensed copy of the product, possibly customized for the client, and installed on the central server. The application is basically a client-server system with a Web interface. The SaaS provider also uses the Internet to link the customer to the application. However, the application itself is designed to be securely shared by many clients, even though each client may enjoy a customized user experience via configuration options. The SaaS product is a native Web application, designed and coded using Web services for Web delivery. Besides the savings in hardware, technical staffing, and physical space, the SaaS approach is generally considered the better way to deliver on-demand application hosting because it can give a: faster and smoother user experience it is available from anywhere the Internet is accessible and it is greener than other options. Mistakes to Avoid Think Long Term Switching platforms is disruptive and incurs real costs. Plan for future volume and platform requirements now, so you don t outgrow your provider in the short term. Look for a Partner Look for a vendor who will be part of the team who will continue to support you in meeting your objectives after the sale. Moreover, compared to ASP, product improvements are easier to implement since only one standard version of the software is maintained. Purchase and On-Premises Hosting Another business model option is on-premises hosting. In this scenario, the buyer purchases the software off-the-shelf for installation on in-house hardware. The buyer is responsible for installation, maintenance, and providing adequate bandwidth. The buyer also has total control over when and how the software is used. In addition, some perceived advantages of in-house as compared to SaaS/ASP are heightened security and independence of Internet performance. Pricing Options Arriving at a reasonable comprehensive cost estimate may be the most challenging part of the buying process. Some vendors publish their prices freely, while others depend on customized cost estimates given only upon request. Offerings range from simple to complex. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 7
Some of the more common pricing options include: Per user, sometimes called per seat. You pay based on the number of people at your business who can use the system simultaneously. This approach is typical of ASP platforms. Unlimited usage, pay-as-you-go. You are simply charged for services used or the number of emails sent. Cost per message may fall as the number of emails sent increases. Tiered pricing with a flat rate for all emails below a set maximum per month or year is not uncommon. There may be overage fees for exceeding the maximum for your tier. Don t Forget the Learning Curve Training modes range from formal on-site classes and group workshops to webinars and selfguided online tutorials and videos. Remember to take in to account how the vendor s customer support resources align with the needs of your team. One per-month or per-year fee based on the size of your subscriber database (mailing list) with unlimited email sending. This monthly/annual fee may be allinclusive or you may be billed separately for use of certain features. Some vendors charge additional document storage, image storage, and campaign archiving fees. Wholesale pricing. Some platforms are designed specifically for agencies, creative firms, and resellers that deliver marketing services for multiple clients, with client-specific subaccounts from a single implementation. These platforms may allow branding and customizing for each client. These can include billing and other specialized features. If you choose a SaaS or ASP solution, it might be to your advantage to negotiate a Service Level Agreement, or SLA, with your vendor. This is a type of contract that helps ensure standards for system performance, reliability, uptime, volume sending capabilities, and tech support response. Because email marketing costs depend on many factors, including the number of email messages sent, your choice of product can strongly impact your email marketing expenditure. Consider two companies, one a large corporation and one a small sole proprietorship, both using the same email marketing software product. Intuitively it would seem that larger companies should spend more on email marketing. However, the smaller company using the same email marketing software as the larger company could spend more than the larger company if the big company is reaching out to a small niche market for higher-priced products, while the smaller company is selling a low-priced product to a large undifferentiated audience. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 8
Then, too, you need to factor in business model specific features like licensing fees, system maintenance, and administrative overhead for the chosen email marketing software product. The nature of your products and services, campaign designs, and business environment should be kept in mind when selecting an email marketing software platform since they all affect your email marketing budget. Crawl, Walk, Run Learning curves may be steep for some products. Training is where the vendor can offer the most valuable post-sale assistance. Other Considerations Training and Learning Curves Though some of the features of an email marketing software platform are similar across products, how they are implemented and the details of operation will be new even to seasoned users. In addition, there will almost certainly be tools unique to any given system that will be challenging to almost all new users. These are likely to support more advanced tasks involving segmentation