Selecting a new Email Service Provider can be transformative for your mailing program IF you pick the right partner. While the ‘right’ questions are hard to define and depend on your program, Ed Kuderna, Managing Director of Yesmail, provides a quick list of key topics you should cover during yours search of the best ESP fit.

1. Six Questions You Should Ask before
Choosing an Email Service Provider
Ed Kuderna
Managing Director,
Yesmail Interactive
“The process of selecting and migrating to a
new Email Service Provider (ESP) entails diligent
preparation and comprehensive evaluation of each
candidate, their capabilities, and the overall fit with
your organization’s business objectives, technology
requirements, and last but not least, culture.
Below are six key questions you should ask your
prospective new ESP:”
What are the core, list/data management, customization, and
#1 integration functionalities of your email marketing platform?
Having the right functionalities is arguably the cornerstone for selecting the right ESP. With hundreds
of features to choose from, however, it’s often challenging for marketers to identify the ones that matter
most. That’s why we’ve broken out the broad Functionality umbrella into 4 components, essential for the
success of most marketing programs.
Core Functionalities: those include testing capabilities, flexibility of email creation, ability to deploy
automated & triggered campaigns, as well as multichannel campaign execution. These functionalities are
the building blocks of your marketing campaigns, starting with email and extending to social media and
display ads, all within a single platform.
List/Data Management: it is important that an ESP can offer flexible data management options including
the ability to serve as the database of record or tightly coordinate with the database of record. The ability
to collect and store different types of data, such as email, purchase, browse behavior as well as data on
subscriber tenure, lifecycle stage, and demographics, is essential for a sophisticated marketing program.
Marketers’ ability to access this data at any point in order to develop relevant interactions, with the right
database segment, at the right time, is equally important.
1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com

2. Customization: the ability to develop custom framework that conforms to the unique program
requirements and goals of each client is instrumental for a great partnership and is indicative of the
adaptability of the ESP’s engineering resources and technology framework.
Integration: this component of an ESP’s functionality is extremely important for marketers who run
multi-faceted, data-driven programs that require their email platform to run in unison with another
technology solution. An ESP’s capability to develop seamless integration between its platform and
another solution is a great indicator of the flexibility of their technology.
What reporting capabilities does your email platform offer?
Marketing without measurement is a shot in the dark, so having the right reporting tools is essential for
assessing the success of your overall program and its components. Program success is often measured
by metrics beyond standard inboxing, open, and click rates. That’s why it’s critical to choose an ESP
that has the tools to determine audience composition (openers, clickers, purchasers, dormant, domain
subscription), database activity (currently active, recently active, lapsed, inactive), database tenure (new-to-
database, recently joined, tenured, etc.), after-the-click tracking (email-generated purchases on
various devices & platforms), device preference, and email viewership (mobile, desktop, hybrid). Program
adjustments based on these metrics can greatly enhance targeting, increase revenue, and maximize
program ROI.
What’s the structure of your deliverability services and does it
have each of the following components: Technology, People, and
Process?
Many marketers forget that deliverability is a people business, and not exclusively a technology
business. Technology, of course, is a key component enabling marketers to detect issues and, even
more importantly, prevent them through pre-flight testing, ISP inbox testing, and rendering testing.
Technology, however, has little impact when it comes to planning and issue resolution – that’s when
dedicated deliverability experts step in and communicate with each internet service provider (ISP).
Deliverability staff should play an instrumental role in helping you plan new programs and testing
existing ones. They should also be available to work through blocking issues to immediately address
and remedy the problem. Throwing technology at a deliverability issue without having a strong network
of people who manage ISP and blacklist relationships in real-time, is rarely an effective approach. It’s
symptomatic of a flawed process.
1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
#2
#3

3. What’s your account management and customer support
structure?
The ability to cater to and support each client’s unique setup and team structure is fundamental for a
successful partnership. Being able to choose the type of account management structure that fits your
organization best is a ‘must’. From full service account management that enhances and implements every
program component, through hybrid account structure that utilizes a retainer of account management
hours, to self service account structure that requires dedicated internal resources, marketers should
be able to pick what works best for them and easily change their service model should they need to.
Similarly, having access to technical support 24/7 is an important consideration when evaluating ESPs.
If there are questions or issues that require immediate attention during non-business hours, your
deliverability team should provide a solid support structure and ensure a safety net for the success of your
program.
What complementary services are available to help you understand
your customers and build meaningful experiences to help you
deepen your relationship?
In the past couple of years, marketers have continuously identified organizational silos as one of the
biggest challenges to successful marketing programs. An ESPs’ ability to provide additional services
as part of an all-encompassing marketing solution is one effective way to tackle this challenge. The
metrics collected by your ESP can be a great foundation for developing informed creative, strategic
recommendations, data-driven insights, and implementing data enhancement spanning different
channels and improving overall marketing effectiveness. The ability to maintain an in-house, cohesive
and cross-functional team with broad marketing expertise is necessary to achieving that.
1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
#4
#5

4. How do your ESPs’ corporate values align with those of your
Like with any partnership, it all comes down to trust. Picking an ESP that shares your corporate values
and places emphasis on a positive company culture means you have entrusted the right people with
the future of your program and the relationships with your clients and prospects. While the cultural and
value fit between two companies can be hard to discern right away, you can easily spot them during
the RFP process – does the ESP pose questions about your biggest challenges, your goals, the pattern of
interaction with your customers, and the way you want to be perceived in the market? Or are they mostly
focused on defining technical requirements and replicating your existing program instead of bringing it
to the next level?
Ed’s global team delivers on Yesmail’s promise to our customers by providing
strategic insight, in-depth product knowledge and operational support. His passion
is clearly reflected in his team’s in-depth knowledge and zeal for interactive
marketing.
Ed calls on his 25 years of marketing, leadership and management experience to
grow people, process, technology and customers. Prior to joining Yesmail, Ed was
with Aprimo as Director of Multichannel Campaign Management Practice and
Director of the Centers of Marketing Excellence. He also held Professional Service
leadership positions at DoubleClick, Protagona and Allstate Insurance Company.
1.877.937.6245 | sales@yesmail.com | www.yesmail.com
#6 organization?
“Ask these questions during the selection process
because, in the end, the conviction that a partner
has your company’s best interest in mind, is what
breaks the proverbial tie.”