Home Work before you take an email service provider

The questions the Marketing head or, the manager need to ask himself.


1. What does email marketing mean to your organisation?
2. What are you trying to achieve from your email marketing campaign (retention, loyalty, brand
awareness, new leads, sales etc)?
3. How will email marketing compliment your existing marketing strategy?
4. Do you currently communicate with your clients/customers on a regular basis and if so how?
5. How many emails will you be sending each year and how often?
6. Are you looking for different email designs for each send-out or one consistent template?
7. Who from your organisation needs to be involved in the decision-making process (IT, legal etc)
8. Who will be using the system within your organisation?
9. What budget do you have?
10. When are you hoping to launch the programme?
11. Where will you be getting the email addresses and permissions from, e.g. own customers, address
generation campaigns, website?

Opportunities for Email Marketing Business in India

Tremendous opportunity exists for a really focused and experienced email marketing solution and service provider in India to assist Indian Companies to utilize the high RoI channel as an effective marketing mix.

The opportunity for email marketing business in India is primarily because email still is the number one media that provide a higher return on marketing investment. Also because of the economic slowdown, a lot of companies have a constrained budget and are looking at optimally utilizing it for more direct, cost-effective and highly measurable email marketing option. Moreover growing usage and adoption of email by Indian internet users provides a compelling reason for companies to best use this channel as a must have and an effective marketing mix.

The volume of the emails sent by Indian companies is just 1 billion a month in contrast to 45 billion a month by US Marketers generating $1.6 billion business a year – shows how advanced markets are using the high RoI channel effectively. Despite the global economic slowdown, worldwide use of the internet continues to grow, and by 2013, there will be 2.2 billion internet users in the world.

With this large base of internet consumers, advertisers are realizing the power of drip marketing for their customers, prospects, and leads database. There is a range of mailing solutions from in-house, hosted bulk mailing solutions (provided by Indian Application Services Providers) to Global Email Marketing Service Providers.

Indian companies are still in need of a Email Marketing Service Provider, who can provide end to end solution from email blasting to delivery of email into inbox and feedback report on emails delivered to inbox, blockages by ISPs (Internet Service Providers synonymous with yahoo, gmail, rediff, aol, etc. who also provide email accounts), spam traps, spam complaints, reputation etc. Marketers also need a fully functional and all inclusive featured Email marketing solution that provides a high data security (ask for certifications), high performance email delivery throughput, more robust, high availability and rich reporting and a highly experienced support team.

Raising to the genuine needs of the Indian Companies and Marketers, few companies are beginning to emerge in the Indian scene, with local presence and strong email marketing domain and technology expertise.

This initially got published on Pluggd.in

A Look at Email Marketing Business in India [Opportunities]

Email Marketing is one of the most powerful and effective forms of marketing today. It has emerged as a cost-effective, efficient, real time marketing channel defiantly challenging the traditional methods of customer contact. No other medium – offline or online – provides marketers with such a direct, personal, interactive and measurable customer communication capability and marketersare increasingly demanding e-execution capability within their marketing toolkit. The Direct Marketing Association has consistently reported that email garners the highest ROI among all direct response methods.
A recent study shows email marketing’s average ROI to be $45.06 for every dollar spent, more than double internet marketing ROI of $19.94 for every dollar spent.

It is a tragedy that email marketing is not being recognized and is given its fair share of marketing budget by Indian Marketers. The online ad spends in India represent just 3% of total media spend compared to 8 to 20% in developed markets. It is ironical that most of the online ad spend by Indian Marketers is spent on Display/Banner Ads and Searches, when more than 50% of the Indian online population is spending time on email compared to 18% to 25% of the time they spend on searching for information.

The above chart is a very nice presentation of the online consumer behaviour in India.

One of the reasons why India has not been able to realise this simple fact, is because of its lack of marketing legacy. We are a country where people could wait for a Maruti car for 6 months to be delivered. And right now when there is suddenly so much of competition among brands the old marketer is not able to understand the how to go about things. Moreover companies sold brands to masses rather to individuals.

In the US where the market is matured they understand how important it is to be constantly in touch with their customers, address their individual needs and gain their loyalty.

Eg: Virgin Atlantic immediately gratifies the passenger with $10+ worth food coupons or vouchers for giving their email ids. The marketing manager of Virgin Atlantic understands that if he is able to get his customers email id, how valuable the acquisition is for the airlines.

The growing online population and the increasing demand from consumers for more personalized needs, requires marketers to address these requirements quickly. Mostly email ids in India remain constant for a really long while in comparison with mobile phone numbers. And it is the only channel where the advertiser can have the most personalised and complete communication with the consumer.

The technology solutions and best practices for email marketing are available today in India for Marketers to jump and realize its potential to the fullest extent. Well, one has to watch and see the action. India has always been able to pull its socks quickly when it comes to absorption of technology and best practices, when it can provide higher returns!

What’s your opinion?

Note: The post was originally put on Pluggd.in

What is better- spend less and send the email to junk or, a bit extra to land it in the Inbox?

