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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 .......................................................................... 11
Product Offerings .................................................................................... 15
Platform ............................................................................................... 15
Supported API Protocols ...................................................................... 16
Supported Authentication ..................................................................... 16
Data & Segmentation .............................................................................. 16
Data Control: ........................................................................................ 16
Queries & Segmentation: ..................................................................... 16
Form Processing: ................................................................................. 17
Exporting Data via the User Interface:.................................................. 17
Encryption: ........................................................................................... 17
Data & Segmentation Scoring: ............................................................. 17
Deliverability & List Hygiene: ................................................................... 17
Deliverability & List Hygiene Scoring: ................................................... 18
Campaign Building & Workflow: .............................................................. 18
Asset Support: ..................................................................................... 18
Deployment Management: ................................................................... 18
Pre-Configured Programs: ................................................................... 18
Content Support: .................................................................................. 19
User Support: ....................................................................................... 19
Campaign Building & Workflow Scoring: .............................................. 19
Testing & Reporting ................................................................................. 19
Testing: ................................................................................................ 19
Reporting: ............................................................................................ 19
Third-Party Integration ............................................................................. 20
Deliverability ........................................................................................ 20
Suppression Management ................................................................... 21
Analytics .............................................................................................. 22
CRM .................................................................................................... 23
Ad-serving Integration .......................................................................... 25
Training & Support .................................................................................. 26
Training ................................................................................................ 26
Documentation ..................................................................................... 26
Support & Account Management ......................................................... 26
Vendor Scores Across All Categories ......................................................... 26
S.A.M.E. ..................................................................................................... 28
Glossary of Terms ....................................................................................... 30
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
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
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%
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
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%
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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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.
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
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.
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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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.
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
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.
Small Market Business Models
Sa
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All Web Email emfluence Apsis ExactTarget AWeber GetResponse
Cooler Email GreenRope
Copernica MailChimp dotmailer Sentori Elite Email Silverpop
EmailDirect SubscriberMail
9%
42%
58%
96%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Appliance
Licensed Software
White-Label
SaaS
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
PAGE 10
© 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
Mid-Market Business Models
Sa
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Wh
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La
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Sa
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Lic
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All Web Email GreenRope Apsis Inbox Marketer BlueHornet mailup Brick Street MassTransmit
Bronto Message Systems CheetahMail Newsweaver Cooler Email PulsePoint Copernica Puresend dotmailer Responsys
Eloqua Silverpop
EmailDirect StrongMail EmailVision SubscriberMail emfluence TCI
e-Village Web Power
ExactTarget WhatCounts ExpertSender Zeta GetResponse Zrinity
Enterprise Market Business Models
Sa
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Acxiom PowerMTA
Aprimo PulsePoint
BlueHornet Responsys
Brick Street Silverpop CheetahMail Striata ContactLab StrongMail e-Dialog TCI EmailDirect WhatCounts ExactTarget Zeta Message Systems Zrinity
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
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
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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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%
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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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%
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
PAGE 14
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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%
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
PAGE 15
© 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
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%
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
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
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
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
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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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-
Red Pill Email – 2012 Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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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.
VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE
RSS/SMS/Video/Social/Bar Coding Support
VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE
User Support:
Features and functions that support user productivity include integrated Promotional and
Transactional products, user-level permissions, workflow approval options, and more.
VENDOR-LEVEL DATA, EASE OF USE, AND SCORING AVAILABLE IN THE FULL GUIDE
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.
16%
24%
58%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
None
More than one
Only one
Deliverability Integration / Reseller
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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.
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.
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
Offer, 42%
Don't Offer, 58%
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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.
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.
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
Offer, 96%
Don't Offer, 4%
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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.
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.
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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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.
More than one, 60%
One or less, 40%
CRM Integration
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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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.
Offer, 31%
Don't Offer, 69%
Ad Serving Integration
18%
7%
21%
14%
29%
11%
11%
13%
16%
24%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
DoubleClick
Other
Proprietary
Custom
Ad Serving Integration
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
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
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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. 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.
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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