Red Pill Email All Rights Reserved

Red Pill Email All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ...................................................................................... 3

Participant Selection ..................................................................................... 3

Vendor Overview .......................................................................................... 4

Using This Guide .......................................................................................... 7

Features & Functions .................................................................................... 9

Business Offerings .................................................................................... 9

Business & Pricing Models ..................................................................... 9

Professional Services .......................................................................... 10

Product Offerings .................................................................................... 14

Platform ............................................................................................... 14

Supported API Protocols ...................................................................... 15

Supported Authentication ..................................................................... 15

Data & Segmentation .............................................................................. 15

Data Control: ........................................................................................ 15

Queries & Segmentation: ..................................................................... 15

Form Processing: ................................................................................. 16

Exporting Data via the User Interface:.................................................. 16

Encryption: ........................................................................................... 16

Data & Segmentation Scoring: ............................................................. 16

Deliverability & List Hygiene: ................................................................... 16

Deliverability & List Hygiene Scoring: ................................................... 17

Campaign Building & Workflow: .............................................................. 17

Asset Support: ..................................................................................... 17

Deployment Management: ................................................................... 17

Pre-Configured Programs: ................................................................... 17

Content Support: .................................................................................. 18

User Support: ....................................................................................... 18

Campaign Building & Workflow Scoring: .............................................. 18

Testing & Reporting ................................................................................. 18

Testing: ................................................................................................ 18

Reporting: ............................................................................................ 18

Third-Party Integration ............................................................................. 19

Deliverability ........................................................................................ 19

Suppression Management ................................................................... 20

Analytics .............................................................................................. 21

CRM .................................................................................................... 22

Ad-serving Integration .......................................................................... 23

Training & Support .................................................................................. 24

Training ................................................................................................ 24

Documentation ..................................................................................... 24

Support & Account Management ......................................................... 25

Vendor Scores Across All Categories ......................................................... 25

S.A.M.E. ..................................................................................................... 27

Glossary of Terms ....................................................................................... 29

Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide

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© 2012 Red Pill Email – All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized distribution strictly prohibited. Information provided by participants and is subject to change with product advancements. CONTACT Red Pill Email – 310-488-6769

Executive Summary Welcome to the third edition of the Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide. This Guide highlights the features provided and functions supported by a variety of commercial email messaging deployment tools available to small, medium, and enterprise users. Vendor offerings include hosted, on-premise, and hybrid solutions and services. With so many vendors aggressively vying for customers in a competitive marketplace, Red Pill Email surveyed 45 International providers with over 300 questions across 8 top-level categories regarding their technical product offerings and service options important to prospective users. Vendors are developing solutions that target certain industries, such as retail and publishing, with built-in functionality that cuts down on customization requirements for commonly used feature sets within those verticals. In an effort to simplify email messaging, vendors are also developing email deployment tools friendly to organizations with limited technical or marketing resources; several now offer preconfigured messaging programs, such as abandoned order and win-back programs. This year we’ve included skill levels for each feature and function to help users determine which vendors are best match to their skill set as well as their business requirements. Buyers should not focus on price alone and should let business requirements and contact strategy drive the selection process. In an increasingly crowded market, buyers need to find providers that offer scalable technology and pricing. Participant Selection The participants were selected from the previous Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide, the author’s hands-on experience, from vendor evaluations conducted by the author on behalf of end-user clients, from International market presence, and from active Industry participation. All participants in this Guide support their own email deployment tools. While several vendors leverage OEM products and services such as commercial MTAs, no white-labeled services of other turn-key products are included. Vendor revenue was not taken into consideration, nor was the size or revenue of vendor clients. Participants were asked a series of Yes/No questions about their product features and functions, and about the skill level required to utilize those features and functions. Vendors are taken at their word as to the capabilities of their product. Questionnaire response were converted to binary values in each category and subcategory, and then weighted by the responses in each category and subcategory. Other factors such as hourly throughput may also impact a participants effective and/or overall score and/or product placement within this Guide. Equally important to what functions a vendor offers is how those functions work and what it takes to configure the product to meet the desired result. It is up to the user to demonstrate


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each product under consideration and understand the level of effort required to configure those functions important to the organization. A total of 55 vendors were invited to participate in the Guide. iContact, Mad Mimi, Sailthru, Epsilon, Constant Contact, Innovyx, Reachmail, Mail Metrics, and Green Arrow did not meet the questionnaire deadline or selected not to participate. Vendor Overview The vendors in this Guide range from small-volume limited option deployment tools to highly sophisticated high-volume email marketing tools; to commercial in-house and appliance solutions. The fundamentals for implementing email marketing deployment tools are the same regardless of the size of the organization. The primary difference is between the vendor’s abilities to support enterprise, mid, or small market clients is scale and sophistication. Participants of the 2012 Guide were asked if their marketing efforts were targeted exclusively by business size. 49% of participants target Small, Mid-Market, and Enterprise markets at some level. 40% of participants focus two market levels, with all but one of those dividing their efforts between Mid-Market and Enterprise level clients.

