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Select the Right Email Service Provider: Forrester Wave Overview

Learn about email service providers (ESP) to succeed in enterprise marketing. Get insights on market trends, top ESPs, and recommendations from Forrester analysts. Dive into the strengths and weaknesses of vendors in the email marketing space.

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Select the Right Email Service Provider: Forrester Wave Overview

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  1. WEBINARUse The Forrester Wave To Select The Right Email Service Provider Rebecca McAdams, Researcher Shar VanBoskirk, Vice President, Principal Analyst September 22, 2016. Call in at 10:55 a.m. Eastern time

  2. Agenda • Market trends and current state • Leading email service providers (ESP) that enable enterprise clients to succeed • Recommendations

  3. Agenda • Market trends and current state • Leading email service providers (ESP) that enable enterprise clients to succeed • Recommendations

  4. $6 $15

  5. Email budgets continues to grow 70% $ 8.3% Source: Forrester's Q2 2016 Global Email Marketing Services Forrester Wave™ Customer Reference Phone/Online Survey

  6. Spending focused on strategy

  7. Marketers rely on email to help them move faster

  8. Marketers have experience with advanced personalization

  9. Cross-channel coordination isn’t widely done

  10. And marketers still face challenges

  11. How well do email vendors meet marketers needs today?

  12. Marketers value ease of use

  13. Customer satisfaction plays an important role Epsilon Experian Oracle Yesmail -100 100 SmartFocus IBM Selligent Salesforce Acxiom Adobe

  14. The vendors we evaluated

  15. Agenda • Market trends and current state • Leading email service providers (ESP) that enable enterprise clients to succeed • Recommendations

  16. The wave methodology Selected vendors participated in a kickoff call to review the wave process. Forrester developed initial evaluation criteria and allowed vendor feedback. Vendors responded to evaluation criteria in the form of questionnaire about their current offering, strategy, and market presence. Forrester conducted 2.5-hour long, scenario-based in-person briefings with all vendors to demo their tools and process.

  17. The wave methodology (cont.) Forrester conducted 30-minute interviews with three-client references from each vendor. Forrester surveyed seven clients from each vendor about their overall satisfaction.

  18. This years criteria focused on Current offering: technology, services, globalization, and customer satisfaction Strategy: management team, corporate vision, and development road map Market presence: annual email marketing revenue, global footprint, employee management, and customer retention rate

  19. The score breakdown

  20. The final Forrester Wave graphic

  21. Epsilon Weaknesses: Has lower-end scalability Primarily enables integration for data transfer and not to extend its platform’s functionality Has a smaller account management function than other companies of its size in this study Suits demanding enterprise clients who want a flexible platform and excellent services Strengths: Capable as an agency and an ESP Its owned, third-party, and now behavioral data assets through its conversant network fuel agency work. One of the most flexible technology platforms in the study Dedicated to extending its strategic charter to include building brand strategy and digital experiences for clients

  22. Salesforce Weaknesses: Does not have heavy analytics or strategy consulting support compared to services-led firms Usability of platform While the management team is highly experienced and has a long tenure with the vendor, the vendor was more aggressive than past experiences. Technology company that is good for marketers of all shapes and sizes Strengths: Dynamic content, analytics and reporting, security, and support of distributed business models. Boast the most satisfied customers we surveyed Email leaders’ voices matter in the larger organization

  23. Oracle • Strengths: • Strong functionality, experienced leadership team, and a buttoned-up corporate vision just two years into its acquisition • Strong testing, integration, and creative services capabilities • Integration capabilities that extend the platform’s functionality Weaknesses: Sluggish account services Campaign operations support (e.g., campaign setup, deployment) is used by less than 35% of clients. Lagging in predictive analysis capabilities For marketers who want best and class and you can pay for it

  24. Acxiom • Strengths: • Investment in developing a new email platform paid off • Capable segmentation, dynamic content testing, security practices, and support for distributed business model • High-performing campaign operations and technical services Weaknesses: Don’t expect the bells and whistles of more pure-play tech firms Still a tech-plus-services approach Usability of platform lagging behind other vendor’s platforms Personalization stops at open-time or send-time frequency optimization. User interface available in a limited number of languages for international communications For experienced full service buyers who want best in class support and services and a capable platform

  25. Adobe Weaknesses: Usability and personalization capabilities fall short. Professional services offering needs work Customer satisfaction scores averaged between 3.5 to 3.99. Employee retention was lower than that of other firms in the study. Best for firms using Adobe Marketing Cloud and who don’t need consulting support Strengths: Retained more than 95% of its customers in 2015 Employee education Robust testing environment to test the execution of dynamic content rule

  26. Experian Marketing Services • Strengths: • Dynamic content testing, predictive analytics, campaign operation, and tech services • Retained more than 95% of its customers in 2015 Weaknesses: Platform is functional but not intuitive. Segmentation, personalization, strategic services, and integrations with third-party partners fall short compared with leader-level competitors. For multinational marketers who need help with day-to-day program operations

  27. Yes Lifecycle Marketing • Strengths: • Dedicated to employee retention with a hands-on approach to campaign operations • Expected to upgrade unexceptional functionality with new Yesmail360/360i product • Brought value to US-based challenger brand types Weaknesses: Unexceptional usability, personalization, dynamic content, and integration capabilities Customers did not rate the vendor highly for creative services, a surprise given their services-led approach. Not ideal for multinational clients For marketers who don’t know what their needs or wants are

  28. Selligent Weaknesses: In an in-between stage that doesn’t yet include the best features of its prior StrongView/Selligent technology platforms Usability, dynamic content testing, and integration capabilities, all scored below average. Offer only limited professional services Retained fewer than 80% of its employees Best fit for lower enterprise and midmarket clients Strengths: Best-in-class for global account support, and international communications Personalization capabilities which support predictive personalization Launching new technology Q1 2017

  29. IBM Weaknesses: Best suited for smaller-enterprise and self-service marketers Flexibility of its reports, campaign operations support, and creative services lag those of competitors. Doesn’t have a loud voice within the larger big blue ecosystem This firm does not articulate its vision clearly. Still best suited for smaller enterprise, self-service marketers Strengths: Has large scale due to acquisition by IBM This firm offers a predictive analytics environment accessible to non-data-scientists. Universal Behavior Exchange (UBX) enables self-service data integrations. Linchpin in IBM’s overall marketing suite strategy

  30. SmartFocus Weaknesses: Comparatively low customer reference scores Clunky strategic vision Client references lament this firm’s lack of understanding and hard-to-reach, low-value account reps. Employee retention below 84% in 2015 Customer retention for this firm was below 90% in 2015. European firm stumbling over what it wants to be Strengths: Self-service predictive analytics environment where marketers can build their own advanced analytics models Dynamic content capabilities More than 30% of its staff dedicated to international account support

  31. Agenda • Market trends and current state • Leading email service providers (ESP) that enable enterprise clients to succeed • Recommendations

  32. Leverage the Forrester Wave excel sheet

  33. A contextual understanding of consumers allows companies to deliver on the promise of customer centricity

  34. Find differentiation Vision Data management Experience

  35. Rebecca McAdams rmcadams@forrester.com Shar VanBoskirk +1 617-613-6662 svanboskirk@forrester.com

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