• by Adam Bernard , June 13, 2002

With email campaigns generating a much higher click-through rate than traditional banners, everyone’s looking for a way to make their email stand out. That’s where Silverpop’s new rich media email software comes in. The first to be released in this series of products is Silverpop Campaign Edition, which lets users create, send, and track emails with video, audio, and images, and integrates into existing email systems, so there are no worries, or hassles about rendering current software obsolete.

This software is intended to give users the ability to effectively communicate using rich media email messages; send these messages to qualified lists; and monitor results for increased ROI. Users can quickly, and easily, embed video, audio, customized layouts, and unique branding within any email message.

Sharon Cuppett, VP of marketing for Silverpop, explains, “Through an interface you can literally point and click, and drag and drop any kind of rich media; video, audio, flash files, pictures. You can take them from anywhere,” adding, “You can do rich text editing. We’re not saying you won’t still want a designer, but it allows the guy on the street who just wants to send a few rich media emails, to do just that. We also supply a group of templates, so if you don’t have any design you can click on those.”

Silverpop Campaign Edition special features include wizard-driven list management, personalization, bulk mailing, and robust tracking. The messaging technology involved with this product streams rich media when an email is opened, so there isn’t a need for a bulky attachment. In fact, most messages end up very small, between 3-7k. “Because they’re embedded in the email, when you open it, it streams in at the time that it’s opened. So what would normally be a 3MB file ends up 5-7k,” notes Cuppett.

Silverpop Campaign Edition is available for an annual license fee, and buyers can purchase Message Packs per licensed seat. If the user then sends more messages than the allocated Message Pack, they are charged a premium.