Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, has been recognized by The Relevancy Group as a leader in “The Relevancy Ring: Email Agency Buyer’s Guide – 2015.” The Relevancy Group, a leader in email marketing research and consulting, released its first ever buyer’s guide, which analyzes seven vendors and sheds light on which agencies improve the ROI of current email marketing technologies.

“What differentiates Merkle is our world-class analytic capabilities and performance-based creative at scale, combined with the depth of a traditional Email Service Provider (ESP) in email production and deliverability. We made a deliberate choice to not build our own platform, instead we built expertise and best practices on leading email platforms and match our client’s needs to the appropriate platform,” said Jose Cebrian, VP and GM, Email and Mobile Messaging at Merkle.  

Merkle has been providing email services since 2006 and has more than 200 dedicated employees for this business. Using its wealth of data to segment customer bases, Merkle is able to send highly relevant emails, achieving specific strategic objectives and creating more satisfied, loyal customers. According to The Relevancy Group report, “As the only independent email agency that could possibly compete with the ESP agencies as well, Merkle did a good job of differentiating themselves with a relentless focus on analytics and creative.” The creative team leads the industry in crafting engaging, customer-centric emails using data-driven customer insights and proprietary best practices designed to enhance performance. They are supported by data scientists utilizing analytics to optimize conversion rates through continuous testing and improvement. The report also states, “For marketers looking for the agency size of an in-house shop combined with the platform flexibility of an independent email agency, Merkle just might be the answer.”

The Relevancy Group partnered with a new nonprofit foundation, A Chance in the World™, to create the analysis criteria for the report. All of the participants were challenged to come up with a detailed communications plan for the nonprofit, including strategy, analytics, and creative ideas to increase donations and engagement with the foundation. An excerpt of this research is featured in Issue 7 of The Marketer Quarterly, a digital magazine that is free to subscribers with registration at www.marketerquarterly.com.