[Hidden-tech] email delivery program

[Dan Green]

Hi Jonathan,

 

I have a lot of history with all three and am evaluating VR and ET against a
new player in the game.  Exact Target has some abilities the others don't
have that probably matter more for enterprise level application - lock and
publish, on your behalf e-mails, aggregate reporting and more.  

 

ET's people are some of the best in the business. I worked with them to
customize an e-mail program I did for a food franchise with 150 locations
and their system was the only one available that could handle the layers of
complexity. We set things up so the corporate office could e-mail to the
individual franchise location lists and present the message as though sent
by the individual locations while also enabling the individuals to send
their own messages within parameters that protected the brand. We were also
able to tie all the reporting together. None of the other players could meet
these requirements.

 

I've been using VR for another endeavor for over a year and have been
impressed. They have a different pricing model - no monthly fees at all -you
pay by the e-mail.  This can save you some money if you have a small list
(less than say 2000) or don't send e-mails every month. I'm one to let a
variety of small monthly payments add up and it can be cash drain.  I like
collecting recurring revenue, not paying it to someone. But you'll pay more
per e-mail unless you buy your message credits in bulk. Their system has
improved immensely, their feature set expanded and their tech support
(phone) is great.  Their SalesForce integration works well.   

 

If your business requirements aren't too unusual and your list size is less
relatively small, say less than 10,000, choosing any one of these programs
is kind of like choosing a new digital camera - they all work pretty well
-pick the one you like and find easy to use. 

 

Small differences in pricing and features won't be the determining factors
in making e-mail marketing work for you.  And it won't be how pretty your
templates are.  It will come down to list quality, message relevance, the
quality of your offers if you're making offers, list segmentation, good
subject lines, deliverability and cadence - all that kind of stuff.  

 

Deliverability has always been a big issue and is getting bigger.  Close to
30% of B2B e-mails are being read first on Blackberry's etc so message size
and rendering are now critical considerations. Exact Target has an edge in
message deliverability over the others. 

 

 

I don't know if you've seen the article but it's been determined that
SalesForce was designed by anarchist chimpanzees attempting to subtly erode
corporate productivity and profitability in retaliation for all the years of
monkey commercials.  I'd been a SalesForce user for three years and when I
heard that I finally understood why SalesForce is designed like it is.

 

 

 

Dan Green

Area President

 

Helping Businesses Find, Get and Keep Customers Online

 

TruePresence

498 South Gulf Road,  Belchertown, MA 01007

Office: 413.253.3400   |  Cell: 413-658-8470

www.truepresence.com <http://www.truepresence.com/>   |
dgreen at truepresence.com

 

 

 

  _____  

From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net
[mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Jonathon
Podolsky
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 12:00 PM
To: Hidden-Tech Tech
Subject: [Hidden-tech] email delivery program

 

I'm looking at these email marketing programs: Constant Contact, Exact
Target, and Vertical Response.  I'm considering the latter 2 since they
integrate with SalesForce which is my CRM.  Any experience with these email
programs?

All the best,
 
Jonathon Podolsky
Producer at WholeHealthExpo.com
Voice: 413.584.0010 
Toll-Free: 877.WHE.EXPO
Toll-Free: 877.943.3976
Fax: 413.586.5846

Click  <http://www.wholehealthexpo.com/information.php?infoid=6> here for
Whole Health Expo website including information about our events and
applications



 

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