Target One Size 11%

Target Two Sizes 40%

Target Three Sizes 49%


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11% of participants focus all of their efforts on a single market, with 60% of those focusing on Mid-Market users and 40% on Small Market users. No participants focus solely on Enterprise users.

Enterprise (Highly Sophisticated; High Volume): A key consideration of an enterprise-class email deployment tool is its ability to send tens of millions of messages per month per client. Other considerations include bi-directional data integration capabilities with the client’s data base(s), with the most advanced tools featuring open relational data table structures; integration to third-party applications; multi-channel support; integrated Promotional and Transactional platforms; dedicated IP addresses; and conditional data-driven messaging based on the user’s business rules. Advanced campaign and operational reporting at a granular level in real or near real time is a standard feature of an enterprise-class ESP. Sophisticated User Interfaces provide non-technical user access to the advanced functions of the tool, while more technical users may operate the tool via command line or API. Better SLAs, superior uptime, and an improved user experience allow internal IT staff to focus on core competencies and strategic tasks. Commercial MTAs and appliances are generally considered an enterprise tool due to in-house operational and maintenance requirements; however larger mid-market users may want to investigate these options, also. Enterprise-class tools benefit intermediate to advanced users with email volumes of several million to tens of millions of messages per month; those with highly sophisticated conditional rules-driven messaging needs; and/or those requiring a high degree of integration and customization.

Mid-Market, 60%

Small Market, 40%


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Enterprise vendors for 2012 include Acxiom, Aprimo, BlueHornet, Brick Street, CheetahMail, ContactLab, e-Dialog, EmailDirect, ExactTarget, Message Systems, PowerMTA, PulsePoint (formerly StormPost), Responsys, Silverpop, Striata, StrongMail, Transcontinental Interactive (TCI, formerly ThinData), WhatCounts, Zeta Interactive, and Zrinity. Mid-Market (Moderate Sophistication; Moderate Volume): Mid-Market deployment tools are competitive with Small-Market tools on one end of the spectrum and Enterprise tools at the other. While some Mid-Market vendors offer free trials of their products, most require term contracts; unique IP addresses per customer are standard fare. The widely varying capabilities of mid-market applications can make comparing solutions difficult. The costs, the stability of the vendor, and flexibility of services are all key considerations in selecting mid-market deployment tools. Mid-market vendors provide a higher degree of integration and customization than most small-market solutions, and like enterprise applications, generally provide import and export wizards, application program interfaces (APIs) and third-party integration tools for streamlined system implementation. As with enterprise tools, mid-market tools provide the ability to more readily customize the application for particular business requirements and objectives. Mid-Market class tools benefit beginner to advanced users with email volumes of tens of thousands to several millions of messages per month; those with enhanced data and messaging automation needs; and/or those requiring a moderate level of integration and customization. Mid-Market vendors for 2012 include All Web Email, Apsis, BlueHornet, BrickStreet, Bronto, CheetahMail, Cooler Email, Copernica, dotmailer, Eloqua, EmailDirect, EmailVision, emfluence, e-Village, ExactTarget, ExpertSender, GetResponse, GreenRope, Inbox Marketer, mailup, Mass Transmit, Message Systems, Newsweaver, PulsePoint (formerly StormPost), PurseSend, Responsys, Silverpop, StrongMail, SubscriberMail, Transcontinental Interactive (TCI, formerly ThinData), WebPower, WhatCounts, Zeta Interactive, and Zrinity. Small-Market (Minimal Sophistication; Low Volume): Signs of Small-Market email tools generally include free trial offers with no contracted month-to-month service, pre-made message templates, and shared IP addresses. Several vendors offer basic to intermediate integration capabilities, and many support advanced features such as RSS, video, and built-in sharing to social networks. User Interfaces and segmentation capabilities range from basic to intermediate as do reporting features. Small-Market tools benefit beginner through intermediate users; those with email volumes of thousands to tens of thousands of messages per month; and/or those requiring only basic messaging and reporting needs. Small-Market vendors for 2012 include All Web Email, Apsis, AWeber, Cooler Email, Copernica, dotmailer, Elite Email, EmailDirect, emfluence, ExactTarget, GetResponse, GreenRope, MailChimp, Silverpop, Sentori, and SubscriberMail.


