SARE- blog

Spam and efficiency testing

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:10:02 +0000

We kept ourselves busy during the holiday season and we are glad to inform you of new developments to SARE system. To ensure that our clients’ mailings actually reach their customers, we introduced a spam test. SARE will check whether an email will be treated as spam by the recipients email inbox and point out errors to be corrected. This new solution will result in increased effectiveness of our emailing campaigns. Anti-spam filter is available at the second step of the mailing.

Another solution introduced by SARE are A/B/X tests that allow us to check quickly and efficiently the effectiveness of email creations. To be able to run the test, we have to prepare two versions of a creation that we send out to two groups of recipients and compare their reactions. The version that achieves a higher CTR is then mailed to all the recipients. A/B/X tests will help to improve our email open rates.

SARE works faster

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:09:09 +0000

To accommodate the continuous growth of our customer base, an increasingly more sophisticated level of our services, and the use of SAREscript, we set up a new application server.

The server is equipped with two quad-core Intel Xeon processors, 24 GB of RAM and fast SAS hard drives. The criteria that influenced our choice were not only efficiency but also safety and the guarantee of uninterrupted work. To achieve those aims the server was set up on a special platform with two 650W redundant power supplies.

The implementation of the server was successful and resulted in an increase of our system’s efficiency. The time required for the carrying out of the most complicated operations, e.g. running advanced filters based on SAREscript, is now reduced by up to 50%.

Latest IAB Polska strategic report

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:37:32 +0000

SARE customarily participated in the preparation of a report on Polish Internet, specifically in the scope of e-mail marketing. We may learn from the report, among others, that the share of mailing (6 percent) in the total expenses on on-line advertising remained unchanged as compared to the previous year, and that marketers found e-mail the most effective communication channel of 2009. The effectiveness of e-mailing derives from its advantages: precise demographic, geographic and behavioural targeting. The loyalty campaigns and development of mailing lists were listed among the most essential components of marketing strategy in 2010.

The report also provides average rates for e-mail marketing campaigns: the average last year’s open rate was 18.4, CTR 6.1 percent, and bounce rate reached 8.3 percent.

E-mail marketing sees a continued trend of departing from mass communication and focusing on individualized, personalized and customized communication. This requires running own databases, their segmentation and analyses of correspondence record. The challenge for e-mail marketing system providers is to ensure the highest deliverability of messages as well as their correct display on different e-mail clients.

SARE in Internetstandard’s ranking

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:36:58 +0000

SARE is the only e-mail marketing company that participated in the ranking prepared by Internetstandard and was rated 23rd on the list of interactive agencies (3 points higher compared to 2008). At the moment SARE is in 51st place in terms of profitability, and ranks between WP and Pracuj.pl.

The 2k10 Report on financial standing of Polish e-business is available at:
http://www.internetstandard.pl/whitepapers/1416/Raport.Internet.2k10.html

How to cooperate with e-mail marketing agencies in entrusting the processing of personal data?

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:24:53 +0000

One of the points of the „E-mail marketing 2010” Conference was a presentation devoted to the issue of cooperating with e-mail marketing agencies, in terms of entrusting the processing of personal data. The presenter, Michał Sztąberek, the president of iSecure Sp. z o.o., was speaking about a number of concerns, including the way the data administrator should collect natural persons’ data, which will later be used for marketing purposes (as well as to send business information to the obtained e-mail addresses). Among the key issues, the following elements were mentioned:
- collecting a clear permission for the processing of personal data for marketing purposes (one that is not a part of other declaration),
- recording the permission for evidential purposes (especially in relation to the use of an e-mail address to send business information to it),
- collecting personal data within limits that are essential (adequate) to achieve the marketing aim.

The second part of the presentation pointed out the most important questions related to creating an agreement on entrusting the processing of data, mentioned in article 31 of the Personal Data Protection Act. During the presentation, it has been emphasised that only such an agreement formally authorises an e-mail marketing agency to process personal data entrusted to it by the personal data administrator in order to implement services provided by the agency.

As it was pointed out at the session, the most significant components of the entrustment agreement are:
- identifying the purpose of data processing (the purpose is identified by the data administrator, and the agency providing its services is bound by it),
- indicating the range of the processed data (the data administrator determines what categories of data will be processed by the e-mail marketing agency on the basis of the contract),
- commitment of the e-mail marketing agency to take the necessary organisational and technical measures which will ensure security of the entrusted data (e.g. the agency has the duty to tick to a security policy, instructions on how to manage the information system serving for personal data processing, logical protection that is relevant to threats, e.g. firewalls on servers, encoding data that is processed on laptops and notebooks).

Useful optional provisions that should be included in this type of agreement have also been identified. Among them, the speaker has mentioned e.g.
- a precise definition of responsibilities of both parties of the agreement on entrusting data processing,
- issues connected with the way of transmitting data and deleting the data when the cooperation is terminated,
- the fact that the data administrator can guarantee control rights for himself, in relation to implementation of the provisions of Personal Data Protection Act by the agency.

New functionalities in SARE

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:20:57 +0000

In May we have introduced an option to monit newsletters and mailing lists on iPhone and iPad. For over a year, the customers of SARE have had the possibility to view text messages in 15 different e-mail clients, without the need to install them or to sign in to them. In relation to the rising significance of mobile devices as e-mail clients, we have just provided the option of testing the most popular ones.

