2015 Email Vendor Features &
Functions Guide
Small-Market / Mid-Market Edition
© 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 – Advertisements in this document link to advertisers.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Small-Market / Mid-Market Edition
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Table of Contents
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................... 3
PARTICIPANT SELECTION ..................................................................................................... 3
DEFINING MARKETS & USERS ................................................................................................ 4
USING THIS GUIDE ............................................................................................................. 7
FEATURES & FUNCTIONS ...................................................................................................... 8
BUSINESS OFFERINGS ....................................................................................................... 8
REGIONS SERVED ........................................................................................................ 8
SUPPORTED CHANNELS ................................................................................................ 8
BUSINESS & PRICING MODELS ......................................................................................... 9
PRICING OPTIONS BY PARTICIPANT .................................................................................. 11
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES .............................................................................................. 13
TARGETED VERTICALS AND GEOGRAPHIC MARKETS............................................................. 20
PRODUCT OFFERINGS ..................................................................................................... 21
PLATFORM .............................................................................................................. 21
SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS (SLAS), DATA BACK-UP, & REDUNDANCY .................................... 23
SECURITY FEATURES ................................................................................................... 23
SECURITY SCORES ...................................................................................................... 24
SUPPORTED BROWSERS ............................................................................................... 24
SUPPORTED API PROTOCOLS ........................................................................................ 25
DATA & SEGMENTATION ................................................................................................. 26
DATA CONTROL: ...................................................................................................... 26
QUERIES & SEGMENTATION: ......................................................................................... 29
FORM PROCESSING:.................................................................................................... 32
EXPORTING DATA VIA THE USER INTERFACE: ..................................................................... 34
DATA & SEGMENTATION SCORING: ................................................................................. 37
DATA & SEGMENTATION SCORE BREAKDOWNS .................................................................. 39
DELIVERABILITY & LIST HYGIENE: ...................................................................................... 41
DELIVERABILITY & LIST HYGIENE SCORING: ....................................................................... 42
DELIVERABILITY & LIST HYGIENE SCORE NUMERIC VALUES .................................................... 44
CAMPAIGN BUILDING & WORKFLOW .................................................................................. 45
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................ 45
ASSET SUPPORT:........................................................................................................ 48
DEPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................ 51
PRE-CONFIGURED PROGRAMS ....................................................................................... 53
RSS AND SMS SUPPORT ............................................................................................... 56
USER SUPPORT ......................................................................................................... 60
CAMPAIGN BUILDING & WORKFLOW SCORING................................................................... 63
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
CAMPAIGN BUILDING & WORKFLOW SCORE NUMERIC VALUES ............................................... 65
TESTING & REPORTING ................................................................................................... 66
TESTING: ................................................................................................................ 66
REPORTING: ............................................................................................................ 69
TESTING & REPORTING SCORE NUMERIC VALUES ................................................................ 76
THIRD-PARTY INTEGRATION ............................................................................................ 77
DELIVERABILITY ........................................................................................................ 77
ANALYTICS .............................................................................................................. 78
CRM ..................................................................................................................... 79
EMAIL VALIDATION SERVICES INTEGRATION ...................................................................... 80
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ................................................................................. 81
OTHER INTEGRATION ................................................................................................. 81
S.A.M.E. STANDARDS ................................................................................................. 82
TRAINING & SUPPORT..................................................................................................... 82
TRAINING ................................................................................................................ 82
DOCUMENTATION ..................................................................................................... 84
SUPPORT & ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT ............................................................................. 84
VENDOR SCORES ACROSS ALL CATEGORIES.............................................................................. 86
PREPARING FOR VENDOR SELECTION ..................................................................................... 89
DISCOVERY .............................................................................................................. 89
FUNCTIONAL............................................................................................................ 89
NON-FUNCTIONAL .................................................................................................... 89
PREPARING AN RFP ....................................................................................................... 90
SCORING THE PROSPECTS ................................................................................................ 90
S.A.M.E. ....................................................................................................................... 92
THE S.A.M.E. PROJECT METRICS & CALCULATIONS ............................................................ 92
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................... 95
ADDITIONAL CHARTS & GRAPHS........................................................................................ 95
SUPPORTED API FUNCTIONS ......................................................................................... 95
ASSET SUPPORT:........................................................................................................ 98
REPORT LEVELS ...................................................................................................... 100
REPORTS............................................................................................................... 100
SAMPLE DISCOVERY QUESTIONS ...................................................................................... 103
SAMPLE RFP .............................................................................................................. 104
SAMPLE SCORE CARD ................................................................................................... 106
USER REVIEWS ............................................................................................................... 107
REVIEWS................................................................................................................... 107
ELITE EMAIL ........................................................................................................... 107
GLOSSARY OF TERMS ....................................................................................................... 110
ABOUT RED PILL EMAIL .................................................................................................... 113
2
Executive Summary
Welcome to the sixth annual edition of the Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide from Red Pill Email;
the only guide compiled and written by an email marketing veteran who has made a living sending email
and integrating email deployment tools, not just talking about it.
Vendors do not pay to participate on our Guides. Vendor offerings include hosted, on premise, and
hybrid solutions and services. 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.
Information is provided by the participants and is accepted as submitted. Responses to our questionnaire
are converted to binary values and then weighted by the responses in each category and subcategory to
provide an objective view of each participant’s features and functional capabilities. Other factors such as
hourly throughput may also impact a participants effective and/or overall score and/or product placement
within this Guide.
This edition of the Guide highlights the abilities of Small-Market email marketing platforms and MidMarket platforms that go beyond the features and functions of the Small Market but don’t quite reach the
needs of advanced Mid-Market or Enterprise users. High Mid-Market and Enterprise users with more
sophisticated needs should refer to our Mid-Market Enterprise Guide edition
For 2015 Red Pill Email surveyed 38 International providers with over 600 questions across 8 top-level
categories regarding their technical product offerings and service options important to prospective users.
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 both
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.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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.
3
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 each product under
consideration and understand the level of effort required to configure those functions important to the
organization.
A total of 67 vendors were invited to participate in the Guide. Apsis, AWeber, Bronto, Campaign Monitor,
Copernica, eBay Enterprise, e-Village, Lyris, MadMimi, MailChimp, Marketo, MyEmma, Newsweaver,
Optivo, Puresend, Sailthru, SendGrid, Sentori, SmartFocus, Streamsend, TC Media, Teradata (Aprimo),
VerticalResponse, Webpower, Yesmail, and Zrinity did not meet the questionnaire deadline or selected
not to participate.
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Defining Markets & Users
The fundamentals for implementing email marketing deployment tools are the same regardless of the size
of the organization. The primary difference between the vendor’s abilities to support Small, Mid, or
Enterprise clients is scale and sophistication.
Participants of the 2015 Guide were asked if their marketing efforts were targeted exclusively by business
size. To be included in this Edition of the Guide participants must focus their own marketing efforts on
Small and Mid-Market clients while supporting those features, functions, and through-put requirements of
those market clients.
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, although more and more Small-Market
vendors offer optional dedicated IP addresses at an additional cost.
Several vendors offer basic to intermediate integration capabilities, and many support advanced features
such as RSS, video, and built-in social sharing. 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 2015 include All Web Email, Cooler Email, Elite Email, GreenRope, SparkPost,,
and Venntive.
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 2015 include Act-On, BlueHornet, Brick Street, Communicator Corp, ContactLab,
Cordial, Delivra, dotMailer, EmailDirect, ExpertSender, Gold Lasoo, Goolara, Harland Clarke Digital,
Inbox Marketer Connect, Listrak, Mailup, Maropost, PostUp, Tripolis, and WhatCounts. NOTE: Only
Mid-Market vendors that also cater to the Small-Market are included in this edition of the
Guide. Mid-Market vendors reaching into the Enterprise market may be found in our MidMarket/Enterprise edition at Red Pill Email.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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.
4
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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.
5
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.
Enterprise vendors for 2015 include Acxiom Digital Impact, Adestra, Epsilon, Experian Marketing
Services, GreenArrow, IBM Silverpop Engage, Measuremail, Message Systems, Oracle Responsys,
Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Striata, StrongView, and Zeta Interactive.
Full Service:
Participants of the 2015 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. FullService vendors are a subset of Small, Mid-Market and Enterprise vendors included in this Guide and are
shown separately as a convenience for those considering a full-service or partial full/self-service option.
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 2015 include Acxiom Digital Impact, All Web Email, Brick Street, Epsilon,
Experian Marketing Services, Inbox Marketer Connect, Striata, Tripolis, and Zeta Interactive. NOTE: Only
All Web Email focuses on Small-Market organizations.
Skill Lev els:
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.
Identifying features and functions as Beginner suggests the user has little to no email marketing skills and
may be unfamiliar with the email lexicon.
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
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Beginners are learning and/or practicing basic:
» HTML/ CSS Coding
» CAN-SPAM Regulations
» Simple Broadcast deployment
» Uploading data and/or content
» Metrics Reporting
6
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
Professional Services 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.
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.
Data is presented in aggregate showing offerings of Small and Mid-Market level platforms 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 or Mid-Market level users should focus on vendor
capabilities within their market categories and not aggregated data.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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.
7
Users of this Guide will find the best results if they first define and list the messaging specifications unique
to their own organization, then see how each vendor rates in each category that addresses those
specifications. Users can compile their own unique vendor rating or score by weighting each category of
importance to their unique specifications and organization’s needs and by discounting those features and
functions that are not required by or important to the organization.
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.
Features & Functions
Business Offerings
Regions Served
More and more Email Service Providers (ESPs) are extending their market presence around the globe.
While the majority of participants in this Guide edition are based in North America, those that are not are
supporting a physical presence on the Continent. Challenges of providing service to global markets often
include:
•
•
•
•
Dilution of Brand-Name Power - Being popular in your home country doesn't mean you'll be as
popular when introduced in other countries.
Cultural Nuance - Expanding into other counties requires more than accurate translation of the
message from one language to another.
Communication Style - Besides language differences the customs and pace of business
negotiations can be different.
Time and Distance - Time zone differences can make it difficult to coordinate projects where
collaboration is required.
Regions Served
NOAM
APAC
EMEA
LATAM
n= 14
10%
20%
LATAM
57.14%
30%
40%
EMEA
71.43%
50%
60%
APAC
71.43%
70%
80%
90%
100%
NOAM
100.00%
Supported Channels
ESPs are just about Email Marketing anymore. In addition to expanse into Social Marketing with the
ability to share to and from social networks, as well as collecting and leveraging that data, ESPs have
long integrated with and supported SMS platforms. Of those participants supporting SMS about half do
so through a 3rd party platform. About 50% of Small/Mid-Market participants also provide Print services
and integration, while just over 30% have integrated Display to their platforms. Approximately half of all
participants’ clients are multi-channel users, with the other half being email-only.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0%
8
Supported Channels
Email
SMS
Print
Display
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Display
35.71%
n =14
50%
60%
Print
50.00%
70%
80%
SMS
71.43%
90%
100%
Email
100.00%
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.
