Leverage Third-Party Email Software and Services
Fully in-house email solutions are impractical because deliverability challenges change so fast and qualified programmers are expensive.
Fortunately, there are a wide variety of third-party solutions, ranging from licensed software that sends email from your own mail server(s) to outsourcing providers, called "Email Service Providers or "ESPs," who enable you to manage your email campaigns from a web-based, proprietary interface.
- The advantage of using licensed software from your own mail server(s) is that your overall costs should be lower and your mail is less likely to be blocked due to the spam practices of a "neighbor" on a shared IP address.
- The advantage of using a (high-end) Email Service Provider is their troubleshooting capabilities, and relationships with postmasters at Internet Service Providers such as AOL and Yahoo, if intervention is needed on your behalf.
Here are a few examples of third-party email solutions:
- EmailNow by GroundSpring (http://www.groundspring.org/services/emailnow.cfm) is popular among non-profits for small and medium-sized mailing lists. EmailNow integrates well with GroundSpring's DonateNow utility.
- GetActive offers an email "tool suite" that is used by over 800 non-profit clients, including: The Humane Society of the United States, AFL-CIO, University of California, CARE, Oxfam America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of REALTORS. GetActive partners with Habeas to offer Safelisting to non-profits free of charge.
- Email Service Providers that partner with Goodmail CertifiedEmail include: BlueStreak, Acxiom Digital, e-Dialog, Epsilon Interactive, ExactTarget, Exmplar, Harte-Hanks Postfuture, Premiere Global Services, Responsys, Silverpop, SmartDM, TailoredMail, Whatcounts, Yesmail, and Zustek
A far more complete, 610 page directory of email marketing software and services is available in Dr. Ralph Wilson's Email Marketing Handbook: http://www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/handbook.htm
Or, you may prefer the Buyer's Guide to Email Service Providers by MarketingSherpa with comparisons organized both by services and vendor: http://www.sherpastore.com/Buyers-Guide-to-Email-Service-Providers.html
For mailing list sizes of 10,000 to 5,000,000+, I recommend outsourcing to an Email Service Provider.
To help differentiate between Email Service Providers during the vendor selection process, ask:
- How will you help me track and report conversion (not just views and clicks)?
- Why are you better at identifying and managing bounces than other Email Service Providers?
- How will you help get my email "authenticated," "accredited," or "certified" to overcome content and delivery volume constraints?
- How does your system monitor and alert me to non-delivery or bulk-folder delivery at high-priority domains?
- If I'm having trouble getting my email delivered to Hotmail, what will you do for me? How about Gmail? AOL? Yahoo?
- How does your web interface handle sequentially-automated (i.e., autoresponder) campaigns?
- Using your system, how can I segment mailing lists based on behavioral data collected from past campaigns?
- What do you charge for your service; are there monthly minimums; how long must I contract for? Note: These are all negotiable.
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