ESP Request for Proposal (version 1)

Part of The Email Marketing Kit (2006)

Written by Jeanne S. Jennings
Published by SitePoint Pty. Ltd.
Note: The Following Spreadsheets were created to evaluate proposals received as a result of this
RFP:
ESP Cost and Product Comparisons.xls
ESP Assumptions and Cost Analysis.xls

Request for Proposal

E-mail Service Provider for

<Company Name Here>

Instructions
Review this RFP and provide a point-by-point response, in the same order the specifications are
presented. Replies that do not follow this format will not be considered. State for each
specification whether your system:
currently meets the spec
will meet the spec with some development (provide timeframe, cost)
does not meet the spec
Provide complete costs associated with each area. Please include all development fees, setup fees, ongoing fees and any other fees associated with starting new e-letters, maintaining
multiple from addresses and multiple registration pages. All fees to provide the service outlined
in this RFP must be included in your response; We reserve the right to disqualify any organization
that attempts to add additional fees for items covered in this RFP after the business has been
awarded and before the contract is signed.

Timeframe
RFPs distributed to potential vendors
Contact (below) available to take questions
Deadline to submit proposals
Award Business
All e-letters migrated to new platform

Friday, March 9th

Through Wednesday, March 21st
Friday, March 23rd
Friday, March 30th
No later than April 30th

Key Contact Information

<Insert Key Contacts Name and Contact Information>

Background
Our company publishes business-to-business print magazines for professionals in industries as
diverse as entertainment, electronics, manufacturing and retail. As part of our overall Internet
initiative, we currently publish 100 e-mail newsletter (e-letter) titles with over 6.5 million messages
sent a month. By the end of 2007, we plan to be publishing over 200 e-letters and sending over
13 million messages a month.
Our e-letters feature editorial content along with paid advertisements; direct sales and/or lead
generation via e-mail is not a primary focus at this time (but could become a factor in the future).
Through this RFP process, We are looking to identify an organization to provide a complete email service solution, including registration page development/hosting and database management
of e-mail addresses and demographic and behavioral information.

Item
Unique e-mail addresses
Unique e-letters
Messages per month
Sends per month
Registration Pages

Current
900,000
100
6.5 million
220
75

End of 2007
1.7 million
200
13 million
600
150

Specifications
A. E-letter Features
1. Format
a. Support HTML, Text and Multi-part MIME formats
b. Ability to identify users who can receive HTML via auto-sensing
c. Ability to deliver rich media messages, including flash and streaming media

2. Personalization
a. Ability to personalize the e-mail with information gathered on the registration page
(i.e. first and/or last name, company name, job title, industry, etc.)
b. Ability to do this in the To line and in the body of the e-letter

3. From Address
a. Ability to create alias or display return addresses
b. Ability to create actual return addresses that include our brand(s)
As AOL and some other users dont see the alias/displays, return addresses
must be descriptive and support the brand.
Acceptable: film@ourcompany.com or film@ourcompany.yourdomain.com
Unacceptable: film@newsletters.ourcompany.com; addresses are often
truncated and the newsletters is neither useful nor recognizable to the user

4. Foreign Language Character Sets

a. Platform should support e-letters utilizing
i. Spanish character sets
ii. Japanese character sets
b. Please list any other foreign language character sets supported by your system

5. E-commerce
a. Ability to purchase products or subscriptions from within the e-mail itself (without
having to leave the e-mail)
b. Full tracking of e-mail recipients specific purchase/subscription activity (i.e, buy rate
tracking or track purchase; aggregate purchases/subscriptions from each e-mail
address; what each subscribed to/bought)

6. Refer/Send to a Colleague
Ability for user to send a copy of the e-mail to a colleague, with a personal message
attached, via the site, assuring better format than a simple forward from the reader.

B. E-letter Editorial Interface

1. The Tool
a. Must be fully secure and web-based, available 24-7; please describe your security
measures
b. Must be password protected, providing each e-letter editor with a single unique
username/password to gain access to only their own e-letters (not all Cahners eletters on the system)
c. Must be compatible with all common browsers and versions
d. Editors need the ability to create/include hyperlinks
e. Much of the e-letters will be template based; the editors should have the ability to
save the default items (i.e. header, closing) from issue to issue, but also to edit them
at will.
f. In some cases, multiple templates will be needed for breaking news, special reports,
etc.
g. Highly desired: an interface that allows the user to enter the e-letter content once,
and automatically generates text and HTML versions of it (based on standard
templates provided)

2. Scheduled Sends
Editors must have the ability to prepare e-letters in advance and schedule a future send,
or to designate that an e-letter be sent immediately

3. Quality Control
a. Ability to preview the e-letter in all formats while its being created (in real time)
b. Ability to send to a pre-defined seed list for testing purposes
b. Mechanism to permit a live send of the e-letter to the e-letter editor so that he/she
can perform a quality control check on editorial copy, format and all links. Once
approved, there must be a simple way for the e-letter editor to send to the entire list;
it should be simple for the editor to correct any potential problems and do both the
QC and live send process again.