strategies, triggered marketing, integrated email and social campaigns, and others. Because you want to get up to speed on the new platform quickly, and be able to take advantage of all the features offered by the new system, training is where the vendor can offer the most valuable post-sale assistance. Training modes range from formal on-site classes and group workshops (usually an expensive alternative) to webinars and self-guided online tutorials and videos. In between, some vendors offer FAQs, libraries of articles, phone training and chat. Learning curves may be steep for some products. Crawl, walk, run. Learning Communities Product users may also have formed online information exchanges, user forums, communities, and blogs that allow users to take advantage of their combined experience. Hints and practical tips from these unbiased sources can be valuable. Additional Support Depending on the vendor, you may have access to various types of after-purchase support. These may include technical support and assistance with creative and marketing strategy. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 9
Section 5 Evaluating the Features of Email Marketing Software Systems The features and quality of the platform are truly what distinguishes one product from the next. Each vendor offers a different mix. Your aim: a state-of-the art, reliable, robust system with all the functionality you need immediately and for the foreseeable future. What follows is a list of some important features you ll want to consider. Scalability You can expect to be using the solution you select for a while, so it should be scalable it should be able to grow with your business. Once your target audiences see how useful and relevant your email messages and newsletters are, the number of subscribers is sure to grow. Moreover, the anywhere anytime convenience of mobile will be a factor in the increasing importance of email messaging. Even within your own company, experience shows that as other departments see how effective email marketing is at prospecting leads and making sales, they are sure to find their own applications for the system as well. As message traffic increases, make sure you re not forced to rip out the old system to install something completely new. Email Broadcast Capability These are the basic on-demand emailing capabilities like volume email broadcasting (aka blasting ) and drip campaigns that involve selective sending of smaller numbers of emails. A platform s mail sending capability can be rated in terms of messages per hour. It is not uncommon for powerful delivery engines to be able to send nearly a million messages per hour. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 10
Automated Emailing Features Automated emailing refers to emails that are automatically generated based on triggering events, transactions, or recipient behaviors and demographics. According to an Epsilon study, triggered messages resulted in a 70.5% higher open rates and 101.8% greater click rates when compared to business-as-usual email messages. 4 Automated emailing features can be central to well-planned, successful marketing campaigns as well as major contributors to cost savings. Here are some of them. One Important Question to Ask Does the system provide feedback or keep records or copies of autogenerated messages? You need to know what the system is doing. Auto Response Email Event, Transaction, and Behavioral Triggers Some examples of what is also known as auto response or real-time email include: a follow-up email offering further sales assistance triggered by downloading a whitepaper from the company website; an emailed receipt resulting from a bank ATM transaction; automatic email notification of the impending expiration of a license or subscription; or a greeting automatically emailed two days before the customer s birthday. Other common uses of automated emails are abandoned activation messages, welcome messages, thanks messages, itineraries, reorders, shopping cart queries, win-back, rewards, and notification of password change. One important question to ask: Does the system provide feedback or keep records or copies of auto-generated messages? You need to know what the system is doing. Sequenced Messaging Sequenced messaging, sometimes called life-cycle messaging, allows you to set up a series of emails that are automatically sent over time as a succession of milestones are reached. For example, upon purchase of a product the customer receives a Sale Confirmation that includes an Upselling Offer. This is followed by a Shipping Notification and finally an After Sale Satisfaction Survey. Scheduled Mailings Features that let you automatically schedule mailings by date and time or time zone to conform to reader behavior patterns can be a way to improve response. Some research shows that the most active hours for email reading are between 2 and 5pm, and more subscribers open email on Wednesday and Thursday than any other day of the week. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 11
