managing the email marketing vendor selection process

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Managing The Vendor Selection Process

Daniel Kuperman, MBA PMP, Director of Marketing

Quadrant Software, [email protected]

Monday, February 25, 2008


2© 2008 MarketingSherpa Inc. This presentation is not for distribution. Thank you.

Quadrant Software

Leading document management solution provider for the IBM System i (iSeries / AS 400).

Provider of Paperless Process Management Solutions.

Privately held, founded in 1990 HQ in Tampa, FL; Technical dept in

Boston, MA. Marketing dept comprised of 4 full time

+ 2 part time employees.



Our Challenge

Small department, big ambitions Responsible for lead generation In-house development of all collateral,

print and online ads, coordination of trade shows and events and email marketing

Purchased an email solution 5 years ago and have outgrown it Need for better segmentation Need for better reporting Problems with internal IT Time-consuming process for creating and

sending out emails



‘Old’ Email Deployment Process

Average Effort per Year:

- 15 hours for newsletter set up

- 100 hours for webcast set up

- 12 hours for trade show email set up





Start

Email and landing page are developed,

approved and ready to be sent

Pre-determined list segment is re-evaluated

based on recent mailing volume

Table is associated with specific email in Email Software

Does the list need to be refined?

Yes

No

Table is rerun and/or manually

appended to remove contacts

or segment(s)

Open tracking code is pasted into html source

code and field is selected for proper open rate

reporting

Write back tab is configured in order to

properly track how many emails were sent

2. Each link is then pasted into the Click Through tab so the clicks can be tracked

Campaign Name and Features

need to be selected

HTML source code is pasted into Email

Software

Plain Text is pasted into Email Software

Email address, cc address, database source, & unique id fields all need to be

selected

Message type, character set, from name, from, bounce, and reply to

addresses, & subject line fields need to be filled out

Click Through reporting is set up

manually

1. Each hyperlink in the email is copied to Notepad

Hard & Soft bounce reporting is manually

set up, pop server field needs to be

filled out

Bounce POP Account needs to

be tested

Misc tab needs to be set up so that

summary report is sent to specific email

address

Email send status tracked in Email Software

Email is tested and sent to Inbox for

review

Is there a problem with

the send?

Send out the email to the list

NO

Yes

Troubleshoot the problem and retest

email

End



The Eye-Opening Experience



Goal for New Email Software

1. Reduce manual tasks in order to increase team’s productivity



Vendors Researched



Revised Goals for Email Software

1. Reduce manual tasks in order to increase team’s productivity

2. Improve the way in which we segment our list in order to deliver targeted messages to our customers and prospects

3. Track responses and generate concise reports that gives us a 360o view of marketing campaigns, results and ROI



‘New’ Email Deployment Process





3

23

2

Start

Table is associated with specific email in Email Software

Yes

No

Campaign Name and Features

need to be selected

HTML source code is pasted into Email

Software

Email send status tracked in Email Software

Email is tested and sent to Inbox for

review

Send out the email to the list

NO

Yes

End

Email and landing page are developed,

approved and ready to be sent

Pre-determined list segment is re-evaluated

based on recent mailing volume

Does the list need to be refined?

Table is rerun and/or manually appended to

remove contacts or segment(s)

Smart Set Up in Email Software- Rules based marketing program pre-set up to send message series

based on behavior.

Email address, cc address, database source, & unique id fields all need to be

selected

Message type, character set, from name, from, bounce, and reply to

addresses, & subject line fields need to be filled out

Plain Text is pasted into Email Software

Plain text auto-generated needing only

minor review and cleanup

Click Through reporting is set up

manually

Open tracking code is pasted into html source

code and field is selected for proper open rate

reporting

Write back tab is configured in order to

properly track how many emails were sent

1. Each hyperlink in the email is copied to Notepad

2. Each link is then pasted into the Click Through tab so the clicks can be tracked

Hard & Soft bounce reporting is manually

set up, pop server field needs to be

filled out

Bounce POP Account needs to

be tested

Misc tab needs to be set up so that

summary report is sent to specific email

address

Is there a problem with the

send?

Troubleshoot the problem and retest

email



Email Marketing Project

Problem

Current Process

Future Process

Features List

ROI

Sales Buy-in

PresentVendorSelection



Feature Comparison

Assign a weight for each feature Must Have = 3 Nice to Have = 2 Don’t Care = 0

Compare each vendor’s feature against your usage of the feature Doesn’t Comply = 0 Complies with modifications or additional

customization = 1 Complies fully = 2 Complies fully and beyond = 3



VENDORSTOTAL SCORE

TOTAL WEIGHTED SCORE

Vendor 1 16 26

Vendor 2 15 30

Vendor 3 11 24

Comparison Matrix

VENDORSA/B

TestingWeighted

Score

Creation of HTML Emails

Weighted Score

Auto-creation of Text emails

Weighted Score

Reports on Bounces

Weighted Score

Segmentation based on

multiple criteria

Weighted Score

Conversion

Tracking

Weighted Score

SPAM index

Weighted Score

TOTAL SCORE

TOTAL WEIGHTED

SCORE

Vendor 1 1 2 2 6 3 0 2 6 3 6 2 6 3 0 16 26

Vendor 2 2 4 3 9 3 0 2 6 1 2 3 9 1 0 15 30

Vendor 3 2 4 2 6 1 0 2 6 1 2 2 6 1 0 11 24

Weights

2

3

0

3

2

3

0

0 = Don't Care

2 = Nice to Have

3 = Must Have

Segmentation based on multiple criteria

Conversion Tracking

SPAM index

Features

A/B Testing

Creation of HTML Emails

Auto-creation of Text emails

Reports on Bounces



Lessons Learned

Often times vendors do not know how to sell

YOU have to take control of the process and requirements

Clear requirements is imperative Make sure you understand what

features are must vs. nice to have Get your team onboard – especially if

they will be using the software Get references and speak to them



Additional Thoughts

Getting buy-in from Sales or other departments may help build your case

Ask questions and get details from the vendors – make sure you match the answers to your process

Even if using a ‘matrix’ to compare features, use good judgment and take into consideration the ‘soft’ characteristics of a product/company

Take control of the vendor selection process by: Knowing what you want Asking what you need Understanding how it all fits with your goals and

processes



Credits/Thank You

Daniel Kuperman, MBA PMP

Director of Marketing

Quadrant Software

[email protected]

813-971-9500 ext. 320

Questions?

managing the email marketing vendor selection process

Business

unique id

recent mailing

subject line

open tracking

html source

bounce pop

pop server

write back