The Role of the Marketing Team
While most of the work is done on the developers’ side, there are several things the marketing team must do to ensure a smooth integration process.
Define Business Requirements: The more details you can provide the developers on what you’d like the system to accomplish, the better it will be. You don’t have to know how the systems work, you just have to be able to give the developers detailed information on what you want to do with the data. For example, if you tell them you want to be able to access the data saved in the CRM application, you leave the door open to all sorts of assumptions on the developer’s end. However, if you explain to them that you want to be able to target subscribers based on purchase history, they’ll have a general understanding of your goals. Even better, if you tell the developers that you will be using dynamic content to send personalized messages to customers three days after receiving confirmation of delivery of a particular item in order to upsell the customer with a complementary item, the developers will know exactly how you intend to use the data and they will build a system that it streamlined to perform those exact functions. Remember, no detail is insignificant!
Carefully Review the Roadmap: Be sure you have a very clear understanding of the roadmap and you know how each task will work and which application is responsible for each task. For example, it is extremely important to know which system will manage your unsubscribes. When you send an email using profiling information from the CRM database and a recipient unsubscribes from the list, is the email solution responsible for removing the subscriber from the list, or is the CRM application responsible for updating that information? If these details are overlooked at the beginning of the process, you and your development team will be scrambling to fix it in the middle of the project, which will extend the cost and timeline of the implementation.
Rank the Deliverables: If you have a number of processes you want to streamline and automate, present all of them to the developers at once, but be sure to note which ones are most important to you so they can complete those first. This gives the developers a high level understanding of what you want, while breaking a large project into smaller pieces that can be rolled out in different phases for easier and quicker integration.
Support the Developers: Marketers and programmers don’t always speak the same language, but both teams must communicate frequently and clearly in order to make the integration work. It is important to remember that both groups are looking at the project from opposite ends but the developers need control of the project. When a problem arises that threatens to slow down the integration (and it will), ask the developers to explain the situation and ask if there is anything you can do to resolve it. In many cases the problems may be fixed in a timely manner with new data or better-defined business rules.
Integrating your email marketing solution with your other applications will save you a lot of time, hassle, and money in the end. While complex, the integration is worth the time it takes during the development process. For more information, you may contact Listrak’s integration specialists.
About Listrak
Listrak is a leading provider of hosted email marketing software, allowing permission-based marketers to manage, send, track and grow their email marketing investment. We deliver email marketing intelligence through our intuitive web-based application. Leading marketers have come to rely on this intelligence to better manage email in their multi-channel marketing mix.
Listrak software helps companies, agencies and associations better manage customer relations in their marketing campaigns. Its web-enabled interface helps marketers engage their customers using an advanced profiling and personalization engine. Listrak’s world-class support and professional services assist clients with enterprise integration. Its clients include L’Oreal, Motorola, Jeep, PR Newswire, The Islands of the Bahamas, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
To learn more about the many ways Listrak can strengthen your email marketing campaigns, or to sign up for a 20-minute web-based tour, visit www.listrak.com.
Don’t miss Listrak’s 2008 Email Marketing Days conference! For more information, visit www.listrak.com/emailmarketingdays.