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Full Service: Participants of the 2012 Guide were asked the percentage of full-service and self-service clients. For the purpose of this Guide those vendors stating 55% or higher will be considered Full-Service vendors. Full-Service vendors may cater to Small, Mid or Enterprise markets. Clients are involved in the decision making and approval processes however the vendor handles and is responsible for all aspects of the client’s email marketing programs including design, coding, execution, and subsequent reporting. Full-Service vendors for 2012 include All Web Email, Acxiom, Aprimo, Apsis, Brick Street, CheetahMail, e-Dialog, Eloqua, Inbox Marketer, Striata, and Zeta Interactive.

Using This Guide This document provides general overview information about the product and service offerings of the participants, and the ranking of participants across all categories and by category. Participants were asked if their own marketing efforts were targeted by business size, and if so in what percentages. Participants will be represented in each category where the vendor’s marketing efforts and focus is at or above 33%. Additional weighting may be given based on combination of throughput and product sophistication. Data is presented in aggregate showing offerings of Small, Mid, and Enterprise market together at the beginning of each section, and by each market separately following aggregate data. When using this Guide in the selection of an appropriate vendor, Small, Mid, or Enterprise market users should focus on vendor capabilities within their market categories and not aggregated data. We realize that most users of email deployment products will rarely use more than 30% of the features and functions available from any vendor; however not all organizations will use the same 30%. Know what features you need to support your business objectives before shopping for email deployment vendors. As stated throughout this Guide, we look only at what the vendor can do; how they do it will be unique to each participant. The skill level required to implement some features and functions should be discussed with those vendors of interest or under consideration, and should be a part of any product demonstration. An advanced feature or function may be implemented by users with basic skills, or may require more intermediate or advanced skills. It is up to the buyer to make that decision for their organization. Skill Levels: Beginner:

Beginners have between no and basic HTML skills and usually use WYSIWYG editors built into their email deployment tool to add content to pre-defined templates. The Beginner’s understanding of data and/or data management may be limited making segmentation more challenging. They are beginning to learn the use of filter and query wizards available in the deployment tool but may not understand and may be just learning the nesting of operators within a filter or query. Beginners hear and read about "integration", "automation", message triggering, and APIs, but haven't developed or are developing the knowledge or technical expertise to specify or implement them.


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Identifying features and functions as Beginner suggests the user has little to no email marketing skills and may be unfamiliar with the email lexicon. Beginners are learning and/or practicing basic: » HTML/ CSS Coding » CAN-SPAM Regulations » Simple Broadcast deployment » Uploading data and/or content » Metrics Reporting Intermediate: The Intermediate user has developed experience in basic segmenting and testing and is proficient with built-in data filters and wizards. Intermediate users are proficient in HTML and understand opens, clicks, and other metrics. They can execute time-based message triggering and messages containing dynamic content based on data elements within their distribution list. Intermediate users understand the impact that integration and automation has on the organization and are beginning to develop the knowledge and skills to specify and/or implement them. Identifying features and functions as Intermediate suggest the user has moderate email marketing skills and is gaining technical and implementation experience. Intermediate users are learning and/or practicing: » Filter/Query Wizards » Nesting Operators in Filters » Basic SQL Skills » Lifecycle Program Implementation » Segmented Distribution » A/B Testing Advanced: Advanced users understand the technology and what it takes to integrate with their back-end and/or peripheral systems to automate data transfer and complex messaging programs. They understand business rules, functional and non-functional specifications, can translate them into technical specifications, and are technically capable of implementing or assisting in the implementation of those specifications. Advanced users understand data and data base management and are comfortable creating nested queries within filters and/or creating raw SQL queries. Advanced users are comfortable with and/or proficient in: » Specifying and/or Developing API-based Automation » Specifying and/or Developing Stored Procedures » Complex Program Development and Implementation » Multi-Channel Data and Metrics Integration PSO Only:

Configuration and implementation is available only through the organization’s Professional Services Operations. Example; User can specify data table configuration, but cannot hands-on develop via UI or API; or, user can specify a filed name of a data table, but cannot add that field via UI or API.


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Features & Functions Business Offerings

Business & Pricing Models Organizations without technical resources to support an on-premise solution will look to SaaS vendors. Advanced users with available technical resources may consider Licensed Software or Appliance vendors. Fast-growing larger senders may consider vendors capable of supporting more than one business model.

VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

9%

42%

58%

96%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Appliance

Licensed Software

White-Label

SaaS


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Pricing options by participant:

The most common pricing is by CPM. With Tiered Rates, as message volume meets contractual benchmarks CPM is reduced, however not always automatically. Contracted rates define a minimum message volume over the term and often build in a tiered pricing structure. Not meeting or maintaining minimum contract volume requirements will result in a higher Effective CPM (ECPM) than the contracted rate. Flat-Rate offers a single fixed fee regardless of usage.