Retries Sometimes emails bounced by an ISP as suspected spam are passed if the message is sent a second time. This feature lets you set the number of times a bounced email is resent. Usability Features These are the features that show that the email marketing software platform is designed for people these features show awareness of what tools people need to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. And sometimes they can even make doing those jobs fun. Customizable Dashboards Many email marketing software users have learned the advantages of customizable dashboards. These personalized displays allow the user to view graphs showing (sometimes dynamically) trends and real-time statistics about campaigns for easy reference. The dashboard can also give direct access to often-used software features and current projects. Flexible User Customizable Content Editing Tools A flexible editor with an intuitive user interface (UI), incorporating WYSIWYG interaction, and point and click/drag and drop features for text and graphics, enables you to easily create and edit email content for both HTML and text messages. HTML Text Editing. You ll need tools to select font, typestyle, and size. Features for formatting tables are handy. HTML Source Import. If you have design professionals on staff, they may appreciate being able to upload designs in HTML format that they have created using full-featured graphic design applications. HTML Source Viewer and Editor. More advanced users may like to bypass the WYSIWYG interface and directly access HTML source for more advanced custom coding. CSS import. Cascading style sheets (CSS) are sections of code that control font and layout for HTML messages. Because CSS must be internal to the email and cannot be included by reference, it is convenient to have CSS import features which allow you to pull in CSS and automatically copy them into email messages. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 12
Usability Features continued... Design support for a variety of viewing devices, including mobile. Look for features to simplify designing email for proper display regardless of device. You may not be certain what kind of device your reader may be using: smartphone, tablet, PC, or laptop. Layout, text size, and image handling may need to be adjusted for proper display depending on device capabilities and screen size, shape, and orientation. (Automatically selecting the best layout for the viewing device is usually handled by a CSS media query internal to the email.) Design Support for a Variety of Viewing Devices Automatically selecting the best layout for the viewing device is usually handled by a CSS media query internal to the email. Plain text email without images. Plain text emails are still part of the online marketing repertoire. They re good for fast loading, and for users with slow connections. They re also useful for creating SMS/mobile text messages. Standard footers, boilerplate, and social links. The ability to choose from a library of standard footers and other often-used boilerplates (like subscribe/unsubscribe buttons, name and address of originator, and social share icon bars with links to major social media sites) can save time. Web linking aids. These tools can make it easy to include QR codes and hyperlinks (text or button) to web content, audio files, or video without requiring you to manually type URLs into the message. Embed video. Options can let you embed video presentations into your emails from YouTube or other video services. Customizable Email and Newsletter Templates For users who prefer not to create their emails from scratch, many platforms include a free gallery of HTML templates that make creating attractive, professional-looking emails and newsletters fast and easy. You can use the templates almost as-is or customize them with logos, color, and graphics. It is also useful to be able to save your own designs as templates that can be reused. Graphics Design and Management Tools Rather than using a separate graphics application, the platform can provide its own image editing tools that let you import, resize, and manipulate graphics. You may also have access to a collection of public domain images you can use for free, or direct links to collections of stock photos and artwork that you can license. The email marketing product may also offer free or paid image hosting on the vendor s server. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 13
Usability Features continued... Marketing Campaign Design and Automation Tools This software typically has a graphic interface for planning and managing marketing campaigns from simple bulk sending to complex, multi-channel, segmented, and personalized campaigns that leverage prospect and customer behavior. The logic flows define what actions the email marketing system will take based on audience reactions to the campaign communications. Create multi-track workflows using email, direct mail, social, mobile, and telesales. For example, if the recipient accepts an emailed invitation to a product demo webinar, instructions for logging in will be automatically emailed to that person. If the recipient does not register, a separate offer of a personal demo is sent. The platform may include a setup wizard to guide you through the steps in building a marketing campaign. Social Media, Web Landing Pages, Forms, and Mini-websites Some platforms go beyond the email medium to help you build web features like data collection forms, progressive web forms, landing pages and mini-websites that are coordinated with your email campaign. Others also offer features that automate posting your message to social networks. A/B Testing Support A/B split testing is a powerful tool for analyzing the effectiveness of email features such as Subject and From lines, design, and message content. You can answer questions like Which produces better results a text link or button?, Which design is most productive graphics or text?, What Subject lines are most effective?, and Does delivery time-of-day affect click rates? With A/B testing, such subjective questions are answered by hard data. Without being told, a fraction of the recipients receive a message with a slightly different Subject line. For example, their behavior (click-throughs, opens, purchases, etc.) is compared to the mass of recipients receiving the standard version. If the new version is superior, it replaces the standard. Ability to Include Attachments On occasion, you may wish to include attachments to email messages. However, hyperlinks to a web repository of files are often preferred by subscribers because of fear of computer viruses transmitted through attachments. Attachments will also considerably increase your chances of being flagged by some firewalls and email ISPs as a threat or spam, and they increase the size of your email message and may make it cumbersome for your subscribers to download your message. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 14
