Comparison of Email Service Providers (ESPs)
Sam Knox November 2007
Updated September 2008
1402 3rd Avenue, Suite 1000 Seattle, WA 98101 206.286.1235 http://www.onenw.org
Disclaimer: The results contained in this report reflect the most current information as of September 2008. As such some things may have changed by the time you are reading this. Please independently confirm all information contained within before making any decisions about which provider you may choose to adopt.
Overview
ONE/Northwest has been using What Counts as its ESP solution for its clients since about 2004. By 2007 we realized that the reasons for adopting this service needed to be reevaluated. The nature of email delivery has changed in the 21st century and the direction and focus of our consulting practice has also changed quite a bit. In particular, we needed a solution that has tight integration with Salesforce, the powerful CRM database. In Autumn of 2007 ONE/Northwest set out to explore the landscape of Email Service Providers (called ESPs in the trade) in an effort to understand how the world of e-newsletter delivery services had changed in the last 4 years. Our basic approach to email newsletter projects is to design a template (usually based on the look and feel of the organization's website), train the client to use the service provider, and send them on their way. Most of our clients are not very HTML or CSS savvy, which is why we tend to design templates for them. At the beginning of this process, we were very aware that we might just come full circle and re-adopt WhatCounts all over again. Still, it has been years since we looked at the playing field and were starting to feel like we becoming less and less aware of who the players on the field were.
Providers We Evaluated
Campaign Monitor Constant Contact Emma Exact Target Topica Vertical Response What Counts
Criteria for Evaluation
While Salesforce integration was going to be key for us, we didn't want to rule out services that didn't explicitly offer that. Early on, we thought that maybe we would go with a two-tiered approach in which some clients would go with an ESP-plusSalesforce and some would need just an ESP only. As such, we anticipated that we might need to find more than one provider to fulfill each tier. Maybe we would need a different solution for our smaller clients than what our larger clients were going to need. With this in mind, we wanted to take a good look at usability – especially for nontechnical users. As stated above, most of our clients aren't good HTML hackers
so we wanted to look at tools that would allow them to do editing on their own with a WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get). Price also was a major consideration. Our clients are not wealthy for-profit corporations, for whom price can be secondary. We serve the non-profit environmental movement and keeping operating costs at a minimum is vital. This constraint helped narrow the scope of this investigation away from expensive enterprise platforms.
Analysis
In this section, we will take you through each ESP that we evaluated and attempt to give a sense of the user experience. We will also provide pricing information for each provider. Be sure to look at the Comparison Matrix at the end of this document to see a side-by-side comparison of all the ESPs in this report.
Campaign Monitor – www.campaignmonitor.com
This is the only tool we looked at that didn't have a WYSIWYG editor. We decided to include it in the report anyway, because we felt it would be a good baseline for comparison with the other tools. It is inexpensive for groups who only do small sends and has some great features like segmentation, spam and design testing, and an open API. The tool assumes that you are competent enough in HTML to create your own newsletters and then upload them to Campaign Monitor for sending. It is free to demo and there are no monthly fees. Why we didn't adopt: No built-in editor and no way to store templates. Might be a good fit for: Groups who just want a tool they can get into very quickly and send existing HTML newsletters to a small subscriber base. Price: $5 plus 1 cent per email Examples: $10 for 500 emails $15 for 1,000 emails $55 for 5,000 emails
Constant Contact – www.constantcontact.com
The strength of Constant Contact is its library of pre-existing templates. The weakness – their editor won't work with your custom HTML template. While you can get pretty sophisticated with customizing the templates in their library (even lets you graphically edit the stylesheet) you don't have the same amount of control as if you just built the template yourself. Constant Contact will design a template just for you for $400 - $600 though. Another weakness is the lack of a segmentation feature. For a service that is pretty rich in other features, this seemed like a major omission. In addition, there have been reported deliverability problems with the service – probably due to spammers using the tool nefariously.