CPM rates vary wildly amongst participants with low-volume rates anywhere between $40.00 and $1.20, and high-volume rates anywhere between $4.00 and $0.15. The average low-volume CPM across all participants is $11.28, with the average high-volume CPM across all participants at $1.24. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Professional Services

Organizations with limited marketing resources might consider vendors providing full-services or à la carte full/self-serve. Vendor in-house professional services might include Strategic, Technical, Production, or Creative services and are billed by the hour or by quote. 64% of participants support a full suite of in-house professional services, up 10% from 2011, while those offering 3 of 4 in-house professional services declined to 14% from the 2011 total of 18%. Participants supporting 2 of 4 in-house professional service offerings are up from last year’s 11% to 14%, with those offering only one in-house professional services type is at 2%, down from last year’s 7%. Participants offering no in-house professional services remain at 7% in both 2011 and 2012.

43%

50%

73%

77%

89%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Free Trial

Flat Rate

CPM-Based

Term Contract

Tiered Rates


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Not every type of Professional Service will be of equal importance to all users. Consider and prioritize those Professional Services required by or important to your organization when selecting a vendor. Professional Services like in-house creative may mean less to an organization staffing those roles than one that does not. An organization staffing strategic and creative roles may not staff technical or production roles and require those services from a vendor. Likewise, an organization may be well staffed technically, but require strategic and creative services. Creative Services 75% of all participants surveyed offer creative services.

4 of 4 Pro-Serv, 64% 3 of 4 Pro-Serv, 14%

2 of 4 Pro-Serv, 14%

1 of 4 Pro-Serv, 2%

0 of 4 Pro-Serv, 7%

In-House Creative, 75%

No In-House Creative, 25%


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The average number of creative services staff across all participants is 8.3, up from 6.6 in 2011. The average experience of creative services staff across all participants is 7.7 years, up from 4.5 years in 2011. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Production Services 80% of all participants surveyed offer production services

The average number of production services staff across all participants is 6. The average experience of production services staff across all participants is 5.7 years. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

In-House Production, 80%

No In-House Production, 20%


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Strategy Services

82% of all participants surveyed offer strategy services.

The average number of strategy services staff across all participants is 6.9. The average experience of strategy services staff across all participants is 7.3 years. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

In-House Services Details by Vendor Market

VENDOR-LEVEL DATA AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

In-House Strategy, 82%

No In-House Strategy, 18%


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Product Offerings

Platform The average user won’t be concerned with a vendor’s platform. Advanced and technical users will have opinions on commercial and proprietary MTAs (Mail Transfer Agents) that may influence their purchasing decisions. A commercial MTA is a software agent supported by an independent vendor. A proprietary MTA is a software agent supported by the vendor. Three participants are developers of MTAs. For the purposes of this Guide MTA developers are considered as commercial. While proprietary MTAs are represented, 82% of participants are developed on commercial MTAs.

54% of participants using a commercial MTA use Port25’s PowerMTA; 25% use the Message Systems MTA; and 20% use another brand commercial MTA..

Most users won’t have a preference or concern regarding the MTA used by their provider. Those that do are encouraged to ask their sales representative for details.

Commercial MTA, 82%

Proprietary MTA, 18%

PowerMTA, 54% MessageSystems,

26%

Other, 20%


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Supported API Protocols An API is an HTTP request message based on a specific protocol to enable integration of automated client-side code with the vendor product. Technical users and resources will appreciate knowing what API protocols are available for the transfer of documents and data to or from the vendor. APIs play an important role in bi-directional data integration and real-time messaging VENDOR-LEVEL DATA AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE Supported Authentication

Authentication plays an important role in a sender’s ability to reach the recipient’s Inbox by verifying the IP address(es) and reputation of the sender. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Data & Segmentation

Data is at the heart of any email marketing program. The greater the options are to transfer, structure, query, and segment data the more intricate and complex messaging can become. Participants were surveyed in four subcategories of data and segmentation. Data Control:

Organizations with complex data matching as a core function of their business will at some point want to flatten data sets to relational tables or well-structured flat file hosted on the vendor. The greater control over your data at the vendor the more flexibility you will have with complex queries, Primary and Foreign Keys, and joining and querying relational tables. The ability to bypass filter wizards and directly query data may decrease processing time while yielding more refined data sets for advanced messaging. Each vendor will have their own unique way of implementing the features and functions of their product. Some will require advanced programming skills and/or technological resources implement, while others may be easily accessed and/or configured by non-technical resources via the UI. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Queries & Segmentation:

Several participants provide advanced data querying and segmentation wizards making it easier on marketers with limited technical skills or resources to segment data required for advanced messaging programs. Each vendor will have their own unique way of implementing the features and functions of their product. Some will require advanced programming skills and/or technological resources implement, while others may be easily accessed and/or configured by non-technical resources via the UI. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE


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Form Processing:

The ability to process forms at the vendor opens a variety of data collection and user-triggered messaging possibilities. The more flexible vendors to write data to a table, with the option of triggering a message as a result, the greater the application options are to the user. Each vendor will have their own unique way of implementing the features and functions of their product. Some will require advanced programming skills and/or technological resources implement, while others may be easily accessed and/or configured by non-technical resources via the UI. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE Exporting Data via the User Interface:

Most vendors will you allow the export of lists through the User Interface. Not all provide the option to export account logs, content, or message rules. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Encryption:

Encryption provides a means of securing data in transit or at rest wherein plain text data is converted into cipher text so that it cannot be read without a "decryption key". Without confidence that data is secure, people are less willing to trust an organization enough to transact any sort of business. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Data & Segmentation Scoring: Data & Segmentation scores are based on scores of each of the four subcategories. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE Deliverability & List Hygiene:

Delivery, or Delivered, is the mail sent less mail rejected by the receiving server that has bounced back. Deliverability is the ability to deliver to the recipient Inbox and not the spam or junk folder. Deliverability and List Hygiene tools help the user to maintain good list health which is essential to maintaining high deliverability. Not every line item will be of equal importance to all users, however the following key items will be:

Throttling/Metering per ISP Integrated Feedback Loops Authentication Good ISP relations White-listing services


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Each vendor will have their own unique way of implementing the features and functions of their product. Some will require advanced programming skills and/or technological resources implement, while others may be easily accessed and/or configured by non-technical resources via the UI. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE Deliverability & List Hygiene Scoring: Deliverability & List Hygiene scores are based on participant responses to the eleven category questions. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Campaign Building & Workflow:

Having an ordered sequence of campaign building and management tasks makes deployment tools easier to learn and more productive in developing and managing campaigns.

Flexibility and ease of use and implementation of built-in features such as personalization & dynamic content; segmentation & filtering functions; campaign deployment & reporting options; and content & asset management will also add to operational productivity which means, less time building and supporting and more time marketing. Each vendor will have their own unique way of implementing the features and functions of their product. Some will require advanced programming skills and/or technological resources implement, while others may be easily accessed and/or configured by non-technical resources via the UI. Asset Support:

Participants were surveyed as to their functional capabilities surround content management, image hosting, Personalization, dynamic content, and more. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Deployment Management:

Deployment Management helps to support and make adjustments to ongoing message programs, manage links, the ability to stop or pause campaigns, and more. The Decision Matrix will display the deployment maintenance options offered by each vendor shown in the query results. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE Pre-Configured Programs:

To make the marketer’s life easier, several vendors have begun offering pre-configured versions of popular email messaging programs like Abandoned Order, Welcome, and Win-


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Back programs. Just add data, your own content and adjust the messaging rules, and you’re programs are ready to run. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Content Support:

Email messaging has moved beyond simple text and HTML to include RSS-driven content, SMS messaging, video email, and share-to-social network features and functions.


RSS/SMS/Video/Social/Bar Coding Support


User Support:

Features and functions that support user productivity include integrated Promotional and Transactional products, user-level permissions, workflow approval options, and more.


Campaign Building & Workflow Scoring: Campaign Building & Workflow scores are based on scores of each of the five subcategories. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Testing & Reporting Testing is the foundation upon which world-class email programs are built. It allows marketers to make better decisions, consistently over time to show measurable improvement while proving success based upon rational, objective decision making. Vendors offer many features that make ad-hoc and/or repetitive message testing easier to implement and measure. Testing:

Testing is essential for the long-term success of your messaging programs, and the only way to determine what works best with your audience. Having a wide variety of testing options allows you flexibility to develop targeted and insightful tests to help guide your message programs. Each vendor will have their own unique way of implementing the features and functions of their product. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Reporting: The Reporting scores are based on vendor response to asked in the three subcategories.


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Questions surveying the level of reporting included reporting by segment, message, record, program, dynamic content, and total and unique statistics. Questions surveying reporting capabilities include the ability to create custom reports, creating campaigns from reports, conversion tracking, performance dashboards, and more. Questions surveying auditing trails include activity reported and log-level access. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Third-Party Integration Many organizations want to leverage data from analytics and other third-party vendors to improve the performance of their messaging programs. Others may want to leverage email data across other messaging mediums as part of a larger cross-channel effort. Due to customer demand, email vendors regularly resell third-party services. The most common third-party applications sold by and integrated with email vendors can be divided into five vendor categories; Deliverability, Suppression Management, Analytics, CRM, and Ad Serving vendors. Deliverability Deliverability products seed email addresses to a message deployment and then measure the amount of messages delivered to the different folders of popular email clients, and allow users to weight seeded domains to more accurately reflect the users subscriber base. Deliverability products often test third-party filters, such as Postini or Barracuda, and provide views of how messages render in different email clients. Only 24% of Guide participants resell or integrate with more than one third-party deliverability product, down from 71% of 2011 Guide participants that resold or integrated with more than one. 78% of participants resell or integrate with Return Path deliverability products. 20% of participants resell or integrate with Unica Pivotal Veracity deliverability products. 16% of participants resell or integrate with both Return Path and Unica Pivotal Veracity deliverability products. 13% of participants resell or integrate with deliverability products other than Return Path and/or Unica Pivotal Veracity.