Usability Features continued... Inbox Previewing Before sending an email message to thousands of email subscribers, preview tools enable you to make sure you are projecting the right image and let you see exactly what the email will look like when displayed on major email clients and on a variety of devices. Mail Customization Personalizing and customizing email can be key to making your message compelling and timely. Here are some tools and features that can make the difference between email that results in action, and email that is deleted unread. Mail-Merge Personalization The tracking history and demographic data you collect on a customer can be the foundation for your email personalization. To personalize a message, the platform lets you insert merge tags into the email in order to automatically pull in data specific to the recipient. Using personalization you can, for example, greet the subscriber by name, refer to product/service purchases, and otherwise make the message more relevant to the individual. Personalization can also be used to include graphics (for example, an action button or a picture of a car recently purchased) or links to video related to the recipient s preferences. Dynamic Conditional Content Dynamic conditional content is sometimes confused with personalized content, but it goes beyond personalization. Dynamic conditional content depends on the use of logical if/then business rules based on profile data, rather than simple mail-merge fields. Based on the rules, entire content blocks are automatically integrated into the email, with each content block itself possibly personalized. Tools should allow you to preview and test messages with dynamic content blocks before sending. Integration with Location Data Mobile computing has enabled an important new angle to email marketing location-based messaging. Special offers from nearby businesses and customization based on travel habits are only two opportunities for blending email marketing and location data. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 15
Publish to Social Sites and RSS A few vendors let you post or schedule posts to social media and RSS feeds to coincide with email campaigns. Form Design Feature This convenience feature lets you design web forms that can be included in a website, or email forms to simplify opt-in subscribing and unsubscribing to emails and newsletters. Tracking and Strategy Capturing and measuring responding customers behavior in a systematic way is a critical capability for fine-tuning your marketing strategy. Alias From Fields Tailoring the From field (for example, adding a person s name) often can increase email open rates. This feature allows you to create an alternate email address from which the email campaign is sent. Message Tracking Message tracking capabilities make it possible for the email marketing software platform to monitor events like delivery confirmation, bounces, opens, forwarding, click-throughs, use of social buttons, subscribe/unsubscribe, and spam complaints. More sophisticated tools can measure time on page, can identify scanning versus reading activities, and scrolling below the initial screen. Some products can assign personalized URLs to each subscriber to facilitate clickstream tracking of individual web behaviors. Most platforms offer tracking details aggregated for each mailing, while others can provide tracking information at the individual user level, which may be valuable in customizing and personalizing future emails. Tracking features can also involve integration with external systems such as sales management and CRM products, and can link email behaviors with conversions, personal interactions and other details. Depending on the product, tracking results are available in either real-time or batch. Either way, capturing and measuring responding customers behavior in a systematic way is a critical capability for fine-tuning your marketing strategy. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 16
List Management Tools Pay close attention to the features your platform offers for keeping lists upto-date and accurate. High administrative overhead (the behind-the-scenes effort needed to keep the email marketing system functioning) can easily cancel out advantages of performance and convenience. The system should incorporate features and utilities to speed and simplify administrative tasks like list management and hygiene. Adding Subscribers to Mailing Lists Besides features that allow you to manually edit your subscriber databases, you ll need tools for bulk list management. Many platforms include utilities to automate the task of synchronizing email address information between the platform and external databases such as CRM programs or sales management applications. Some products include mobile web apps for adding contacts to your database on-the-go. List Hygiene Utilities for de-dupe and list validation are essential. Some