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Factoid:
Both Jupiter Research and G2 Research agree that outsourcing reduces the production cycle by 33%.
Let’s face it edirect marketing takes a heck of a lot of tender loving care. Time, money, resources;
not to mention plain old good management. New mail clients, new spam filters, cluttered inboxes, last-minute changes and advanced techniques all take their toll on your in-house production staff and, consequently, the quality and response rate of your campaigns. You may be stepping on your own toes when it comes to how truly effective your email campaigns can really be.
Over and over again, research has proven that outsourced email marketing programs deliver stronger and more consistent results over the long term than those managed entirely in-house. The reasons are simple ones.
Shorter Production Cycle
Developing expertise takes time and your in-house team will be dealing with competing priorities from other areas of your business. It’s easy for your email campaigns to be delayed in response to internal pressures and politics.
Factoid:
The cost of erroneously blocked permission emails is expected to exceed $400 million by 2008.
Working with a vendor that specializes in email marketing delivers a team that is on top of their game and deploying new campaigns daily.
Established systems and methodologies mean a shorter production cycle for each campaign, with more thorough testing and fewer errors.You reap the benefit of that experience and focus at a fraction of the cost of bringing an equivalent team in-house.
Improved Deliverability
Outsourced vendors who focus on eDirect have strong, positive relationships with ISPs and adhere to current industry best practices. As well, outsourced solutions tend to provide more accurate delivery statistics than those managed by in-house teams. Add robust spam-testing and tier one solutions that eliminate system-based flags such as no text in message or falsified outlook headers, and the risk of your messages not reaching you customers is significantly reduced.
Continued evolution of e-mail filtering technology, changing ISP requirements, and the associated risk of blocked permission-based e-mail requires a level of expertise not often found in-house.
Factoid:
Marketers that outsource email marketing campaigns achieve 400% higher purchase rates than those that keep email operations in-house.
Forrester Research
Higher Response Rates
New conversion metrics such as click-to-action and click-to-purchase have surpassed open rates as the primary indicator of an email marketing program’s success. To successfully motivate your readers to click-through on your offer and take positive action requires a carefully crafted, expertly written campaign.
Inadequate copywriting or simple design errors can significantly diminish response rates to your offers.
Advanced Strategies and Tactics
Advanced tactics drive higher response rates. Yet, in-house teams rarely have the time, experience or expertise required to successfully implement advanced email marketing techniques such as personalization, event-triggered campaigns, rich media campaigns, dynamic content insertion or adaptive message sequences – all of which significantly increase the success of your campaigns.
Greater Depth of Experience and Specialization
The best teacher is experience. Your outsourced vendor has successfully deployed multiple campaigns for a variety of clients and industries. A good vendor brings knowledge of successful (and not-so-successful) techniques employed in other campaigns to help refine and target your initiatives. You will have access to a deeper knowledge-base to grow your permission-based mailing list, avoid the latest spam filters, integrate new eDirect channels such as SMS and blogging, and optimize html message design.
It’s worth noting that email campaign design is a highly specialized form of web design – many of the techniques and technologies commonly used by web site designers will quickly break your email campaign!
Manage Hidden Costs
For most companies, the total cost of ownership for a successful in-house program is actually higher than a outsourcing solution. For anything but the most basic, uninspired email marketing programs, your eDirect team must possess copywriting, strategic marketing, project management, database management and web development skills. It’s rare to find all of those talents in a single employee – and if you do, be prepared to pay a premium. Make sure to assess these hidden costs when making the in-house / outsource decision.
And don’t forget to estimate the opportunity cost of reduced response rates and slower production cycles. You may be spending more to get less! With all the different “niche” areas of marketing, it makes sense to rely on specialists to help you grow your lists and get your conversion rates up.
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