Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

In order to properly evaluate your ESP options, you do need to do a full needs analysis first. Perhaps you have done this already, but it is important that you define exactly what you need the ESP to do for you, now and in the future. It depends how complex your email marketing is, now and in the future-how many segments are you marketing to? Do you require personalization? What type of link tracking do you need? What are your reporting requirements? Do you need to connect the ESP with your CRM or content management system? Do you need forms? The list of requirements is endless, so it is difficult to answer your question without knowing what your needs are.
Having said that, I have not worked with any of the vendors you are investigating. We looked at Constant Contact but it did not meet our particular needs. I do think they have a good reputation though. We did subscribe to Campaigner Pro and found it to be a horrible experience. They had some serious customer service and technical issues. We moved to Exact Target and found them to be excellent. Their customer service was fantastic and they offered all the features that met our needs. The right ESP can really simplify the job of segmentation if that is important to you. You also want to be sure that you can do testing easily, and track the results simply. I hope this helps and best of luck finding the right resource that meets your needs!

I can second Linda's response to this. In addition to all the requirements you'll need from the platform itself, consider whether or not you care about the activities of any individual email recipient. This will indicate whether a traditional broadcast email platform is suitable or if you'd get more value from a lead management/marketing automation platform.

That you specifically mention tracking indicates you'd benefit from the latter. When you're able to track your marketing efforts and view prospect activity, score leads, and route hot leads to a sales team, a marketing automation platform is definitely the way to go.

If you'd like some specific pointers, please get in touch via my profile.

Over the last 10 years, I've looked at most of the ESPs out there at one time or another. In fact, a few years back I co-authored a guide for MarketingProfs on this very subject.

You need to know what's important to you and what's not before choosing an ESP. Don't buy a Mercedes if what you really need is a Dodge.

There are too many things to consider to name here (and you may not even know that you want something until you realize you don't have it -- hope that made sense), but this will get you started:

Do you need stats through to the point of sale, if there is one?

Do you need templates?

Are you just broadcasting newsletters and need the basics of delivery, open, click, remove data, or are your needs more complex?

Do you need the ability to segment your file based on response data? If so, how easy does that need to be?

Do you need triggered emails to go out based on some criteria?

Do you want to send email from your own domain? A private IP address? Are you prepared to handle a lot of your deliverability responsibilities in-house should you go that route?

Sheesh, this is just the tip of the iceberg...

If you want, feel free to reach me outside the forum. Yes, we do offer an email solution, but I'm really all too happy to point you in the right direction, even if it's elsewhere.

- Paul