Up-rooting all your data and campaigns and migrating to a new Email Service Provider (ESP) is doubtless a major project, but Stream:20’s Katie Gibson suggests that a bit of forward-planning goes a long way towards smoothing the big move.
First things first: if you need advice on choosing an ESP, visit the Stream:20 blog.
Once you’ve made the big decision, you need to get going on the practicalities.
1. Roles and Responsibilities
A good ESP will designate a project manager for the migration but it’s worth ensuring someone similar is available client side, especially at an enterprise level. Create a comprehensive project plan covering what work is needed from whom (ESP vs. internal) and make sure all stakeholders are involved in a working group. Regular updates are essential to keep things moving.
2. Data structure
Now’s the time to take a close look at your data. How is it structured and does this actually suit your needs – are any of your fields surplus to requirement, should you be gathering more?
Depending on how you plan to segment your data (within the ESP or before loading) you may have to alter the number/type of fields you have. Bear in mind that this may take a fair bit of time and resource in-house before you can get going on integration.
Your new technology will only be as powerful as the data you feed into it, so this is an absolutely vital stage that shouldn’t be rushed.
3. Historic behavioural data
If you already segment based on engagement (i.e. openers/clickers vs. non-openers/clickers) you’ll need to think about feeding in your last few months’ worth of behavioural data. If you’re not already segmenting this way, now might be a good time to start. Speak to your new and old ESPs about the best way of doing this and how you will be able to access the data when segmenting.
4. Automated and triggered campaigns
As well as all your standard data for newsletter and solus emails, don’t forget your automated and triggered campaigns. Speak to the new ESP about how this data will need to be loaded and come up with a plan early on for how you’ll go about migrating without missing a send. Unlike newsletters where you’ll have a few days’/weeks’ grace, you’ll need to be quick off the mark to get daily automated and triggered campaigns out of the new ESP once you switch off your old system.
5. APIs
Getting your data from your database into the ESP can be done in a number of ways, but the simplest is via an API. APIs essentially automate the entire process, and can be scheduled to provide a regular synch between your database and the ESP. New subscribers and updated details will feed from your database to the ESP, while unsubscribes will feed back in the opposite direction.
6. Authentication
Authentication is vital as email clients up the ante on blocking spam, so your new ESP should help you set up authentication for your new IP as part of the migration. You’ll need to inform ISPs of your IP/domain names – this should be fairly straightforward, just ask your new ESP.
Sender authentication services such as DKIM, domain keys, SenderID, and SPF confirm to ISPs that your IP and domain are genuine, protecting recipients from attempts by spammers to spoof your credentials.
• Domain Keys/Domain Keys Identified Mail – a digital DKIM ‘signature’ is inserted into your email sends to confirm that the content has been sent from the claimed sender domain
• Sender ID – the sender domain is cross-checked against servers the domain owner has authorised to send emai
• Sender Policy Framework – the sender addresses within a domain are checked against a list of computers authorised to send mail
7. Domain Name Service (DNS)
Your new ESP might ask you to point your sending domain/subdomain to their DNS. This allows the ESP to reflect your credentials when subjected to any spam checks. If you’re not too tech savvy, have your developers work with the ESP to work out the best option for you.
8. From names/(sub)domains/IP
Along with your IP, your (sub)domain and from name are your mailing identity so make sure you get these right. If your domain is www.yourdomain.com, you should create a suitable mailing subdomain, e.g. email.yourdomain.com – and from name, e.g. news@email.yourdomain.com. Make sure that both reflect the content you will be sending. For instance, don’t use ‘newsletter’ in your from name/subdomain if you won’t only be sending newsletters from that address.
9. Migrating creative templates
When you’re engrossed in getting the technical setup finished it’s easy to forget about the end goal. The last thing you want is delays with loading creative once all your data’s in place and raring to go. Ask the ESP for a look at the interface in advance so you can see how templates/HTML is loaded. That way you can ensure that your code is all ready to slot into the new system as soon as you get access.
10. Warming up your IP
Once your sending profile is setup, it’s tempting to just launch into a full-scale sending bonanza, but patience pays off. Since your IP is unknown to email clients, you’ll need to win them over with low volume sends before you crank up to full speed.
You’ll need to break your data into segments based on domain, then target the most engaged groups first. Think of it like a product launch – you’re bound to get a better response from keen fans of your brand than from those who’ve shown no interest for a while. And those early responses are what build your reputation.
Be aware that not all email clients have the same thresholds, so you’ll need to split each domain pot into different sized chunks. For instance, hotmail and yahoo will take longer to warm up than AOL as they need lower volumes in the warm-up phase. Your ESP will be able to advise on how best to do this.
Don’t forget, once warmed up you need to keep your sends on the go or your reputation will lapse and you’ll have to re-do all the hard work. This usually occurs after 30 days without a send so is unlikely to happen in reality.
By Katie Gibson
Stream:20
www.stream20.com