Business Offerings
SaaS
White-Label
Licensed Software
Appliance
9
n = 14
10%
20%
Appliance
0.00%
30%
40%
50%
Licensed Software
28.57%
60%
70%
80%
White-Label
71.43%
All Web Email
Cooler Email
White Label
Appliance
Licensed
Software
90%
SaaS
100.00%
Small-Market Business Models
SaaS
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0%
100%
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
White Label
Appliance
Licensed
Software
SaaS
Mid-Market Business Models
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
MailUp
10
Pricing options by participant
The most common pricing is by Tiered Rates. Tiered Rates are most often based on the volume of
messages sent, usually at a CPM, or cost per milli (thousand), but may also be based on the number of
records hosted on the platform. With Tiered Rates, as message or record volume increases to meet
contractual benchmarks rates are reduced, however not always automatically. 85.71% of participants
included here offer tiered rates by volume sent, and 42.86% offer tiered rates by data stored.
Pricing Options
Tiered Rates
CPM-Based
Free Trial
Flat Rate
Term Contract
0%
n = 14
10%
Term Contract
57.14%
20%
30%
Flat Rate
64.29%
40%
50%
Free Trial
78.57%
60%
70%
CPM-Based
78.57%
80%
90%
100%
Tiered Rates
100.00%
CPM rates vary wildly amongst participants with low-volume rates anywhere between $40.00 and $2.50
and high-volume rates anywhere between $1.25 and $0.25. The average low-volume CPM across both
Mid-Market and Enterprise-level participants is $9.46, with the average high-volume CPM at $0.44.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Contracted rates define a minimum message or data/record 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 when based on the volume of messages sent or
amount of data/records stored.
11
Flat-Rate offers a single fixed fee regardless of the volume of messages sent and is usually based on the
number of records hosted on the platform. Flat Rates may be Tiered based on the number of records
hosted on the platform. This generally includes both active and inactive – including unsubscribed –
records.
Small-Market Pricing
The most common pricing structure among Small-Market vendors is Tiered Rates (100.00%) with 83.33%
basing tiers on CPM and 66.67% offering tiered pricing based on Stored Data. 50% of Small Market
vendors providing tiered pricing offer an option or combination of CPM and/or Stored Data.
CPM pricing is available from 83.33% of Small-Market vendors and is actually more common than with
Mid-Market vendors (75.00%). 100% of Small-Market vendors offer a free product trial, while only
16.67% require a contracted term.
Low-volume rates from all Small-Market vendors can run CPMs as high as $15.00 and as low as $2.50.
High-volume CPM rates can run as high as $1.50 and as low as $1.00. The average low-volume CPM
rate for Small-Market vendors is $9.38. The average Small-Market high-volume CPM rate is $1.19.
Free Trial
Term
Contract
Tiered Rates
CPM-Based
Flat Rate
Small-Market Pricing Models
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Mid-Market Pricing
The most common pricing structure among Mid-Market vendors is Tiered Rates (100.00%) with 87.50%
basing tiers on CPM and 25.00% offering tiered pricing based on Stored Data. 16.67% of Mid-Market
vendors providing tiered pricing offer an option or combination of CPM and/or Stored Data.
CPM pricing is available from 75.00% of Mid-Market vendors;62.5% offer a free product trial, and 87.50%
require a contracted term.
Act-On
ContactLab
Free Trial
Term
Contract
Tiered Rates
CPM-Based
Flat Rate
Mid-Market Pricing Models
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Low-volume rates from all Mid-Market vendors can run CPMs as high as $40.00 and as low as $10.00.
High-volume CPM rates can run as high as $0.50 and as low as $0.20. The average low-volume CPM
rate for Mid-Market vendors is $23.75. The average Small-Market high-volume CPM rate is $0.34.
12
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke
Digital
MailUp
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.
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
In-house Strategy
In-house Technical
In-house Production
In-house Creative
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0%
13
Have Services
No Services
10%
20%
In-house Creative
78.57%
21.43%
30%
40%
In-house Production
92.86%
7.14%
50%
60%
70%
In-house Technical
85.71%
14.29%
80%
90%
100%
In-house Strategy
85.71%
14.29%
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.
Strategic Services
85.71% of Small- and Mid-Market participants surveyed offer Strategic Services. 85.71% offer Tactical
Recommendations and Reporting Metrics Analysis. 78.57% provide Actionable Analysis, and 71.43% of
participants surveyed offer Competitive Analysis.
Competitive Analysis may be difficult for vendors that do not have a high enough sampling of client
verticals to provide data that is valuable enough to one client while not divulging confidential or sensitive
information on another. Likewise, “Financial Services” may include banks, credit card companies, prepaid credit and gift cards, credit reporting agencies, mortgage brokers, and lenders of all stripes making
available data too broadly categorized to provide actionable intelligence.
Strategy Services
Tactical Recommendations
Reporting Metrics Analysis
Actionable Analysis
Competitive Analysis
0%
Have Services
No Services
10%
20%
30%
40%
Competitive Analysis
Actionable Analysis
71.43%
28.57%
78.57%
21.43%
50%
60%
70%
Reporting Metrics
Analysis
85.71%
14.29%
80%
90%
100%
Tactical
Recommendations
85.71%
14.29%
n = 14
Tec hnical Services
85.71% of Small- and Mid-Market participants surveyed offer Technical Services. 85.71% offer Systems
Integration and Tactical Implementation. 78.57% offer Specialized Training and Systems Architecture
and Design.
Specialized Training
Tactical Implementation
Systems Architecture/Design
Systems Integration
0%
10%
Systems Integration
Have Services
No Services
85.71%
14.29%
20%
30%
40%
Systems
Architecture/Design
78.57%
21.43%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Tactical Implementation
Specialized Training
85.71%
14.29%
78.57%
21.43%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Technical Services
14
Vendors have a vested interest in integrating a client’s internal system with the vendor platform.
Generally speaking, the deeper the integration the more sophistication can be gained by the platform; and
the more difficult – and expensive – it is to switch to another vendor. Most Mid-Market vendors also
integrate with third-party products (listed later in this Guide) to provide greater business intelligence while
extending the functionality of the vendor platform. Third-party systems integration is not as widely offered
with Small-Market vendors as it is with Mid-Market vendors. The two most common third-party
integrations supported by Small-Market vendors are Google Analytics and Salesforce.
Produc tion Services
92.86% of Small- and Mid-Market participants surveyed offer Production Services. 92.86% offer
Automated Message and/or Campaign Development, Message and/or Campaign Reporting, and
Message and/or Campaign Assembly, while 78.57% offer Message and/or Campaign Deployment.
Production Services
Message/Campaign Reporting
Automated Message/Campaign Development
Message/Campaign Deployment
Message/Campaign Assembly
0%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Have Services
No Services
15
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Message/Campaign
Assembly
Message/Campaign
Deployment
92.86%
7.14%
78.57%
21.43%
Automated
Message/Campaign
Development
92.86%
7.14%
Message/Campaign
Reporting
92.86%
7.14%
Creative Services
78.57% of participants surveyed offer Creative Services. 78.57% offer Graphic and Design Services
and/or Copywriting and/or Editing Services.
Creative Services
Graphic/Design Services
Copywriting/Editing Services
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Copywriting/Editing Services
78.57%
21.43%
Have Services
No Services
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Graphic/Design Services
78.57%
21.43%
Service Types
92.86% of Small- and Mid-Market participant’s surveyed offer a Self-Service option, 78.57% offer a FullService option, and 92.86% offer a la carte services, or a mix-and-match offering of Self- and Full-Service
options. Only one Small-Market participant, All Web Email, is classified as a Full-Service platform based
on their percentage of Full-Service clients.
à la carte
Self-Service
Full-Service
0%
n = 14
10%
20%
Full-Service
78.57%
30%
40%
50%
Self-Service
92.86%
60%
70%
80%
90%
à la carte
92.86%
100%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Service Types
16
By Quote
By Hour
à la carte
SelfService
FullService
Service Types by Participant
Act-On
All Web Email
ContactLab
Cooler Email
Delivra
dotMailer
Elite Email
EmailDirect
Goolara
GreenRope
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
SparkPost
Venntive
Professional Services Pricing
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
92.86% of participants surveyed price projects and professional services by Quote, 78.57% by the Hour.
78.57% of participants surveyed price projects and professional services by both Quote and by the Hour.
17
Service Pricing
Quote
Both
Hour
0%
n = 14
10%
20%
Hour
78.57%
30%
40%
50%
Both
78.57%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Quote
92.86%
100%
Professional Services Staffing
The average number of In-House Production staff is 4.93, up from 3.11 in 2014, and with an average of
7.00 years of experience, up from 4.74 years in 2014. In-House Technical staff averages 6.57, up from
3.42 in 2014, averaging 6.93 years of experience compared to 5.68 years in 2014. The average number
of In-House Strategy staff is 3.93 up from 2.63 in 2014, with the average years of experience of strategy
staff at 8.07 up from 5.16 in 2014. In-House Creative staff is at an average of 3.64 compared to 2.05 in
2014 and with an average of 6.64 years of experience up from 5 years in 2014.
Professional Services Staff
In-house Strategy
In-house Technical
In-house Production
In-house Creative
0.00
Average Years
Average Number
1.00
2.00
In-house Creative
6.64
3.64
3.00
4.00
5.00
In-house Production
7.00
4.93
6.00
7.00
In-house Technical
6.93
6.57
8.00
9.00
In-house Strategy
8.07
3.93
n = 14
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Technical
Strategy
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
All Web Email
Production
Creative
Small-Market In-House Services
18
Strategy
Technical
Production
Creative
Mid-Market In-House Services
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
19
3.61
4.72
5.00
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
4.72
0.00
4.72
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
3.33
5.00
5.00
5.00
Pro-Services
Score
Mid-Market Professional Services Score
Pro-Services
Score
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
Pro-Services
Score
Pro-Services
Score
Small-Market Professional Services Sc ore
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
5.00
3.89
5.00
3.61
Targeted Verticals and Geographic Markets
Several vendors focus on and/or excel in specific vertical markets. Having specialized experience in a
specific market often influences the features and functions of the email platform. Professional Services
staff experienced in specific vertical markets often brings experience that can accelerate their client’s
marketing efforts, but there is often a fine line between repetitive efforts across a targeted vertical and
treating all clients within a vertical the same.
