Lyris Introduces Consulting Services

Lyris Technologies, a email marketing division of marketing technology company J.L. Halsey, announced Monday that it has begun offering consulting services to enhance its existing deliverability solution. Organizations are now able to turn to Lyris' trained deliverability experts to not only help them identify the problems they encounter, but also help fix those problems, according to J.D. Peterson, product marketing manager at Lyris. With the release of the company's EmailAdvisor 3.0 two weeks ago, Lyris now offers capabilities to integrate a company's various email clients as well as an automatic recommendation engine to enhance problem-solving capabilities.The consulting services that Lyris has introduced will connect trained professionals with clients to work directly together for three-to-nine-month periods. This solution was deployed in response not only to the release of the updated EmailAdvisor product, Peterson says, but to the email marketing space in general and the demand to get emails into the inboxes of the consumer. Peterson also describes how experts will "go through all of [the client's] campaigns, go through all of the tools that they're using, essentially run an audit with them, and make recommendations on how to improve their deliverability." Then, when the trouble areas are identified, steps will be taken to actually implement the recommendations. "Consulting services are a necessary part to help diagnose the problems that come with email marketing," says David Daniels, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "While there have been improvements with identifying emails with [Sender Policy Framework], and even with certified emails, they're not universally deployed." Therefore, companies have found that face-to-face interactions are the best remedy for these dilemmas. "As a company, we're tackling deliverability from two angles," Peterson says. "One with our product EmailAdvisor 3.0, and then one with these deliverability services on top of that." By allowing buyers access to an additional level of service, he adds, "customers that want to go beyond what the product offers, we're able to do that." For some customers, the functions of EmailAdvisor are enough to satiate their business needs. However, more advanced features of deliverability capabilities, such as potentially revamping one's marketing infrastructure, are not covered by the software as purchased; hence, consultants are available to tackle the complex issues that require more detailed attention. Lyris Technologies is one of four firms acquired by J.L. Halsey over the last two years--the other three being EmailLabs, ClickTracks, and Hot Banana. Halsey has filed for stockholder approval to change its name to Lyris Solutions, reflecting the power the company attributes to the Lyris brand in the marketplace. Peterson says that, as Lyris progresses with its on-demand solution, the company will be trying to achieve tighter integration with the other online marketing tools it has developed and acquired, to create a seemless and more powerful application. The rapidly evolving market will force Lyris and its peers to stay on top of deliverability trends, Peterson says. "Deliverability will always be a challenging thing as [Internet service providers] continue to do different things to keep spam out--[making it] difficult for permission marketers to get their emails out," Peterson says, adding that Lyris plans to help clients manage new email clients and ISPs that need to be integrated into their systems, as well as ensuring clients' end users are getting the service they need with up-to-date technology. "At Lyris, we are in the unique position of having experts on a wide range of online marketing tools and topics beyond email marketing," Peterson says. The various pieces of the combined Lyris Solutions comprise a greater marketing solution focused on helping its customers, but each division still remains its own distinct operating unit, he says. Daniels notes, however, that the services would be beneficial to the greater company, to the extent that consulting for email itself is growing, even outside the realm of marketing. "Outside of email delivery, email is just more complicated than it's ever been," he says. So, for marketers, this is a logical progression: responding to the demand for consultants to help make their messages more targeted, more relevant, and more content rich. Peterson believes that the relationship between the company and its consumer relies on getting "these experts regularly talking and interfacing with customers to help them increase their marketing ROI." He adds that service that extends beyond software expands and enhances the bond between the company and the customer. "It's not simply a vendor-client relationship," he says. Related articles: Lots of Character: Lyris's Upgraded Campaign Tool The software provider adds A/B testing and comparison to campaign management in its latest on-demand release. Total Recall Email marketing turns out to be highly effective at connecting with and gaining mind share with small businesses. Feature: 8 Email Marketing Tips Experts provide commonsense advice about 'one of the most powerful and yet one of the most dangerous mediums of communication.' Coremetrics Launches LIVEmail 2.0 Four years after the original debuted, Coremetrics aims to improve the strategies behind e-mail marketing.

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