People who have been following my Gtalk status message and Facebook are quite aware how Sprinklr is doing :).

We have signed up 20+ clients till now and the number is rising every week with 2 to 3 new clients.
However if I have to share my experience there are quite funny reactions from my prospects that I could mention.

Jacob : How many emails are you doing in a Month?
Client : I am doing 4 to 5 million emails :).
Jacob : Wow thats really nice. However I notice most of your emails going into spam and usually the email reaches my Junk Folder after the offer is over- basically late.

Client: Yeah I know that is the pain and my CEO is also concerned about it, as its affecting the business.

Jacob : I completely understand the pain. Well, to start with Sprinklr assures you a delivery of 95% of the emails into the Inbox and can send out emails at the rate of 4 millions/hr.

Client : OMG! really ?

Jacob : Yup (Smiling ).

Client : When can I see the Demo?

Jacob : How about tomorrow 2.30 PM ? Shall we do a "Gotomeeting" ?

Client : Yes, let me coordinate with my marketing guys and my tech team.

Jacob : Cool!

-------------------------------------The Next Day-------------------------------

The Client is very impressed with Demo and is already speaking very high about it.

Client : Wow the platform is fantastic and seriously I had no idea that so much goes in it.

Jacob: Which part of the demo did you like the most?

Client : I like the place where you showed me "How the ISPs (gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail etc)
react to my creatives".

Jacob : Yes it is very powerful.

Client : What is the cost ie; involved ?

Jacob : Let me put you through to Saurav he will be the right guy for it.

Client : Ok.

Saurav : Hi Mr. Client, how are you doing today?

Client : I am doing good Saurav, I wanted to take things forward and start off immediately.

Saurav: Sure, looking at your volumes. We will be able to give you at Rs. 0.0x/email.

Client : Wow did not see that coming. Hey Saurav You are expensive.

Saurav : Well Mr. Client, how much are you spending right now?

Client : I am spending Rs. 0.0y/email.

Saurav : Thats nice, but sir I am only dy more than what you are spending currently.

Client : No No Saurav I want it in Rs. 0.0y. See I am comparing Apples to Apples.

Saurav : Mr. Client How can you say that the comparison is between Apples to Apples.

You are sending emails to the Spam Folder with a Red color warning label which says that you are fake and the rrecipient should not open the email as it could contain a virus.

Client : Well you know Saurav that is the cost that I want to spend.

Saurav : No problem sir, then I would suggest you that you send lesser amount of emails, but at least make the exercise productive.

Client : No Saurav I cannot reduce it its very important for my business.

Saurav : Well sir I could go down a bit more but I will not be able to match your cost completely.

Client : Then I am sorry Saurav. I think I will stick to my system for sending out my emails.

The Client hangs up the call.
In the room - Me, Jacob and Manju get into a huge silence.............

I would really appreciate if anyone has any comments or, any suggestions on how to handle such clients.

Time to be a busines owner - Sprinklr takes birth

Hi Guys,

I know its been long that I have put some thing new on my blog. Well this time its big and its about me. I started of my own company and it will be called - Sprinklr.


I am making something that will be used by a person exactly like me or, some one more intelligent.
Sprinklr is a large marketing platform in the making and its first offering is the world class email marketing platform e-Messenger from eCircle. We are the exclusive partners of the platform in India and near by countries. It is the only platform which qualifies to be in the tier 1 category and assures you 100% data security, deliverability into the Inbox, transparency and super high end analytics which the Indian marketeer has not seen- Some have, but they have paid a lot for it :).

One of the best features of the platform is the visual reporting for the email campaigns, you will exactly be able to see where all the recipient has clicked on the email inside his Inbox- perfect for some one who has multiple offers like an e commerce player or a travel portal guy.
The second one is that it can throw 4 million emails in an hour, I will definitely be interested if any one else in the Indian market comes close to that.

Well to begin with I have already signed up i Mint for their regular email services and Indian express for their complete emailing needs :). This is a big step for my company and it idefinitely promises that there are interesting times to come for me and my team(My new family).

