The Evolution of the Email Service Provider

Author:

Geoff Smith

Source:

When email emerged as a key marketing channel in the late 1990s, marketers’ needs were pretty basic: acquire email addresses and send out one message to everyone. “Batch and blast” wasn’t a bad term—it was the only term. Since then email marketing has matured to the point where companies need more-sophisticated solutions to meet their communication needs. As those needs increase and transcend offline and online channels, service providers, too, are evolving.
 
Is death inevitable for the traditional e-mail service provider (ESP)? You can almost hear the bagpipes playing in the distance. Perhaps that’s too strong, but the reality is that changes are occurring for ESPs, and change is good. ESPs are no longer confined to just email. Rather, they are morphing into multichannel camps to better serve marketers’ needs.
 
Let’s face it: There will always be a need for ESPs. But today, the way in which marketers are using them is expanding. As end users more frequently interact with brands in multiple channels, particularly in an increasingly connected world, marketers are challenged to deliver not only the right message at the right time, but also in the right channel. Today consumers demand more of brands, and in turn, marketers expect more of their solutions providers. As a result, this multichannel evolution reflects the growing need for ESPs to mature into more-complex solutions providers.
 
Consequently, I belief three “flavors” of solutions providers have emerged ...
 
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