E-Mail Management Technologies Roundup.

According to data compiled by Jupiter Communications, the commercial e-mail market is expected to grow to an estimated $7.3 billion in 2005 and impact direct mail revenues by 13 percent. Jupiter also found that U.S. consumers will see email volume increase 40 times over current levels, since the medium is both cost-effective for customer acquisition and retention, and yields a high response rate for selling and promoting products. Yet, gone are the days when e-mail blasts (a.k.a. spamming) were viewed as an effective, let alone tolerated, method of communicating with would-be customers.

Similarly, today's sophisticated cybershoppers are not content waiting hours for an e-mail order confirmation or response to product or information requests. Present-day demands for effective customer interaction and retention necessitate that your e-mail and messaging processes be something more than letting customer service representatives handle e-mail when they have an hour or two lull in their schedules. Expediting answers to customers should be top priority or you won't have many customers.

Savvy 21st Century marketers understand that, like Web site personalization/customization techniques, intelligently constructed, personalized and targeted outbound e-mail campaigns achieve the best results. Indiscriminate and thoughtless e-mail campaigns invariably end up in recipients' junk mail folders: your message or offer unseen and budget dollars frittered away in the process.

The e-mail management challenge facing your business is three-fold: integrating information from your knowledge- and databases into competently prepared, targeted campaigns; delivering your message quickly and cost-effectively; and administering your inbound e-mail through prioritization and routing to customer service representatives possessing the skills and knowledge to respond, and equipping them with the implements and information needed to satisfy your customers. Fortunately, as the following list of companies gives testimony, a diverse foundation of support exists for optimizing your present e-mail initiatives and providing scalable solutions for future needs.