Today we welcome Inxmail in our interview cycle of emailing platforms. If you have an opinion on the solution, please let us know in the comments.
Can you give us a brief history of Inxmail? When was the platform founded, by whom, has the business model evolved since the beginning of the adventure?
Inxmail was founded in Germany in 1999 by Martin Bucher and Peter Ziras, two software engineers who are still at the head of the group today. The company has more than 1,500 customers in 20 countries and three direct subsidiaries in Italy (2007), Australia (2009) and France (2011).
Our email marketing platform, Inxmail Professional, has been in existence since 2001 and is developed in Java, offering our customers unparalleled functional richness and speed of execution. Inxmail Professional also comes with an extended API (SDK) in PHP5, .Net and of course Java which allows the platform to be interconnected with many third party systems such as CRM tools (Apps for Salesforce CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM) and e-commerce solutions (RBS Change, Magento, OXID e-sales, Hybris, Intershop...).
What makes Inxmail unique? What makes you different from other players in this very competitive market?
The market is, as you rightly point out, very competitive with multiple players identifying themselves as "routers", "multi-channel platforms", "emailing solution", "360° solution"... there is no shortage of names and superlatives, just like the core businesses which differ greatly from one player to another.
Nevertheless, it is good to distinguish the different types of solutions into 3 categories:
- Emailing solutions, the mass mailing approach of the early 2000s
- Email marketing solutions
- Multi or cross-channel solutions
Our offer is definitely in line with the logic of email marketing and is aimed at advertisers wishing to set up relevant and ROI-strong relational programs. The "email cannon" is not our business, nor is the daily reinvention of lukewarm water found among the handful of so-called "multi-channel" players.
In addition to our Java development, Inxmail Professional is the only email marketing solution on the market that is offered both in SaaS mode and as a software license.
Last but not least, our network of partnerships: digital agencies, integrators, software publishers... each with their own expertise and business. Ours: email marketing.
What are the 3 main challenges for the next few months in the emailing world?
No need to try to be original here:
- Mobile terminals (keyword: responsive web)
- Content relevance (keyword: trigger marketing)
- Integration with third-party systems
In the first case, the rules for displaying mailings change as often as a new terminal is born... that is, constantly! This effervescence is reminiscent of the 2000s with the multiplication of web browsers. We help our customers to meet the challenge of mobile by relying on our know-how and the features of Inxmail Professional: CMS and email rendering and eye-tracking options.
Need help?
Reading content isn't everything. The best way is to talk to us.
With non-opening rates of nearly 80%, the era of the "email cannon" is coming to an end; to avoid drowning in the mass of emails quickly deleted by the annoyed reader, the advertiser must aim right and with adapted content. Trigger mailings allow to optimize the moment of sending messages according to the customer's life cycle; integration allows to fine-tune the content by retrieving high value-added information where it is found (e-commerce, CRM, analytics...). Traceability and data quality are, in our opinion, essential for efficient email marketing in 2013.
What are the next evolutions of your platform?
There are two major updates each year, in the spring and fall. The next versions will emphasize connectivity to other systems, in particular with e-commerce platforms and CRM solutions for which we will ensure the compatibility of the modules developed. The sustainability of our clients' investments is at stake.
Do you offer your customers a "Freemium" mode (free version with reduced features)?
No.
Why not use this model?
The Inxmail group is growing at a rate of 30% per year over the last ten years and the number of employees reached 100 in 2013. This growth is completely organic, the parent company and its subsidiaries are still owned by the two founders. Freemium is a model adapted to fundraising, which is not our case.
Moreover, we do not intend to promote a number of users that is disconnected from reality by highlighting "customers" who do not actively use the platform.
Finally, we don't believe that email marketing can be improvised and all our offers naturally include support; whether it's the sharing of best practices or the reactivity of our user assistance, we don't leave our customers to their own devices.
What do you think of the French emailing market? Is it mature or is there still room for new innovations?
Like all other European markets, it is becoming more structured and the share of prospecting emails is decreasing in favor of loyalty emails. Without being able to talk about maturity yet, the indicators are nevertheless encouraging with advertisers becoming more critical and understanding that deliverability is not so much the result of technical settings as of a qualitative approach to data collection (traceability, double opt-in form, preference center...).
Innovation will come from practices: email is the common denominator for all Internet users, but it is still a channel to be used wisely alongside other channels (paper, telephone, social networks, etc.).
A last word to conclude?
First of all, thank you for the interview!
And a little advertisement for the road: confident in the quality of our solutions and services, we offer any interested company an online demonstration and even a free evaluation of Inxmail Professional. Don't hesitate to contact us!
