Intro Slide – Who is 501 Commons, who am I, what are we talking about today We are not talking about office systems like exchange server / Outlook

Collage of Vendor Logos

Landscape of Providers in particular is challenging because there are so many that are very similar but usually have one or two differences that take time to uncover and sometimes can be a deal breaker for you. How are unsubscribes handled? Different in different systems How flexible is the visual editor? What is there for mobile support? Integration potential Automation potential Cost – lots of variability in how services are priced

Common Terminology Subscriber Lists and Segments Opt-In Unsubscribe Bounce Open Rate Click Through Blast, Send, Campaign, etc Drip Campaign Template Autoresponder Marketing Automation Dynamic Content A/B Testing

Permission Based Subscription and CAN-SPAM

Price Comparison Chart?

A template creation system, for creating layouts for your s. You usually get the option to create custom ones or choose from a library of pre-created ones A content editor, for editing the actual content of your List management, for uploading new subscribers, changing their attributes, unsubscribing them, and other tasks List signup forms, for placing on your website to allow people to join your mailing lists Reporting tools, for keeping track Essential Elements of an Service Provider

Dynamics of choice in technology slide?

Mobile Talk about the fact that you can have a base CSS template but there are several caveats: Usually you need to adjust the stylesheet to get more precise rendering Different of opinion on two columns versus one Some clients will just ignore your stylesheet anyway In general, web design is moving toward more simple layouts with less of a notion of “brand control” than ever before. You have three basic form factors to design for instead of just one a few years ago End users have more control than ever over your presentation. Things change every year with devices, operating systems, clients, etc. Many large-scale senders rely on very basic designs with a minimum of images. Barack Obama campaign raised historic amounts of money from individual contributions based on essentially text based campaigns. Bottom line, for the most part most providers are “mobile ready” but often you will need to make adjustments to the HTML/CSS for best results. A happy middle ground is just to go with a simple layout which looks good on any screen.

A Word About HTML I would strongly recommend that someone on your staff know basic to intermediate HTML editing. Almost all issues with formatting / layouts can be fixed through editing HTML and it’s very hard to get the same level of control using a visual editor. Some providers will give you a stripped down editor which lets you only affect certain components of your layout which does make it a little easier but you can still have formatting issues within a single edit block. And to get the most control over rendering you need to be able to change the fundamental layout and formatting configuration which is only available through direct HTML editing. Same goes for most CMS systems and their visual editors too.

Constant Contact Large client base Well advertised Well positioned for small businesses and non profits Not particularly developer friendly Edit abstracts certain aspects of working with HTML which can lead to frustration Fairly basic set of features Hard to justify adopting stacked up against the competition Poor integration with CRM

MailChimp Lots of great features Moderately good SF integration – look for the MC4SF on the Appexchange Handles differential list unsubscribes well No global unsubscribe! Strong candidate for many nonprofits Direct access to HTML or a simplified template library

Vertical Response Free for nonprofits! Can edit the HTML directly or use a template editor Sort of confusing split between “classic” and the “new” VerticalResponse – look out for that one Can send out postcard campaigns Moderately good integration with CRM

iContact Message Builder / Message Coder Not many features outside of the standard ones Good integration with CRM

Enterprise Providers ExactTarget Pardot Marketo Eloqua

Define Your Requirements One or Many Lists? Number of subscribers Frequency and size of sends Integration requirements Level of staff skill Automation Dynamic content Available budget

Tastes Vary! In working with nonprofits over the last 9 years, the subjective impression seems to matter the most. People will find a platform they just connect with and find intuitive. Best example is VR – some say they love it and others hate it and when pressed to explain why it’s clear that it’s just down to personal preference. In the following comparisons, keep that in mind and the best advice I can give you is to demo a tool before you full adopt it. Takes time but it’s worth it even if you only spend a couple of hours testing.