Targeted Verticals
Targeted Verticals
Business to Business
Consumer/Retail
Non-Profit
Media/Publishing
Other
Banking/Financial
Education
Health/Insurance
Entertainment
Travel
Automotive
Real Estate
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
n = 14
Targeted Geographic Markets
International
16%
n = 14
Domestic
84%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Targeted Markets
20
Produc t 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 (Message Transfer Agents) that may influence their
purchasing decisions. Those that do are encouraged to ask their sales representative for details.
MTA Type
Proprietary
14%
Commmercial
86%
n = 12
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
A commercial MTA is a software agent supported by an independent vendor. A proprietary MTA is a
software agent supported by the vendor. Only one participant in the Small- / Mid-Market edition of the
2015 Guide is a developer of MTAs, and it is the parent company that is the MTA developer. For the
purposes of this Guide MTA developers are considered as commercial. While proprietary MTAs are
represented, 86% of participants are developed on commercial MTAs compared to 74% in 2014 and up
from 70% in 2013.
21
A full 50.00% of Small and Mid-Market participants using a commercial MTA use Port25’s PowerMTA,
down from 64.29% of participants using PowerMTA in 2014 and down from 66.67% in 2013. A full third
(33.33%) of Small and Mid-Market participants use Message Systems’ Momentum MTA, up from 7.14%
in 2014 and from 13.33% in 2013. 16.74% of Small and Mid-Market participants use the Green Arrow
MTA, down from 21.43% in 2014.
Two important things to note:
1. The number of Small and Mid-Market participants of this edition of the Guide in 2015 is 14
compared to 19 participants in 2014. This is due to some vendors missing the deadline for
inclusion and to some moving to the Mid-Market/Enterprise edition of the Guide.
2. Less than 3 weeks before this Guide was publically released Message Systems announced the
purchase of Port25 and PowerMTA giving Message Systems 85-90% market share of
commercial MTAs used across all levels of ESPs.
MTA Brand
PMTA
Message Systems
GreenArrow
n = 12
10%
GreenArrow
16.67%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Message Systems
33.33%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
PMTA
50.00%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0%
22
Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Data Back- up, & Redundancy
85.71% of Small- and Mid-Market participants will contract SLAs. 100% back-up their own and client data
daily or more frequently. 92.86% support redundant platforms.
Sec urity Features
ESPs protect not only their own data, but also the data of hundreds of clients. Security breaches at ESPs
and their users within the past few years have heightened the need for improved security of vendor and
user data alike. PCI Compliance is on the rise amongst leading ESPs, as is Multi-Level Authentication
and “Safe Harbor” data hosting. Geo-Based Access Restrictions are gaining in popularity while basic
record encryption remains flat. Popular encryption methods include MD5#, PGP/GPG, and TripleDES.
Security Features
Data Security Policy
IP-Based Access Restrictions
Multi-Level Auth
Geo-Based Access Restrictions
PCI-Compliant
Safe Harbor Hosting
0%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
n = 14
23
Safe Harbor
Hosting
64.29%
10%
PCI-Compliant
71.43%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Geo-Based Access
IP-Based Access
Multi-Level Auth
Restrictions
Restrictions
71.43%
78.57%
100.00%
90%
100%
Data Security
Policy
100.00%
In 2015 as in 2014 100% of Small- and Mid-Market participants have a Data Security Policy in place. In
2015 100% of participants support IP-Based Access Restrictions compared to 84.21% in 2014. MultiLevel Authentication has increase to 78.57% in 2015 up from 52.63% in 2014. Geo-Based Access
Restrictions have risen to 71.43% as has PCI Compliance in 2015 compared to only 36.84% and 57.89%
respectively in 2014. Safe Harbor Hosting has also seen an increase in adoption from 42.11% in 2014 to
71.43% in 2015.
Sec urity Scores
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
Security
Score
Security
Score
Small-Market Vendor Sec urity Score
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
2.50
5.00
4.17
5.00
5.00
5.00
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
Security
Score
Security
Score
Mid-Market Vendor Security Sc ore
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
5.00
3.33
4.17
4.17
4.17
3.33
3.33
2.50
Supported Browsers
Of all participants responding to the question of multiple browser support, not one participant provides
only single browser support.
Supported Browsers
Firefox
Internet Explorer
Safari
Other
0%
n = 14
Other
21.43%
10%
20%
30%
Safari
78.57%
40%
50%
Internet Explorer
100.00%
60%
70%
Firefox
100.00%
80%
90%
Chrome
100.00%
100%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Chrome
24
Although browser support is interesting information, it should not be a primary or even secondary
consideration when selecting an ESP. The most common “Other” supported browser is Opera.
Supported API Protocols
APIs play an important role in bi-directional data integration and real-time messaging. Technical users
and resources will appreciate knowing what API protocols are available for the transfer of documents and
data to or from the vendor. See Appendix for percentages of Supported API Functions.
WCF
REST
JSON
GET/POST
XML
SOAP
Small-Market Supported API Protocols
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Act-On
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
ContactLab
25
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke
Digital
MailUp
WCF
REST
JSON
GET/POST
XML
SOAP
Mid-Market Supported API Protocols
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 multiple sources to a series of single relational tables that may be joined together and queried for
reference and/or supplemental data to support a variety of messaging programs; or may just want a wellstructured 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 multiple and/or 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.
Full-Service vendors implement features and functions on your behalf. While the features and functions
supported by Full-Service vendors will be important, ease of use should not be a concern.
Data Control
User-definable fields
Any Field/Log/ List
User Control Over Tables
Access to Logs
User-defined FK
0%
n = 14
10%
20%
User-defined FK
Access to Logs
50.00%
50.00%
30%
40%
User Control
Over Tables
71.43%
50%
60%
Multiple Indices
78.57%
70%
80%
Any Field/Log/
List
85.71%
90%
100%
User-definable
fields
100.00%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Multiple Indices
26
Small-Market Data Control Score
Data Control
Venntive
All Web Email
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Elite Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market Data Control Ease of Us e
Data Control
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Elite Email
27
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
Mid-Market Data Control Score
Data Control
Act-On
Goolara
ContactLab
MailUp
EmailDirect
Delivra
dotMailer
Harland Clarke Digital
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market Data Control Ease of Us e
Data Control
Act-On
ContactLab
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
28
Queries & Segm entation:
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.
Queries & Segmentation
Behavior-based
Compound Seg Rules
Seg by Client
Seg by Device
Seg by Mobile Use
Seg by Social Sharing
Seg by Platform/OS
Drag & Drop Seg
Seg by Channel
0%
Seg by
Channel
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
n = 14
29
57.14%
10%
20%
Seg by
Drag &
Platform/
Drop Seg
OS
57.14%
71.43%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Seg by
Seg by
Seg by
Social
Mobile Use Device
Sharing
85.71%
85.71%
85.71%
70%
80%
Seg by
Client
Compound BehaviorSeg Rules
based
85.71%
90%
100.00%
100%
100.00%
Small-Market Queries & Segmentation Score
Queries & Segmentation
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Elite Email
All Web Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
90%
100%
Small-Market Queries & Segmentation Ease of Use
Queries & Segmentation Ease of Use
All Web Email
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
Pro Services
80%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Elite Email
30
Mid-Market Queries & Segmenta tion Score
Queries & Segmentation
dotMailer
EmailDirect
MailUp
Act-On
Delivra
ContactLab
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
90%
100%
Mid-Market Queries & Segmenta tion Ease of Use
Queries & Segmentation Ease of Use
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
dotMailer
31
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
Pro Services
80%
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 are 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.
Form Processing
Trigger by Recipient Action
Trigger Pre-Def Message
Supports Form Processing
Trigger Message by Form
88%
90%
92%
94%
96%
Trigger Message by Form Supports Form Processing Trigger Pre-Def Message
n = 14
92.86%
92.86%
100.00%
98%
100%
Trigger by Recipient
Action
100.00%
Small-Market Form Processing Score
Form Processing
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
All Web Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Elite Email
32
Small-Market Form Processing Ease of Use
Form Processing
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
30%
Beginner
40%
50%
Intermediate
60%
Advanced
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Mid-Market Form Processing Score
Form Processing
Act-On
ContactLab
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
33
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Goolara
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Mid-Market Form Processing Ease of Use
Form Processing
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
60%
Advanced
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Exporting Data via the User Interface:
Most vendors will you allow the export of lists or data tables through the User Interface. Not all provide
the option to export account logs, content, or message rules.
Lists
Content
Logs
Rules
0%
n = 14
10%
Rules
57.14%
20%
30%
40%
Logs
85.71%
50%
60%
70%
Content
85.71%
80%
90%
Lists
100.00%
100%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
UI Export
34
Small-Market UI Export Score
UI Export
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
Venntive
All Web Email
SparkPost
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market Data Export Ease of Us e
UI Export
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Elite Email
35
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
Mid-Market UI E xport Sc ore
UI Export
Act-On
MailUp
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market UI E xport Ease of Use
UI Export
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
dotMailer
36
Data & Segmentation Scoring:
Data & Segmentation scores are based on scores of each of the four subcategories; Data Control,
Queries & Segmentation, Form Processing, and UI Export.
Small-Market Data & Segm entation Score
Data & Segmentation
Cooler Email
GreenRope
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Venntive
37
SparkPost
Elite Email
All Web Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Small-Market Data & Segm entation Ease of Use
Data & Segmentation
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
4.00
4.50
5.00
Pro Services
Mid-Market Data & Segmentation Score
Data & Segmentation
Act-On
MailUp
EmailDirect
ContactLab
Goolara
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
dotMailer
38
Mid-Market Data & Segmentation Ease of Us e
Data & Segmentation
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
60%
Advanced
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Data & Segmentation Score Breakdowns
The following charts provide a side-by-side comparison of the scores of each of the four subcategories
and the total Data & Segmentation Score for each participant. Participants are ranked first by the total
score, then by each subcategory in order below. Users of this Guide may choose to consider the total
score for each participant or may weigh prospective vendors by subcategory.
39
Data Control
Queries &
Segmentation
Form
Processing
UI Export
Venntive
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Elite Email
All Web Email
Data &
Segmentation
Score
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Small-Market Data & Segm entation Score Breakdown
4.78
4.78
4.78
4.35
3.48
3.04
5.00
4.17
4.17
3.33
1.67
4.17
4.44
5.00
5.00
5.00
3.33
1.67
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
3.75
5.00
5.00
5.00
3.75
5.00
3.75
Queries &
Segmentation
Form
Processing
UI Export
4.57
4.57
4.35
4.13
3.91
3.91
3.70
2.83
5.00
4.17
3.33
2.50
5.00
4.17
2.50
1.67
3.89
4.44
5.00
5.00
3.33
3.33
3.89
3.33
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
3.75
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
3.75
3.75
3.75
3.75
3.75
1.25
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Data Control
Act-On
MailUp
EmailDirect
dotMailer
Goolara
ContactLab
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
Data &
Segmentation
Score
Mid-Market Data & Segmentation Score Breakdown
40
Deliverability & List Hygiene:
Delivery, or Delivered, is the emails sent less the number of emails 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
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.
