The Whitelist

Hot off the press, Clickmail and ExactTarget declare their love and admiration for one another.  We’re proud to have reached Gold Status with ExactTarget; and they’re pretty darn happy, too.

You started with an entry-level ESP (email service provider) because at the time, it was all you needed for your basic email marketing. But now your list has grown, along with your knowledge of what’s capable with email marketing. How do you know when it’s time to upgrade? It’s time to move up to a more robust ESP when you want:

• To segment
• API integration
• To integrate to SalesForce.com or another CRM or a web analytics tool
• More sophisticated reporting
• Event triggered emails
• Drip marketing
• Better throughput (deliverability) because your list has grown in quantity

In the world of ESPs, you get what you pay for. Make sure your ESP keeps pace with your email marketing needs.

Many email marketers enter the email marketing fray with an entry level ESP (email service provider). It makes sense when you’re starting out. You don’t need much functionality, your in-house list is small, and your budget might be tight.

Then time goes by, your email marketing gets more sophisticated (or you want it to, at least). Your list grows. And you start to pay more attention to your email marketing ROI. That’s when it’s time to think about moving up to a top tier ESP and here’s why: A lower deliverability rate can mean you’re leaving money on the table.

Speaking of tables, the one below shows the impact on your ROI of using an entry level ESP vs. a top tier one. Say you have list of 100,000 names, your widget sells for $25 each, and your conversion rate is 3%. As you can see below, even with the higher cost per email with the top tier ESP, the increase in emails delivered-and therefore sales made-more than covers that additional cost. With this example, you’re still $9280 ahead.