They've got a nice collection of tutorial videos and a robust survey creation feature. But, alas, no Salesforce integration and nothing about the service made it stand out from the others in any significant way. Demos are free for 60 days. Why we didn't adopt: The editor doesn't work with custom templates. No segmentation feature. Might be a good fit for: Groups who want a large library of templates to choose from. Inexpensive. Price: Monthly on a sliding scale. Discount available for non-profits who prepay for 12 months of service. Examples (assuming pre-pay option): Up to 500 emails per month - $11 Up to 2,500 emails per month - $21 Up to 5,000 emails per month - $35 Up to 10,000 emails per month - $53
Emma – www.myemma.com
Emma prides itself on customer service. They have live chat, email and phone support. The website is very clear about how to get started and all information is presented with some nice graphic design. The tone of Emma is very conversational and personal – a nice departure from buzzword-laden direct marketing speak present on most ESP websites. We liked a lot of what Emma had to offer. There's an open API, profile management, a large template library, and segmentation tools. They also offer Emma Agency for top down management of several sub-accounts ($1500 startup fee). This service is definitely in our list of favorites. That said, the interface is a little bit clunky. Many important tasks are inconspicuous links that take a little hunting to find – frustrating because the rest of their website is well designed. Emma is definitely geared toward the model of them designing a template for you ($250-$400) and then you just supply the content, which might be just what some groups want. Why we didn't adopt: Basically the only reason is that we liked Vertical Response better. Also, Emma's UI left something to be desired. Might be a good fit for: Groups who don't need Salesforce integration and who don't want to do their own template design. Price: 20% discount for non-profits with a one-year commitment. Sends are priced monthly on a sliding scale. Examples (with discount): Up to 1,000 emails per month - $24 Up to 5,000 emails per month - $56 Up to 25,000 emails per month - $168
Exact Target - http://email.exacttarget.com/ETWeb/default.aspx
Exact Target aims to be your total e-Marketing solution. The verbiage on their website is full of retailer speak and it is clear that their target audience is for-profit business. Unlike most other ESPs we evaluated, Exact Target doesn't advertise prices nor can you get a demo account to evaluate the service for yourself. You must request a demo and they will put a sales rep in touch with you and walk you through the features, but you can't play with it yourself unless you buy it. Still, they offer an impressive array of features that hit almost all the sweet spots for us. The segmentation tools are especially neat – robust workflows for deep engagement with your subscribers based on what they clicked on or other actions they might take. Exact Target comes ready for Salesforce integration. What was the deal breaker? Price. Even with non-profit discounts it's well outside of the price point of the competition. Why we didn't adopt: Price. Just too expensive for our clients. No ability to 'selfserve' as all accounts must be setup by their sales team. Might be a good fit for: Groups with a big budget who need lots of features, who have a large list (over 10,000) and want to do sophisticated, targeted mailings to segments of subscribers. Price: You must go through a demo with a sales rep to get price quotes. Part of the reason is that they have different levels of service and you can negotiate price by adding or removing certain features. Here's what we got, but keep in mind these figures are estimates only. Example: 5,000 sends per month is $80, plus $260 per year for Core Edition account One year total averaged per month ~ $102
Topica – www.topica.com
This site looks like it hasn't changed much since about 1997 and the UI suffers for it. Like pop-up windows, low-res graphics, and web design that features all the best of the 1990s? Topica is for you. There is a WYSIWYG editor, but there's a lot you can't do with it and what you can do with it, well, it's pop-up windows, etc. . . We've read some good reviews of Topica and certainly there are folks who are happy with it, but we suspect that's only because they haven't bothered to look elsewhere. Topica does do a few things right: segmentation tools are all there as is a profile management feature. They've been around for awhile and do have some institutional knowledge and downloadable resources. A site re-design could be in the future making these folks a lot more attractive so it's worth keeping an eye on this one. Demos are free, but you have to provide a credit card for a 14-day trial. Did I just say a free demo requires a credit card? Welcome to Topica.
