A major frustration for marketers like me about eMail in nurture marketing, has been the use of a mass-email forwarding server, like the well known “Constant Contact” and a host of competitors to eliminate the inconsistency of sending exactly the same message using individual emails. It seemed at first to be another internet  dream come true.
Especially for newsletters, continuing events and eZines.

The trouble began when adroit marketers and sales reps alike quickly adopted the same approach to their external messaging as well. Quick, Easy, Cheap. What’s not to like about a system like that?

Well it turns out there are a lot of unexpected and disturbing drawbacks that must be considered. I will cover a few today and add others and your comments as they fit.

The Discovery of Weaving

#1. When using anyone else’s server to forward a message(s) to a third party, CAN-SPAM regulations require that both the forwarder as well as the original sender’s name be posted in the ‘From’ line of each email message sent, immediately identifying itself, front and center, as a MASS mailing. Never met a marketer yet that preferred this announcement but most gave in to expediency.

#2. What you thought to be a ‘FREE’ eMail forwarding service carried a, hardly subtle, perpetual ‘tax’ for the service by placing a gaudy, logo-emblazoned, advertisement soliciting new users from your email list? FREE? Hardly.

My old friend and business partner, Eric Rabinowitz, used it often but it irritated him every time he hit send.
He groused that there were people on his lists that warranted strictly personal emails from him and that just expanded the problem. Few people know that Eric, while renowned for the development of the Nurture Institute he had a long, successful career in diagnosing and curing very high technology. In his early career, he programmed computers for major financial institutions on Wall Street. When he shifted to entrepreneurial ventures, he discovered his knack for selling and for nurturing and never stopped exploring the software and technology that would drive this fascinating new dimension of ‘one to one’ communications.

You can imagine my delight to read the press release this morning, announcing a ‘cure for the common ‘bounced-eMail’.

cMail has finally reached a place that makes Eric happy, and I predict many, many more nurturers much happier when they next hit ‘Send”.

Good Nurturing

Jim

Agency Contact:

Mark Tordik

Springboard Public Relations

732-863-1900 x208

mark.tordik@springboardpr.com

For Immediate Release:

The Nurture Institute Launches “Hybrid” Email Marketing

Tool Designed to Streamline Campaign Management

e-Mail Assistant is First to Combine Server- and Client-Based Functionality to Centralize Email Marketing Campaigns, Improving Deliverability and Driving Results

Woodbridge, NJ (February 22, 2010) – The Nurture Institute today announced the launch and immediate availability of e-Mail Assistant, a new email marketing and campaign management tool. Aimed for targeted campaigns of 1,000 recipients or less, e-Mail Assistant leverages the Nurture Institute’s extensive expertise in implementing results-oriented nurture marketing programs. Offering a unique email marketing solution, e-Mail Assistant is designed to help organizations improve deliverability, personalization, tracking and most importantly, results.

Unlike other “spray and pray” email marketing solutions that use a fixed email address or alias to distribute campaigns, e-Mail Assistant provides a hybrid approach, combining a SaaS-based platform that integrates with Microsoft Outlook.  Each campaign is centrally managed via e-Mail Assistant, but the actual delivery utilizes individual sales personnel’s Outlook application to send outbound personalized email messages which are unobtrusive to the sender and fully transparent to the recipient.

“We started a campaign with e-Mail Assistant a few months ago, and already lined up seven meetings, including two huge leads,” said Kelly Bruesewitz, Marketing Vice-President at Nautilus Group, a service of New York Life Insurance Company.  “I really believe that sending personal email directly from Outlook makes a significant difference in deliverability.  I am most impressed with the e-Mail Assistant's lead scoring system that I use all the time to prioritize who to call and when."

e-Mail Assistant simplifies email marketing for organizations by hosting CAN-SPAM compliant campaign messages, templates and customer/prospect databases. It also manages opt-outs and provides a full array of tracking and analytics. The software is designed as a campaign tool that can support a series of email messages.  However, users have the flexibility to determine whether or not recipients get all or a specific subset of the messages within a campaign. The salesperson can edit the list and insert personalized greetings and text to customize each email message before it is sent.

Instant Notifications

When an email from e-Mail Assistant is opened by a recipient, the respective salesperson responsible for that customer or prospect is immediately notified with an “Activity Now” message by e-Mail Assistant. This feature allows sales personnel to focus their attention on the most promising leads and proactively respond. Additionally, as recipients open email campaigns, e-Mail Assistant tracks all activity such as opens, clicks and forwards.  These analytics are maintained by the e-Mail Assistant and made available to users via a secure Web portal.

Leverage Best Practices

As part of the set-up process, Nurture Institute can create customizable HTML template(s) for each campaign, leveraging nurture marketing techniques and industry best practices. This enables organizations to build campaigns that yield better results than other email marketing solutions. Alternatively, customers can author their own messages for e-Mail Assistant.

“We offer a ‘software plus services’ approach to creating targeted email marketing campaigns,” explained Eric Rabinowitz, president of The Nurture Institute. “With e-Mail Assistant, we not only provide you with a superb tool to implement email marketing campaigns, but ensure that you have the right messaging strategy and plan in place to achieve better results.  We like to think of it as the difference between merely joining a fitness center versus utilizing the expertise of a personal trainer. The latter delivers personal attention and tangible results faster.”

 

Pricing

Available today, the e-Mail Assistant is priced per campaign and can be utilized by an unlimited number of users. For campaigns up to 500 email recipients, the price is $195. Pricing for a campaign with 501 and 1000 email recipients is $250. For each campaign, there is an initial set-up cost to create the HTML template. Check out a demo of e-Mail Assistant.

 

About The Nurture Institute

Founded in 2004, The Nurture Institute is a full-service business-to-business consulting firm that offers a “software plus services” email marketing solution built around the company’s best practices and nurture marketing expertise. The company’s flagship offering, e-Mail Assistant, revolutionizes the process of managing email marketing campaigns. To learn more, visit www.eMailAssistant.com or call 888-948-1119.

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