ESPs are the technological foundation of the email industry—and the biggest line item in email marketing budgets. With so much on the line, it’s no surprise that frustrations with ESPs run high. In this webinar, Litmus Research Director Chad S. White and Community & Product Evangelist Jason Rodriguez share findings from Litmus' first-ever State of Email Service Providers report, along with insights from other research we’ve done. You’ll learn... - What’s driving—and likely to keep driving—consolidation in the ESP industry - Which ESPs are the most popular among brands in different industries, geographies, and more - What’s involved with switching ESPs - How to get more out of your current ESP

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The Trends Transforming the
ESP Landscape

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Email service providers are the
technological foundation of the
email industry—and biggest line
item in email marketing budgets.

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28% of Brands Dropped or
Switched ESPs in 2017

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Email Marketing Priorities in 2018

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28% of Brands Dissatisfied with at
Least One of Their ESPs

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Consolidation among ESPs & what’s driving
it
The ESP landscape and the Top 10 ESPs
What’s involved with switching ESPs
How to get more out of your current ESP
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Chad S. White
Director of Research, Litmus
Author of “Email Marketing Rules”
Jason Rodriguez
Community & Product Evangelist, Litmus
Author of “The Better Email”

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ESP Industry
Consolidation
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56% 58% 63% 68%
0
25
50
75
100
2016 2017 2018 2019
Marketshare of Top 10 ESPs
2019
68%

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Market Share Controlled by Top 10 ESPs

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1. M&A Activity
2. Declining Use of
Homegrown Email Platforms
3. Use of Fewer ESPs
Drivers of ESP Industry
Consolidation

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$10 billion
in ESP mergers and
acquisitions
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018

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$15 billion
in ESP mergers and
acquisitions
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018

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11% 7% 6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2016 2017 2018
Brands Using Homegrown Email
Platforms Continues to Decline
68%

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One
Tw
o
Three 4+
54% 29% 11% 6%
Number of Email Platforms Used

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1. One-Stop Shops
2. GDPR & Regulations
3. New Technology Like AMP
Trends Shaping
the Future Landscape

