Proper Setup of ESP Account: Don’t Miss Out on Critical Functionality

Advanced Email Marketing Tips Proper Setup of Your New ESP Account: Don’t Miss Out on Critical Functionality

Proper Setup of Your New ESP Account
Table of Contents
Scenario: Migrating to a new ESP
Failure Story
Decision #1: Which database is primary database?
Decision #2: How to fully leverage ESP database and list structure.
More on the Failure Story
What do you do?
Email Blog – Proper ESP Setup:
http://emailmarketingtips.verticaltraction.com/2010/01/30/email-service-provider-lists-proper-setup/

ESP Setup: Overview
Scenario: You are upgrading to a better ESP. You have a regular email calendar and need to migrate quickly. You know how to upload lists, import HTML emails, click send and view a report. Great. Who can’t do that? If you don’t understand how to fully leverage your new ESPs capabilities you will miss out on functionality that you will regret later.
Take time to understand your email tool or hire someone who can advise of the best way so you can make business decisions that make you money vs. cost you money.

Failure Story not a Success Story
True Story
Client in a hurry to migrate to new ESP
Starts uploading and sending (easy enough)
Uploads subscribers to new list for each send for same bi-weekly newsletter (x 5 newsletters)
6 months later, API with CRM company can’t get what it needs b/c there’s not one list per newsletter
Reports can’t show trends over time b/c reports only show trends within one list
Forced to pull report data into Excel and manually analyze trends

Decision #1: Where Does Primary Database Live?
In-house?
How and when will you sync unsubs from ESP to your in-house DB?
How and when will you upload new subscribers and modified subscriber records to your ESP?
Manual or API?
What forms and databases will capture info ESP would normally capture?
How much will it cost to continually manage this effort?

At the ESP?
Are you sending emails from other systems?
Transactional emails?
Administrative emails from your site?
Other campaign tools such as CRM system?
What information is important to import into ESP?
What information is important to download from ESP and sync with your in-house database?
How will you sync? It requires rules? What if record was changed vs. a simple unsub request? What logic will compare and which record will be updated? Is it even necessary?

My preference…
Deal with the fact that in order to have an effective email marketing campaign, you need your data to be captured by the ESP unless you are willing to invest serious money to automate synchronization.
Why? Most importantly: Immediate actions.
Auto-replies/Confirmations, Welcome Campaigns (see my other preso), preferences, etc. make for a better subscriber experience vs. easing your effort to execute. Yes there’s a balance but if it’s one-sided to make it easy on you, your subscribers won’t be around for long to respond to your email campaign

Decision #2: How to fully leverage ESP database and list structure
Most ESPs are setup differently. Don’t assume b/c you see familiar labels and steps that you know how they work.
Most have Databases, Segments, Lists and Campaigns. But what do those phrases mean at THAT ESP?
Just because you are sending out a newsletter doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be setup as a Campaign. You might have to in order to get meaningful reports.
Just because you are personalizing or targeting different segments of your lists doesn’t mean you shouldn’t understand and setup these features. Your data and ability to analyze reports could suffer.

More on the Failure Story
5 newsletters sent out bi-weekly
5-8 sections in each newsletter
3 sections cost hard cash to develop each issue
Which sections do recipients value and click on?
Do recipients even care about the sections that cost us money to create?
Run a report. Wait. 5 newsletters x 8 sections x 24 sends a year x 20,000 subscribers manually pasted into Excel? We should have setup the lists properly so one click would tell us (among other things):
What is the trend for Section 1 of Newsletter 1 and so on? Is the trend stagnant? On the rise? On the decline?
With this intelligence, you could:
Save time and money
Improve relevancy for your subscribers
Improve your bottom line

What do you do?
The Sales Rep’s demo isn’t enough
Document your existing processes and campaigns
Spend time with one of their experts understanding how to map what you currently do to their system
Once you decide to migrate, spend time with their experts again learning THEIR best practices, quirks, etc. so you fully leverage the tool and not waste your time and money.

About
Rob Van Slyke is a 15-year veteran of interactive marketing
For the past 6 years, Rob has focused on email marketing and squeezing out every last percentage point possible in email response rates
Rob Van Slyke
Interactive Consultant
[email_address]
713-681-7771
vertical traction
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Advanced Email Marketing Tips Blog
http://emailmarketingtips.verticaltraction.com/
http://www.verticaltraction.com/

Proper Setup of ESP Account: Don’t Miss Out on Critical Functionality

by vertical traction on Jan 31, 2010

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Proper Setup of ESP Account: Don’t Miss Out on Critical Functionality — Presentation Transcript