Qnet Group Ltd

Sage E-Marketing

The closer a message can be matched to the preference of the target audience, in terms of its content and delivery mechanism, the higher the probability of its success. Sage E-Marketing does just that - assisting marketers to deliver of the right offer to the right people at the right time - very cost effectively and easily.

What can Sage E-Marketing do for you?

As a standalone marketing tool, Sage E-Marketing allows you to:

• Design and execute email campaigns.
• Analyse recipient behaviour.
• Measure the effectiveness of your campaign.

However, the real power of Sage E-Marketing comes when you link it to your CRM system, such as Sage CRM or Sage CRM SalesLogix - or with Sage 1000, which has full CRM functionality. Using email addresses harvested throughout your business you can create email campaigns based on the information you already hold about your customers and prospects. Furthermore you can supplement that information through recipients' answers to online surveys and their 'click-through' behaviour. That way, your campaigns can become even more targeted and relevant to the individual.

What does the software do?

Sage E-Marketing manages all elements of the campaign with a straightforward set of tools which enable you to:

• Create attractive, interactive emails and online 'Landing Zones' which recipients will click through to.
• Depending on criteria held in your CRM system, specify which emails and landing zones your contacts will see.
• Design and manage surveys with multiple branches depending on responses to particular questions.
• Copy and paste existing HTML code from elsewhere if required, or use the powerful but simple inbuilt HTML editor.
• View detailed information about which items your recipients have responded to, and which landing zones they have visited - and write this information back to your CRM system if you wish.
• Automatic duplicate checking when entering into groups or companies.
• View entire hierarchy of all groups and companies.
• Allow your email's recipients to update their own details online - and again, write this information back to your CRM system if you wish.

Sage E-Marketing Supports e-channel Technology

Sage E-Marketing allows you to create emails in HTML format. However, it is more likely that a series of templates would be used to allow email marketing campaign managers to execute campaigns using pre-designed and approved templates. These templates can be easily imported into Sage E-Marketing and re-used as and when needed. Many organisations block HTML emails, believing them to be spam. This can obviously be a significant set-back to a campaign and diminishes the target audience before the content and offer has even been delivered. To overcome this, Sage E-Marketing delivers all outbound communications as a two part 'mime' message. This means that both an HTML and Text format email are sent as part of a campaign. If the HTML is blocked, the Text format will be delivered in its place, thus maintaining the highest possible delivery rate. In addition, if an HTML email is blocked, it is reported back and stored against the target audiences' preferences, so that you know what percentage of your campaign audience will allow HTML through. In some campaigns it may be inappropriate to create HTML format, thus reducing time and costs.

The Bounce Back

When processing a campaign, Sage E-Marketing will auto-check the format of the selected email addresses against a predetermined list to carry out a base check and identify potential 'fakes' in the audience before the campaign is initiated. Once the campaign is initiated, 'throttle settings' control the speed of the outflow, in line with your communication infrastructure or resources, to cope with the call to action. Despite keeping your lists as up to date as possible, you will inevitably receive 'bounce backs' - for example 'out of office' - together with delivery failures. In unsophisticated outbound tools these elements alone can create a resource overhead, which outweighs the benefits of the tool. Sage E-Marketing traps the bounce-backs and places them in a defined area. It automatically produces an analysis of the types of bounceback received and, where appropriate, updates the CRM system.

Technology

As a 100% web based solution built in the Microsoft .Net framework, Sage E-Marketing utilises common standards including SOAP and XML to ensure minimal impact on your environment, yet maximum functionality in the product. With no client architecture to consider, the only requirements are a database and web server using IIS. By using SMTP as the mail backbone, all the leading mail platforms are supported as a delivery mechanism (Lotus Notes, Exchange, Groupwise). Sage E-Marketing integrates with the full range of Sage CRM software.

Key Benefits of Sage E-Marketing

• Automatically produces a list of email bounce backs, with reasons why they bounced.
• Continuously tests the domain validity of the email audience to ensure it is correct (this reduces the number of bounce backs).
• Automatically marks a record as: 'do not email' should the customer select unsubscribe.
• Provides easy access to campaign analysis.
• Makes email creation with PDF download function easy.
• Allows creation of predetermined campaigns collating an audience at a specified time or a triggered event (i.e. every Tuesday morning).
• Enables creation of both HTML and TXT email for greater delivery rate and reduced bounce backs.
• Provides SPAM check which allows the sender to assess the likelihood of emails being rejected, due to unsuitable choice of words and content.
• Provides ability to personalise the email, including the subject field, to increase open rates.

Sage E-Marketing integrates with the full range of Sage CRM Software. As a recognized Sage business partner and developer, Qnet can integrate Sage products into your existing systems or if your needs require we can develop a bespoke solution to maximise efficiency and effectiveness in day-to-day situations within an actual working environment.