When organizations go shopping for a new email service provider or similar vendor, there’s often a disconnect between the email marketing features they want and the reasons behind wanting them. As a company that helps businesses to choose the vendor that is the best fit, we see this time and time again during the discovery process. When this happens—and no one recognizes it—the result is usually a poor fit, as the customer realizes the vendor they’ve […]

They say ignorance is bliss, but in truth it’s expensive—especially in the world of email. So let’s take a few minutes to talk about some topics that usually don’t come up during sales pitches or negotiations when considering email service providers. At ClickMail, we often see clients confused by these six areas because they are making some assumptions that they maybe shouldn’t. Then later on, this ignorance leads to hassles, headaches and occasionally hard feelings. So […]

If you’re having issues with your email service provider, and you’re wondering if it’s time for a switch, this upcoming DMA webinar is a “must do” for you. On September 15th, we’ll be sponsoring a webinar on just that very topic—but on an unusual aspect of it. Rather than tell you how to switch email service providers, we’ll first see if we can’t help you save that relationship (and therefore save yourself the time, cost and […]

If you work in a corporate environment, chances are you’re familiar with wellness programs. Originally intended to encourage physical health on the part of employees in order to reduce sick days and healthcare costs, wellness programs now run the gamut and even include stress reduction and financial wellness. Now I, as an email marketer, am going to take some liberties with that wellness concept and give you my thoughts on another kind of wellness: ESP wellness. […]

Recently in a LinkedIn group, a member challenged ESPs to give good reasons to switch, because of the high financial and time costs of doing so. He stated that he had yet to see a succinct reason to switch, and wondered if there were any. Well, of course I had something to say to that! Two things actually… Point #1: Have the right reasons to switch I recently presented at both MarketingSherpa’s 2015 Email Summit in […]

ClickMail’s Michael Kelly spoke this month at Fashion Digital in Los Angeles on a much-anticipated topic (judging by all of the tweets before, during and after): What switching ESPs won’t fix. Since email marketing is a key part of almost any industry’s marketing makeup, not just fashion’s, and because the topic was so anticipated and well-received at Fashion Digital, we present the highlights from Michael’s presentation below. If you’re considering a new email service provider because […]

Experts say companies switch email service providers (ESPs) on average about every two years. If you’ve been through such a grueling process as this, you might wonder why switching is such a common occurrence when it can be so costly and time-consuming. Obviously, if a poor choice was made the first time around (perhaps due to Shiny Things Syndrome), then it’s harder to make the existing ESP work. Ditto if your organization has simply (and unexpectedly) […]

Marketers are often drawn to the big email service providers and why not? They usually have a big name, a big presence, and really big (and sometimes really fun) user conferences. Sometimes, however, a big ESP isn’t necessarily the best fit for a company, even if that company has a big email program. Who needs to think big? When we help clients do an email service provider comparison, we remind them of the plusses and minuses […]