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The ESP Landscape2

22. 15below
ACGI Software
Accenture Interactive (includes
former Acquity Group)
Action Network
ActiveCampaign
Acyba (AcyMailing)
Addemar
Agillic
Agnitas
Akero
All iN Marketing Cloud
Alterian
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Aprimo
Apsis
Artegic
Arial Software (Campaign
Enterprise)
Aspiresoft
Aurea (includes Lyris)
Automizy
AutopilotHQ
Aventri (formerly eTouches)
AWeber
Benchmark Internet Group
BetaOut
BigCommerce
Blackboard
bLoyal
BSD Tools (part of Blue State
Digital)
Bluecore
Blueshift
BombBomb
Bpm’online Marketing
Braze (formerly Appboy)
CakeMail/Courrielleur
Campaigner
Campus Management (including
Hobsons Radius, Connect, and
Retain CRM)
Canopy Labs
Carma Marketing Hub (Compost
Marketing)
Cendyn (Guestfolio Hotel CRM)
Certain
CleverReach
Clickback
ClickDimensons
Communicator
Communigator
Concep
Contactlab
ConvertKit
Copernica
Cordial
Customer.io
Cvent
Cybba
Dada Mail
Demandforce
Dialog Insight
DirectMail.com
Distribion
Digital Messaging Solutions (DMS)
DocuMatix
Dolist
Drip
DoctorSender
Dynamic Yield
eGain
eGenerator
Elastic Email
eLead1One
EllieMae (includes Velocify)
emfluence Digital Marketing
Encompass Marketing Group
Episerver (including Optivo)
ePublishing
e-shot by Forfront
eSputnik
SC-Networks (Evalanche)
EveryAction
Exigo
ExpertSender
eyepin eMarketing Software
EDge Interactive (ezRecruit)
Fire Engine RED
Fishbowl
Flexmail
FreshMail
GetResponse
Givex
GoldMine
Goolara (Symphonie)
Granicus (formerly GovDelivery)
Green 4 Solutions
(eCommunications)
Groove
Hatchbuck
Higher Logic (includes Informz and
Real Magnet)
Highspot
Hobsons
Hvantage Technologies
iContact
iModules
Inbox Marketer
Infusionsoft
Intelligent Emails (Dialog Insight
Ofsys)
Intercom
Interspire
Intuvo
Inxmail
iPost
Iterable
Jumplead
Kahuna
Kentico
Klaviyo
Knowledge Marketing
Konvey
Leanplum
ListMarketer
Listrak
L-Soft (LISTSERV and ListPlex)
L2 Interactive (mail2)
Mail2Easy PRO
Maileon
MailerLite
Mailigen
Mailjet
MailUp
Mapp Cloud (formerly Blue Hornet
and Teradata Marketing
Applications)
Maropost
Marquis
Mautic Community
MaxMail (CyberCom)
MessageGears
Microsoft Dynamics 365
MindFire
Mixpanel
Moosend
MPZMail
NationBuilder
Navis
NCR (Counterpoint)
Neon
NewZapp
NGP VAN
NP6
NRM Info Solutions
Octane Marketing
Omeda (Omail)
Ometria
Optimove (Mobius Solutions)
OutboundEngine
phpList
Postmark
PostUp (formerly Pulseconnect)
Promio
Pure360 (PureCampaign)
Qrious (UbiQuity Email)
QuickPivot
ReachMail
Recurly
RedEye
Referral Candy (Anafore)
Rejoiner
Retail Rocket
Robly
Sailthru
Salesfusion
SalesLoft
Salsa Labs
SAP (including Callidus Cloud and
SDL)
SendBlaster
SendinBlue
Sendy
Serenata CRM (NextGuest
Technologies)
SharpSpring
ShipStation
Site Impact
Sitecore
Slate (Technolutions)
SmartEmailing
SmartFocus (formerly EmailVision)
SockeLlabs
SoftVu
SparkPost
Splio
Spotler (MailPlus)
StampReady
StoneShot
StreamSend
SugarCRM
Swiftpage (Connect)
TargetX.com
Tessitura Network
ThankView
Tikit (part of BT)
Travel Tripper
TravelClick (includes Digital
Alchemy)
Tripolis Solutions
UniSender
Upaknee
V12 Data
Vendasta
Vertical Response (part of Deluxe)
Vision6
VoterVoice
Vuture
Webpower
Whispir.com
WundermanMSC
XCAMPAIGN (Schober Information
Group)
XMPie Techology (part of Xerox)
Yes Lifecycle Marketing (formerly
Yesmail)
Youman Media
Zaius
ZenDesk
Zeta (formerly Acxiom)
Zoho

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Top 10 ESPs
Based on 1,699 survey responses

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• US & Canadian Brands
European & UK Brands
Biz w/ <100 Empl.
Biz w/ 100-1,999 Empl.
Biz w/ 2,000+ Empl.
Centralized Orgs.
Decentralized Orgs.
Media & Entertainment Cos.
Nonprofits
Tech Cos.
Retail Cos.
Educational Cos.
Financial Services Cos.
Brands Making 25%+ of
Email Revenue from
Automation
High-Frequency Senders
Highly Integrated Email
Programs
The Top ESPs among…

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market share among enterprises
No. 1 on 11 of our 16 top 10 lists

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market share among small
businesses
No. 1 on 3 of our 16 top 10 lists

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market share among nonprofits

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Discount for Basic and Plus
plans
Eligible organizations email billing@litmus.com
NPOs

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market share among tech companies

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market share among retail companies

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44%market share among financial companies

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The Universal 3 ESPs

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Top 10 ESPs
Based on 1,699 survey responses

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POLL TIME!
Do you use one of the top ESPs?

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Litmus works where you do

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ESP Sync Demo

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9% Code every email from scratch
49% Copy and paste snippets and
elements from previous emails
42% Use libraries, modules, and/or
WYSIWYG editors

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SFMC integration
#LitmusLive

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POLL TIME!
Would you like to learn more?

