With so many ESPs out there, you want to be sure that you’re choosing the right one – especially when making a purchase means you’re tied into a contract for however many months. You need to do your research, and there are a few questions past simply “How much is it?” that you should be asking.
1) Is this ESP value for money?
This is the important part of the cost question. You want to know if you’ll get the money you put into the service, out of it. There are a few ways you can find this out. Some companies might be able to give you a reasonably generalised ROI, but it’s also a good idea to look into any customer case studies the company might have. This can give a good idea of what you can expect from them yourself.
2) How simple is it to build the email templates you want?
Think about the architecture of an outstanding email design. Before even looking up providers, you want to think about what you want from the service so that you can check if the companies you look into are offering it. Additionally, know your limits. If you have no HTML experience, you probably want a service that doesn’t require that from you. Providers such as CommuniGator are even implementing a drag-and-drop email builder, which may suit your needs and abilities.
3) What determines the segmentation of your lists?
For any good email service provider, best practice segmentation is determined by your killer values – so that your best-suited leads are placed into one group, leads that match most of the values make up another, and so on.
Some providers will give you the opportunity to use purchased data lists to reach more potential prospects than originally intended, which is a plus, but will ultimately go out of use once the GDPR comes into force. Make the most of it while you can!
4) Can the service go beyond segmentation for personalisation?
If you’re unfamiliar with dynamic content, this is well worth researching as you look for the perfect ESP. By now we all know that personalisation within email marketing is a must-have, engaging far more contacts than general, batch-sent emails. Dynamic content means that sections of your emails can adapt to what your leads have engaged with previously to give a more enticing offer.
Teaming this with strong workflows can make for the ultimate dynamic duo – pardon the pun.
5) Can this ESP be used to A/B split test?
You want a provider that will allow you A/B split test, as this will allow you to narrow down the best parts of different email designs until your final campaign is flawless. The importance of A/B testing is that you can test any and every part of your emails so that you can perfect your campaigns without any guess work. You want an ESP which will allow you to do this, as it will greatly benefit your email marketing.
6) How will it feed into your other marketing activities?
Providers such as CommuniGator, who have their own lead generation software alongside email services, can combine different aspects of each to give you the best solution possible. GatorLeads, for example, can identify the individuals visiting your website and feed them into whichever GatorMail campaign they suit best. Again, with strong workflows, this can help you to automate a highly effective marketing campaign as well as a nurturing campaign, giving yourself and your team time to focus on social media or events.
Not only this, but service providers such as CommuniGator can also integrate with most CRMs – especially Microsoft Dynamics – meaning that all your marketing activities can be kept neat and tidy in a clearly set-out bundle.
There’s a lot to look into with an email service provider, and this isn’t even everything you need to know. Think of what you want and need from a provider before you start looking so that you can choose a company that’s best suited to your marketing strategy.
Latest posts by Alison Chambers (see all)
- How to Identify the Individuals on your Website - October 17, 2016
- 6 Questions to Ask When Choosing an Email Service Provider - September 19, 2016