Guest comment: The Evolution of the Email Service Provider

A number of email service providers are widening their offerings to include a wider scope of digital marketing. Jon Maddison at Epsilon International outlines how Email Service Providers (ESPs) are evolving.


Email emerged as a key marketing channel in the late 1990’s when marketers’ needs were pretty basic. The aim was simple: acquire a list of email addresses then send one message to everyone. This ‘batch and blast’ approach wasn’t frowned upon as it is now because it was the only viable method of reaching multiple recipients. However, over the past decade email marketing has matured, meaning Email Service Providers (ESPs) have had to become more sophisticated.
While advances in technology are partly responsible, the fact that many ESPs can see the potential in broadening their core offerings also reflects changes in consumer behaviour. As end users continue to interact with brands across numerous channels, marketers are challenged to deliver the right message at the right time, and in the right format. Today, consumers demand more of brands, and in turn marketers expect more of their solutions providers.
As a result, three distinctive categories of ESP appear to have emerged:
The first is the ‘traditional’ ESP. Providers in this group cater mainly for smaller businesses that have less complex needs. They offer a range of basic email services such as ready-to-use creative templates, handle bounce backs, and are typically self-service. However, they are starting to show signs of progression with some starting to offer basic facilities to post to social media and other related functionality.
Some ESPs are positioning themselves as online solution providers and no longer focus on simply sending emails. These businesses are creating new ways to engage customers by personalising content and integrating campaigns across a range of online channels. These solutions providers give marketers the tools to use online channels, including e-mail, mobile, and social networks. This group focuses more on emerging online disciplines rather than on integration with traditional offline programmes.
The third group are the multichannel solutions providers. These have broadened their portfolio to offer solutions that transcend almost every marketing channel – both on and offline. These organisations encompass expertise in email, social, web, mobile and direct mail and, by virtue of their larger size, these providers often have teams that can provide ancillary services, such as creative development.
However, what makes them stand out from other ESPs are their data capabilities. These providers can help marketers to develop a single customer view by consolidating the data that brands generate across all of their marketing channels into a single repository. Once all of your customer data is being used to segment, these ESPs can help you achieve greater relevance and a higher ROI, as your marketing channels will no longer be competing for your customers’ attention and you can begin to use your marketing messages in a more complementary way. And, as these suppliers often also have strategy and analytics groups, they can help you to understand patterns in your data, re-engaging customers where necessary; effectively acquiring you new customers from your existing data.
Regardless of what each provider brings to the table, it can’t be denied that email marketing remains an important customer engagement tool at the core of an ESP’s service proposition. This is unlikely to change, simply because email remains one of the most cost effective and reliable ways of reaching consumers. In fact, one could argue that it’s even more important than it was ten years ago, as so many more people are using email than ever before.
When evaluating ESPs, marketers should consider which services will be most beneficial to them in both the short and long term. As the need for integrated databases, robust reporting, analytical insight and cross channel development and execution capabilities increases, it’s clear that those taking a one-size-fits-all approach are limiting their potential. While each category of ESP has different functions, it’s those providers that understand how to develop integrated campaigns that employ data from all of your interactions with your customers that will provide the best value.
By Jon Maddison
UK Country Director
Epsilon International
www.epsilon.com/international/
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