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Suppression Management Suppression management tools are most often used by publishers sending messages through affiliates to aid in CAN-SPAM opt-out compliance. Only 42% of participants resell or integrate with a third-party suppression management product, down from 46% in 2011. 38% or participants, down from 42% in the 2011 Guide, offer a custom suppression management solution. Unchanged from 2011, 11% of participants resell or integrate Unsub Central suppression management services, while 4% resell or integrate with other suppression management solutions. No participants of this Guide are reselling or integrating with the Optizmo suppression management solution.

11%

7%

43%

82%

2%

11%

20%

78%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Green Arrow

Other

Unica Pivotal Veracity

Return Path

Deliverability Integration / Reseller

2012 2011

0%

4%

11%

43%

0%

4%

11%

38%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Optizmo

Other

Unsub Central

Custom

Suppression Management

2012 2011


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Analytics Analytics tools can help develop a firm understanding of the behavioral patterns of subscribers and their predominant purchasing trends while helping to predict the rate of subscriber engagement and response. They are important to the success of your messaging strategies and can help to ascertain the current behavioral patterns of your subscribers. 96% of participants resell or integrate with third-party analytics products.

76% of participants that resell or integrate third-party analytics products resell or integrate more than one analytics product. 82% of participants offer Google Analytics. 64% of participants that resell or integrate with third-party analytics products offer a custom solution. 51% of participants offer Omniture; 40% Coremetrics, with 38% supporting Webtrends.

Offer, 96%

Don't Offer, 4%


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CRM Most CRM systems fall short when it comes to supporting the kind of email statistics needed to measure for program and sales funnel improvements. Integrating CRM systems to email deployment vendors can provide that statistical information at the campaign and recipient level while gaining better message and template support, and moving deployment from corporate IP addresses. 60% of participants resell or integrate with more than one third-party CRM product, down from 79% in the 2011 Guide. 69% of participants resell or integrate with Salesforce CRM, down from 75% in the 2011 Guide. 39% of participants offer custom integration of CRM solutions.

18%

14%

18%

39%

32%

36%

61%

54%

82%

13%

20%

24%

29%

38%

40%

51%

64%

82%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Fireclick

Other

Nedstat

Click Tracks

WebTrends

Coremetrics

Omniture

Custom

Google Analytics

Supported Analytics

2012 2011


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Ad-serving Integration Newsletter and other email publishers are often advertiser-supported. Publishers of all sizes will often turn to ad networks for advertisements to be featured in their newsletters and on their web sites. Ad networks will track ad placement statistics and generate reports for their advertisers. 31% of participants integrate their products with ad serving technology, up 2% from the 2011 Guide. Of those supporting or integrating ad serving into their product, 29% offer custom integration. 21% support Google AdSense with 18% supporting DoubleClick. 14% of participants offer their own proprietary ad serving solutions.

21%

18%

18%

18%

25%

25%

18%

21%

25%

25%

29%

29%

39%

75%

7%

7%

9%

9%

13%

13%

13%

16%

18%

22%

29%

38%

40%

69%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Pearl

Zpho

Batchbook

Javelin

Netsuite

Saleslogix

Teradata

SageCRM

Oracle On Demand

Unica

Other

MS Dynamics CRM

Custom

Salesforce

2012 2011


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Training & Support Training and support provided by vendors is crucial to the overall success of their clients. Whether basic or customized for a particular business, training is essential to giving clients the ability to maximize their utilization and effectiveness of the tools available within the ESP. A company’s growth within the email channel relies on the capabilities of the user, not just the service provider. While account management and high levels of support are valuable, being able to provide basic training and self-administered training for clients who are semi-technical can also benefit both client and vendor. Training Vendors offer a variety of training options. Standard On-site Training is in-person basic product training at the user location. Custom On-site Training is in-person product training customized to specific corporate goals, terminology, and business processes. Basic product training is commonly performed via scheduled online conferencing. Video or On-Demand Training is a common alternative to On-site Training and lets the user progress at their own speed. Through presentations and demonstrations, and on-demand topic modules, training should provide step-by-step instructions and illustrate best practices to help the user get started right away. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Documentation Comprehensive documentation is key to learning vendor operations and implementing features. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

18%

7%

21%

14%

29%

11%

11%

13%

16%

24%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

DoubleClick

Other

Google

Proprietary

Custom

Ad Serving Integration

2012 2011


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Support & Account Management Technical Support helps solve problems in implementing the vendor's tools. Account managers and teams work with users to identify their needs and work out how the vendor can best meet them. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE

