Should you choose a local Email Service Provider (ESP) for your Business

Assessing an ESP should be based on more than functionality

There is a bewildering range of email marketing solutions platforms to choose from. While it's common to select a solution based on its features, it's also important to consider the level of local support for the system you will have in your country. Since most email services are cloud-based and you can access them from anywhere, deciding on whether you have adequate support in your country is an important issue in selecting a system.

In this post, Andrew Mann of UK-based ESP Smart Messages shares his thoughts on why it's important to have local support from an email supplier.

Four reasons why local vendor support is best

1. Time zone

Personal contact remains a fundamental part of business even in the digital world. If you need help, it’s better to have a supplier in your own time zone so queries can be addressed during your working hours. When integrating with an ESP’s API, technical issues are commonplace.

These are generally easier to resolve with a local ESP offering telephone technical support during your working hours.

2. Compliance with the local law

Every country has it’s own specific data protection laws, regulations and codes of conduct. It is not unified legislation and there are significant differences between the UK, other European countries and the US.

Using a reputable ESP in your own country will assist in ensuring compliance.

US-based ESPs often only comply with CAN-SPAM, which generally isn’t sufficient to comply with EU obligations. In the EU, any data subject has the right to see data stored about them, and you’re obliged to fix any errors, so a good ESP will automate that process for you.

3. Data Protection

Your data is precious and a valuable business asset. Handing over confidential business data to a third party has its risks so it’s vital that your ESP has data protection as a top priority. It is best practice to ask your ESP for detailed information about the protection they provide, such as:

• Physical security (location, access checks, redundant power and cooling).
• Data loss (replication, backups).
• Online security (encryption, firewalls, unauthorised access prevention).
• Access limiting (Controlled data access within the ESP).
• Fraud protection (SPF, DKIM, anti-spam, anti-phishing).

These factors really go hand-in-hand with legal compliance.

4. Technical knowledge available face-to-face

Email marketing often involves complex relationships between ESP, agency/developer, clients and their subscribers, so when you are pitching for business, a good local ESP will be able to attend meetings with you and be there to answer specific technical questions relating to emails.

In summary, ask these questions before selecting an overseas email supplier:

1. Timezone: Where is your supplier based and are there any constraints?
2. Compliance with local legislation: Do you understand the country's legislation?
3. Data Protection: Has your supplier given you sufficient information so you are legally complaint?
4. Supplier availability: Is your supplier available to meet you when required?

Thanks to Andrew Mann for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Andrew Mann is the Managing Director of Smartmessages and works in all areas of the business from product development through to customer support. Smartmessages You can follow him on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.