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5 considerations when moving ESP

5 considerations when moving ESP

You may think that changing ESP is a challenging and even un-worthwhile prospect, but the consequences of improved deliverability, more accessible emails, better value and improved customer care are entirely worth it.

1.      Make your wish list

What is it that you are looking for from your ESP? How important is account management to you? Are you looking to embark on automation and need assistance? Or are you fully conversant with automation and want to add increased levels of personalisation and sophistication to your campaigns?

Sit down with your team and think not only about your immediate needs, but also your plans for the next 12-18 months and what additional functionality those plans might entail.

Other things to consider include:

·         What integrations do you need?

·         Do you want to start experimenting with advanced dynamic content?

·         Do you want to send emails based on website activity or behaviour?

When you have a definitive list, and a budget in mind exploration can begin. These detailed requirements will still be leading though. Before reaching out to any suppliers, get very specific on what you want to do and what the supplier will need to do.

2.      Put real use-cases on the agenda

Try to lay out a real campaign that demands a bit from the vendor technology, multi-step campaigns with triggers, automation, events and conversion tracking. Then go through with the vendor exactly how it will work. Not just whether it could work but exactly how it will work. If it’s really easy to do, the vendor should be able to show how. Draw your own conclusions if they can’t.

3.      Scope how easily you will be able to get started

When you see demos of the products be mindful of how easy it looks to use. Is it intuitive? Will it take a long time to get used to? Are the use cases that you proposed simple to implement? Is training offered? What are the levels of support available? Do you get a dedicated account manager? You need the minimal downtime and maximum efficiency getting back to business as usual.

4.      Managing the mechanics of transfer

Understanding how the process of transference will be handled is another important thing to understand before making the move to switch. Getting off on the right foot could be the difference between success and failure.

Ensure that you take your unsubscribed contacts and supress them in your new platform. Their support team should be able to easily talk you through the mechanics of this, or even do it for you as part of the account set up process.

All the key elements of your email ecosystem should also be set up as part of the transfer process; your sender alias, any branded templates, your preference centre, any integrations and your data-collection forms will also need to be updated as part of the transition.

Preparing your IP and sending domain to ensure that you have the best possible start in terms of deliverability should also not be underestimated.

5.      Getting started

Work with your new provider and ensure that you take advantage of all support that is on offer, whether it is training, set up packages or a full account managed process.  

Starting fresh with a new provider is an excellent opportunity to spring clean your data and ensure that all your data collection processes are robust and as effective as possible.

Don’t forget, even when you start broadcasting with the new provider the links in campaigns you sent with your old ESP still need to lead somewhere otherwise you will frustrate customers and potentially lose sales. You also have to ensure that your unsubscribe link continues to work for legal reasons.

 

At e-shot™ we keep things simple for you, as we are very familiar with the challenges of getting our clients up and running with minimal downtime and maximum efficiency. Our dedicated support team will be with you every step of the way to ensure that the transition is smooth and painless.

If you would like to see if e-shot™ can fulfil your email marketing requirements we would love to give you a personalised demo. 

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