Deliverability & Hygiene
FBLs
ISP Relations
Unsub / Pref
Custom Bounce
Deliv Scoring
Diff Opt-out
Separate IPs
White-listing
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Throttle by ISP
41
Freq Caps
Selectable IPs
In-bound Message
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
InISP
Selectabl Freq Throttle White- Separate Diff
Deliv Custom Unsub /
bound
Relation FBLs
e IPs
Caps by ISP listing
IPs Opt-out Scoring Bounce Pref
Message
s
n = 14 50.00% 71.43% 71.43% 78.57% 85.71% 92.86% 92.86% 92.86% 92.86% 100.00%100.00%100.00%
Deliverability & List Hygiene Sc oring:
Deliverability & List Hygiene scores are based on participant responses to the questions in the eleven
Deliverability & Hygiene categories.
Small-Market Deliverability & List Hygiene Score
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Elite Email
All Web Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Deliverability & Hygiene
42
Small-Market Deliverability & List Hygiene Ease of Us e
Deliverability & Hygiene
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
30%
Beginner
40%
50%
Intermediate
Advanced
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Mid-Market Deliverability & List Hygiene Score
Deliverability & Hygiene
EmailDirect
Harland Clarke Digital
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
MailUp
43
Delivra
Goolara
dotMailer
Act-On
ContactLab
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Mid-Market Deliverability & List Hygiene Ease of Use
Deliverability & Hygiene
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Deliverability & List Hygiene Sc ore Numeric Values
The following charts provide the numeric scoring values for each participant. Deliverability & List Hygiene
features & functions are table stakes items for full-service vendors
5.00
5.00
4.58
Venntive
Elite Email
All Web Email
4.58
4.17
3.75
EmailDirect
5.00
Deliverability
& List Hygiene
Score
Deliverability
& List Hygiene
Score
Mid-Market Deliverability & List Hygiene Score Numeric Values
Goolara
4.17
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Deliverability
& List Hygiene
Score
Deliverability
& List Hygiene
Score
Small-Market Deliverability & List Hygiene Score Num eric Values
44
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Delivra
4.58
4.58
4.17
dotMailer
Act-On
ContactLab
3.75
3.33
3.33
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, 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.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
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 to implement, while others
may be easily accessed and/or configured by non-technical resources via the UI.
45
Account Management
Organizations often support multiple domains for different identities, business units, or subsidiaries.
Rather than having a unique user and/or billing account for each identity, business unit, or subsidiary,
organizations may take support of multiple domains into consideration.
It is not uncommon for an organization to wish to exclude domains, such as those of their competitors or
services such as SpamCop or Spamhaus. For those organizations domain exclusion might be a tipping
factor in their decision between two otherwise equally matched vendors.
Organizations that send Transactional messages on a different IP or IP set than their Promotional
messages frequently look for vendors that support both through the same Login, same interface and/or
platform. They find having to login to two unique accounts or interfaces less efficient than a single point
of operation.
Participants were surveyed as to their functional capabilities surrounding account management, domain
and IP/Transactional/Promotional interface support.
Account Management
Domain Exclusion
Integrated Trans/Promo
Multiple Top-Level Domains
Child Account
Multi-Channel UI
0%
10%
20%
Multi-Channel UI
Child Account
57.14%
71.43%
n = 14
30%
40%
50%
Multiple Top-Level
Domains
92.86%
60%
70%
80%
Integrated
Trans/Promo
92.86%
90%
100%
Domain Exclusion
92.86%
Small-Market Account Management Score
Account Management
Cooler Email
Elite Email
Venntive
All Web Email
SparkPost
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
GreenRope
46
Small-Market Account Management Ease of Use
Account Management
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
30%
Beginner
40%
50%
Intermediate
Advanced
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Mid-Market Account Management Score
Account Management
Act-On
EmailDirect
MailUp
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
47
Harland Clarke Digital
dotMailer
Goolara
ContactLab
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Mid-Market Account Management Ease of Us e
Account Management
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Asset Support:
Participants were surveyed as to their functional capabilities surrounding content management, image
hosting, Personalization, dynamic content, and more. See Appendix for Asset Support breakdown by
percentage.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0%
48
Small-Market Asset Suppor t Score
Asset Support
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
All Web Email
Elite Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
92%
94%
96%
98%
100%
Small-Market Asset Suppor t Ease of Use
Asset Support
All Web Email
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Cooler Email
49
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
80%
82%
84%
Beginner
86%
88%
Intermediate
90%
Advanced
Pro Services
Mid-Market Asset Support Score
Asset Support
Delivra
EmailDirect
Act-On
dotMailer
Goolara
MailUp
ContactLab
Harland Clarke Digital
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market Asset Support Ease of Us e
Asset Support
Act-On
ContactLab
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
50
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.
Small-Market Deployment Management Score
Deployment Management
Venntive
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
All Web Email
SparkPost
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market Deployment Management Ease of Use
Deployment Management
All Web Email
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Cooler Email
51
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
Pro Services
Mid-Market Deployment Management Score
Deployment Management
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
ContactLab
MailUp
Act-On
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market Deployment Management Ease of Use
Deployment Management
Act-On
ContactLab
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
52
Pre-Configured Programs
To make the marketer’s life easier, several vendors provide pre-configured versions of popular email
messaging programs like Abandoned Order, Welcome, and Win-Back programs. Just add data, your own
content and adjust the messaging rules, and you’re programs are ready to run.
Pre-Configured Campaigns
Pre-Configured Welcome
Pre-Configured Win-Back
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Pre-Configured Abandoned
53
0%
n = 14
10%
Pre-Configured Abandoned
42.86%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Pre-Configured Win-Back
57.14%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pre-Configured Welcome
85.71%
Small-Market Pre-Configured Programs Score
Pre-Configured
Cooler Email
GreenRope
Venntive
Elite Email
All Web Email
SparkPost
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
70%
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market Pre-Configured Programs Ease of Use
Pre-Configured
All Web Email
Cooler Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Elite Email
54
Mid-Market Pre-Configured Programs Score
Pre-Configured
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
MailUp
Act-On
Harland Clarke Digital
ContactLab
Delivra
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market Pre-Configured Programs Ease of Use
Pre-Configured
Act-On
ContactLab
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
55
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
RSS and SMS Support
RSS Content Support
Supports RSS
Deploy by Post
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Deploy by Post
50.00%
n = 14
70%
80%
90%
100%
90%
100%
Supports RSS
57.14%
SMS Support
Supports SMS
Integrated Reporting
0%
n = 14
10%
20%
Integrated Reporting
64.29%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Supports SMS
78.57%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0%
56
All Web Email
GreenRope
Cooler Email
SparkPost
Elite Email
Venntive
Supports
SMS
Supports
RSS
Supports
SMS
Supports
RSS
Small-Market RSS & SMS Support
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
57
Act-On
EmailDirect
ContactLab
Goolara
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
dotMailer
MailUp
Supports
SMS
Supports
RSS
Supports
SMS
Supports
RSS
Mid-Market RSS &SMS Support
Share-to-Social Content Suppor t
Share-to-Social Content Support
Built-in Link/Message
Integrated Content
Integrated Reporting
Sharing-FROM-Social
n = 14
10%
Sharing-FROM-Social
57.14%
20%
30%
40%
Integrated Reporting
78.57%
50%
60%
70%
Integrated Content
85.71%
80%
90%
100%
Built-in Link/Message
92.86%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0%
58
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Act-On
59
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Integrated Social
Sharing Reporting
Mid-Market Social Sharing Support
Integrated Social
Sharing Reporting
Venntive
Integrated Content
Share-to-Social
SparkPost
Integrated Content
Share-to-Social
GreenRope
Built-in Link/Message
Share-to-Social
Elite Email
Built-in Link/Message
Share-to-Social
Cooler Email
Integrated ShareFROM-Social
All Web Email
Integrated ShareFROM-Social
Small-Market Social Sharing Support
Us er Suppor t
Features and functions that support user productivity include integrated Promotional and Transactional
products, user-level permissions, workflow approval options. They also include items incorporated into
the platform that make things like subscribing from Social site, creating surveys, and hosting landing
pages easy for the user to quickly implement and without going to a third party platform or relying on
technical resources. Native installation of an Integrated Survey Tool by participants of this edition of the
Guide comes in at 57.14%, with 78.57% supporting native installation of Land Page and Micro-Site
hosting.
User Support
Host Landing Pages
Integrated Survey Tool
Subscribe from Social
0%
n = 14
10%
Subscribe from Social
57.14%
20%
30%
40%
Integrated Survey Tool
64.29%
50%
60%
70%
Host Landing Pages
78.57%
80%
90%
100%
Forward-to-a-Friend
92.86%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Forward-to-a-Friend
60
Small-Market User Support Sc ore
User Support
Cooler Email
GreenRope
Venntive
Elite Email
All Web Email
SparkPost
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market User Support Ease of Use
User Support
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Elite Email
61
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
Mid-Market User Suppor t Score
User Support
Delivra
dotMailer
Harland Clarke Digital
ContactLab
EmailDirect
MailUp
Act-On
Goolara
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market User Suppor t Ease of Us e
User Support
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
dotMailer
62
Campaign Building & Workflow Scoring
Campaign Building & Workflow scores are based on scores of each of the five subcategories.
Small-Market Campaign Building & Workflow Sc ore
Campaign Building & Workflow
Venntive
Cooler Email
GreenRope
Elite Email
SparkPost
All Web Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market Campaign Building & Workflow Ease of Use
Campaign Building & Workflow
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Elite Email
63
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
Pro Services
Mid-Market Campaign Building & Workflow Scor e
Campaign Building & Workflow
Delivra
MailUp
EmailDirect
dotMailer
ContactLab
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
Act-On
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market Campaign Building & Workflow Ease of Use
Campaign Building & Workflow
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
dotMailer
64
Campaign Building & Workflow Score Numeric Values
The following charts provide the numeric scoring values in the Campaign Building & Workflow category
for each participant.
Venntive
Cooler Email
GreenRope
4.92
4.77
4.77
Campaign
Building &
Workflow Score
Campaign
Building &
Workflow Score
Small-Market Campaign Building & Workflow Sc ore Numeric Values
Elite Email
SparkPost
All Web Email
4.23
3.15
2.15
Campaign
Building &
Workflow Score
Campaign
Building &
Workflow Score
Mid-Market Campaign Building & Workflow Scor e Numeric Values
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
MailUp
EmailDirect
dotMailer
65
4.08
4.08
4.00
3.77
ContactLab
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
Act-On
3.46
3.31
2.85
2.77
Tes ting & 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.
