WordFly vs. Mail2

Hi Elizabeth,

We’ve been using mail2 at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since the beginning of August, and we have been very pleased thus far with the product.

While we were very happy with Wordfly, the Mail2 solution more thoroughly answered all of our institution’s wish-list items in terms of scalability and process. We found that it worked on a very simple level for the basic user but also had an array of options for more technical skill levels.

On the front end, our design team responded to multiple methods for creating and integrating templates with campaigns. Our IT department was excited to not have to host any local files or new systems. Our Marketing department was sold on flexible email triggers, the ability to integrate with Tessitura, and the very detailed reporting. On the data side, the list management component is very lightweight and intuitive and requires less involvement by technical staff. The pricing model was also a partial consideration, which is based on total number of subscribers rather than emails sent, which made the budget affordable as well as predictable.

We have also found Mail2 to quite responsive to the Tessitura community in terms of desired features – the system itself already contains an extraordinary number of customizable options and they are always open to new ideas. As Heather mentioned, they are still working on components like emails triggered by performance attendance and completely customized content at the patron level. But from the various conversations we’ve had with them, it sounds like those will be up and running sometime next year, if that suits your organization’s schedule.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have offline as well.

Best,

Kate Hagen

Marketing Manager, Patron Retention

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

312-294-3084

hagenk@cso.org

Elizabeth -

Having just watched the mail2 webinar this AM and having been on Wordfly for a year and a half, here's my two cents in a very simplified manner.

Both have pros and cons - with WordFly releasing its new pricing structure if you are a smaller organization when it comes to sending out emails WordFly *might* be better for you. Our enews list is only 20k and we send that maybe twice a month + 10k in all the transactional emails which still puts us under the 'unlimited' price on a constitant basis.Larger organizations the cost has been taken out of the picture.

So mail2 vs wordfly-

From what I've seen (only in demos and webinar) the base product looks REALLY exciting. Some functionality has been made much easier than we have it in WordFly land. With monthly sprints, I can see this product being a real competitor, but just not quite yet.

The biggest things I see (and reasons I couldn't switch to mail2 right now) are automatic (scheduled) customizations and triggered campaigns. Neither are there in mail2. Yet.

So you'd have to look at your organization's needs and what you currently do in emails and what you want to do in the future. We have a series of emails that are totally personalized in content for a patron and are sent before the a show and another set that are sent after the show. With WordFly, I set it and forget it (although there is quite the upfront time overhead in the setup). With mail2 I'd have to be manually uploading on a daily basis which just makes me shudder.

If your organization doesn't do that (or doesn't plan on doing it until probably next year if Lynch comes through on its promises) then mail2 might be the perfect fit. The biggest thing is looking at what your organization does (or wants to do) and then ranking those items and seeing who meets them best. I think of it like buying a house - I may SAY I want 2 baths, but will I live with 1.5? 

Good luck, and feel free to contact me off-line if you want to!

Heather
Seattle Rep 

Hi Elizabeth,

We’ve been using mail2 at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since the beginning of August, and we have been very pleased thus far with the product.

While we were very happy with Wordfly, the Mail2 solution more thoroughly answered all of our institution’s wish-list items in terms of scalability and process. We found that it worked on a very simple level for the basic user but also had an array of options for more technical skill levels.

On the front end, our design team responded to multiple methods for creating and integrating templates with campaigns. Our IT department was excited to not have to host any local files or new systems. Our Marketing department was sold on flexible email triggers, the ability to integrate with Tessitura, and the very detailed reporting. On the data side, the list management component is very lightweight and intuitive and requires less involvement by technical staff. The pricing model was also a partial consideration, which is based on total number of subscribers rather than emails sent, which made the budget affordable as well as predictable.

We have also found Mail2 to quite responsive to the Tessitura community in terms of desired features – the system itself already contains an extraordinary number of customizable options and they are always open to new ideas. As Heather mentioned, they are still working on components like emails triggered by performance attendance and completely customized content at the patron level. But from the various conversations we’ve had with them, it sounds like those will be up and running sometime next year, if that suits your organization’s schedule.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have offline as well.

Best,

Kate Hagen

Marketing Manager, Patron Retention

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

312-294-3084

hagenk@cso.org

Elizabeth -

Having just watched the mail2 webinar this AM and having been on Wordfly for a year and a half, here's my two cents in a very simplified manner.

Both have pros and cons - with WordFly releasing its new pricing structure if you are a smaller organization when it comes to sending out emails WordFly *might* be better for you. Our enews list is only 20k and we send that maybe twice a month + 10k in all the transactional emails which still puts us under the 'unlimited' price on a constitant basis.Larger organizations the cost has been taken out of the picture.

So mail2 vs wordfly-

From what I've seen (only in demos and webinar) the base product looks REALLY exciting. Some functionality has been made much easier than we have it in WordFly land. With monthly sprints, I can see this product being a real competitor, but just not quite yet.

The biggest things I see (and reasons I couldn't switch to mail2 right now) are automatic (scheduled) customizations and triggered campaigns. Neither are there in mail2. Yet.

So you'd have to look at your organization's needs and what you currently do in emails and what you want to do in the future. We have a series of emails that are totally personalized in content for a patron and are sent before the a show and another set that are sent after the show. With WordFly, I set it and forget it (although there is quite the upfront time overhead in the setup). With mail2 I'd have to be manually uploading on a daily basis which just makes me shudder.

If your organization doesn't do that (or doesn't plan on doing it until probably next year if Lynch comes through on its promises) then mail2 might be the perfect fit. The biggest thing is looking at what your organization does (or wants to do) and then ranking those items and seeing who meets them best. I think of it like buying a house - I may SAY I want 2 baths, but will I live with 1.5? 

Good luck, and feel free to contact me off-line if you want to!

Heather
Seattle Rep