The Email Wars

Review time is in the air, and budget planning is on the minds of marketers everywhere. This is also the time that many choose to review their current email marketing platform or provider. Sept-Oct-Nov is the time we get an annual barrage of phone calls from people that are reviewing most of the top email service providers out there, looking for a better fit or a better deal. I hear a host of different reasons and questions; here are some of the most common:

Q: “We are looking for more features, do you have more than our current provider?”

A: “Do you use the current features of X provider? No? So, why do you want more?

“We have seen some other people doing great work out there and noticed that they work with you.”

“I am really concerned about our deliverability.”

“My current provider never helps me be better.”

“I am looking to send more and spend less.”

“We always audit this time of year, typically via RFP, but have been with the same provider for 4 plus years. Our corporation mandates an annual review.”

Q: “How can we get the data we need?”

A: “Do you have a plan to use it if you get it?”

I can play devil’s advocate on about anything out there, but what is really comes down to is that everyone is always looking for something bigger, better, sexier, and different. Not only that, but in many cases they expect it to be cheaper.

But is cheaper more expensive? In the long run, yes. If you are looking at cutting your investment in a channel that over and over again drives revenues and out-performs most other online marketing tactics, then you might be taking money out of your own pocket. What? Yes. The less you work on your creative, testing, segmentation, cross media/platform engagement, then the less return you can expect no matter what email platform you are using.

I really want to impart some thoughts to people shopping around. You need to not just be wowed by the bells and whistles of some email platforms, but even more important is to be wowed by the people you are working with. So often I hear pitches from people out there that are selling using a feature approach. Features are only good if you are really going to use them. It reminds me of a car salesman when I hear about the things that are really cool but most marketers will typically never use. If someone is selling you something like air conditioned seats, you better live in Arizona and not Minnesota. The problem is we all like to have them whether we use them or not.

On the other side, to stay on topic, there are so many competing email solutions out there that it seems the cost of email marketing is not a factor. Email is free, email marketing is not. This has to do with the fact that, if you have a platform that cannot get your email to the inbox because they have 1000 people on the same IP and they spend close to zero time trying to educate you, then you might as well not be sending email. Email marketing is not just a software solution; it is working with people that have actual experience creating and deploying campaigns with results. Nine times out of ten the person that is selling you software has never planned, created or deployed an email campaign. Just having the ability to show you software is going to get your campaigns nowhere.

When you look for a partner in email marketing, make that the person you are talking to just isn’t another salesperson, but someone that is an email marketer. You will get more bang for your buck, and more bucks (that’s revenue) from your campaigns, making the cost of your email software a non-issue.