Sarah Ellis

Searching for an Email Service Provider? Try an Authorized Reseller

Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Email Marketing | No Comments

The hunt for an email service provider (ESP) to fulfill my company’s ripe email initiatives began at the dawn of the New Year. I, along with two other vibrant members of our marketing team, set out to find an ESP that aligned with our business objectives and provided scalability options for future growth.

But where do we start? With hundreds if not thousands of ESPs in the market, the search was like taking a block of cedar and whittling it down into a small figurine. We looked at the ESPs geared toward smaller organizations such as iContact and Constant Contact, but quickly nixed them from the pool as they don’t have the level of service, scalability features, storage options, measurement tools and segmentation capabilities as enterprise-geared ESPs. We then turned our attention toward larger ESPs that are known in the market to service large, multi-divisional, business-to-business companies. That is when we landed on the likes of ExactTarget, Silverpop and Lyris.

These companies met our ESP criteria and allowed us to take our search to the next level, cross examining pricing, support, etc. But our search for an ESP took a turn when we learned about the many different authorized resellers that are aligned with enterprise-level ESPs.

One of the strongest reseller programs can be found with ExactTarget. ExactTarget Reseller Partners-typically interactive, PR and ad agencies as well as web development firms-have to go through mandatory training to certify themselves to properly sell, service, and provide level-one support for the ExactTarget solution. ExactTarget doesn’t give them the keys to the software without putting them through driving school.

On ExactTarget’s website, ESP seekers can search for resellers by region, business focus, etc. We discovered an ExactTarget reseller in the area and investigated their location, pricing strategy and support levels.

As it turns out, the reseller was located down the street and their pricing was significantly lower than going directly through ExactTarget. Other factors made this reseller a win-win for our company, but it important to note there are both pros and cons of partnering with an ESP reseller.

Pros:

• Premier Software. By going through an ESP reseller, you can utilize the industry-leading, multi-featured software of an enterprise-level provider. It’s the same software, but run under a different brand.
• Lower Pricing. Due to the “volume-purchase discount” a reseller receives when signing on to an ESP, there will generally be a better cost per message rate. The license fee will also be significantly lower than that of the ESP.
• Access to Local Rep. Most ESPs say they have a “local rep” in your area, but that could mean they are located in Northern California when you are headquartered in Southern California. If you can find an ESP in your area, you will have hands-on access to their service and support as well as the ability to do live, in-person training.
• One-Stop Shop for Additional Services. If you sign on with a reseller that also sells ancillary services like SEO, web design, etc., you will have instant contact to other services you may need. You may even try to negotiate a free one-time-only service like an SEO audit of your website, an analysis of your e-commerce site, etc.

Cons:

• The middleman. If you are dealing with complicated API calls, you will have to go through the reseller to access ExactTarget engineers. This type of middleman block can be annoying.
• The jump-ship scenario. The reseller could decide to “jump ship” one day from their ESP partner and go with another ESP, leaving you high, dry and lost in ESP land.
• One-Stop Shop for Additional Services. This is both a pro and a con. If you don’t want to take advantage of additional services, and the reseller keeps pestering you, the relationship could turn sour.
• Less PR power. The ESP usually has more PR power than the reseller and can help generate awareness about your email marketing program once it is up and running. For example, the ESP could sponsor an industry conference and have you speak at it.

As you can see, there are pros and cons of partnering with a reseller. It is important to note that all ESP reseller programs are not created equal! Do your research. In addition to calling up the ESP and getting the lowdown on their reseller program, get a third-party opinion by attending email marketing conferences, or try hitting up email marketing experts on Twitter. The more research you do, the better. Happy ESP hunting!

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