platforms warn you about possible duplicate and invalid email addresses when a list is imported; others run checks as a separate process. List Import and Export You, and others in your organization, will need to import and export subscriber lists to and from external databases for easier viewing and manipulation and for more extensive custom analysis. Check to be sure your choice of platform facilitates moving lists between applications and can work with the list formats (e.g., Excel, CSV, TXT) your organization routinely uses. Frequency and Date Limits To prevent list fatigue, many email marketing platforms allow you to limit mailing to selected mailing lists or groups of subscribers by setting frequency and recency date limits. These control how often a subscriber receives email from your organization in a given time period (for example, how many emails a month) or how great the separation must be between contact dates. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 17
Automatic Handling of Opt-Ins, Subscribes, Unsubscribes, and Bounces Automated features and specialized tools can offer a time-saving alternative to manually editing mailing lists. Such features can manage opt-in and double optin protocols, add subscribes and delete unsubscribes, and may handle snooze requests to temporarily halt email messages as an alternative to unsubscribing. Email marketing platforms can also include tools that automatically analyze SMTP codes on bounced emails to identify hard bounces (bounces due to invalid, closed, or nonexistent email addresses) and edit mailing lists accordingly. Integration with Other Online and Offline Systems You can expand the power of your email marketing platform through integration with other online and offline business process applications and information sources to create an email ecosystem. These other systems can include thirdparty Web and RSS feed apps, social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, etc.), proprietary databases, e-commerce systems (like Shopify, Etsy, and PayPal), sales management systems (like Salesforce.com), telesales products that can trigger email messaging, content management systems (like Drupal and Wordpress), data analytics systems (like Google Analytics), personalization engines, ticketing and couponing services (like Eventbrite), GPS location tracking systems, shopping carts, web survey apps (like SurveyMonkey), and many more. Two points to consider: Some integrations require coding through an API while a few vendors offer code free integrations with selected major third-party applications. And where you are integrating with systems that share data, like CRM databases that manage email addresses and demographics, you may want to ask whether the sharing is one-way or two-way. Mobile Web Apps and Remote Login Many vendors offer mobile web apps for use with their platforms. These apps may, for example, let you manage campaigns or add contacts to the mailing list database, right from a smartphone or tablet. Other products support remote login via web or VPN, so you can view real-time delivery statistics, preview messages, schedule or cancel emails, etc. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 18
Segmentation Tools All contacts on your mailing lists are different, even if you are selling all of them the same product or services. Segmentation is an important method for focusing your content, adding to message relevancy, and providing specific and upto-date content for each recipient. Segmentation means sorting emailing lists into targeted groups based on customer-reported demographics, response history, purchase habits, geographic location, subscription date, and other characteristics. Subscribers can also actively join groups by using opt-ins, when they respond to surveys, or by indicating their interests and preference groups when they sign up for your emails and newsletters. You can then segment mailing lists by any of these characteristics when you re ready to send. Smart Marketing Business intelligence or analytics gathering, reporting, and interpreting information about the business and its customers just may be the most important contributor to business success in the future. Email marketing software systems include the data management tools you need to create list segments. The number of demographic and other fields you may use to create segments varies from product to product. Some platforms let you add your own unlimited segmentation fields while others are preset or limited. Data Collection, Reporting, and Analytical Capabilities According to some economists, business intelligence or analytics gathering, reporting, and interpreting information about the business and its customers just may be the most important contributor to business success in the future. In the world of email marketing, analytics can help align email messaging to the buying process (by making messages appropriate to the stage of the buyer decision process the customer is in), allow quick changes to email content to improve lead generation and conversions, increase open and response rates, and enhance deliverability, to name a few of the benefits. Your email marketing software platform must have powerful and versatile features for standard (pre-built) and customized reporting on such indicators as delivery, open rate, bounces, clicks to web and social media sites, forwarding, subscribes/ unsubscribes, and the channel where the email was opened. You should also be able to develop customized reports that can focus on list segments by demographic characteristics and contact geograhic location and activity. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 19
