Looking for a bulk email service? Start here.

Looking for bulk email software

You’ve searched the internet, perused software directories and consulted with colleagues. You finally have a shortlist of software candidates you believe could meet your requirements. Now you need a vetting process. If this describes your situation then this article is for you.

The process outlined here is to help with getting started in your quest to find a long-term solution. It is based on many years of working with prospective customers through their selection process. We’ve distilled what we’ve learned to help you make the right decision and avoid the frustrations we’ve seen our prospects and customers experience.

The importance of a great fit

If there’s one thing we’ve learned it’s the importance of “fit”.

The objective is not to “buy” or “sell” software. The objective is for the buyer and seller to collaborate and learn from each other. Discovering a good fit or a bad fit are equally valuable outcomes for both parties.

Put another way, a software vendor must avoid banging a square peg into a round hole, just as you want to avoid being the metaphorical round hole receiving a square peg treatment.

Reading this guide means you’re aware of Envoke. We hope we’ve made your shortlist. We’d be delighted if you choose Envoke for your company or organization. But if not, we hope this guide helps you to find another solution that’s a good fit.

Involve decision makers early

For most organizations there is more than one stakeholder group involved in the decision-making process:

  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • Legal / compliance
  • Technical / IT
  • Finance / C-level

It’s important to establish who will be involved in the final decision. You want to avoid a situation where someone is left out of the process who believes they have a say. This can derail the process and force you to redo all or part of the research.

You should start the vetting process with compliance and IT. They need to be satisfied that the product will work for you. A discovery call or demo with one representative from each of the stakeholder groups is a good idea before going into details around other functionality.

Needs analysis

Start by creating an “in an ideal world” scenario and list all must-have requirements that you need from the software. 

What are you doing now that is time consuming and should be – at least partially – automated? What are the compliance requirements of your organization? 

What are your current workflows, the steps you take to get emails out the door. How do you want these to change? What are you not doing but would like to? What data are you missing to inform you with decision making?

Conclusion and next steps

Hopefully you now have a better handle on what kind of top level research you need to start with when you shop for a new email marketing platform or switch from another provider.

You’re off to a great start but there is more to do. A lot more. You can read about it in our comprehensive Buyer’s Guide for Canadian Email Marketing and Communications Software. Download the guide here. It includes best practices, tips and pointers as well as questions to ask for all aspects of the research and buying process.

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