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Switching ESPs3

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1. Assess current/future needs and wants
2. Source ESP candidates
3. Write RFP and send to candidates
4. Compare responses and select new ESP
5. Prep for and perform data/email migration
6. Warm up new ESP then turn off old one

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Chris Marriott
Marketing Democracy
Switching ESPs has gotten exponentially harder in
recent years. That’s because the email platform
sits in the middle of the martech universe at most
brands, and breaking and re-setting those
connections is a lot of disruption and work.

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Marketers work with
2.4 other departments to get
emails reviewed and approved.
Executives
47.9%
Sales
32.7%
Legal/Compliance
30.3%
IT
24.1%

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Cara Olson
DEG
IT and Marketing are the primary stakeholders.
However, if your company is looking at
consolidating technology stacks, you will also
want to include the media team and social
team. You may also even need to include the
service and ecommerce teams as well.

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• Subscriber lists and related data
• Assets and templates
• Automated and transactional
emails
• Historical performance data
Things to migrate…

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Tunde Noibe
BrightWave Marketing
Pre-work and implementation documentation is
critical to have an efficient migration.

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6 months
Shortest
From request for proposal to full
migration to new ESP…
12 months
Ideal

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Andrew Kordek
Trendline Interactive
Brands should be prepared to spend 5 months in
decision-making mode. It might take 2.5 months
just to gather the stakeholders in a room and
ensure that the RFP is written correctly and
succinctly for the vendor.

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1. Direct costs
2. Indirect costs
3. Opportunity costs
The Cost of Switching ESPs

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POLL TIME!
Are you planning to switch?

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Getting More Out of
Your Current ESP
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Expecting your ESP to provide all the
functionality you need to plan, create, test,
send, and analyze the performance of your
emails is incredibly unrealistic.
Very few senders expect this.

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More than 60% of marketers rely on
third-party tools to do their jobs.
• CSS inliners
• HTML frameworks
• Email previews
• Spam filter testing
• Email analytics
• Email build tools

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Common 3rd party tools
1. Email Analytics
2. Review & Collaboration Tools
3. Pre-Send Checklists
4. Spam Filter Testing
5. Post-Processing Tools

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Lower Adoption Higher Adoption
Use of 3rd-Party Analytics
60%
Less well-resourced
78%
Well-resourced

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• Google Analytics
Litmus Email Analytics
Adobe Omniture
Top 3 Most Popular 3rd-Party
Email Analytics Tools

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Lower Adoption Higher Adoption
Have an Appropriately
Rigorous Review Process
54%
Less well-resourced
69%
Well-resourced

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Lower Adoption Higher Adoption
Uses an Extensive Pre-Send
QA Checklist
15%
Less well-resourced
36%
Well-resourced

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Lower Adoption Higher Adoption
Uses Spam Filter Testing
48%
Less well-resourced
56%
Well-resourced

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Lower Adoption Higher Adoption
Uses Post-Processing
6%
Less well-resourced
13%
Well-resourced

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Very Unsuccessful Unsuccessful Average Successful Very successful
Very well-resourced 0% 0% 16% 35% 50%
Well-resourced 0% 2% 29% 57% 12%
Adequately resourced 0% 3% 45% 44% 8%
Under-resourced 1% 9% 54% 31% 5%
Very under-resourced 10% 16% 48% 23% 4%
Better resourced email programs
report higher levels of success

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Being average is
the new falling
behind.

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40% Increase in ROI when using Litmus
Builder
19% Increase in ROI when using Litmus Email
Analytics
14% Increase in ROI when using Litmus Email
Previews
5% Increase in ROI when using Litmus Spam
Testing

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Consolidation among ESPs & what’s driving
it
The ESP landscape and the Top 10 ESPs
What’s involved with switching ESPs
How to get more out of your current ESP
1
2
3
4

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Thank You!
Check litmus.com/blog for webinar slides and recording