This week, we invite you to discover the Message Business emailing platform by welcoming Vincent Fournout, Associate Director, to our interview series. Don't hesitate to give your opinion in the comments of this article.
Can you give us a brief history of Message Business? When was the platform founded, by whom, and has the business model evolved since the beginning?
The company was created by Guillaume Le Friant, Jean-Michel Hazera (2 ex Microsoft / MSN France) and myself (founder of the agency La Mine). In 2006 we had the ambition to make e-marketing, especially emailing, accessible to all companies and organizations. The model with no fixed costs and the convictions around the support of our users have not changed!
What makes Message Business unique? What sets you apart from other players in this highly competitive market?
Message Business is the only solution in France offering both :
- a rich functionality (dynamic segmentation, automatic triggered emailing, form, survey and landing page, Prestashop / Magento module, SMS...)
- technical accessibility (which earned us the Ecommerce Award) AND pricing (no commitment, no fixed costs, no subscription).
- direct support (introductory events with 4 dates in the coming weeks, support, personalized training and even a book!) and indirect support for agencies and consultants who are an important link in the email marketing chain.
This mix is actually very differentiating. We allow our clients and partners to deploy sophisticated strategies without falling into the syndrome of a complex and costly gas factory. This has been our credo since the beginning.
What are the 3 main challenges for the next few months in the emailing world?
There is only one, but it is worth 3: you have to understand that mass mailing is no longer the solution and that you have to segment your base and adapt your messages to your different segments. This is a heavy challenge because email marketing has always been perceived as a light and inexpensive channel, but today we must make an effort in terms of resources to meet this challenge. I also think that this issue also raises the question of editorial content which has often been the poor relation of email marketing. Today, each segment has the right to an exciting story that is built up over the course of the messages.
What are the next evolutions of your platform?
Lots of new features are planned in the coming months including innovations that will position us in a break with our competitors. As you point out, we are in a very competitive sector: let us give the scoop on these innovations to our users and partners 🙂
Need help?
Reading content isn't everything. The best way is to talk to us.
Do you offer your customers a "Freemium" mode (free version with reduced features)?
Yes 500 email credits, 10 free SMS and all features available. Message Business was the first French freemium platform in 2006.
What do you get out of it?
At the heart of our philosophy, which is based on transparency.
What do you think of the French emailing market? Is it mature or is there still room for new innovations?
At the level of advertisers, especially SMEs and e-retailers (apart from the big ones), everything remains to be done in terms of segmentation.
As far as solutions are concerned, I personally feel that things are humming along and that email marketing is not really shining in terms of innovation. This is probably due to a relative economic maturity. We believe, however, that there are many levers for innovation that go far beyond what we see today, and that's what we're working on at Message Business!
A final word to conclude
A tip for email marketers who are often web marketers: check your campaigns BEFORE you send them. Spelling, links, accuracy of information. After sending it's too late 🙂