4. Auto-generate E-letters
In addition to supporting the manual generation of e-letters, system should be able to
support the scheduled, automatic sending (without manual intervention) of automatically
generated e-letters

5. Dynamically Generate Content

Generate content dynamically based on business rules, demographics and/or previous
behavior (such as click-throughs or opens), and send automatically. System should be
able to automatically build and send a custom e-mail message by pulling in relevant
standard paragraphs based on the users demographics and/or behavior, as defined by
the business unit. Key here is the ability to automatically tailor future communications
with a recipient based on our knowledge of demographics and past behavior (the one-toone marketing concept)

C. Exception Handling
1. Undeliverables
Undeliverables are mainly incorrectly formatted e-mail addresses (ie: jdoe@aol.con).
a. Must be able to identify and stop resent attempts within 4 days or after no more
than10 bounces
b. Must be able to track and report number of undeliverables on a per issue/per e-letter
basis
c. Must be able to store specific addresses of undeliverables, and provide list to us on a
weekly basis
d. Describe any policies your organization has put in place regarding treatment of
undeliverables

2. Bounces
Bounces are typically identified via error messages such as full e-mail box or server
error
a. Must be able to identify bounces; resends should be attempted for 4 days or less;
after 10 bounces the e-mail address should be removed from the list
b. Must be able to track and report number of bounces on a per issue/per e-letter basis
c. Must be able to store specific addresses of bounces and provide list to us on a
weekly basis
d. Describe any policies your organization has put in place regarding treatment of
bounces
e. Work with us to implement a policy (your standard or, in the absence of that, one
created with us) for handling of bounces

3. Handling of Replies
a. Must go to a mailbox that is actively monitored and from which action is taken on a
request within one business day
b. Must be able to handle standard replies (subscribes, unsubscribes, user preference
changes, bounces. etc.) by taking the appropriate action
c. All editorial or non-standard items must be forwarded to the appropriate editors on a
daily basis
d. Must be able to filter out-of-the-office and other auto-response messages

D. Registration/Subscription Management/Privacy
1. Registration
a. Ability to create, host and maintain registration pages that
i. Can appear as frames on clients sites, or
ii. Can be designed with graphics we define to mimic the sites
iii. Follow our standard format/data fields scheme
b. Ability to allow a user to choose a username (preferably their e-mail address) and
password at registration
c. Ability to edit these registration pages from the user interface
d. Ability to produce and manage two-page and layered registration pages (for
example, if there are many e-letters the first page might ask for e-mail address and eletter choices; a second page would prompt the user for the remaining registration
data)

2. Subscription Management/Preference Page

a. Maintenance of user e-letter preference pages via a login requiring
username/password; web interface available 24-7
b. On these pages, users will see a list of all e-letters a site offers, along with all
information provided at registration and whether their e-letter(s) are being sent via
text or HTML format; they need the ability to change any or all of this information
dynamically
c. Users should be able to easily recognize which e-letters they do or do not subscribe
d. Change of address functionality; work with outside organizations to identify new email addresses for people whose e-mails have changed (and send one or more optin efforts)

3. Privacy/Permission
a. Must be able to automatically send a welcome/confirmation message to new e-letter
registrants. This message needs to auto-sense and subsequently deliver in the
appropriate format (HTML preferred vs. text)
b. Must be able to support double-opt-in via both (a) an e-mail reply and (b) clickthrough to a confirmation page

E. Database/Data Management
1. Database
a. Database must have adequate security measures in place; please describe yours
b. Please describe your database structure, format and other relevant characteristics
c. Ability to house demographic, behavioral and other information gathered on
subscribers unlimited storage of behavioral information; storage for at least 20
columns of demographic information (trackable and sortable)
NOTE: All data will remain the property of our company and cannot be used or released
without the written permission of a designated representative (or representatives) of our
company. If the relationship is terminated for any reason, all of our data must be returned
to us within 48 hours. Proof of the destruction of any data, files and documents related to
customer data not able to be returned must also be provided within 48 hours.

2. Data Management
a. We must be able to add and update fields/columns in database via a web interface or
by request made to account representative
b. System must be able to dynamically update subscribe/unsubscribe and other
changes made by users
c. We must be able to query and segment database by all trackable data, including
demographics, behavior, previous e-mails and other key data points via a webinterface that does not require complex technical know-how. Must be able to extract
counts, and either mail selects right away and/or save queries for the purpose of
mailing at a later date.
d. System must be able to report by specific user re: e-mails received, specific URL
clicks and other fields in database
e. Ability to upload and download the following information 24-7 via a web interface in
excel and other standard formats
Subscriber information
Reports
Demographic information
Behavioral data (including click-throughs, open rates, etc.)
f. Track history of users -- ability to identify which e-letters this user gets, and when he
receives them (i.e. when was last e-letter received, how many e-mails did this user
get from us last week, etc.)

