A conversation about problems without also discussing solutions isn’t at all productive. So, while I wrote a good amount of words about the dangers and risks of using the wrong email infrastructure partner, it’s only responsible of me to share ways the right email infrastructure solution can improve your own email sending business rather than just prevent disaster.
Outcomes of choosing the right email infrastructure partner
While we know an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, coupling prevention with proactive optimization can make a meaningful impact on your business and the success of your end customers. Yes, we’re biased in favor of our own solution, of course, but if you find a provider suited to your needs, it will make a huge difference.
#1: Streamlined customer onboarding
Though it might not feel like it with the wrong partner, onboarding and set-up doesn’t need to be a disaster. When you have a simple-to-use platform where your internal teams can quickly get up and running, onboarding new customers onto your platform can be just as easy. The less time your teams need to configure and provision accounts, the more time you have to welcome, engage, and impress new end users.
At SocketLabs, we’re built with an API-first mindset and once you’ve set up our platform, there is no coding necessary to optimize on the fly. Your customers can be up and sending in no time.
#2: Productive professional services conversations
Preparing for customer calls can be an ordeal for service teams. It can take hours of running reports, looking for anomalies, finding positive spins on data they only received days after email deployments. However, when you use a partner with near-real-time data delivery and a dashboard both highlighting issues across any subaccount AND drilling down into exactly what caused it, your teams can quickly solve issues and communicate to your senders.
Instead of vague suggestions for vague problems, your customers will get conversations about how to optimize their email from customer success teams who got precise details immediately after locating an issue. Fast data, faster service.
#3: Immediate, actionable data
Speaking of not spending hours looking at data…The right email infrastructure partner won’t have you waiting days for data. A lag in data injection can make a big difference in how quickly you can react. And frankly, it’s lunacy for huge providers like SendGrid to manually send their customers a performance report once per week. There are very few opportunities to automate anything when you’re stuck waiting for days.
It’s possible to get performance data fast, enabling you to make adjustments to protect reputations and improve delivery without delays.
When you have speedy data, you have speedy revelations!
With our platform, not only is the data provided in near-real-time, you get predictive Urgency Scores based on historical performance so you can either adjust decisions on the back end or proactively reach out to senders to coach them into avoiding what could be an urgent issue.
#4: Unparalleled email performance
Better email is out there. Well, it’s right here, actually. Not all ESPs are created equal, and most large email infrastructure providers are focused on other things. With an ESP partner that lives and breathes email, you can trust they make it their business to provide top-tier email performance.
The right partner will give you superior reliability to better ensure there are no outages or service disruptions. Your end customers will get the benefit of a well-managed IP environment with better chances of flawless delivery and lower chances of blocklistings due to reputation issues outside of their control. You can be the ESP of a sender’s wildest dreams.
#5: Strong competitive positioning
While large ESPs often focus on more than only email (SMS anyone?), there are plenty of mid-size or smaller ESPs still specializing in sending email, like us and probably you! When you want to find customers to send from your platform, you’ve got competition from all manner of sizes and shapes of ESPs. How do you differentiate?
With the right, email-focused infrastructure partner, you can pass the tools you enjoy on to your senders themselves, like intuitive reporting dashboards. Want to be known for excellent support with proactive communication? Or want to have a reputation built on reliable delivery and rapid data? The right partner can give you that and more rather than spending time on channels outside of email.
#6: Lower costs
It’s possible to lower not only your costs, but those of your customers as well. Our complex senders get expert support at every package level we offer and the price is the price. At SocketLabs, we don’t nickel and dime. We also have a lower CPM than typical of larger infrastructure providers. You can pass those savings along to your customers to reduce churn and attract more budget-conscious customers.
When you couple more affordable infrastructure solutions with the ability to free up your talent to focus on their jobs outside of email, like product, engineering, and support, you’re spending less money for more return.
#7: Accelerated product roadmap
Let’s go back to the point of the last sentence you read: freeing up your talent. This is huge. Traditionally, an infrastructure partner provides the pipes and you provide literally everything else. So, your IT folks are troubleshooting, your engineers are building fixes to get emails out the door, and your support staff are hands-tied in waiting for those teams to help them and their clients.
The right email infrastructure partner enables your email team (large or small) to handle email while the other teams handle the parts of the operation where they’re experts. Having engineers actually building new products on your roadmap without distraction makes it easier and faster to reach your goals. Your innovation can skyrocket. What does more innovation mean? More reasons for customers to choose your ESP.
#8: Optimized internal resources
The benefits of being able to allow experts to focus on their expertise aren’t limited to product roadmaps. Everything and everyone becomes more efficient. IT and product can focus on what’s jeopardizing larger parts of the business rather than small issues for one or two customers.
Customer-facing teams have the ability to own their domain without waiting for other people to assist in running reports or making manual fixes.
When you’re using the right infrastructure partner, you’re enabling every team to optimize how they run their portions of the business. Their time makes a bigger impact. They’re less likely to burn out because they focus on their tasks and their domain alone. The right partner isn’t just a companion to email…it’s a companion to everyone across the organization.
#9: Proactive customer communication
Customer success isn’t just solving problems when they happen. It’s not about waiting for disaster to strike. And it certainly isn’t about addressing customer concerns when the customers themselves have to bring the situations to light.
A great infrastructure partner puts the power of proactive customer communication into your hands. Avoid being blindsided by customer issues with rapid reporting and automated solutions that not only detect anomalies but help predict and prevent them.
What goes over better: A call where you mention a near-miss with no negative implications or a call to explain why there was a steep drop in performance that your team didn’t catch? If your email infrastructure provider can’t keep you ahead, they’re holding you back.
#10: Peace of mind
Finally, a benefit less recognized but no less meaningful than any other: peace of mind. Knowing you can trust your partner helps everyone sleep better at night. Reduce or eliminate the need for your response teams to be glued to their phones and on-call 24/7. Have more confidence your partner isn’t going to try to eliminate you as a middle-man and poach your customers for their own gain. Stress less about your position in the competitive landscape and be proud of your offerings and differentiators. Empower your talent, protect your reputation, and trust your customers are well taken care of by your business.
Take a load off. Your partner should have your back.
Finding the right email infrastructure partner
Well, the moment is here. This is where I tell you we’re the right partner for you. Sure, I’m biased but it’s not unearned. The tools we’ve created to support ESPs needing someone else’s sending infrastructure enable our customers to get all the benefits of a true partnership. We’re easy to use, easy to get along with, and easy to migrate to – yes, we’ve thought of that part, too!
Now that you know what risks and rewards are involved in this big decision, I encourage you to explore our codeless email management platform on your own. But, for now, I hope this was helpful in your quest to find the right partner. You and your customers deserve the best, right? It’s out there. I’m sure of it.
