| Choosing an an Email Service Provider (ESP) can be | | | | 2. Customer support and training. Your ESP should |
| daunting but knowing what to look for can make this | | | | offer both online and phone customer support and |
| process a lot easier. | | | | training. |
| An ESP is a service that hosts email marketing | | | | 3. Robust infrastructure. Make sure your ESP has |
| services on their servers, which are specifically | | | | multiple, high-speed connections to the Internet through |
| optimized for this purpose. While you control your email | | | | more than one source and hardware redundancy. This |
| marketing account and send out emails using a Web | | | | ensures reliability if one of the Internet connections fails |
| browser interface, the ESP’s servers and Internet | | | | or there is a hardware failure. Ask prospective ESPs |
| connections do the heavy lifting. If you tried to send | | | | about their infrastructure. This is important because a |
| bulk emails through your regular Internet Service | | | | lot of ESPs will offer “click-tracking” tools. The |
| Provider (ISP), your campaign could be blocked, as | | | | click tracking will require that the links go to the ESP |
| regular ISPs are not set up for—and sometimes | | | | first, and then it is redirected to your web site |
| prohibit—bulk mailings. | | | | (that’s how it can track the click). There would be |
| An ESP also provides detailed reporting on the results | | | | nothing worst than sending to your valuable prospects |
| of your email campaign: delivery success rates, email | | | | and customers and having the ESPs servers go down. |
| open-rates, and link click-through rates. You should | | | | The people reading your emails won’t be able to |
| even be able to see which of your subscribers | | | | click through! |
| performed these actions. Good reporting is an | | | | 4. Good reporting. The ESP should offer a variety of |
| invaluable feature as it helps you measure the | | | | user-friendly reports: deliverability success, open-rates, |
| effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns. | | | | and click-through rates. |
| Most ESPs also make it very easy for you to comply | | | | 5. CAN SPAM compliance. Your ESP should require |
| with the CAN SPAM Act regulations. For example, an | | | | customers to comply with the CAN SPAM Act and |
| ESP should automatically include an unsubscribe link in | | | | make it very easy to do so. |
| every email sent through their service (and | | | | 6. List Segmenting. Your ESP should enable you to |
| automatically remove these addresses from your lists), | | | | segment lists by demographic and other criteria, |
| as well as verify that all emails are sent from a valid, | | | | Targeting subsets of your list with content relevant to |
| working email address. Most ESPs also require you to | | | | them leads to more successful email marketing |
| send only to lists of subscribers that have opted-in to | | | | campaigns. |
| receive emails from you. | | | | 7. A/B testing. It is important to have the ability to test |
| ESPs allow you to execute professional, organized | | | | different versions of your email to find what works. A |
| email marketing campaigns. Now, what should you look | | | | B testing is a way to test your email content, subject |
| for in an ESP to make sure you choose the right one? | | | | line, etc., to see which version gets the best results. |
| Here are some criteria to consider: | | | | Often this involves randomly splitting up the list and |
| | | | comparing results, and your ESP should be able to |
| 1. Private IP address. The IP address from which an | | | | provide this functionality. |
| email is sent is like a phone number; it indicates the | | | | 8. Free trial. Most ESPs offer a free trial. Do a test |
| origin of an email. Just like you would not share a | | | | drive to see if the service meets your needs. |
| phone number with a large group of strangers, you do | | | | 9. No term contract. Do not sign up for a service that |
| not want to share an IP address with other customers | | | | requires anything beyond a month commitment. If you |
| at your ESP. If your ESP makes you share an IP | | | | are unhappy with your service, you should be able to |
| address with other customers, too many spam | | | | cancel and switch services at will. |
| complaints against another customer could get your | | | | 10. Pricing Plans. ESPs host your email list on their |
| shared IP address blacklisted by a major ISP. This | | | | servers. Some charge a monthly fee based on the |
| would prevent your emails from being delivered, and it | | | | number of emails on your list, while others charge a |
| can take time for your ESP to get the IP off the | | | | monthly fee you based on the maximum number of |
| blacklist. Be sure your ESP can provide you with a | | | | emails you think you will send per month. Be sure to |
| private IP address. | | | | choose a pricing structure that fits your needs. |