When integrating email marketing with other applications, the first step towards success is to make a plan. I advise clients to use the old journalism “5 Ws and an H” as your guide: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
Who is going to code / program the integration? Usually, this resource is an internal developer; but due to time and budget constraints, sometimes this work is contracted out to make a deadline. Regardless, the “who” decision needs to be made first so the proper developer can be included in the planning process and provide developer-specific details or suggestions if needed.
What are your needs for the integration? Is it to automatically send emails based on an action, or is it to pull back tracking from your email application to your database of record or CRM system? With an open API like ExactTarget’s, there are so many options of how and what to integrate. Getting a clear sense of everything you want to accomplish from the beginning will help your organization determine whether all of the initiatives should be put into one integration project, broken up into smaller projects in order to keep a timeline, etc.
When does the integration need to be deployed? It is essential to have (and communicate!) a release date so everyone working on the project knows what the schedule is. Keep in mind that for successful integration, you should build in time to develop and time to test, and make sure to take both into consideration when developing your schedule. Also, it is good idea to find out what other projects people have on their plate. While you may want to have an integration running by the end of the month, the developers and / or testers may not be able to keep to that timeline due to other deadlines.
Where will the integration be hosted? Integrations are typically hosted on a server your company owns, but it needs to be decided if the proper resources (hard drive space) have been allocated to run the project.
Why are you integrating? This is similar to the what are your needs, but it goes a little beyond that. Think big picture: once the integration is setup, how will you utilize it in your business process? I’ve had experiences where companies want to integrate email with other applications, but do not understand why the integration is important to their business. What are the ultimate goals you are hoping to accomplish? Establishing the “why” will help you secure internal buy-in on the investment and measure whether or not the integration is successful in the future.
And don’t forget the “H”…
How will the integration be implemented? In addition to the decision of who will actually implement the integration, you should also determine what the contingencies and risk factors for implementation are as well. For example, what are you going to do if something doesn’t go as planned? Identifying and planning for the unexpected factors from the beginning will help ensure your integration gets up and running smoothly.
Quite essentially, solid planning is key before starting any integration project. So remember your 5 Ws + 1 H, and contact ExactTarget for more information.
Jessica Koch, Integration Consultant
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