MyBand Nights - The Best Thing to Happen to Indian Music Bands

MyBand.co.in - India's largest portal for independent Music Bands have tied up with leading venues across the country to launch MyBand Nights to promote music bands. The first event kicks off at Rattle and Hum in Hyderabad where MyBand will present Cheese the Band from Calcutta for live Rock performance.
This is a kind of unique happening in India's music scene. Apart from being a portal with just a web presence, MyBand team has traveled across all the major cities to meet up with bands and artists to understand their needs and requirement. This is really an unique event as Bands are selected based on rating and ranking on a website for live ground performance.
Speaking on the occasion, Debashis Dey from MyBand said "we have interacted with over 200 bands from different parts of the country across different genres and have identified the true need of these bands- all they need is a proper platform and exposure to showcase their creative talents."
MyBand was launched only in Feb 2009 and in a short span of time has become the topmost destination for Indian Music Bands. The portal incorporates high-end intelligent technology which automatically converts uploaded songs into low bit-rate streams for easy listening by millions of fans and visitors. This helps a lot as most for the students and majority of the visitors access the internet from dial-up connections which never allow proper listening from a majority of music and media sites.
MyBand Nights will mostly happen on weekends at the most happening venues and youth hangouts. We are trying to select venues which are not too high end as they become unaffordable for the youth - our target audience. Bands are also selected from the rating process and charts on the website from a diverse genre like rock, metal, hip-hop, blues, fusion, jazz etc.
MyBand also has a Facebook MyBand Fanpage with over 17000 active members with constant interaction. "Our motto is to help artists in any way possible - be it connecting a vocalist, a guitarist a drummer with a group or be it a copyright issue or presentation to a label. A dedicated team is always at work on the fanpage to address questions" Debashis said.
Cheese the Band will will be doing the opening act for MyBand Nights at Rattle and Hum which opened recently on Februray 2009 at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad. Aditya is the lead vocalist while Arjun (Jojo) plays the guitar, Jonathon (Jon) on keyboards and Samrat on drums. The Band was formed in 1997 at Kolkata by Arjun and Samrat and have a release to their credit -the album Josh.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) ;)

Go shopping with friends, even on the Intenet- Shopcon.in

Well this the face for the new shopping web site shopcorn.in. Its quite interesting to see how a shopping website is trying to relate itself with an a brand ambassador which is a good looking young lady. This reminds me of the character from Ask.com. This kind a strategy has worked for a lot of businesses and has helped them to connect with people in an efficient manner. The best thing is that you are not dependent on someone like a celebrity or, some1 in real. Its a character which is immortal and thats what it does to the brand as well.

But, once you have established the reach of the character it becomes really important that you keep people's interest in the character. One needs to constantly evolve and need to bring changes around the character.
Ideally for this kind of a scenario the shopping website should have new images every week which makes the visitor absorbed by the character.

If I were the site owner, I would introduce another thing- Sophie's Mood.
As the character is young and interesting, she should be doing stuff. She could promote things with her mood swings. Some thing like "Today Sophie is in a mood to dance", so the character is shown in a fantastic mood and she is all pepped up to hit the party. She will be endorsing party gears like shoes,cloths, make-up etc.
This will create a good amount of curiosity in the visitor to check back what Sophie's mood today and will also get him aware of the product line gradually. This will basically encourage revisits to the website and will help in getting more popularity. Basically making shopping on shopcorn an experience.

Any which way I like the whole concept of Social Shopping Community being introduced . I wish all the best to the people promoting it. I hope that they remain Peppy just like their character "Sophie" and hope to see Sirindia as the next merchant on board too :).

P.S. I also got introduced to the Photon and seriously 3.1 Mbs on your data card. Phew!

New look for Rediff

Just happen to come across the new international Rediff. I must that i really like the way they have shown the transformation and also liked the music- its pretty subtle and it becomes very relaxing watching the whole thing take shape.



I hope you enjoy it too.

I need a Channel Sales Account Manager for Tell-a-Friend

The Channel Sales Account manager will be responsible for building and growing all aspects of channel relationships related to the Tell-a-Friend, including selection and recruitment of channel partners, training and enablement, account planning, day to day management, revenue and product forecasting, and related responsibilities. This position has direct revenue responsibility and the qualified candidate must possess a track record. The overarching goal is to expand and extend our organization’s channel to deliver world-class solutions to our mutual clients. The selected candidate will need to proactively work with partners to create a leadership position for our company as the biggest Word Of Mouth Marketing enabler. This is a visible and key position who needs to contribute tactically and strategically.
Key Responsibilities:-
• Identify and close key channel partners (interactive agencies, media houses, designing firms) in target markets.
• Develop winning strategies with each partner that results in new opportunities, sales execution, and incremental revenue.
• Collaborate internally with marketing, business development, product management and other organizations to ensure success with partners in the field.
• Bring Consultative approach to uncovering and expanding partner and customer business issues.
• Execute and support the company go-to-market strategy.
• Ability to comprehend Tell-a-Friend’s product line and associate each product line with the appropriate channel partner(s).
• Domain expertise in the digital agency interaction.
• Hands-on approach to building a business around commercial channel partners.
Qualifications:
• Bachelors of Arts / Bachelors of Science (or equivalent)
• MBA would be an advantage.
• Positive attitude, self managed, decisive, and accountable.
• 2 - 3+ years experience building profitable partner networks
• Proven track record of over achieving product revenue quota.

Interested candidates can bug my HR Manager at Sriidhar@Pramati.com

Sanjay(s) makes everyones jaw drop!

Continuation to my last post...

As the title suggests, I am sure you can anticipate what coming in the next few lines :). Sanjay finally makes up his mind and takes up Microsoft Corporation, where he would be heading the portal MSN and would be reporting to Microsoft MD Hemant Sachdev(via e4m).

There have been a lot of other movements as well in this week. An other important movement- Sanjay Modi appointed as managing director Monster for India, Middle East and South-East Asia. Prior to this assignment, Modi was head of sales at Monster India.

So all in all both the Sanjays get the greener pasture :)

I wish all the best to both the top guns in their fields to excel in their new positions.