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SparkPeople Reduces Email Costs and Achieves 96% Deliverability With StrongMail
StrongMail Enables Third Most Popular Health Web Site to Successfully Scale Its Business, Streamline Operations and Drive Readership
Redwood City, Calif., August 22, 2007 – StrongMail Systems, Inc., the innovation leader in email infrastructure software, today announced that SparkPeople, a leading online health-media company, has streamlined its costs and improved its delivery rates by switching to StrongMail's in-house email delivery platform for its marketing and transactional messages. Using StrongMail's bounce management and deliverability tools, SparkPeople has improved its email delivery rate to 96%.
Each month, millions of health-conscious people visit SparkPeople to take advantage of its resources for losing weight and keeping it off, making it the third most popular health site on the Web in terms of page views. Founded in 2001, SparkPeople migrated from a paid subscription site to a free site in 2005. In order to support its new advertising-based business model, SparkPeople began to leverage email more heavily to grow its member base and keep it engaged. However, after expanding from two weekly newsletters to six daily ones, SparkPeople began looking for a cost-effective, high performance solution that could scale with its business.
With StrongMail, we can easily increase the volume of email that we send as market needs dictate, without having to incur the additional per message fees charged by an ESP," said Dave Heilmann, senior vice president of product development at SparkPeople. "StrongMail has also been a great partner in improving our deliverability, which we've improved to 96% using StrongMail's smart bounce management, authentication support and deliverability tools. Plus, as an in-house solution, StrongMail gives us total control over our sender reputation."
SparkPeople integrated StrongMail with a proprietary content management system, which has enabled the company to streamline the design and delivery of its weekly newsletters. A critical tool for enabling its editorial strategy, StrongMail gives SparkPeople the flexibility to test different creative, subject lines and content, all while tracking performance in real time. Furthermore, StrongMail's integration capabilities and recurring mailing functionality have greatly simplified its process for sending out newsletters.
"StrongMail has enabled us to efficiently build an email publishing engine, which allows us to be in much better constant contact with our members to encourage them to come back to our site," said Heilmann. "Now, we don't have to spend lots of time working on email each month – we have an email program that practically runs itself."
Email plays an important role in driving traffic to SparkPeople's online properties, which includes BabyFit.com. StrongMail enables SparkPeople to customize and maximize delivery of its daily and weekly newsletters, which generate an estimated 10% of page views and unique user counts.
"StrongMail's powerful and flexible email platform is an ideal fit for online publishers of ad-supported content like SparkPeople, who rely heavily on email to drive readership, and in turn revenue," said Bill Wagner, EVP of business operations at StrongMail Systems. "SparkPeople is an excellent example of the reliability, control and cost savings that can be attained by using StrongMail's in-house email solution."
About SparkPeople, Inc.
SparkPeople.com is a leading weight-loss website that teaches people how to stop dieting for good and make the transition to a permanent healthy lifestyle. The SparkPeople.com philosophy, combined with smart motivational strategies and a collection of personalized online tools, has helped thousands of members lose weight and keep it off. Through an international community of supportive members who encourage each other to reach their goals, SparkPeople.com has created a comfortable, positive environment for people to find the information and support they need to manage their weight without gimmicks or pressure. See www.sparkpeople.com.
About StrongMail Systems, Inc.
StrongMail Systems enables companies to realize the value of digital messaging with high-performance servers that simplify and enhance outbound email systems. StrongMail servers integrate a complete set of delivery, tracking and management capabilities into a single platform to "business-enable" email and other digital messages, allowing companies to build new revenue streams, improve customer loyalty and reduce costs. StrongMail servers integrate with existing business applications to unlock the potential of digital messaging for enterprises, service providers and ISVs. StrongMail is located in Redwood City, CA and is funded by Evercore Partners, Globespan Capital Partners and Sequoia Capital, the venture capitalists behind Google, Yahoo!, Cisco and Apple. To learn more about StrongMail Systems, visit www.strongmail.com.
Media Contact
Payal Cudia
Schwartz Communications
415-512-0770
strongmail@schwartz-pr.com