Tes ting:
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.
Testing
Split-List Test
Testing by Percentage
Randomized Segment
Supports List Seeding
Testing by Amount
Multivariate Tests
0%
n = 14
Automated
Split-Path
71.43%
10%
20%
Multivariate
Tests
85.71%
30%
Testing by
Amount
92.86%
40%
50%
Supports List
Seeding
92.86%
60%
70%
Randomized
Segment
92.86%
80%
Testing by
Percentage
100.00%
90%
100%
Split-List Test
100.00%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Automated Split-Path
66
Small-Market Testing Sc ore
Testing
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
Venntive
SparkPost
All Web Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market Testing Ease of Use
Testing
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Elite Email
67
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
Pro Services
Mid-Market Tes ting Score
Testing
Act-On
ContactLab
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
Goolara
MailUp
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market Tes ting Ease of Use
Testing
Act-On
ContactLab
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
Advanced
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
68
Repor ting :
The Reporting scores are based on vendor response to asked in the three subcategories Reports, Report
Levels, and Audit Trails. See Appendix for breakdown of Reporting Levels and Reports by percentage.
Small-Market Reporting Levels Score
Reporting Levels
Cooler Email
GreenRope
Venntive
Elite Email
SparkPost
All Web Email
Average
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0.00
69
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Small-Market Reporting Levels Ease of Use
Reporting Levels
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
30%
Beginner
40%
50%
Intermediate
60%
Advanced
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Mid-Market Reporting Levels Score
Reporting Levels
EmailDirect
Harland Clarke Digital
dotMailer
Goolara
MailUp
ContactLab
Act-On
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Delivra
70
Mid-Market Reporting Levels Ease of Use
Reporting Levels
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
4.50
5.00
Pro Services
Small-Market Reports Scor e
Reports
Cooler Email
Elite Email
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
GreenRope
71
Venntive
SparkPost
All Web Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
Small-Market Reports Ease of Use
Reports
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
30%
Beginner
40%
50%
Intermediate
Advanced
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Mid-Market Reports Score
Reports
Delivra
EmailDirect
Harland Clarke Digital
Act-On
Goolara
ContactLab
dotMailer
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
MailUp
72
Mid-Market Reports Ease of Use
Reports
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Pro Services
Audit Trails
Email audit trails are a sequence of electronic logs used to track email campaign deployment, delivery
and subsequent action. Email audit trails provide verification and validation of records processed to and
deployed by the ESP, in addition to recipient interaction with the email message. Email audit trials are
also used to meet regulatory requirements and to aid in ISP relations.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
All but one participant in this edition of the Guide received a perfect score for Audit Trails.
73
Small-Market Testing & Reporting Score
Testing & Reporting
Cooler Email
GreenRope
Venntive
Elite Email
SparkPost
All Web Email
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
70%
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market Testing & Reporting Ease of Us e
Testing & Reporting
All Web Email
Cooler Email
Elite Email
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
GreenRope
74
Mid-Market Tes ting & Reporting Score
Testing & Reporting
EmailDirect
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Goolara
ContactLab
Act-On
dotMailer
Average
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market Tes ting & Reporting Ease of Use
Testing & Reporting
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
dotMailer
75
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
30%
40%
Intermediate
50%
Advanced
60%
Pro Services
Tes ting & Reporting Sc ore Numeric Values
The following charts provide the numeric scoring values for each participant. Testing & Reporting
features & functions have evolved to table stakes items.
Testing
Report
Levels
Reports
Audit
Trails
Cooler Email
GreenRope
Venntive
Elite Email
SparkPost
All Web Email
Testing &
Reporting
Small-Market Testing & Reporting Score Num eric Values
5.00
5.00
5.00
4.43
4.00
2.71
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
4.29
3.57
5.00
5.00
5.00
3.67
3.67
2.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
3.75
1.88
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
Report
Levels
Reports
Audit
Trails
5.00
4.71
4.71
4.29
3.86
3.71
3.57
3.43
5.00
4.29
4.29
3.57
3.57
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
4.67
4.00
4.00
3.33
2.67
4.33
5.00
4.38
5.00
5.00
3.13
2.50
3.13
2.50
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
0.00
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Testing
EmailDirect
Harland Clarke Digital
Delivra
MailUp
Goolara
ContactLab
Act-On
dotMailer
Testing &
Reporting
Mid-Market Tes ting & Reporting Score Numeric Values
76
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
fourteen vendor categories; Deliverability, Suppression Management, Analytics, CRM, Ad Serving,
Remarketing, Reviews, Profile/Persona, Validation, CMS,Real-Time Content, SMS, E-Com, and POS
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 Barracuda, and provide views of how messages render in different email clients.
Deliverability Reseller
Return Path
Green Arrow
250ok
Internal/Own
Other
Surety Mail
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Unica (Pivotal Veracity)
77
0%
Unica (Pivotal
Veracity)
n = 14
0.00%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Surety Mail
Other
Internal/Own
250ok
Green Arrow
Return Path
7.14%
7.14%
7.14%
14.29%
21.43%
71.43%
85.71% of participants of this edition of the Guide resell or out-of-the-box integrate with deliverability
products; an increase from 63.16% in 2014.
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.
In 2015 100% of participants of this edition of the Guide resell or integrate with third-party analytics
products compared to 95% in 2014.
Analytics
Google Analytics
Custom
Coremetrics
Omniture
WebTrends
Click Tracks
Nedstat
Comscore
Other
0%
Other
n = 14
7.14%
10%
20%
30%
Fireclick Comscore Nedstat
7.14%
7.14%
14.29%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Click WebTren
Coremetri
Google
Omniture
Custom
Tracks
ds
cs
Analytics
14.29% 21.43% 28.57% 28.57% 50.00% 100.00%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Fireclick
78
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.
71.43% of participants of this edition of the Guide offer or integrate with third-party CRM solutions
compared to 79% in 2014. We do not feel that the need for CRM resale and/or integration is fading in the
Small- and Mid-Market categories, but that the difference this year is due to a number of 2014
participants moving up to our Mid-Market/Enterprise edition of the Guide.
CRM
Salesforce
Custom
MS Dynamics CRM
SugarCRM
Netsuite
SageCRM
Saleslogix
Zpho
Other
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Unica
79
0%
n = 14
10%
20%
Unica
Other
Zpho
7.14%
7.14%
14.29%
30%
40%
50%
Saleslogix SageCRM Netsuite
14.29%
14.29%
14.29%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
MS
SugarCR
Dynamics Custom Salesforce
M
CRM
21.43% 35.71% 35.71% 71.43%
Email Validation Services Integration
Email Validation services have grown in popularity as they aid in deliverability and hygiene by validating
and verifying email addresses in real-time or by batch.
50% of participants of this edition of the Guide resell and/or integrate their platforms with Email Validation
services, down slightly from 53% in 2014.
Email Validation
Other
BriteVerify
FreshAddress
Experian LeadSpend
Impressionwise
StrikeIron
Webbula
n = 14
5%
10%
15%
Webbula
StrikeIron
Impressionwise
7.14%
7.14%
7.14%
20%
25%
Experian
LeadSpend
7.14%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
FreshAddress
BriteVerify
Other
14.29%
21.43%
28.57%
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
0%
80
Content Management Systems
For the second year we asked participants of their offerings and/or out-of-the-box integrations with CMS
and find that 43% of participants in 2015 provide “out-of-the-box” integration with a content management
system compared to 47% in 2014. We don’t feel that the need for CMS integration is fading in the Smalland Mid-Market categories, but that the difference this year is due to a number of 2014 participants
moving up to our Mid-Market/Enterprise edition of the Guide.
Content Management Systems
Magento
WordPress
Drupal
Joomla
Other
0%
n = 14
5%
Other
7.14%
10%
15%
Joomla
7.14%
20%
25%
Drupal
14.29%
30%
35%
WordPress
35.71%
40%
45%
50%
Magento
35.71%
Other Integration
For the 2014 Edition of the Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide, Other Integration includes SMS,
E-Commerce and Point-of-Sale services, and for 2015 Real-Time Content.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
SMS platforms most mentioned by participants of this edition of the Guide include SAP, OpenMarket,
Clickatell, and Dynmark. 64.29% of participants of this edition of the Guide integrate their products with
SMS technology, up from 53% in 2014.
81
E-Commerce platforms most mentioned by participants of this edition of the Guide include Magento,
Shopify, Yahoo Stores, Hybris, and Demandware. 57.14% of participants of this edition of the Guide
support integration with E-Commerce services compared to 53% in 2014.
No participants of this edition of the Guide are currently supporting integration with Point-of-Sale services,
down from 11% in 2014. We don’t feel that the need for Point-Of-Sale integration is fading in the Smalland Mid-Market categories, but that the difference this year is due to a number of 2014 participants
moving up to our Mid-Market/Enterprise edition of the Guide. This leaves a wide-open field for Small- and
Mid-Market platforms to integrate with PoS systems and services.
New for 2015 is Real-Time Content. The Real-Time Content platforms most mentioned by participants of
this edition of the Guide include LiveClicker, Live Intent, and Movable Ink. 21.43% of participants of this
edition of the Guide resell and/or integrate with a Real-Time Content platform. We expect to see
significant growth in adoption/integration of Real-Time Content with more Small- and Mid-Market
participants throughout the coming year.
S.A.M.E. Standards
Support Adoption of Metrics for Email, or S.A.M.E. Standards are a set of standardized metrics
calculations put forth by the DMA’s Email Experience Council. 43% of participants of this edition
of the Guide have now 25% or participants have adopted the S.A.M.E. Standard metrics
calculations, significantly up from 25% in 2014. Another 7.14% have stated that they intend to
implement the S.A.M.E. metrics calculations in 2015.
S.A.M.E. Standards
S.A.M.E. in 2015
S.A.M.E
0%
10%
n = 14
20%
S.A.M.E
7.14%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
S.A.M.E. in 2015
42.86%
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.
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.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Training
82
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
dotMailer
EmailDirect
Goolara
83
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Anti-Spam
Training
Mid-Market Training
Anti-Spam
Training
Venntive
Video OnDemand
Training
SparkPost
Video OnDemand
Training
GreenRope
Custom OnSite Training
Elite Email
Custom OnSite Training
Cooler Email
Standard OnSite Training
All Web Email
Standard OnSite Training
Small-Market Training
Doc umentation
Comprehensive documentation is key to learning vendor operations and implementing features.
SparkPost
Elite Email
Venntive
Searchable
Online Help
Cooler Email
Searchable
Online Help
GreenRope
Comprehensive
Documentation
All Web Email
Comprehensive
Documentation
Searchable
Online Help
Comprehensive
Documentation
Small-Market Documenta tion
Searchable
Online Help
Comprehensive
Documentation
Mid-Market Docum entation
Act-On
EmailDirect
ContactLab
Goolara
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
dotMailer
MailUp
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.