Vendor Scores Across All Categories Participants were asked a series of Yes/No questions about their product features and functional capabilities across eight categories; Business Offerings, Product Offerings, Data & Segmentation, Deliverability & List Hygiene, Campaign Building & Workflow, Testing & Reporting, Third-Party Integration, and Training & Support; divided into twenty four subcategories. Vendors are taken at their word as to the capabilities of their product. Responses to our survey questionnaire were converted to binary values by question, category and subcategory, and then weighted by the responses in each category and subcategory. Categories

The Business Offerings category includes pricing models and Professional Services. Professional Services are scored in this Guide and are part of the overall vendor score. Not all organizations will require professional services. Participant platforms are not included when scoring vendors. Platform information, including MTAs operating systems, data base management systems, supported APIs and list of available functions, and Authentication are not part of the participant scoring. In the Data & Segmentation category, participants are scored across 21 questions regarding Data Control, Queries & Segmentation, Form Processing, and UI Export. In the Deliverability & List Hygiene category, participants are scored across 21 questions, while in the Campaign Building & Workflow category vendors are scored on 30 questions across five subcategories that include Asset Support, Deployment Management, Pre-Configured program options, Content Support, and User Support. The Testing & Reporting category is scored across 29 questions over four subcategories; Testing, Report Levels, Audit Trails, and Reports. Third-Party Integration is not scored in this Guide, nor is the Training & Support category. Scoring Vendors were scored on a 0-5 scale. The number of positive survey responses provided by the vendor by category and subcategories were measured by percentage then divided by the scale. Questions ask what the participant can implement, not how it is implemented. You will find that some vendors are easier to operate than others; that some require more technical skills than others; and that some require more technical support than others. It is up to the buyer to demonstrate the vendor products under consideration for their organization, and to be sure to question how the functions important to their organization are implemented on the vendor product.


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The nuances between clients and vendors are too great and the application of the product by the client too subjective to easily classify a vendor or user into distinct categories. Not all enterprise organizations have sophisticated enterprise-level messaging needs, and not all small businesses have only basic messaging needs. It is unlikely that a small business would have the need or resources for an in-house application, where a larger or more mid-market organization might. An organization sending millions of emails per day may have minimal feature requirements, but significant volume requirements, while a low-volume operation may have very sophisticated messaging needs. User budget and resources may bring other considerations. The following results are based on information provided by the participants to the survey questions. VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE


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S.A.M.E.

SUPPORT ADOPTION OF

METRICS FOR EMAIL


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The S.A.M.E. Project or Support the Adoption of Metrics for Email was created and is administered by the Email Experience Council’s Measurement Accuracy Advisory Board. The purpose of project is to create a standardized framework for the reporting of email metrics across the industry for the benefit of both email marketers and email service providers. S.A.M.E. is not only an acronym for the project’s name; it is also its goal – to have all email metrics reported by ESPs the same way under a uniform industry standard. For email marketers in the field the standard provides four key benefits:

1. The standard improves testing validity by limiting environmental variance. 2. The standard improves industry benchmarking through increased data conformity

and validity across samples. 3. The standard improves internal historical reporting for benchmarking by easing the

transition between vendors. 4. Use of the standards will eventually normalize data across the industry, a key

assumption required for statistical analysis of email data.

Email marketers from around the world use the standards and the benefits of the standardization to the industry increase as more marketers and providers adopt them, continuing email’s advantage over other forms of marketing as the most measureable medium available. This ensures emails versatility, functionality and performance for marketers, promoting its continued use as a key form of communication between businesses and their customers. The ever increasing ability of email marketing to provide relevance and engagement, creating a personalized experience for end users will support its position as a favored medium to receive marketing communications by consumers and customers. The S.A.M.E. Project Seal

Email marketers that wish to be sure their vendor are using the standards to calculate their metrics should look for the SAME Seal on the vendor’s website. Only vendors that have been audited by two independent auditors of Measurement Accuracy Advisory Board are granted use of the seal in their websites and marketing materials. Email service providers, technology providers and MTA vendors are invited to adopt the standards by:

1. Changing the terms used in your reports to match the new definitions 2. Calculating the terms using the formulas in the definitions 3. Update HELP files and glossary to reflect the standard terms and calculations.

Email Service Providers that wish to receive the seal should contact the Measurement Accuracy Advisory Board via the eec or send a request via email to [email protected] For more information visit the SAME Project Page on eec’s website at: http://www.emailexperience.org/eec-projects/member-roundtables/support-adoption-of-metrics-for-email-project.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.emailexperience.org/eec-projects/member-roundtables/support-adoption-of-metrics-for-email-project

http://www.emailexperience.org/eec-projects/member-roundtables/support-adoption-of-metrics-for-email-project


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Glossary of Terms

GLOSSARY OF TERMS


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Glossary

The following terms are used throughout this Guide.

