PW:Tell me more about yourself and your position in the company.
JM:I am VP of Marketing for Roving Software, the creators of Constant Contact. My team is responsible for all aspects of Constant Contact marketing, which includes channel marketing, our online presence, PR, customer programs and product features and pricing.
PW: Why do companies choose your marketing solutions? What are the main advantages of your services?
JM: Constant Contact is a permission-based Do-It-Yourself Email Marketing™ service designed and priced for small business. It is incredibly easy to use and allows small and mid-sized businesses to create and send eye-catching HTML newsletters, promotions and announcements in minutes.
One of the real advantages to our service is our wide variety of customizable templates. We have a selection of newsletters, promotions announcements and more. Our customers can add their logo and images, easily change each template's color scheme and type in their message, all with a simple, "fill in the box" letter editor.
Our affordable pricing starts at just $10 a month, and recognizing that our small business customers are often strapped for time (as well as money), we offer a 60 day free trial, so that our users have the time to truly evaluate Constant Contact before they buy.
PW: You have developed a very useful Guide to help your users become e-mail marketing services expert. How are your guides structured and what feedback have you received about it?
JM: Constant Contact is marketed primarily through channel partners focused on the needs of small and mid-sized businesses. One of our fastest growing channels is our Constant Contact Reseller Program. Web hosting companies, developers and agencies are the perfect resellers of Constant Contact as they have a strong one-to-one relationship with small businesses and are often responsible for their online marketing efforts.
Our Reseller's Guide to Getting Started with Email Marketing is idea for this audience. It outlines the many services that Web professionals can offer their clients when they add Constant Contact to their service offerings (for example, custom email designs, image hosting, writing and more). Our resellers have told us that they love the guide and are all adding new services to their offerings!
"Constant Contact allows us to offer leading email marketing technology while spending our time doing what we do best - helping our clients increase sales by providing email marketing strategy, concept development, custom design and content."
Michael Katz
Founder and Chief Penguin, Blue Penguin Development
PW: Tell me more about the Do-It-Yourself E-mail Marketing™ product.
JM: Constant Contact Do-It-Yourself Email Marketing™ is a web-based service that allows small businesses to build their email list and run professional email campaigns, all from their browser. Our customers need do is add their unique content to one of our professional templates, and Constant Contact does the rest.
Including:
• List hosting and management: Subscribe/unsubscribe, interest selections, bounce-backs and more.
• Campaign creation: Use one of the 50+ customizable templates or add custom creative.
• Delivery: Constant Contact automatically delivers HTML or text versions of emails
• Reporting: Constant Contact generates real-time reports including
how many emails were delivered, bounced, opened and who clicked through on each link in the email.
PW: What are the benefits of the email marketing?
JM: As a marketing executive, how did limited email marketing prior to joining Roving, I can't rave enough about email marketing's benefits! It is the single best method for customer development and retention. It is incredibly affordable (our solution starts at just $10 per month), immediate and effective. Plus, I can see my results immediately and make the necessary adjustments to my message, timing etc.
As a customer retention tool, email newsletters and promotions allow me to offer my customers special deals, keep them current on industry information, or let them know about new products and services - all in an incredibly affordable and effective fashion. My customers can choose when to read the email, and don't have to be disturbed by a phone call. I don't have to develop print materials, I can easily link them to new information on my site.
Email marketing is also great as a customer development tool. For years I have spent thousands of marketing dollars to get leads - from trade shows, direct mail inquiries, print advertising and more. These leads were directed to a sales team, who would follow up on each lead and then group them (cold, warm, hot) and plan
their sales efforts accordingly - which meant that cold and warm were usually abandoned and they spent their time on the "hot" leads. With email marketing, I can continue to develop a relationship with the leads - and keep my business on their minds - even if it takes weeks or months (even years) for them to buy.
PW: Where do you see the snare in the e-mail marketing industry?
JM: The biggest challenge for permission-based email marketing is SPAM. Because of the rise in unsolicited emails, ISPs are using filters, black-lists and any method possible to eliminate SPAM from their customers' email boxes.
PW: If you would describe marketing in 3 words what would they be?
JM:
Relevant
Customer
Communications
PW: How do you see marketing on the internet changing in the next 5 years? And, what role will Roving play in that?
JM:The marketing on the internet will only get better! The last five years have all been about making information available everywhere to everyone. It has had a major impact on all of us - and especially to marketers.The downside however has been that there is so much information available and that getting exactly what you want and need is difficult.
I believe that in the next five years, the internet will be all the more pervasive in all aspects of our lives (in our kitchens, our cars, on our phones and in every business application) - but our interaction with the internet will yield much higher results as we will be able to get what we want when we want it (and no less)!
PW:What is the most challenging thing Roving has accomplished with Constant Contact?
JM: When I look at what we've accomplished over the past 3+ years, I am amazed. We are the leading email marketing service for small business and have literally, tens of thousands of small business users. While Constant Contact's design and usability is a key factor in our success, I think that our greatest accomplishment is our channel.
Our partners and resellers are our gateway to the millions of small businesses and it is through them that we have been able to deliver Constant Contact and achieve our success.
PW:Can you explain how constant contact is being utilized by companies?
JM: Constant Contact is used by all types of companies. Our customers include consultants, retailers, associations, schools, entertainment companies, sports teams and many more. Every business has customers, suppliers or partners who should be communicated to. Whether the communication is in the form of a newsletter, announcement, invitation or promotion, email is the easiest and most affordable way to keep relationships strong and profitable.
PW: How can email marketing help companies bottom line? We can see that recently you have web hosting companies that are including your service in their product offerings?
JM:By collecting email addresses and permission to send to those addresses through your various lead generation sources you can improve the ROI of those lead generation efforts. Whether you gain leads from your web-site, trade-shows, in store mailing lists, or advertising, you can keep your business in front of your prospects and customers.
Because web hosting companies are often also web developers and web marketing consultants, adding email marketing is a logical and lucrative choice. Email marketing significantly enhances a company's online presence - and therefore web hosting companies can improve their customers' online performance and gain their loyalty.
Email marketing is also good for a hosting company's bottom line. Web professionals can wrap several services around Constant Contact, including email design services, web-site signup form customization (and integration with other business applications), image hosting and writing services.
Back to the Expert Interviews Main Page.