All Web Email
GreenRope
Cooler Email
SparkPost
Elite Email
Venntive
Premium
Support
Technical
Support
Premium
Support
Technical
Support
Small-Market Technical Suppor t
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Support & Account Management
84
All Web Email
GreenRope
Cooler Email
SparkPost
Elite Email
Venntive
Account
Team
Account
Manager
Account
Team
Account
Manager
Small-Market Account Management
Goolara
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
dotMailer
MailUp
Premium
Support
ContactLab
Account
Team
EmailDirect
Technical
Support
Act-On
Account
Manager
Premium
Support
Technical
Support
Mid-Market Tec hnical Support
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
85
Account
Team
Account
Manager
Mid-Market Account Management
Act-On
EmailDirect
ContactLab
Goolara
Delivra
Harland Clarke Digital
dotMailer
MailUp
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 six 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, Regions and Channels served, Professional
Services, Targeted Verticals, and Targeted Markets. Professional Services and Security 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 with the exception of Security. Platform
information includes MTAs, operating systems, data base management systems, Disaster Recovery,
Security, Authentication, supported browsers, supported APIs and list of available API functions.
In the Data & Segmentation category, participants are scored across 23 questions – up from 18 in 2014 –
regarding Data Control, Queries & Segmentation, Form Processing, and UI Export.
In the Deliverability & List Hygiene category, participants are scored across 12 questions – up from 11 in
2014 – while in the Campaign Building & Workflow category vendors are scored on 51 questions – up
from 35 in 2014 – across nine subcategories that include Asset Support, Deployment Management, PreConfigured program options, Content Support, and User Support.
The Testing & Reporting category is scored across 34 questions – up from 30 in 2014 – 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.
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
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Scoring
86
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.
Small-Market Overall Score
Cooler Email
4.88
GreenRope
4.88
Venntive
4.84
Elite Email
4.25
SparkPost
3.51
All Web Email
2.96
Average
3.57
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Small-Market Overall Ease of Use
All Web Email
Cooler Email
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Elite Email
87
GreenRope
SparkPost
Venntive
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Pro Services
Mid-Market Overall Score
EmailDirect
4.59
Delivra
4.30
dotMailer
4.04
MailUp
3.94
Harland Clarke Digital
3.88
ContactLab
3.79
Act-On
3.76
Goolara
3.74
Average
4.01
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Mid-Market Overall Ease of Use
Act-On
ContactLab
Delivra
EmailDirect
Goolara
Harland Clarke Digital
MailUp
Average
0%
10%
20%
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Pro Services
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
dotMailer
88
Preparing for Vendor Selection
Discovery
The primary objective of discovery is to define, map and analyze existing email messages, programs, and
processes; and to document their current state within the organization in order to provide a baseline for
the project moving forward.
The first step is to discover existing processes, step-by-step, to understand all the functions performed by
individuals on legacy systems. Documenting the processes, with all the required views, data, drawings,
and analytical reports follows.
The Discovery is intended to provide insight into the underlying business problems that motivated the
project. This insight will then serve as the foundation for developing Functional and Non-Functional
Specifications required supporting current and future email messaging programs and initiatives.
A sample set of Discover questions may be found in the Appendix. These are a subset of the discovery
questions used for all Red Pill Email vendor evaluations and selections.
Specifications
A specification is an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by the prospective vendor. Specifications
are needed to avoid errors due to lack of specification, for instance, in interoperability issues. For
instance, when two applications share data, but use different normal forms or use them incorrectly, in an
incompatible way or without sharing a minimum set of interoperability specification, errors and data loss
can result.
The specification describes the features the vendor solutions must meet or exceed to support the client's
messaging needs. In practice, many successful specifications are written to understand and fine-tune
applications that were already well-developed and in operation. Specifications are most important for
external interfaces that must remain stable.
Specifications should be divided into two unique parts, Functional and Non-Functional.
Functional
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Functional Specifications define what the vendor platform is expected to DO. A functional specification is
the documentation that describes the requested behavior of vendor platform or system.
89
The documentation typically describes what is needed by the user as well as requested properties of
inputs and outputs of the system. A functional specification is the more technical response onto a
matching requirements document. Thus it picks up the results of the requirements analysis stage. On
more complex systems multiple levels of functional specifications will typically nest to each other.
Non-Functional
Non-Functional Specifications define what the platform is expected to BE. A non-functional specification
is a requirement that specifies criteria that can be used to judge the operation of a system, rather than
specific behaviors. This should be contrasted with functional specifications that define specific behavior or
functions. The plan for implementing functional requirements is detailed in the system design. The plan
for implementing non-functional requirements is detailed in the system architecture.
A system may be required to present the user with a display of the number of records in a database. This
is a functional specification. How up-to-date this number needs to be is a non-functional specification. If
the number needs to be updated in real time, the vendor must ensure that the system is capable of
updating the displayed record count within an acceptably short interval of the number of records
changing.
Preparing an RFP
Once you’ve determined your functional and non-functional requirements it’s time to assemble your RFP.
Begin with an overview of your company, what it does, how long it’s been in business, what it specializes
in, and what sets it apart from its competitors.
Next provide an overview of the opportunity for prospective vendors. Explain what you expect the
relationship with the vendor to be, and set the expectations of the prospective relationship before moving
on to your requirements.
The key to writing requirements is to be thorough without being redundant or repetitive. You can do this
by reducing your requirements into core functions. For example, if one of your requirements is for the
vendor to have the ability to trigger a Welcome message when someone completes a subscription form
and another requirement is to trigger a message when someone completes a survey form, you can
reduce this requirement to “Platform must support form-triggered messaging”.
Remember that what we’re looking for is function, not application of a function. While you might feel that
you are being thorough, what you’re really doing is adding time to the process as you add unnecessary
pages to your RFP.
The vendor is going to give you the same answer for each application of a core function that you list
appended with the iteration of that function that you listed. Vendors will not be impressed by your
thoroughness, but will more often see you as either inexperienced or high-maintenance. While either of
those might be true, the RFP isn’t the place you want to be displayed.
When listing your messages add some volume projections. While some vendors offer a flat rate, the
common denominator will always be CPM pricing. If you are including flat-rate pricing vendors, be sure to
include the size of you database in records, not bytes. Include all of the records that you will be hosting
on the vendor platform; active, inactive, opted-in, opted-out, etc.
Next add your submission guidelines including upon what criteria you will be basing your final decision.
Provide your evaluation process and your planned schedule, and list who will be involved in the selection
process and their roles. And don’t forget to tell them where to send their proposals and direct any
questions.
A sample set of Red Pill Email’s RFP template may be found in the Appendix. This is the actual format
used for all Red Pill Email vendor selection RFPs.
Scoring the Prospec ts
Don’t waste yours or a prospective vendor’s time with a demo until you’ve received responses to your
RFP; there is no point to a demo of a platform that doesn’t meet your specifications. Once you’ve
reviewed the returned RFPs and have identified three to four vendors that most closely meet your
specification it’s time to schedule product demonstrations.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
After listing your functional and non-functional requirements, describe and list what types of messages,
campaigns, and programs your company sends. Provide examples in an addendum to your RFP. You
may also want to include an advanced message that you may not have but would like to, and would like
to see in a product demonstration. If so remember to stay reasonable and not over extend your
organizations ability to support such a message.
90
There will be a lot to cover in each of the vendor demonstrations, and there will be stakeholders in the
room all looking at and for different things. Technology people will be looking at the platform being
demonstrated one way, marketing and/or operations will be looking at it a different way and upper
management will be looking for other things.
Three to six hours of product demonstrations many days later it is easy to forget the details of the
demonstration, and sometimes hard to remember the different approaches each vendor had to supporting
your needs and requirements. It’s easy to remember the nice smile or the bad suit, but not always as
easy to remember which vendor supported SOAP and which preferred REST API protocols. That’s
where Score Cards come in.
At Red Pill Email we break our score cards into six major requirements categories, Connectivity &
Integration, Cultural Fit, Data Structure, Deliverability, Messaging, and Reporting; each with three to six
specific needs that are adjusted to meet the needs of our clients.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
A sample of Red Pill Email’s Score Card template may be found in the Appendix. This is the actual
format used for all Red Pill Email vendor selection Score Cards.
91
S.A.M.E.
The S.A.M.E. Project or Support the Adoption of Metrics for Email was created and administered by the
Email Experience Council’s Measurement Accuracy Roundtable/Advisory Board. The purpose of project
was 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.
Early adopters of the S.A.M.E. definitions and calculations for email metrics under the project were
awarded and display a Seal noting their compliance. Later adopters may not all carry the Project Seal.
The S.A.M.E. Project Metrics & Calculations
The following are the definitions and calculations for email metrics under the S.A.M.E. project.
Definitions r elated to cur rent Deliver y metr ics
Accepted: Any email that is not rejected by a server, including emails delivered to the inbox, spam or
junk folders or those are missing from those folders that did not receive a bounce reply.
Accepted = Sent - Bounced
Accepted Rate: The total amount successfully delivered to the server divided by the total e-mail
deployed (unique records). The amount successfully delivered is the total amount attempted minus all
failures, including hard bounces.
Accepted Emails / Sent Emails = Accepted Rate
Bounce: A message rejected by the receiving server. Typically bounces are referred to as either hard
bounce, a delivery failure for permanent reason (e.g. a misspelled email address) or soft bounce, a
delivery failure due to a temporary condition (e.g. mailbox is currently full).
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Standardized Terms and Definitions
92
Inbox Placement Rate: This is the ratio of emails that are delivered specifically to the recipient’s inbox
divided by the total emails sent.
Definitions r elated to cur rent Open metr ics
Confirmed Open Rate: Is the percentage of unique confirmed opens divided by the total number of
accepted emails. While unique is the preferred method, this rate may be calculated using either the
unique or the total confirmed opens.
Confirmed Opens / Accepted = Confirmed Open Rate
Unique Confirmed Open: The unique number of users that an email is displayed (whether fully opened
or within the preview pane) and recorded using tracking pixel OR if images are blocked and the user
clicks any link including the unsubscribe link. This metric includes both HTML and plain text emails
Unique Confirmed Opens / Accepted = Unique Confirmed Open Rate
Total Confirmed Opens: The total number of times an email is displayed (whether fully opened or within
the preview pane) and recorded using tracking pixel OR if the user clicks any link including the
unsubscribe link.
Total Confirmed Opens / Accepted = Total Confirmed Open Rate
Email Render Rate: The number of times an email is displayed (whether fully opened or within the
preview pane), recorded using a tracking image within an HTML format message, divided by the total,
and expressed as a percentage. While unique is the preferred method, this rate may be calculated using
either the unique or the total email renders.
