Should Email Data be Stored Inside or Outside of an Email Application?

As I have mentioned in previous articles, I have had email marketing positions with three different companies.  My past 2 companies were very large well-known companies with successful email marketing campaigns.  However, at my first company we stored close to 500 of our database attributes in our email application.  At my current company, we do not store any data inside the application which has been a huge adjustment for me.  All data is first queried, and then a list is imported into the email application.  I will discuss the pros and cons of storing your information in your email application.

PRO: Less Time Running Lists

When all of your information is in the application, you do not have to rely on your own database queries going through all of your data just to find the data you are looking for.  Our emails currently tax our database more than any of our direct mail lists, so it takes practically all day for lists to run because all of the other marketing channels are running their lists as well.  When you have your data in an email application, you still need to generate data to send your emails, however since it’s a copy of some of your database attributes, you are not competing so much with other marketing channels.  It’s really a huge time saver.

PRO: Easy to Segment and Personalize Data

Within your overall list you pulled, you will probably want to set up some smaller segments and provide people with dynamic content.  This is really easy to do if all of your data is in the application.  Most ESPs provide their users with a drop down menu with all of your attributes and then give you a verification method to make sure you are using them correctly.  However, if you are importing data from a list, you need to make sure you set up all of your segments correctly in your querying application, which isn’t too difficult.  What has been difficult is dynamic content, because you need to have a field that spells out a specific attribute for each email address.  Since you are generating text, this can add a large amount of processing time to your database query application.  I have found that I can only do so much dynamic content with ours; otherwise our application times out and taxes our database.

PRO: Reporting Much Easier

Since all of the information is already in the email application, it’s easy to look at how specific segments performed or specific pieces of dynamic content performed.  It’s a little harder when data is outside the application because you first have to download all of the email addresses that clicked or opened an email and then run a database query to match up those email addresses with your database attributes.

PRO: Marketer Can Manage Entire Email Marketing Process

If you are running lists outside your email application using an advanced database querying application, you will most likely need to involve an analyst or someone from your IT team to run the list for you.  However if data is already in your email application, it is very easy for someone in a marketing role to set up segments by picking attributes from dropdown boxes.  Of course it is very important for the marketer to know the data inside out.

CON: Harder Time Fixing Data Problems

If you do have a problem with the data, you are relying on not only your technical team to solve the issue but also the team at your email vendor.  I have had a few all-nighters due to waiting on an outside vendor to fix our data issues.  You also have to have a technical person working with your vendor to make sure database refreshes or uploads are working appropriately.  If you want to query on additional data not already in your email application, you need to add new fields which can take a while to set up, or you need to upload lists to account for the missing data.

CON: Space Issues

If you run your lists in house, you already have the space available to you and do not have to worry about that aspect of email marketing.  However if you have all of your data in your email application, you most likely have to pay for the additional space.  Also once you hit a maximum threshold and want to add more data, your costs will likely increase.

CON: Hard to Obtain Approval by Higher Levels of Your Organization

Many organizations I have worked with will not go through the process of getting their information in their email application because they know they would never get it approved by their upper management.  One reason behind this lack of approval is because another company has access to your personal information which is against your company’s policies.  However, I have known many companies who work with credit card accounts and purchases, and they have never had a problem with storing certain attributes in their email application.

Better Email Marketing

As you can see by my number of pros to cons, I am an avid proponent of storing data in the email application.  I think it makes for a better overall email marketing program and allows you to easily get the right message to the right customer segments.