F. Tracking and Reporting

1. Registration Page
a. Number of successful registrations/opt-ins
b. Number of registration errors
i. Categorize by type of error
c. Number of unsubscribes

2. Issue Audience
a. Provide the number of messages attempted by e-letter/issue
b. Provide the number of messages successfully sent by e-letter/issue

3. Trackable URLs / Click-Through Rates (CTRs)

a. For articles/services featured in e-letters
b. Manipulate links to allow separate tracking for each URL in an e-letter (there will be
multiple)
c. If a link is included in more than one e-letter, unique coding so we can tell which eletter the user(s) clicked-through from
d. Also record the date/time of the click-through
e. Identify individual users

4. Opens
a. Track number of opens for each issue of each e-letter (HTML only, since unable to do
with text)
b. Also record the date/time of the open
c. Identify individual users

5. Reporting

d
e

Our editors and other key personnel must have access to tracking and aggregate views
of data about their lists
a. Unique single username password for each editor that permits access to only the lists
each one manages
b. Secure, web-based access, available 24-7
c. Compatible with all common browsers/versions
d. Include all reporting items listed in this RFP
e. Reports should provide metrics (percentages) as well as raw data wherever possible

G. Infrastructure
1. Performance
a. Physical location of your hosting facility, and information on the company who owns
the location (if it is not owned by your organization)
b. Metrics on performance, including average e-mail messages sent per hour
c. Timely send of e-letters is critical based on our volume, please describe how your
organization will ensure that letters are sent on at a specified time, not queued up as
a result of traffic on your system
d. Please describe any delivery problems you have seen in the past year, and what
actions you took to troubleshoot and solve them.

2. Dependability
Provide metrics and descriptions on downtime and any other service disruptions in the
past two years, and what actions you took to prevent similar problems in the future.

3. Security
a. Security measures and back-up plans to protect against natural disasters
b. Security measures to protect against unauthorized access
c. Information on any security breaches youve experienced in the past two years, with
actions taken to eliminate them

4. Ad Management Compatibility
Our company currently uses <ad solution name here> ad management system; the email solution should be compatible with it.
a. Do you currently have clients using this ad management system in conjunction with
your system?
b. Do you anticipate any problems integrating this ad management system with your
solution? If so, what are they and how will you address them?
c. Please describe other third-party ad management systems with which your system is
compatible

H. Support
1. Migration
Our company has roughly 70 e-letter editors, located in offices around the United States.
Most are in major metropolitan areas. Planning and training will be critical to a successful
migration
a. Provide timeframes and milestones (how quickly after the agreement is signed could
we start; at what point would all the lists be on your system)
b. Assistance with e-letter editor training on interface and on accessing/generating
reports will be required; please describe your offering
c. We will need a full service team in place initially to coach and even send e-mail
newsletter for editors, should the need arise before they are trained and comfortable
with the interface
d. Please describe any other information relating to handling migration in a quick,
organized manner that would not disrupt our e-letter services
e. Are there costs associated with these service options? If so, please provide details.

2. Ongoing Training
As new e-letters are launched, and personnel on existing e-letters changes, we will have
an ongoing need for training on the interface and the reporting capabilities. Describe
how your organization will handle this, and any associated costs.

3. Customer Service

a. At a minimum, customer service must be available each business day from 8:30am
to 9:00pm Eastern Standard Time
b. A single phone number and dedicated point of contact for all types of inquiries is
preferable
c. An open ticket system tracking problems and solutions is preferable
g d. If you offer holiday, weekend and/or after hours support, please describe
h e. Please briefly describe your trouble-shooting policies and procedures
i
f. Please describe your standards of service (i.e. all client phone calls returned
within 1 hour, etc.)

J. Company Information
1. Background
Please provide the following information about your organization:
a. History of company, including how long youve been in the e-mail operations
business and what you believe to be your competitive advantages
b. Bios of the account team with which our company would work, including company
principals, account management staff, technical and programming staff, customer
support personnel, training personnel and any other individuals who would be
supporting the account. Please highlight years of experience in Internet/e-mail,
including relevant jobs previous to joining this organization.
c. Please be prepared to provide three company references; We will ask for references
if you are chosen as a final candidate.

2. Internet/E-mail Conduct
a. Present your companys policies/standards with respect to privacy and permissionbased e-mail, and describe your role in working with clients to adhere to these
standards
b. Describe any disciplinary warnings or actions that have been taken against you with
regard to privacy or e-mail/SPAM, and what actions you took to resolve them

K. Other
Please include any other features, services or benefits that you feel make you the best
candidate for our business.