News & Events

Mind Drivers Selects StrongMail to Power YouChoose.net Cause-Based Online Community

StrongMail's on-premise email solution enables social networking site to engage its members with customized newsletters and service-based messages based on their interests, actions and communities

Redwood City, Calif., May 28, 2008 – StrongMail Systems, Inc., the leading provider of on-premise solutions for marketing and transactional email, today announced that Mind Drivers, a business development organization with an innovative approach to building online businesses (www.minddrivers.com), has selected StrongMail to power its fast-growing cause-based social networking community YouChoose.net (www.YouChoose.net). With 250,000 members, YouChoose.net joins an impressive and expansive list of social-networking and Web 2.0 companies that rely on StrongMail as their in-house email delivery platform.

Within the YouChoose.net community, members participate in discussion and take action on a myriad of causes—from animal rights and political issues to saving the fate of characters on their favorite television shows. Members who join various communities receive email newsletters based on the content and discussions happening on YouChoose.net. Members also receive automated service-based messages based on user-generated activity within those communities.

“With StrongMail, we can determine the type of information being discussed within individual communities and leverage it in our email communications to members,” said Mary Beth Dostillio, communications and campaigns director for YouChoose.net. “Email is the most effective way for our users to communicate, and StrongMail allows us to create the targeted content that people within individual cause-based communities are most interested in.”

Recognizing the challenge of scaling highly customized content for marketing and transaction-based email campaigns, Mind Drivers understood quickly that an on-premise solution would work best for creating and delivering email newsletters and alerts to the YouChoose.net community. The first phase of the project focused on deliverability and ensuring that all emails were meeting established criteria for receiving ISPs. Validation and double opt-in email processes are now handled by StrongMail, which before had been processed manually. Mind Drivers also selected StrongMail to manage transactional emails—everything from member welcomes, to passwords/questions and birthday reminders.

“We spent a lot of time evaluating the right solution for YouChoose,” added Mark McLellan, CTO at Mind Drivers. “Ease of use was a strong differentiator for StrongMail early on. We were able to test our campaigns in a real environment using information in our own database, which we weren’t able to do with other solutions. StrongMail also allowed direct data connections to Oracle and other systems that enabled us to more easily export our data.”

“Mind Drivers has created a compelling resource with its YouChoose.net cause-based social networking site,” said Kristin Hersant, director of corporate marketing at StrongMail Systems. “They have tapped into the power of creating customized content to communicate with their broad user base, recognizing that even within social networking, email remains the backbone for how individuals exchange information within the communities that matter most to them.”

About Mind Drivers
Mind Drivers provides driven entrepreneurs with talented, experienced people who will work with them to build their business in a rapid and efficient manner. We are active partners and out of our desire to remain focused, highly selective. Our contribution to the business' success is from our in-kind contribution of people, technology and strategy. We concentrate on fostering rapid growth while maintaining or achieving profitability within 12 to 18 months. Our reward is purely from our participation in the growing value of the business

About YouChoose.net
YouChoose.net, is a social network specifically developed for people to turn their "Passions into Actions" by setting up and supporting 'Pledge Campaigns' and 'Petitions' that allow them to promote their cause to others. YouChoose provides the platform and tools necessary for individuals and organizations to easily create and update their campaigns and to allow members to participate in forum discussions. YouChoose membership has averaged more than 100% monthly growth since the site was launched in February 2007.

About StrongMail Systems, Inc.
StrongMail Systems provides businesses with commercial-grade, on-premise solutions for marketing and transactional email. StrongMail integrates its proven email delivery, tracking and campaign management software on high-performance servers that are optimized for maximum deliverability. In addition to providing superior control, security and integration capabilities, StrongMail's in-house approach offers companies a more powerful and cost-effective alternative to homegrown or outsourced solutions. Hundreds of companies worldwide rely on StrongMail's solutions to power their mission-critical customer communications. A Silicon Valley company, StrongMail is headquartered in Redwood City, CA, and is funded by Sequoia Capital, Evercore Partners, Globespan Capital Partners and DAG Ventures. To learn more about StrongMail Systems, visit www.strongmail.com.

Media Contact
Rebecca Mettler
Eastwick Communications
+1 650-480-4019