SCENE: We’re talking to a sales prospect about what we do. We say that we’re the premier solutions-oriented source of email performance insights and deliverability technology. We say that no one else has the depth and breadth of activity and performance data that we do, covering 43 ISPs and a two-year history of 10 billion searchable campaigns from over 190,000 brands worldwide. We say that we have the industry’s most comprehensive and sophisticated system for real-time inbox monitoring and granular performance diagnostics. And that our platform also provides rich data on what and how your competitors are mailing, with what level of success, and how much upside that might indicate for you. AND that our Operations and Client Success organizations also include Deliverability and Strategic Consulting experts with decades of hands-on experience with email and CRM.
Our prospect is clearly impressed, but not convinced: “That’s great stuff, and we really need it. But we’re already using a major email service provider. Can’t we get that same information and support from them?”
Well… the short answer is, “No.” Here’s why:
FOCUS
Your ESP exists primarily to produce and deploy your email campaigns, based on having a platform for accomplishing that, and for reporting campaign inbox and engagement performance. There’s considerable sophistication and skill required to do that well, and ESPs do pay attention to observing best practices, especially on the deliverability side. Still, the more email you send, the more money your ESP can make, and that’s often their primary focus.
Our entire focus and financial success are in helping you understand your email deliverability and engagement performance, especially in terms of identifying the opportunities and means to improve that performance.
DATA
Your ESP can see data for your email audiences and campaigns and those of its other clients. They have little visibility beyond that. They tend to report deliverability based primarily on bounce-rates, although some inbox reporting may be based on a very small number of inert seeds. Open rates are based on tracking pixels, not always reliable. These methods all tend to distort both inbox and engagement performance.
We see and report deliverability at a granular level, by campaign and ISP, based on extensive consumer panel data and the simulated behavior of real-world modeled IntelliSeeds® from our IntelliX AI Network®. We also can see into the audiences and email activity of your competitor brands. This visibility includes overall audiences, and by campaign, as well as quantities deployed and read rates that are reported based on actual opens within our tracking panel. Our platform has a robust “alerts” functionality. You can also use our platform functionality for a detailed preview of each campaign across different web and mobile browsers and clients; assess your email’s spam score; predict, preview and improve subject line strength with Persado; and use Link Analysis to uncover potential issues with your URLs.
INSIGHT
Your ESP may report your inbox and engagement performance data, but they can’t –or don’t—necessarily understand or explain what factors are driving any issues you may be having.
Our reporting details and diagnoses exactly where the problems and opportunities are, in terms of detailed deliverability performance, as well as issues with reputation management and authentication. The audience Inactivity Percentage we report for each domain is uniquely meaningful, because it can be benchmarked against that of your direct competitors and others in your industry, thus revealing another dimension of upside opportunity. And when we identify engagement performance upsides, we are also able to point to specific aspects of competitive email programming that may have driven that performance. Our Deliverability and Strategic Consulting Services are also available to provide direction in your program optimization and planning.
ACCESS
Your ESP may be one of those who are already using our platform. But that doesn’t necessarily give you access to it (unless they’re a licensed reseller). It’s the difference between owning your own car, and occasionally borrowing someone else’s. Your ESP won’t necessarily be accessing our platform on your behalf, on your schedule, or around any of the issues and interests you may have.
Direct access to the eDataSource platform gives you unlimited, on-demand usage, to answer ad hoc questions, with queries returned in seconds; and to support longer-term projects and deep-dives addressing business issues of consequence to you. Access to our platform also gives you access to our Consulting Services.
There’s our basic case. Having a best-in-class email program requires both a solid ESP vendor as well as the performance optimization that only the eDataSource platform and partnership can provide. For additional information on our technology and services reach out and speak to one of our solutions experts.
