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This article looks at the possible cost savings
of around 90% by taking email marketing in-house, the implications
of doing so and whom it would suit.
Introduction
Until very recently marketers had little option of how they did
their email marketing. It was either to use an email service bureau
or a self-service ASP solution.
While
both of these options can offer great performance and results, for
email marketers who send high volumes of email or have very specific
data security needs these solutions are not ideal.
Removing
the ‘pay per email’ barrier
The cost of sending the emails while retaining features such as
personalisation and tracking for high volume campaigns of 50,000
or more can run into thousands of pounds every month.
A
typical company sending 250,000 emails
a month can pay between £50-60,000
a year on transmission of the emails.
An
internal solution such as Maxemail inHouse will
remove all of these costs, and give you better control, security,
tracking and reporting. All you would pay for is a software licence
and the minimal hardware costs.
No.
of emails sent per month |
Annual
cost with typical ASP* |
Estimated
Maxemail inHouse Licence cost** |
Potential
saving per annum |
%
Saving |
25,000 |
£3000 |
£2,200 |
£800 |
27% |
50,000 |
£6000 |
£2,900 |
£3,100 |
52% |
100,000 |
£12,000 |
£3,500 |
£8,500 |
71% |
250,000 |
£30,000 |
£6,500 |
£23,500 |
78% |
500,000 |
£60,000 |
£6,500 |
£53,500 |
89% |
1,000,000 |
£120,000 |
£8,500 |
£111,500 |
93% |
*
Based upon price of 1 pence per email
**Estimated costs. Call us to calculate your price. Excludes one off
setup and hardware costs and additional support costs
What are the implications of internal solutions?
Until
now the main constraint has been technology. In the UK compared
to the USA access speeds to the Internet are incredibly slow. Most
companies sending email campaigns would see their Internet and network
performance slow causing huge productivity issues. Additional connections
such as Leased lines offer great speed but they do come at a cost
of around £10,000 a year while ADSL offers affordability but
its performance at sending large quantities of email is poor.
However
the new SDSL technology allows the user equal upload and download
speeds. And at around £130 per month you can get a line that
would be more than powerful for email campaigns.
Managing
the technology can also be a problem. When sending and tracking
the campaigns a highly stable platform is required. Windows (PC)
based email marketing solutions do not offer the stability and reliability
required to manage multiple high volume email campaigns, usually
they are limited to running a single campaign only. Also, they tend
to require a high level of user management adding further operating
costs.
Maxemail
inHouse is one of the first solutions that removes all these issues.
It is a server-based solution that drops into your existing IT infrastructure.
It is easy to integrate with your existing network and Internet
connection. The software has an established pedigree and proven
track record, managing many leading UK and International companies
email marketing campaigns.
Additional
benefits of Internal solutions
Internal
solutions don’t just give you the benefit of cost savings.
Other benefits include:
Data
Security
Most service bureaus and ASP solutions have excellent security
but if you have specific needs then by bringing all the data in-house
you can implement whatever your legal or IT department specifies.
As
many emails as you want
An in-house solution provides you with the ultimate flexibility
in your campaigns. Rather than being constrained by budgets sending
emails really does become free! You can send as many emails as
desired in a campaign to follow up as many times as you wish.
(Remember however that you must still only send as many emails
as you stated when asking the recipient to opt-in)
How
do I choose between in-house and other solutions?
Choosing
is not just a case of looking at the costs necessarily. There are
a wide range of issues you need to take into account:
Do you have the right skills?
If you are not yet comfortable with designing emails, managing
and cleaning the data or collating the tracking results then a
managed services such as Emailcenter’s Maxemail Managed
is probably the solution for you.
Do
you see the volume of emails increasing or falling?
If you know that your email volumes are going to be stable, increase
or decrease it is relatively easy to work out the cost implications
for internal, ASP and outsourced solutions. We can provide you
advice and guidance to help you choose the best solution for your
needs. Click here for advice and a price comparison.
If
on the other hand you are not sure what will happen in the future
with email marketing then using a service bureau or ASP solution
will give you flexibility. You can of course always move over
to an internal solution when you are ready.
What
are your IT resources like?
With Internal solutions your IT department will almost certainly
like to get involved in the decision making process. If they would
like to discuss the various solutions we are always here to answer
their queries.
What
are your data security needs?
If you need to keep your data in-house for security or legal reasons
or just feel more comfortable in doing so then an in-house solution
will provide this.
Summary
There
are many different approaches to email marketing, in-house being
just one of them. At Emailcenter we recognise this and have tailored
four different products to meet your needs. These are Maxemail
inHouse, Maxemail
onDemand (our ASP solution), Maxemail
Agency (for marketing and advertising agencies) and Maxemail
Managed (a comprehensive range of services such as list
rental and building, campaign design and reporting.)
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