Email marketing is important for every eCommerce business. Many companies use an ESP, or email service provider, to get the job done. But how do you choose the best one for your particular enterprise? Check out our ultimate guide to selecting the right ESP for you.
Free vs Paid
For most businesses, the cost of an ESP is the primary concern. Some ESPs offer free versions of their paid service, although this usually comes with a few drawbacks. The number of emails per month, number of subscribers, or types of templates and design features may be limited. Free versions can be useful for small business who are just getting started, since they tend to have smaller lists and send fewer emails. If you go the free route, consider scalability: you don’t want to invest time and resources learning how to use the free ESP if the paid versions will be unable to meet your needs moving forward. As your company grows, so will your email marketing plan and budget, so plan accordingly. Paid versions offer benefits like more contacts, more emails, more sophisticated designs and tracking, and customer support. Most companies have a few levels of paid packages to fit your needs. Pricing can range from tens to thousands of dollars per month, so make sure to have a budget in mind beforehand.
Number of Subscribers
How many people are on your contact list? Many ESPs have a finite number of subscribers that can be added, depending on the pricing plan. Free versions allow the least subscribers, a few hundred or maybe a few thousand. Paid plans may allow a few thousand, a hundred thousand, or a custom amount, depending on what you need and how much you are willing to pay. Consider how quickly your subscriber list grows, quarterly or annual subscriber goals, and number of active subscribers.
Number of Emails
Another major consideration is how many emails you send per month. Some ESPs limit the number of emails that can be sent per month based on pricing. Others have packages that allow for unlimited emails at all price points. Thank about how many emails you send, or plan to send, in a month. For large companies with big subscriber lists and multiple campaigns, this number can skyrocket fast. Maybe you have a monthly newsletter, weekly specials list, new subscriber welcome, order confirmations, product recommendations, flash sales, and coupon codes. That can easily add up to thousands of emails in one month. Make sure the ESP can grow along with your business.
Templates vs Design your own
There are many ways to build your eCommerce emails. Options range from choosing a fully designed template and filling in the blanks, to creating blocks of content, to writing your own in HTML. Upgrading to a pricier package may provide access to more templates. Think about how much time can be dedicated to building your templates.
Automation
ESPs almost always offer some kind of automation for your email plan, meaning emails can be scheduled ahead of time or automatically sent after an assigned action is taken. Automation is crucial because it allows your emails to reach your target audience at the best possible time. Confirmation emails sent quickly after a customer places an order instills trust and confidence. Newsletter emails automatically sent at a time when the user is most likely to read them adds value. For companies who ship internationally, automation sends emails at the optimal time to customers in other time zones while you count sheep. There are tons of ways to use automation to improve your email marketing plan, so get an ESP that offers it.
Segmentation
When choosing an ESP, consider how often you segment your email campaigns. Segmentation allows you to send emails to specific demographics based on a wide range of criteria. If you segment the majority of your emails, opt for an ESP that make this process quick and easy. Say you want to send almost the same email to seven different segments, changing only one element. How easy will that be to do with the ESP? Will you have to create seven email templates and seven contact lists, or will the template update for each segment? Segmentation also makes it easy to run A/B tests.
Reporting
ESPs usually have reporting as part of the package, giving real-time data on open rates, bounces, click-through rates, and more. Make sure the ESP you choose reports on metrics that are important to your business. Some ESPs may also have plugins for Google Analytics, to help keep all of your data in one place.
Ethics
Not all ESPs are created equal. Unfortunately, there are ESPs who do not use white hat practices. Be wary of providers who want to give you a list of emails you can add to your contacts. Make sure that everyone on your subscriber list gave permission and knowingly opted to receive your emails. Inactive users should be periodically purged from the contact list. This refers to people who never read your emails or email addresses that hard bounce. Keeping those emails might be beneficial to the ESP, but it won’t be beneficial for you. These shady tactics might gain you a few extra subscribers in the short term, but they can have long-term damage to your brand reputation.
Compatibility
When selecting an ESP for eCommerce, make sure it is compatible with your platform (Magento). Connecting your ESP with your eCommerce store will make it easy to develop campaigns and keep up with your products. Your ESP should also be compatible with social media, making it easy to share your email or product across those platforms. Another consideration is how well the ESP works on mobile. Templates, buttons, and images should be responsive on mobile, as that is how the majority of people read their email.
ESP Options:
Take the above considerations into account to select the best ESP for your business. There are lots of choices out there, so as a place to start, here are a few of the most popular:
- MailChimp
- DotMailer
- Emma
- Vertical Response
- Constant Contact
- Campaign Monitor
- iContact
- Aweber
Now you are ready to choose an ESP and take your business to the next level! As always, ParadoxLabs is here to help with marketing services, including email marketing options.