Another new function is a calendar that allows planning SMS messaging. Thanks to that, any campaign can be run on a specific day and at a specific time. So it is no longer required to log in to the system when we want to start messaging (e.g. on weekends).

Legally binding e-invoices

admin — Mon, 24 May 2010 09:19:25 +0000

On May 20, the Supreme Administrative Court issued a decision that allows businessmen to send invoices over e-mail. So far, the treasury has claimed that only the traditional invoice, in a paper form, is an invoice, whereas a PDF document has not had any legal force. Since 2005, one can theoretically send the so-called e-invoices, but only when using the so-called secure electronic signature – and getting it incurred some costs. From now on, the invoice sent via e-mail or fax is just as valid as the one sent by post. For many companies this is a way of saving time and postage costs.

Check what we did last year

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:53:40 +0000

A new year has started – this means that the time for summing up and development plans started as well. We will soon inform you about new features of SARE. Today, we recall the most important events and changes that occurred last year.

Four new employees joined SARE team last year: Łukasz Rzewuski, Katarzyna Badowska, Mirka Barszcz and Marcin Gugała. They joined New Business, Client Service, and Finance and Accounting department. Marcin is in charge of new MailMedia project, which includes planning mailing campaigns with the use of ready-made address databases. Currently, 15 persons are working in SARE and we are recruiting candidates for three more positions. That is why we also moved to a new bigger office.

The increase in employment is related to the realisation of our main goal: providing our clients with complex e-mail marketing service. Therefore, in 2009 we were introducing additional services in this area. These were – among others – text message deliveries, creation and expansion of address databases, preparation and optimisation of the messages for the needs of the campaign and the above-mentioned MailMedia. In the forthcoming year, two very important features will be added – both key for e-mail marketing activities. In relation to the strategy implementation, in spring we refreshed SARE brand image, prepared new visual identification materials and an Internet website. In order to improve the contact with our clients and partners, we started a blog and established SARE profile on a social network – Facebook.

We continually introduce new functionalities to SARE system, increase its efficiency and improve security systems. We described the most important changes in the system in our blog.

In 2009, we won more than 120 new clients. We widened cooperation with the current interactive agencies, including the most prominent ones, for which we supply technology solutions from the field of e-mail marketing. We observe that our clients are satisfied with the results of jointly run e-mail marketing activities and that they allot more funds for them. In 2009, more than 150 million e-mails were sent via SARE, which constitutes 40% increase in comparison to the previous year. We also sent more than 850 thousand text messages. All this was reflected in the significant increase in our turnover.

Last year, we also actively participated in the works of working groups of trade organisations. We led the e-mail marketing group in IAB Polska, which published, among all, The Document Of Good E-mail Marketing Practices for and The Marketers’ Guide. We also took part in SMB_interactive activities. We were present at several branch conferences and continued cooperation with SGH (Warsaw School of Economics), giving lectures on e-mail marketing to postgraduate students. We participated in Useful Website Certification Programme, which aim is to improve the level of usefulness of Polish websites.

In the second part of the year, we conducted our sixth research on electronic mail in Poland. Jointly with Adam Smith Centre, we checked the effectiveness of electronic communication in contacts with Tax Offices. It is worth mentioning that for the first time we took part in Mixx Awards competition and we were rewarded for “Ja lecę!” campaign organised for Norwegian airlines. At the end of the year, we conducted an opinion research on SARE clients, which, among all, provided answers for questions regarding directions in which we should develop our products and services so as to meet our clients’ needs.

This year we will carry on with our strategy of offering complex and advanced e-mail marketing services. That is why the strongest emphasis will be put on the further development of SARE system and its enrichment with unique solutions, related mainly to the personalisation of e-mail communication and the measurement of individual campaigns’ sales effects. We also plan to develop SARE MailMedia section and SMS communication services. The recruitment process will result in enriching our team with new people with diverse competences from the field of e-mail marketing. Our goal, as the leader of e-mail marketing in Poland, is to further determine trends in the field and to deliver the highest level e-mail marketing services to the biggest and most demanding clients.

Four basic rules for preparing effective promotional e-mails

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:44:48 +0000

We have examined several promotional mails and we managed to distinguish four most important features of an effective promotional mail. We would like to share a few guidelines in order to make our promotional e-mails more effective. First of all, in order to encourage new clients to make a purchase, it is worth adding a discount coupon or a code to a promotional email. Secondly, we should never forget about our regular customers, members of our clubs, and offer them special bonuses. Thirdly, it is worth showing the clients that their opinion is important for us. That is why they should be encouraged to interact and comment on company’s products and services. Moreover, it is good to add images to the profiles on social networks. Last but not least, we should ensure that “Buy now” option is conspicuous.

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Summary of changes in the system

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:43:13 +0000

The end of the year approaches, and the time for summing up has come as well. That is why we would like to remind you of the most important functionalities which appeared in SARE in 2009. Not all of them are widely known, but they may be very useful so it is worth getting acquainted with them.

- we made available the new solution which enables to see sent messages in 15 different email applications without the need for their installation or logging in
- we optimised the system for the most popular Internet search engines
- we enabled the option for setting filters on databases
- report on campaigns module was enriched with new, visually attractive 3D charts
- we introduced the possibility to export all statistics to a Word document and individual tables to Excel, and CSV/XML files
- this week, we implemented URL links’ tagging and the option to analyse tags.

SARE IT Department is preparing a new solution with a great potential related to automation of various types of dispatches. The premiere will take place at the beginning of next year!