{"id":5465,"date":"2018-08-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/doing-an-esp-rfp-improving-your-vendor-selection-process\/"},"modified":"2023-07-13T11:52:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T15:52:06","slug":"doing-an-esp-rfp-improving-your-vendor-selection-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/doing-an-esp-rfp-improving-your-vendor-selection-process","title":{"rendered":"Doing an ESP RFP: Improving Your Vendor Selection Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 5% of brands are very dissatisfied with their email service provider, and another 23% are dissatisfied, according to a Litmus poll. Many of those brands might consider switching ESPs<\/a> in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

However, before any brand switches ESPs<\/a>, they will likely write a request for proposal. A RFP is a list of questions you send to prospective vendors, whose answers you then compare to one another to differentiate their offerings and find the best fit for your brand\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

\"28%<\/a><\/figure>\n

But which ESP candidates should you include? How should your ESP RFP process go? What should you include in your RFP?<\/p>\n

To answer those questions and more, Litmus reached out to email experts at Marketing Democracy<\/a>, BrightWave, DEG, Trendline Interactive<\/a>, emailvendorselection.com<\/a>, Laughlin Constable<\/a>, and Red Pill Email<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How long should the ESP RFP process take?<\/h2>\n

The consensus among our experts is that 6 months is the shortest amount of time to go from starting an RFP process to migration complete\u2014and that doesn\u2019t leave you much, if any, room for delays. They were much more comfortable with a 12-month runway till the end of your current ESP contract, especially for larger companies and ones with more integrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cA simple rule of thumb we tell clients is to estimate how long they think their RFP will take\u2014and then double that,\u201d says Chris Marriott, President & Founder of Marketing Democracy. [Tweet this \u2192<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lydia Mundie, Account Director at BrightWave, says, \u201cIt will most likely take 1-3 months for the RFP process to conclude (at an expedited pace), 2 months to identify and finalize the desired features and requirements of the new ESP (including that contract), and another 3 months to develop the migration plan and then successfully execute against that plan to officially make the switch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be sure to give ESPs enough time to answer your questions. Don\u2019t give them less than a week to respond to hundreds of questions, says Cara Olson, Director of Relationship Marketing at DEG.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see brands insert very aggressive timeline schedules in the RFP and then rarely follow them,\u201d she says. \u201cReviewing the responses takes longer than they anticipate, and then scheduling the on-sites for presentations is sometimes requested in a week or less. If you really want a thoughtful response and killer presentation relevant to your business, allow more time. I also see a lot of RFPs issued in Q4, which is the worst time to issue an RFP in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t underestimate the time it can take to make decisions, says Andrew Kordek, Chief Strategist & Co-founder at Trendline Interactive. \u201cBrands should be prepared to spend 5 months in decision-making mode,\u201d he says. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all the more reason to not be stingy when budgeting time for an ESP RFP. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen timelines derailed because the brand person leading the RFP leaves mid-way through,\u201d says Marriott, \u201cor the team neglects to determine in advance the criteria for selecting the winner at the end of the process. So they end up lurching from RFP to endless meetings with vendors\u2014and then analysis paralysis sets in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/td>\n\n

Assess ESPs and migrate with ease<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vetting ESPs is just one part of the ESP migration process. Get our complete guide to ESP migration\u2014including planning templates\u2014so you can get it done right.<\/p>\n

Get your guide \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Which ESPs should I send RFPs to?<\/h2>\n

Brands have no shortage of ESPs from which to choose. Here\u2019s a list of more than 240 ESPs<\/a> used by the respondents to Litmus\u2019 2018 State of Email Survey. But how do you narrow down the list? Time to do some research.<\/p>\n

Ask experts.<\/strong> \u201cAsk your peers on LinkedIn for recommendations and you\u2019ll get pulled in 20 different directions,\u201d says Jordie van Rijn, founder of emailvendorselection.com. Instead, seek out industry experts, especially ones that know the ESP marketplace well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWork with your agency or another industry partner,\u201d says Emily Hauptle, Digital Strategist at Laughlin Constable. \u201cThey have evaluated ESPs for other organizations, understand platforms and what they offer very well, and can help you understand what features actually matter to support your business objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of our experts mentioned the following sources of ESP intel:<\/p>\n