BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We manufacture products and tools that roofers use on the commercial roof side of the building.
My role is in marketing and communications, with more of a focus on the digital, website, and e-marketing aspects.
OPPORTUNITY/CHALLENGE
What was the challenge your company was facing that initiated the need for Reachmail?
We just wanted to reach a large audience; we wanted to succeed in the email channel. Our challenge is that we're neither web designers nor coder. Reachmail is a way for us to mass email people without coding.
SOLUTION
How does your company implement this platform or software?
ReachMail's analytics are great. I think my favorite option using Reachmail is that the contact information changes so vastly. When I send out a mailing, I can keep track of my lead list, and I can go back into the mailing after a few days and filter through the list and I can eliminate those that have the hard bounces, the role changes, and everything like that. Then I can keep my list current without too much effort. Reachmail takes care of that for you.
They do offer templates. My background is more in the graphic design end, with very little HTML experience. Reachmail, in essence, really allows the user to take the design mode and create your ad or your campaign with little experience needed. Right now, the obstacle I'm having and the reason why I contacted support so much is because where I'm working, they're only allowing me to use Internet Explorer, as a company policy. That is the only browser that is not 100% compatible with Reachmail. Once I get approval for a new browser that obstacle will go away, but for now, Mike Marshall has been wonderful, patient, and helpful. He's the code expert there.
We have a database that is initially entered by our sales force, so we pulled from that listing. To be realistic, they don't have the time to keep it up to date. All my lists that are uploaded into Reachmail are divided by customers. Our customers are primarily contractors. We have a list that's just roofers; we have lists that are distributors; we also have lists that are specifiers and architects because our message can change a little bit when you're targeting to different audiences. What means one thing to one audience, is not going to mean anything to the other.
I certainly have our employees make lists so I can segment by who should be included on the mailing. I have a folder of testing groups, certain people that I can select to test with before we send an email out. It's very easy and so quick. To uphold lists, back in the day you'd have to leave your desk. With Reachmail, it's faster than you can think. That's not an issue.
I have an image library on ReachMail as well. For the most part, it's a very easy to use, and a very simplistic software.
Was your company considering other platforms? Why this platform?
I have to say I walked into it; it was already pre-chosen before I got here. What I can say is that it's never been used by anyone that's ever been trained in the HTML world. Right now I'm the only one brave enough to be in there using it, so I'm starting to own that. We used to have two or three people trying before.
FEATURES
Were there any software features or tools that really impressed you?
From my experience, I can't get over the fact that when I contact them in any respect, they answer the phone right away. They actually supply a phone number. If they're not available, they get back to you right away. ReachMail's support is by far the best of any of my vendors right now. They have a great patience level and they're so polite. They talk to me even knowing that I'm not a coder. They're explaining everything so clearly, which is really great. I would say that's number one.
Another feature I like is the reliability of it. I can plan a campaign an hour before, or I can plan it weeks and months before. I know that I can schedule it and it's going to go out when I tell it to. The confidence I have in the tool is great. It's sent out very quickly.
You can also post onto social media directly. If I send out any campaign, I can click a button that basically posts to all my social media channels that I've given access to. That's a nice feature.
Looking back, are there any areas of the softwareupon which you feel could be added or improved?
I would like more user control of the image library. It would save us a lot of time to have more filing control and an alphabetical setup, rather than just tagging images.
The compatibility with Internet Explorer is another issue as well. I get that they're going to cater to the more common browsers and interfaces. I’ve told their support that this becomes another bullet point in my begging, and it’s not a complaint necessarily.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?
I think one of the most measurable things is that we send out a quarterly newsletter. It's basically all our latest news and anything we want to communicate. We send it to all our customers, everyone who is on that list. Everything becomes linkable. I think from that we learn from our audiences. I can look back at all the newsletters and compare what's getting the most clicks and what's getting the most referrals. It helps me to understand where on social media should I be posting more, what's more interesting, and what's more of a resource to our audience. I think it's great for content.
Do you have any recommendations or insights for anybody considering using this tool?
I think my advice would be with the way it's set up, it’s best to use Reachmail as a software program and do your building within. Try not to download other HTML ads or any projects you're working on thinking you can edit it a lot in ReachMail. What you're doing, in essence, is you're actually doing it twice because you'd have to reconvert all the code and it's picking up things that are compatible, but you can't see it, so it's really hard to fix.
RATINGS
We ask you to rate the software on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the best.
What would you give the software for functionality of the features available?
4 - I hope once I'm on a different browser, I don't have as many difficulties as I do now.
What would you give the software for ease of use or ease of implementation into your business?
3
For support, as in responsiveness of the team or helpfulness of the resources available?
5 - It's amazing.
How likely are you to recommend the software to a colleague or similar business?
5
For overall satisfaction with the platform?
4