Email Renders / Accepted Emails = Render Rate
Unique Email Render: The unique number of users that an email is displayed (whether fully opened or
within the preview pane) and recorded using tracking pixel. If a user opens the email multiple times or
multiple tracking pixels requests are recorded due to forwarding, only one is counted per unique email
address. This metric applies to HTML formatted emails only.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Unique Email Renders / Accepted Emails = Unique Render Rate
93
Total Emails Rendered: The total number of times an email is displayed (whether fully opened or within
the preview pane) and recorded using only a tracking pixel for a unique subscriber address. If the user
opens the email multiple times, one email render is counted for each occurrence. This metric is based off
HTLM formatted emails only.
Total Email Renders / Accepted Emails = Total Render Rate
Average Recipient Render Rate: The total number of times an email is rendered (whether fully opened
or within the preview pane) and captured using a tracking image within an HTML format message divided
by the unique number of emails rendered, expressed as a percentage.
Total Renders / Unique Renders = Average Recipient Render Rate
Aimed as secondary metric, it provides insight into the average number of times each recipient (that
renders a message at least once) views an individual message. This may be of value to senders with
deep content and/or content that has a long shelf life, (e.g. newsletters) assuming that a high number of
renders per recipient is a positive for certain types of email programs. This metric may also be calculated
using Confirmed Opens if that is more applicable for the sender.
Definitions r elated to cur rent Click metr ics
Click Through Rate (CTR): The number of times a link is clicked from a message divided by the number
of accepted messages. For example if a message is sent to four people and two people open the
message, downloading the images. One of two that opened the email clicked on a link one or more times,
the resulting CTR for that link is 25% (1 unique clicker/4 accepted emails = 25%).
Clicks / Accepted Emails = Click Through Rate
This metric may be calculated as Unique CTR, which refers to the number of people that clicked or total
CTR, which refers to number of clicks for a specific link. Email marketers also often calculate CTR for the
entire email to compare several emails within a campaign or across campaigns.
Click to Open (CTO): The unique number of times a link is clicked from a message divided by the unique
number of confirmed opens for that message. For example if a message is sent to four people, two
people render the email, and one of those two click on a link one or more times, the resulting CTO is 50%
(1 click /2 confirmed opens = 50%).
Clicks / Email Renders = Click to Open Rate
Again, this metric may be calculated as Unique CTO, which refers to the number of people who clicked,
or total CTO, which refers to number of clicks for a specific link. The Click to Open Rate may also be
calculated for multiple links within an entire email message rather than for an individual link in a message.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
.
94
Appendix
Additional Charts & Graphs
Supported API Functions
The API functions an organization requires should be listed in its functional specification document prior
to any vendor evaluation, RFP, or selection. Functional specifications should be included in any RFP for
ESP services.
Table API Functions
Append Tables
Update Tables
Add Fields
Create Tables
0%
n = 14
10%
20%
30%
Create Tables
78.57%
40%
50%
Add Fields
85.71%
60%
70%
Update Tables
92.86%
80%
90%
100%
Append Tables
92.86%
Record API Functions
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Append Records
95
Single Record Transfer
Update Records
Bulk Data Transfer
Bulk File Import Stats
0%
10%
20%
30%
Bulk File Import Stats Bulk Data Transfer
n = 14
92.86%
92.86%
40%
50%
Update Records
100.00%
60%
70%
Single Record
Transfer
100.00%
80%
90%
100%
Append Records
100.00%
Other API Functions
Create Cat/Segment
Create Filter/Query
Import Table
Export Table
0%
10%
20%
Export Table
78.57%
n = 14
30%
40%
Import Table
85.71%
50%
60%
70%
Create Filter/Query
85.71%
80%
90%
100%
Create Cat/Segment
85.71%
Template/Document API Functions
Message Body
Upload Template/Doc
Delete Template/Doc
Update Template/Doc
n = 14
10%
20%
Update Template/Doc
71.43%
30%
40%
Delete Template/Doc
71.43%
50%
60%
70%
Upload Template/Doc
85.71%
80%
90%
100%
Message Body
85.71%
Message API Functions
Trigger Message
Schedule/Deploy
Message Envelope
0%
n = 14
10%
20%
Message Envelope
64.29%
30%
40%
50%
Schedule/Deploy
92.86%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Trigger Message
100.00%
100%
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0%
96
Schema/Timestamp API Functions
Retreive Schema
Retreive Server Timestamp
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Retreive Server Timestamp
64.29%
n = 14
70%
80%
90%
100%
90%
100%
Retreive Schema
71.43%
Deployment API Functions
Deployment Queuing
Deployment Stop
Deployment Pause
SMTP Access
0%
n = 14
10%
SMTP Access
42.86%
20%
30%
40%
Deployment Pause
57.14%
50%
60%
70%
Deployment Stop
78.57%
80%
Deployment Queuing
85.71%
Metrics/Statistics API Functions
Ret Account-Level Stats
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Ret Bounced Recs
97
Ret Campaign-Level Stats
Ret Opt-Out Records
Ret Rec-Level Stats
Retrieve Sent Recs
88%
n = 14
Retrieve Sent
Recs
92.86%
90%
Ret Rec-Level
Stats
100.00%
92%
Ret Opt-Out
Records
100.00%
94%
96%
98%
Ret CampaignRet Bounced Recs
Level Stats
100.00%
100.00%
100%
Ret AccountLevel Stats
100.00%
Asset Support:
Participants were surveyed as to their functional capabilities surrounding content management, image
hosting, Personalization, dynamic content, and more.
Asset Support
Alt Methods Uploading
Image Hosting
Independent Components
Pre-Configured Templates
88%
n = 14
90%
92%
94%
Pre-Configured Templates Independent Components
92.86%
92.86%
96%
98%
Image Hosting
100.00%
100%
Alt Methods Uploading
100.00%
Asset Support
HTML to Text Tool
Integrated Content (WYSIWYG)
Content Management Tool
Content Version Control
0%
n = 14
Content Version
Control
64.29%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Content Management Supports Responsive Integrated Content
HTML to Text Tool
Tool
Design
(WYSIWYG)
78.57%
100.00%
100.00%
100.00%
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Supports Responsive Design
98
Asset Support
Test Mailing/Preview Capability
Integrated Email Rendering Tool
Categorize Campaigns
Dynamic Variables Test Tool
Link Validation Tool
0%
n = 14
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Link Validation Tool
Dynamic Variables
Test Tool
Categorize
Campaigns
Integrated Email
Rendering Tool
57.14%
71.43%
78.57%
92.86%
80%
90%
100%
Test
Mailing/Preview
Capability
100.00%
Asset Support
User-Level Settings/Permissions
Integrated Campaign Calendar
Cross-Channel Calendar
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Integrated Task Management Workflow
99
0%
n = 14
Integrated Task
Management Workflow
50.00%
10%
20%
30%
Cross-Channel Calendar
50.00%
40%
50%
60%
Integrated Campaign
Calendar
71.43%
70%
80%
90% 100%
User-Level
Settings/Permissions
100.00%
Asset Support
Dynamic Subject Lines
Personalization
Dynamic Content
Custom Template Builder
Character Case Control
0%
n = 14
Character Case
Control
50.00%
10%
20%
30%
Custom Template
Builder
78.57%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Dynamic Content
Personalization
92.86%
100.00%
80%
90%
100%
Dynamic Subject
Lines
100.00%
Repor t Lev els
Questions surveying the level of reporting included reporting by segment, message, record, program,
dynamic content, and total and unique statistics.
Repor ts
Questions surveying reporting capabilities include the ability to create custom reports, creating campaigns
from reports, conversion tracking, performance dashboards, and more.
Report Levels
Show Unique Statistics
Drill-Down via GUI
Real-Time Reporting
88%
n = 14
Real-Time Reporting
92.86%
90%
92%
Drill-Down via GUI
92.86%
94%
96%
Show Unique Statistics
100.00%
98%
100%
Show Total Statistics
100.00%
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Show Total Statistics
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Report Levels
Reporting by Program
Reporting by Record
Reporting by Source
Reporting by Segment
Per Record at Deployment
0%
n = 14
10%
Per Record at
Deployment
57.14%
20%
30%
Reporting by
Segment
85.71%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Reporting by Source Reporting by Record
92.86%
92.86%
90%
100%
Reporting by
Program
100.00%
Report Levels
Subject Line Reporting
Child Account Reporting
Dynamic Content Reporting
0%
n = 14
10%
Dynamic Content Reporting
57.14%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Child Account Reporting
64.29%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Subject Line Reporting
85.71%
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Reporting by Client
Reporting by Device
Reporting by Platform
0%
n = 14
10%
Reporting by Platform
64.29%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Reporting by Device
71.43%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Reporting by Client
71.43%
100%
Reports
Charts Integrated into Reports
Integrated Conversion Tracking
Performance Dashboards
Create Campaigns from Reports
Create Custom Reports
0%
n = 14
Create Custom
Reports
64.29%
10%
20%
30%
Create Campaigns
from Reports
64.29%
40%
Performance
Dashboards
85.71%
50%
60%
70%
Integrated
Conversion Tracking
85.71%
80%
90%
100%
Charts Integrated
into Reports
92.86%
Reports
List Composition by ISP
List Reporting (Growth/Churn)
0%
n = 14
10%
List Composition by Source
78.57%
20%
30%
40%
50%
List Reporting (Growth/Churn)
85.71%
60%
70%
80%
90%
List Composition by ISP
85.71%
100%
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Sample Discovery Ques tions
The following questions are a sampling of Discovery questions used by Red Pill Email in vendor
evaluations and selections. These are questions asked of our Vendor Selection/RFP clients.
Critical Issues
•
•
•
What is the biggest challenge your organization faces regarding email messaging?
Who needs to be involved with any solution considered by your organization?
Please identify any technology, resource, or business dependencies:
•
•
•
What limitations do you face with your current deployment vendor?
What are your strategic messaging objectives (6mos, 12mos, 18mos, 24mos.)?
What are the pain points with current provider?
•
•
•
What data is required to support your current messaging?
Is data automatically updated, or is data obtained ad hoc? Please describe.
What metrics are used to measure success?
Vendors
Data
Subscribers
•
•
•
What is the total number of active subscribers?
What is your average message deployment volume?
What is your average overall monthly deployment volume?
•
•
•
•
Please describe your current messaging programs and provide content examples:
Please identify message triggers and/or timing:
Please provide an overview of your current messaging processes:
Where do you see difficulties or obstructions in your current messaging process?
•
What resources do you have to support your messaging programs?
Availability?
How long does it take to develop and deploy campaigns?
Ad hoc? Automated?
Who initiates and/or requests and/or approves offers and content?