Why we didn't adopt: Bad UI and all of the above. Might be a good fit for: People who haven't seen the Internet in several years. Price: 1 cent per subscriber record (minimum $50), billed monthly. Examples: $50 per month for up to 5,000 subscribers $250 per month up to 25,000 subscribers
Vertical Response – www.verticalresponse.com
There's an awful lot we liked about Vertical Response which is why we chose to adopt this service into our consultancy. Early on in the evaluation process it was clear that this was a very strong candidate. There's a library of templates to choose from AND an editor to work on your own custom templates. This is one of the only ESPs out there that offers both and does both well. All aspects of the user-interface were well liked by the evaluators: images are easy to upload and insert, and the workflow from campaign creation to send is very clear and helpful. Vertical Response can also send actual postcards via the US Postal Service to your subscription list (designed and paid for by you), which is a service not seen anywhere else, but probably a good fit for non-profits. Salesforce integration is there, as well as segmentation, profile management, and best of all no monthly fees. You simply buy blocks of email "credits" when you are ready to do a send. This makes budgeting easier, especially for groups who send only occasionally. Recently, Vertical Response got even better. They are now offering 10,000 free email sends per month to 501(c)3 organizations. This is a huge value, unmatched by any other provider we evaluated. Demos are free and provide access to the full suite of tools. Why we did adopt: Ease of use was a major factor. The Salesforce integration was huge as well, and turns out to be very tight. Might be a good fit for: Any groups with similar requirements as our own or our clients. Best for small to moderately sized lists, as it gets expensive to do large sends frequently. Price: No monthly cost. Email "credits" are purchased before sending. 501(c)3 non-profits are eligible for 10,000 free email sends per month! Examples: 500 emails costs $6 2,500 emails costs $22 5000 emails costs $51 10,000 emails costs $102 25,000 emails costs $255
What Counts – www.whatcounts.com
After seeing all the other options on the field, What Counts doesn't stand up very well to the competition. Some features common to all others are missing from What Counts: Automatic inclusion of an unsubscribe link being the most egregious omission. There also is no clearly directed path for sending emails: previewing and testing aren’t part of the send wizard. All that said, What Counts has one of the best segmentation features out there and robust reporting tools. The WYSIWYG editor is decent, but inserting images is something of an arcane art which has been a stumbling block for many of our clients. Unless you are a client of ONE/Northwest, be prepared for sticker shock – this puppy ain't cheap. Why we didn't adopt: Or rather, why we wouldn't re-adopt after our evaluation process. There are too many other services that do what WhatCounts does, only better. Support for Salesforce integration isn't their priority and it's been a struggle to do integration projects. Also, the WYSIWYG editor has been a source of pain for many of our clients Might be a good fit for: Groups who are comfortable with HTML editing. It really helps to have this skill to get your newsletters looking good. Groups who have large lists or send a lot every month would be a good fit too. Price: These monthly prices are for ONE/Northwest customers only – Up to 5,000 emails per month - $30 Up to 10,000 email per month - $60 Up to 15,000 emails per month - $90 Up to 20,000 email per month - $120
A note about price: None of the above price quotes include consulting or design costs – just the cost of sending email through each provider.
Comparison Matrix
About ONE/Northwest
ONE/Northwest is a not-for-profit consulting firm that helps environmental groups connect with people. We are a change agent dedicated to helping communities thrive in harmony with their natural surroundings. ONE/Northwest was established in 1995 to help environmental organizations use communications technologies as tools of social change. Our approach channels philanthropic support into technological and strategic innovations that we disseminate through consulting projects with hundreds of organizations and coalitions across Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Our programs help environmental organizations more effectively engage their constituents and improve their ability to collaborate with one another. Our constituent engagement work focuses on helping groups use websites, email newsletters, membership databases, and online civic engagement tools. Our collaboration work focuses on extranets and other communication tools aimed at coalitions and less formal collaborations between organizations as well as largescale services aimed at strengthening connections across our entire movement like email list-hosting service which currently connects some 170,000 people across a wide variety of organizations.