JUPITERRESEARCH RELEASES ANNUAL EVALUATION OF E-MAIL MARKETING SERVICE PROVIDERS
(New York, NY - September 9, 2004) -- JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), today announced that its most comprehensive assessment of E-mail Service Providers (ESPs) to date is now available. The report "E-mail Marketing Buyers Guide" evaluates 28 ESPs, of which 17 are classified as full and collaborative service providers, and 11 as middle market providers. "While e-mail service providers' application features have not changed significantly over the last year, larger differences can be found among the providers' usability, breadth of services and metric clarity," said David Daniels, Research Director, JupiterResearch. In the full and collaborative service provider category the JupiterResearch Constellation recognizes the following seven vendors as market leaders: Bigfoot Interactive, Digital Impact, DoubleClick, E-Dialog, Exact Target, Silverpop and Yesmail. In the middle market category the JupiterResearch Constellation recognizes the following three vendors as market leaders: Blue Sky Factory, Lyris and Skylist.
Metric Manipulation Is Widespread and Undermines Comparative Benchmarks
Fully 61% of the ESPs evaluated remove hard bounces from their delivery rate calculation, thus lowering the gross denominator and inflating their published delivery rates. "Such a widespread practice makes it impossible to accurately compare ESPs on important metrics such as deliverability," stated Daniels. JupiterResearch advises that including all delivery failures in the calculation should be the preferred approach of all marketers and ESPs, because understanding the impact of hard bounces has implications on list hygiene, churn and ultimately the sender's reputation with ISPs.
Although Mission-Critical, Delivery and Federal Compliance Features Are Not Ubiquitous
Overall, approximately 25% of the vendors evaluated are not properly focused on essential delivery and federal compliance features. Moreover, JupiterResearch found that just half of the ESPs evaluated had the functionality necessary to comply with the CAN-SPAM regulations. "Marketers should be highly critical of the ESP's deliverability and CAN-SPAM functionality and services capability as these features are necessary in order for marketers to mitigate the risks of doing e-mail marketing in this tumultuous environment," said Daniels.
The complete findings of this report are immediately available to JupiterResearch clients online. For more information on the report or JupiterResearch's Marketing Operations research service please contact Kieran Kelly, Vice President of Global Sales and Client Service at 1-800-481-1212 or [email protected].
About Jupitermedia Corporation
Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq: JUPM), (www.jupitermedia.com)
headquartered in Darien, CT, is a leading global provider of original information, images, research and events for information technology, business and creative professionals. JupiterWeb, the online division of Jupitermedia, operates four distinct online networks: internet.com and EarthWeb.com for IT and business professionals; DevX.com for developers; and ClickZ.com for interactive marketers. JupiterWeb properties include more than 150 Web sites and over 150 e-mail newsletters that are viewed by approximately 20 million users and generate approximately 300 million page views monthly. Jupitermedia also includes: JupiterImages, one of the leading images companies in the world with over 3.5 million images online serving creative professionals with products like Comstock Images, Thinkstock Images, Photos.com and ClipArt.com; JupiterResearch, a leading international research advisory organization specializing in business and technology market research in 18 business areas and 14 vertical markets; and JupiterEvents, which produces offline conferences and trade shows focused on IT and business-specific topics, including Search Engine Strategies and Wi-Fi Planet.
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Contact:
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203-662-2870
[email protected]
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