E-mail Strategy: Effective Ways to Select an E-Mail Marketing Vendor

1. Focus on your needs first. Assess the state of your e-mail marketing program and decide what you need to accomplish now and in the future. Establish a business case, goals, timeline and budget before starting the vendor search.

2. Decide whether to do an RFP. If you already have an experienced e-mail marketing staff and sophisticated programs, you may not need to do a formal request for proposals. Other companies may go through the formal RFP process. If so, you need to decide whether to seek RFPs for full-service application service provider (ASP) solutions, self-service ASP solutions or collaborative ASP solutions.