Deployment
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Resources
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•
•
Integration
•
Are you currently integrated with any third-party solutions?
If so, who and for how long?
If so, what is your level of integration?
If not, do you plan to integrate with any third-party solutions?
Sample RFP
Your Company Name
Email Marketing Service Provider
Request for Proposal
Make a confidentially statement right away. This is also a good place to ask if any clients or affiliates pose a conflict of interest.
About Your Company
Use this area to explain who your company is and what it does. You want the vendor to see you as a valuable
prospect.



Use bullets to highlight things about your organization
Everybody likes bullets.
State when you expect the project to be completed by.
Overview of Opportunity & Requirements
Relationship with Email Service Provider


Explain or bullet what you expect the relationship with the vendor to be.
This is where you will set expectations of the relationship.
Requirements
Here is where you will list your functional and non-functional requirements:
» Functional requirements are what you expect the vendor platform to DO
» Example: The platform must integrate with Web Analytics
 If you use a specific analytics tool be sure to list it
» Non-Functional requirements are what you expect the platform to BE
» Example: The platform must be user-friendly with intuitive navigation
 If you can explain what “user-friendly” is all the better. What’s “friendly” to
one isn’t to all
 Use top-level bullets like, “Technology must provide/support the following features:”
» Then list the features
» And sub features
 And sub features if necessary
Email Campaigns
Describe and list what types of messages you send:


Daily Offers
» Daily triggered email campaign with targeted discount/coupon offers.
 Subscription activated with Your Company registration.
 Content dynamically populated from backend database
Transactional Emails
» Receipts
o Confirmations
o Notifications
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
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»
Lost Password
(Project some message volumes)
Projected Email Volume
Campaign Type
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Total
Daily Offer
4,620,000
11,550,000
23,100,000
46,200,000
85,470,000
Transactional Emails
1,386,000
3,465,000
6,930,000
13,860,000
25,641,000
554,400
1,386,000
2,772,000
5,544,000
10,256,400
Other
55,000
138,600
277,200
554,400
1,025,640
Total
6,615,840
16,539,600
33,079,200
66,158,400
122,393,040
Lifecycle Programs
RFP Submission Guidelines
Define your submission guidelines and on what criteria you will base your final decision.





Ask about the company
» Company name and address
» Description of how/why you are uniquely qualified to partner with Your Company Name
Ask about their technology
» Describe system architecture
How/who will manage your account
» Describe the account management and customer support model
How much will it cost
» Provide an outline of your pricing structures and options
What else do you want to know
» API documentation (and any other white paper or guidelines on data integration options)
Selection Process & Schedule
Explain your evaluation process and your planned schedule.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Describe who will be involved in the process and their roles.
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Describe your schedule and timeline
MM/DD/YYYY
Detailed Proposals Due
MM/DD/YYYY – MM/DD/YYYY
Vendor Presentations
MM/DD/YYYY
Final Selection
Tell them where to send proposals or ask questions:
Give examples of current messages. Put together your most complicated message or program and ask for it to be
duplicated for the demo.
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Sample Score Card
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User Reviews
Reviews
The following User Reviews have been taken from Email-Geeks.com. Not all participants have been
reviewed by users.
Elite Email
Review ID: 79
Pros: The customer support is the best I've
received anywhere in quite some time.
Cons: Other than no late night or weekend
phone support, there's nothing really that
stands out.
Comments: When I got things rolling here, I
was using a really cool ESP, but one that
didn't care about how fast they helped with
your problem and in some cases they didn't care to help at all.
In the past, it always felt like I was in it alone and when I needed help, there was no one around to help
me.
Things changed though when I got to Elite Email. I was told by a friend to check them out after some
really bad experiences with some other email marketing companies.
I have my own account manager who is so calm, relaxed, attentive and and has a ton of great ideas that I
have implemented to help take our initiatives to the next level.
We don't do anything that crazy around here when it comes to the newsletters we send out, but I always
felt that the process should be easy when creating and monitoring my campaign.
In the past 'easy' was the last thing that came to mind and I found myself frustrated and often waiting
quite some time to get answers or technical help when I needed it.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Working with these guys, is a totally different experience though. It's refreshing to speak on the phone
with people who genuinely care about me, my company and the success of the emails that we send out.
107
I have for quite some time told others about how great Elite Email is, because to me it's really about the
little things and these guys go to great lengths to ensure that I'm happy and getting the best results
possible from my newsletters.
The system is simple in it's layout and the creation of emails takes no time at all. I know I can log-in and
quickly have my newsletter set-up and scheduled out. I used to spend hours creating and fixing my
emails, but now I know that it can be done in a short period of time, and if for some reason I need help, I
know I can easily get it.
I love every interaction that I have with this company and truly recommend them to anyone who is looking
to work with a company that actually cares about them and their success. That seems rare these days.
I couldn't be happier to have been a client of Elite Email's for almost two years now. They mean it when
they say that they focus on the customer experience.
Review ID: 80
Pros: The account manager makes things
easy for me
Cons: I wish there were more training videos
but they help me with anything that I need
Comments: I was told by my brother to switch
to Elite Email.
I had been with MailChimp for a few years after trying a few other services in the past. I was very happy
with the system, but it was impossible to get help quickly when I needed it. I could write in, but there was
no one to help me.
My brother told me he had just signed up with these guys and that he had his own account manager. I
thought that was pretty neat and figured I'd see what it was all about.
I signed up for the free program and I have to say, the idea of having someone take the time to guide me
through everything was fantastic. Was 'old school' in that they had no problem answering all of my
questions and giving advice on improving my emails.
My emails are simple, but made even easier knowing that I can call in and have someone help me
whenever needed. It is my favorite thing about them. They are just so friendly it's ridiculous. I don't find
that type of support anymore. It's usually a machine, or someone who doesn't care to help me.
I made the switch and it was well worth it. It's not a flashy system by any means, but I have never had
better engagement from my contacts and with the push of my account manager, we have been sending
out some different types of emails and we are thrilled with the responses.
My restaurant has clearly benefited from Elite Email's services and I barely pay anything for my monthly
subscription. I almost feel bad about it.
I have recommended them to many people and really thought that I needed to share my thoughts on here
too. Try them out!
Pros: Easy to use, fantastic support, make
things easy
Cons: I'd like more fancy features, but not
make or break
Comments: I arrived at this company 6 months
ago and to be honest wasn't too familiar with
Elite Email.
I had been using a different service provider for
a while. I was going to just change things right away, but was told that the company had been with Elite
for years. I must say, I'm happy I stayed.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Review ID: 81
108
It took no time at all to learn the system and having an account manager that is literally my coach when it
comes to all things email, was a welcome change. I never had such support before with either of the
companies that I had used.
Just wanted to say how awesome these guys are! Great program and great team all around.
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Glossary of Terms
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
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
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
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Click/Response Log; account log recording by links, message, and recipient
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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
Integrated Social; social media sharing and/or tracking
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Integrated Survey; advanced survey logic and reporting
ISP Throttle/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
111
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
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
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
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Total & Unique; logs/displays both total and unique activity
White-Label; product provided ready for branding by another company
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About Red Pill Email
There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
We’ve lived on the client side, building multi-million dollar email channels with our own hands. We’ve
walked the path of systems integration to bring highly complex automated data-driven messaging
programs to life.
As the developers of the annual Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide, we have an unparalleled view
of the email vendor landscape and vendor capabilities. Other consultants use our Guide in helping clients
to select suitable vendors, so why not go straight to the source? We won’t always tell you what you want
to hear, but will always tell you what you need to know to make the best decisions for your organization.
Our extensive knowledge of the email industry can help you find the best fit for your needs and budget for
your email program. We can assist you with installation of critical APIs to enable advanced email
messaging such as trigger based messages, lifecycle email marketing and retrieve all the data so you
can make decisions based upon facts and solid analysis, not guess work
We are the agency behind other agencies and vendors alike. From process-driven vendor selection, to
system integration, to deep analytics, data-driven profiling and personas, to strategic analysis and tactical
implementation, to production support, we have the knowledge, skills, and experience to help you take
your messaging programs to the next level.
We focus on the Tactical, Technical, and Analytical elements of Email Marketing and applying them to
quickly bring our clients email messaging online. We don’t just crunch numbers, we show what they
mean and how to use the results to improve your messaging.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
Email Vendor Evaluation & Selection
The average email marketer will be involved in selecting a vendor for their organization a few times in
their career; we’re involved in client vendor selection several times a year. From producing our Annual
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide, our insight into vendor capabilities is second to none. We’ve
leveraged our years of experience in vendor evaluation and selection to develop an effective process
designed to most closely match vendors to the client’s needs.
113
We start with the client’s current messaging inventory and business rules; we move on to data
requirements, and consider future growth and initiatives while looking for areas for technical
improvement. We’ll identify the functional and non-functional requirements needed to be met by the
vendor to secure our client’s business. Based on those requirements we’ll identify a select group of
capable vendors to participate in the RFP process. Working many years with both clients and vendors,
we have developed an RFP framework that is clear, concise, and welcomed by vendors participating in
the selection process.
Migration, Integration, & Automation
Moving from one email deployment vendor to another can be overwhelming the first few times. For us
those first few times was a long time ago. Based on our years of experience migrating and integrating
dozens of client’s to a new vendor, we’ve developed a process for this, too. We’ll lay out the steps to take
and order of implementation for a transparent and successful vendor migration.
Integrating data from client systems to vendors and back is the first step in increasing email messaging
productivity. Integration can be as basic as automating bi-directional data transfer or as advanced as
bringing disparate data sets to a central point for processing decisions. Automating repetitive processes
based on specific business rules further streamlines messaging programs while reducing the risk of
human error. We show our clients how to do it, or do it for them freeing internal resources to focus on
their core business.
Reporting Dashboards
Our reporting dashboards provide the ability to quickly view data for informed observations and business
decisions. Dashboard charts, graphs, tables, and gauges provide a snapshot of your key metrics and
performance indicators for day-to-day decisions and month-over-month reporting with a robust platform
for monitoring, visualizing and analyzing associated data.
Analytic Analysis & Persona Profiling
Cluster, Scale, Factor, Meta, Regression, or Multivariate, we go deep into client’s data to gain the insight
needed to maximize revenue. You can’t reach the customer if you don’t understand the customer. We
leverage client data to develop personas of different segments of the subscriber base that help to guide
message and timing to each profile segment based on buying or other patterns. We provide
the intelligence needed to consistently optimize efforts, resources, and revenue.
Production Services
Contracted production services and blocked time units available to Agencies and select clients.
Bonded and Insured
For our client’s peace of mind, Red Pill Email consulting services are fully bonded and insured.
Email Vendor Features & Functions Guide
For more information call Red Pill Email at 310-488-6769
114