à la carte; user may procure a combination of available self and full services

Access to Logs; user may access account system logs via UI or API

Account Manager; assigned client/vendor liaison

Account Team; assigned individuals with specialized skills

Ad-Serving; Third-party ad serving

Analytics; Third-party analytics

Any Field/Log/List; search any value in any field on any event log or distribution or supplemental data list API Import/Export; ability to import and export via API API; Application Program Interface Appliance; a unique hardware/software component specifically designed to provide vendor product installed at the client location Authentication; supports one or more DK, DKIM, SPF, Sender_ID Auto Split-Path; best results of split test deployed to remaining list Behavior-based; segment by subscriber behavior Benchmarks; compares to industry benchmarks via UI Bounce Log; account log recording reasons for message bounce Bounce Rules; user-set soft bounce criteria Case Control; user control of character case (JOHN or john becomes John) Categorize Campaigns; ability to group campaigns by category Click/Response Log; account log recording by links, message, and recipient Components; installation of message and list not dependent on the other Composition by ISP; reports ISP list representation by percentage Compound Rules; use of Boolean operators to combine query structures


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Content Mgmt; some method of managing message content using rules, processes, and/or workflows Control Over Tables; user ability to create, name, define, query, and/or join data tables and set primary and foreign keys Conversion Tracking; tracked/reported by vendor or integrated third-party CPM-Based; price per thousand messages sent Deliverability Svs; integrated services reseller Different Opt-out; subscription/list-level opt-out Disposition Alerts; message completion/fail, volume alerts DK (DomainKeys); authentication protocol to verify sender DNS DKIM; DK joined with Identified Internet Mail. Standards-track replacement of DK authentication protocol

DNS; Domain Name Server Domain Exclusion; user ability to globally exclude TLDs Drill-Down; ability to query any field of any table and view results via UI Dynamic Content; rules-driven insertion of blocks/cells of content Failed/Skipped Log; log of recipients not mailed due to missing values/record duplication Flat Rate; single fixed fee regardless of usage Form Processing; supports hosted or remote <form></form> HTML and/or HTTP GET or POST Free Trial; free limited use of service Frequency Caps; user-set limits number of messages to recipient FTAF; Forward To A Friend FTP Import/Export; bulk file transfer Integrated Charts; account and/or campaign statistics graphically displayed via UI Integrated FBL; logging of Feedback Loop data by recipient by time/date, by message/iteration Integrated Rendering; previews message across common clients via UI


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Integrated Social; social media sharing and/or tracking Integrated Survey; advanced survey logic and reporting ISPThrottle/Meter; measured deployment volume by ISP Landing Pages; vendor-hosted and measured Licensed Software; grants an end-user permission to use software applications on their own hardware while retaining the software owner's exclusive rights under copyright law Link Swap; user ability to change link URL post-launch List Reporting; composition by ISP, growth/attrition, churn List Seeding; ability to add recipients to mailing without adding them to main distribution list Logs; account system files listing activities and/or actions Multiple Indices; may index data for query on more than one table Multiple TLD; support multiple domain identities in a single account Multivariate; simultaneously test the performance of several content or design variations in a message Null Handling; skips/fails individual messages for missing data Open Log; account log recording all opened messages by time/date, recipient, message Personalization; simple text value replacement (e.g., %%firstname%% = John) Random Segment; ability to randomly segment a list Record; recipient email address and/or ID Renaming; user ability to name message links SaaS; Software as a Service - software applications provided to end users without requiring the end user to run the application on their own computer Scoring; measuring the likelihood of passing spam filters Sender_ID; enhanced SPF authentication protocol Sent Log; account log recording all messages sent by time/date, recipient, message SPF; Sender Policy Framework authentication protocol


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Split-Test; testing two or more unique messages in a shared segment SQL Queries; ability to code SQL language via UI Stop/Pause; ability to stop or pause a message deployment Term Contract; contracted period of time & volume Test/Preview; message preview via UI and/or email Third-Party Suppression; integration with Tiered Rates; escalating volume discounts TLD; Top Level Domain Total & Unique; logs/displays both total and unique activity Trans/Promo IPs; provides separate IP addresses for transactional and promotional messaging

Trans/Promo; integrated transactional/promotional platform Triggering; auto-deployment by field filter/date, by form, or 1:1 event by API UI; User Interface Unique/Foreign Key; supports unique and foreign data keys Unsub/Pref Page; hosted unsubscribe and/or subscriber preference page Uploading Content; alternative methods of uploading content User-Defined Primary; user defines primary (unique) data key White-Label; product provided ready for branding by another company

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