Some platforms have more advanced analytical features that can pull data from external systems that monitor web traffic and e-commerce and combine these data pulls with native emailing activity information to report on conversions and revenue generated. Other systems enable easy integration with analytics programs such as Google Analytics, so you can access the third party application from within your email marketing system account. Some other reporting features you should consider: Is reporting done in real-time or batch delivery? Can you develop reports using natural language text queries? Does the product allow benchmarking reports for comparison of results from multiple campaigns? Can you export reports for viewing offline? Deliverability Enhancement Features Deliverability refers to the whole range of protocols and best practices that can influence whether your email message actually reaches the intended reader s inbox. It has to do with features inherent in the email content as well as the sender s reputation among ISPs. Email marketing software platforms incorporate a variety of tools and strategies that can improve email deliverability rates. These include: Pre-mailing Spamminess Analysis. The program runs analyses on email content to look for words and phrases that trigger spam filters. Such checks ensure that messages will not be seen as spam and automatically deleted or sent to a junk folder by the ISP or client-side spam monitors. Blocking Rule Checking. Run real-time tests from their servers to ensure compliance with ISP policies. ISP Relationship Management. Some vendors manage relationships with ISPs to ensure their emails meet high standards and are not flagged as spam or phishing email. Sending email from a vendor s IP address that has been certified, or whitelisted, by major ISPs lets you know beforehand that the message will not be filtered by an ISP s blocking rules. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 20
Domain Key Identified Mail (DKIM) Technology or SPF Technology. Spammers sometimes forge email From addresses so that the sender appears legitimate. DKIM adds a digital signature (a domain key) to the heading of outgoing email messages to authenticate the sending organization (the domain). By reading the digital signature the ISPs handling the messages can track them back to the sender s domain name and verify that it s legitimate; the digital signature also confirms that no one has altered the message content. The SPF (Sending Policy Framework) approach to authentication places a line of code in the outgoing message header that is read by the incoming mail server to verify the legitimacy of the originating organization. Bounce Code Interpretation. Some programs automatically capture and interpret hundreds of bounce codes from ISPs and company domains so you can adjust your message content and mailing lists for best deliverability. CAN-SPAM Compliance Checks. Certain US commercial email must comply with the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003. Programs that check for compliance of messages that are impacted by CAN-SPAM look for features such as an Unsubscribe mechanism and a postal return address. Multiple Languages and Encoding Support Sending email messages in languages other than English may be a requirement for your marketing campaigns. If so, you may need to be able to segment mailing lists for different languages and require a sending engine that can handle the necessary character sets and encoding. Some vendors can offer translation assistance or integration with translation programs. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 21
Administration and Security Features Behind-the-scenes administration features help you set up and manage the email marketing software platform for maximum efficiency. Admin features let you configure the product for your company s way of doing business. Security features shield you and your contacts from fraudulent online activity and protect you from situations originating inside and outside of your organization that can limit your ability to do business. Here are some features to consider: Support for multiple levels of system users (e.g., marketing campaign managers, content authors, corporate executives, etc.). You can give each user group safe access to the data (for example, databases and customer profiles) and functionality (such as viewing, adding, changing, and deleting data; sending email; generating reports) appropriate to their job. Collaborative workflow features for easier review, design, authoring, feedback, and so on. Depending on the product, workflows can be configured and managed either graphically or by scripting. Access control features can include user passwords and/or multifactor authentication. Granular access rights can let you restrict users to specific databases, files, and folders. Administrative audit trails provide a record of system access and activity. Data center security measures include backup and disaster recovery plans to ensure business continuity. Section 6 Your Responsibilities Choosing and implementing the right email marketing software platform for your business is only the beginning. Inform yourself. Today s buyer has unprecedented stores of product information available. Software vendors develop brand awareness before the sales cycle starts (touch points may be a display ad, web search results, email marketing messages possibly offering webinars, informative whitepaper, etc., and social media). You are expected to have a good idea of what is available and the features and functionality you require in your business before you begin the procurement process. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 22
