Acxiom Digital's VP & GM outlines four mistakes marketers make when selecting a vendor and offers tips for doing it right.

I've devoted a lot of space in previous columns to how email marketers can increase the relevance and importance of their email marketing programs within the context of their companies' overall digital marketing efforts. However, one of the most effective ways to do this involves getting started on the right foot, beginning with the selection process you follow when choosing an email marketing partner.

As a frequent participant on the receiving end of email agency searches, I've seen many approaches, some that worked well for client and agency and others that most emphatically did not. So today, I'll focus on how you can improve this process by highlighting four mistakes you should avoid if possible:

1. The standard RFP approach
On the surface, RFPs probably seem like less work than doing a more hands-on due diligence with appropriate partners because the company can write a single set of requirements and be done with it. But this is often not the case.

RFPs can mask the real business issues they are attempting to address (assuming it's more complex than "send emails to customers"). The underlying business requirements for most companies' email programs are far too complex to understand without discussion with potential partners. Yet companies often use the standard RFP process to avoid one-to-one discussions with potential partners, instead conducting group Q&As. But RFPs typically do a poor job of explaining a company's "true" business requirements, and these group discussions won't reveal business requirements the company did not think of when drafting the RFP.

In summary, a standard RFP process will result in a standard email marketing solution. Is that really what you are looking for?

2. The procurement gatekeepers
I love procurement people. Really! But when they are running your selection process, that tells me two things right away about your company. First, no one in marketing thinks email is important enough to get deeply involved. And second, the decision will come down to who is the lowest cost provider.

I'm not naïve enough to think that cost isn't always part of the decision, but procurement people like easy comparisons, and the easiest one to make with email is cost per thousand emails delivered. The more strategy and services you want, the higher that CPM is likely to be, but without a solid business case as to why you need that, procurement will gravitate towards the low-cost provider; which means you might only discover your REAL costs later on when you are hit with additional fees around things that were not fully clarified in the selection process.

3. The email test
We're happy to do a test email for prospects. I just don't know what that proves, other than we can send emails (something our current clients would be glad to tell you).

The problem with any test program is that it doesn't reflect the "real world," when a client calls and needs a last-minute campaign to go out in under 24 hours (even if the client has a standard SLA of three days). Oh, and can we re-design the header too? That's client service, and a test campaign won't give you any indication of how your partner will respond when you really need it.

Getting to know the people who might be managing your account, and understanding how many other accounts they currently handle, will give you a much better idea of what to expect than a couple of test campaigns.

4. "The Bundle"
"The Bundle" assumes that your company can save money and get the same level of service and support by combining your email marketing with your ecommerce provider/ advertising agency/ CRM partner/ dry cleaner. Most of the time "The Bundle" only shifts your email costs to another part of your budget with that partner.

Nothing is free; you just don't see the costs as clearly. To make matters even more complicated, when you bundle you place an additional layer between you and the real email marketing experts, so you're not going to hear directly from the horse's mouth what you should be doing.

This reminds me of a story from when I worked at an independent interactive shop. After we were bought by a big advertising agency, do you really think I was allowed to tell their clients when I thought they might be spending too much on TV advertising and not enough on digital? (I did anyway, and got in a lot of trouble!).

Each of the above mistakes stems in one way or another from the false assumption that email service providers (ESPs) are a commodity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Different platforms offer different advantages, depending upon your business requirements. There is a good reason some are more expensive than others. 

Ideally, then, the things you should do when selecting an ESP include:

• Meet the team who will work on your account as early in the process as possible. Every ESP (or even interactive agency) can trot out a few experts; make sure you understand (and respect) exactly which people you will get.

• Ask for a detailed example of how they solved a specific problem: what steps they took, what they learned along the way and how that experience will help your business.

• Ask them to critique your current email. It's worth noting that this may be hard for you to do, given the care put into creating an email program. But if the people at your prospective ESP can calmly and dispassionately identify what's wrong with it, they're keepers.

• Lastly, use your procurement people to help you negotiate your best possible deal after you've selected a finalist(s). The email marketing team should do the initial cut-down based on capabilities and fit with your organization.

You need to take the time to determine which ESP offers your company the optimum mix of services, functionality, pricing and support. It's a people decision as much as it is a platform decision; maybe even more so. At the end of the day, how you treat the selection of your email partner tells everyone else in your company the value you place on your email marketing program. Make sure you're sending them the right signals!

Chris Marriott is vice president and GM, Eastern Region, Acxiom Digital. Read full bio.