In light of the Bronto End of Life (EOL) announcement, Bronto users will need to choose another platform to migrate to before the end of May 2022. While this is still a ways away, companies using Bronto need to dedicate time in evaluating other email service providers (ESPs) and begin their transition as soon as possible. This is especially important to do before the 2021 holiday season begins in full, when e-commerce brands need to be on their A-game.
We’ve asked some of our favorite tech partners to give their insight into Bronto EOL, how to choose a new ESP. Read on below to see what dotdigital, Omnisend, Iterable, and Sendlane have to say about Bronto EOL.
dotdigital: Manage your time wisely
Migrating ESPs can be a daunting challenge, especially if you have numerous fires to be put out.
Feel like you’re moving from one dinosaur to the next? dotdigital is here to help. Results don’t come from standing still. Upgrade to a platform that has evolved for the last 22 years and will continue to for many more. Some call it evolution, we call it natural selection.
We cannot emphasize enough the importance of making sure you have enough time for this process. Evaluating and choosing a new ESP, preparing internally, then the actual process of migration to your new ESP can take a long time – easily six to seven months. If you’re wanting to do this in 2021 and finish before your holiday season (which is highly recommended), you’ll need to have started this process already at least in terms of evaluating the marketplace. Otherwise, plan to evaluate new ESPs now before Q4 needs take over. This way you can start 2022 off with the first step of your selection process already done and ready to move forward since you’ll only have five months left to complete the process!
We’re offering three months free, including onboarding and training services, when you choose dotdigital.
Omnisend: Choose the right marketing platform by asking the right questions
As Bronto nears its end of life, its e-commerce customers are looking for a new email and SMS platform that can provide the same, if not better, level of service. While the search can be time-consuming, it’s well worth the effort. This is an opportunity to find a new, more nimble partner that can take a brand’s marketing efforts to the next level and increase sales, not workload.
Identifying a new marketing platform to adopt can be challenging—but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some of the most important questions you should ask when choosing a new email and SMS marketing platform.
Who is it built for?
E-commerce brands should seek a partner, like Omnisend, whose platform is specifically designed for e-commerce companies. An e-commerce-first platform will seamlessly integrate with your e-commerce platform, enabling a modern-day customer experience. Whether you use Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce, make sure your new provider can easily integrate with your e-commerce platform.
Do they provide more than email?
Today’s customers expect multiple modes of communication from e-commerce brands. Marketers know this and are responding.
For example, SMS sends increased nearly 400% in 2020 compared to 2019. The jump in text messages led to conversion rates more than doubling.
Any e-commerce-focused marketing platform incorporates multiple channels. A good one integrates them so they work in unison to produce an omnichannel experience. Make sure your future provider offers not only SMS, but also web push notifications, social media re-targeting, and Google ad sync. This will allow you to consolidate marketing tools—saving you money—and synchronize customer data across multiple channels.
Automated workflows: How many are available, and how easy are they to customize?
In 2020, automated messages generated 29% of email marketing orders while accounting for less than two percent of email sends. If you are an e-commerce brand—especially one used to Bronto workflows—easy-to-use and robust marketing automation is necessary for increasing sales.
Ensure they offer essential e-commerce workflows, such as:
- Welcome
- Cart abandonment
- Browse and product abandonment
- Post- and lapsed-purchaser
Also, check that you can utilize multiple channels within each workflow. These capabilities allow you to communicate to each customer at the right time via their preferred channel.
Of course, there are many other factors to consider when selecting a marketing platform provider, such as segmentation capabilities, ease of message creation, customer support, and company culture.
By researching the answers to a few key questions from the start, an e-commerce company will ease the task of finding the right marketing platform. Check out Omnisend’s exclusive offer for migrating Bronto users here.
Iterable: 10 things to look for in a new ESP
In their time, Bronto was the perfect email solution for emerging or growing retail e-commerce brands (at the time a generally underserved sector of the market), as most ESPs offering similarly sophisticated functionality were priced for the enterprise customer.
There are still many great brands who rely upon Bronto to grow their customer base, revenue, and business, but these brands and marketers are now compelled to find an alternative ESP, an often challenging, intimidating task in the best of times.
Shiny new features, “sophisticated” capabilities, big logos. It’s easy to be distracted by these, so decision-makers should keep these 10 questions in mind when starting your search for your next ESP:
- What are your desired business outcomes?
- Which campaigns/use cases drive these outcomes?
- What features/capabilities are required to power these campaigns/use-cases?
- What data is necessary to personalize customer journeys and message content?
- Will it support all messaging requirements across all stages of the customer lifecycle?
- How will this new solution complement and/or integrate with existing technologies in our Martech stack?
- Will the new platform allow your team(s) to work more closely together and share insights?
- Will it support the needs and desires of all stakeholders?
- How usable is the platform for the least experienced person on the campaign team?
- What teams or resources can the ESP bring to bear to help extract the maximum value and opportunity from the platform?
Even “top-rated” ESPs may not be best suited to the specific needs of your business, so don’t limit your evaluation to only known legacy brands. You first should be looking for innovation, quality of service, support and partnership. For example, Iterable has a unique data structure, powerful personalization and AI capabilities, intuitive workflow builder, and ease of use. It’s a solid, pragmatic choice for many brands from enterprise retailers to emerging DTCs, but you have to make sure your business needs are being met.
No matter your provider preference, involve all stakeholders in setting both the decision criteria and in making the decision itself. Document your expected outcomes and ensure each progressive step of the migration is anchored to, and directly aligned with those outcomes, and don’t rush it! Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Check out Iterable’s offer for migrating Bronto users here.
Sendlane: Contracts and Deliverability
As one of the first and leading ESP’s, Bronto paved the way for email marketing and automation for digital retailers. They built a unique platform that has helped inspire innovation in our product and service here at Sendlane. We’ve taken that foundation and created a behavior-based, data-driven email and SMS solution that caters to the specific needs of e-commerce brands while also providing them with world-class support.
For Bronto users searching for an alternative, there are some significant factors to consider before pulling the trigger. Many marketers are stuck with an old ESP simply because they are already locked into a long-term contract. Sendlane is stepping in with a solution and special offer to buy Bronto users out of their current contract to help them not only make the switch but enable them with the tools needed to make email the #1 revenue generator for their business.
The second piece to consider when making a move is the ease of migration. Migrating contacts, emails, funnels, and data can be daunting without a dedicated support team on your side. That’s why at Sendlane, we not only provide full migration services to new users, but we also pair them with Dedicated Customer Success Managers and 24/7/365 chat support to take care of the entire process, from importing contacts to creating funnels and segments.
And while most of our competitors use 3rd party providers like Sendgrid or white label services due to lack of expertise, we house our delivery infrastructure, so we’re a true ESP. This means that our in-house experts personally handle our customer’s deliverability which helps them maintain a quality sender reputation.
Make the switch to Sendlane to generate more revenue, increase retention, and unlock actionable insights with email and SMS marketing.
For those looking to make a move from Bronto, Sendlane will pay off the current contract they’re under when they make the switch. Get in touch with an expert from Sendlane today!
We hope our partners at dotdigital, Omnisend, Iterable, and Sendlane have helped you learn more about how to deal with Bronto EOL and prepare for migrating ESPs.
Many of these apps offer free versions and/or free trials, so try them out on your store risk-free today or shoot us an email at partners@justuno.com if you’re interested in an introduction.
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