Dive in. Don t expect the system to run on auto-pilot. Systems require education. There is a learning curve with any sophisticated product. There may be new skills and technical know-how that are required, beyond what your staff already has. Encourage power users to share their know-how. Develop compelling and relevant content. Spam is becoming less of a problem with the proliferation of filters that ensure automatic detection. Still, the number of messages to the inbox is increasing. Relevance determines whether a message is opened or if the recipient hits the Delete button. Content must focus on issues the customer cares about, not simply build brand awareness. Understand your audience to create compelling content that s personalized, device-appropriate, relevant, and timely. The Right Platform is Only the Beginning Measuring ROI and developing relevant content were the challenges most often sited by the businesses surveyed, according to a btobonline.com report. 5 Make content share-worthy. Interesting data, statistics, insights, informative material, and content having educational value invite sharing via social media. Include well-placed links to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit to make sharing easy. As a bonus, the big search engines like Google and Bing have begun including comments and recommendations posted to the social media in their results. Make sure you use all the features you are paying for. Especially take the time to learn (and possibly train on) the analytics and reporting features and how they can be used. 1 2011 Pew Internet Research. Search and Email Still Top the List. 2 Nielsen Research, Is Social Media Impacting How Much We Email? BtoB Online, 2013 Email Marketing: An Established Channel Evolves. Epsilon Inc., Q1 2013 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks. Email Institute, Mobile Boosts Email, Marketers Optimize Content. 3 icontact, Small and Midsize Business Email Marketing Survey 2013. 4 Epsilon Inc., Q4 2012 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks. 5 BtoB Online, 2013 Email Marketing: An Established Channel Evolves. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 23
Section 7 Features Checklist Your choice of an email marketing software platform will have an impact on your business for years to come. With planning and forethought, it can be an integral part of your line-of-business applications. It pays to approach the selection task analytically and with a clear understanding of the issues. The following checklist, though far from exhaustive, summarizes some of the key issues to consider when making your selection. FEATURE MUST HAVE NICE TO HAVE Administration and Security Data backup and restore Encrypted data storage Multi-level (group) function access permissions Password authentication Redundant servers SSL support User audit trails Workflow features Data and Mailing List Management Auto-compare against suppressed and banned email lists Database connectivity (Excel, CSV, TXT) Demographic data fields (fixed or unlimited) Mailing list de-dupe, verification Mailing list import; database connectivity (Excel, CSV, TXT) Mailing list segmentation Deliverability DKIM (Domain Key Identified Mail) Spamminess analysis, CAN-SPAM support Whitelisting with ISPs 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 24
FEATURE MUST HAVE NICE TO HAVE Email Campaign Design A/B multivariate testing Access to stock images, public domain images Design support for mobile devices Document, content, image hosting, and campaign archiving Dynamic and conditional rules-based content Easy linking to web pages, audio, video, and social media Easy-to-use email design features for graphics handling Easy-to-use email design features for text content Import CSS code for email layout Import HTML code for email content Include attachments with email Personalized content ( mail merge ) Templates for email campaigns and newsletters Web forms, mini-website, and landing page builder WYSIWYG, drag and drop, and point and click functionality Email Message Handling Automatic bounce handling Automatic retries for undelivered messages Automatic unsubscribe handling Autoresponse (triggered by transaction, behavior, event, etc.) Autoresponse sequential mailings Email and web behavior tracking Email or web survey support Email preview on all major email clients, devices; test email Email recency and frequency limits Language and encoding support Scheduled emailing SMS/mobile text messaging features Temporary unsubscribe 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 25
FEATURE MUST HAVE NICE TO HAVE Integration Integration API or code free Integration with analytics and BI platforms Integration with CRM and ERP system Integration with e-commerce system Integration with sales management system Integration with social media Integration with RSS Integration with ticketing and couponing applications Reporting Benchmarking (multiple campaign comparison) Dashboard displays graphical, dynamic monitoring Export, download, and PDF format reports Real-time and batch reporting Standard and customizable reports System and Support Library of articles, online help, FAQs, and knowledgebase Online community, forums Powerful delivery engine, fast sending speed Smartphone and tablet apps, VPN for remote connection Support staff expertise System scalability, ability to grow with traffic, technology System business model In-house purchase System business model SaaS or ASP Tech support phone, email, live chat, etc. 2013 MediaBrains Inc. All rights reserved. Page 26