• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, April 6, 2010

As two-year-old HauteLook saw its business growing to the point it needed to send out about 2 million emails a day, it switched email service providers (ESPs) as it looked to wrap its arms around not just the volume, but the precision. The company sends the missives plugging daily sales for top fashion brands and other offerings, but needs the full load to arrive within a 5-minute window.

Enter StrongMail, an ESP which offered help with the execution, but also provides services that would help HauteLook improve efficiency over a longer term, according to CTO Kevin Diamond. Diamond said HauteLook wants to capitalize on its email list by finding ways to improve targeting. And it is looking to StrongMail to help it send more customized and personalized emails.

HauteLook emails include a rundown of about 12 sales a day for a range of heavily discounted yet upscale products. One targeting option is rearranging the list in specific messages to better appeal to the recipients.

"As we have more sale events starting every morning, it's becoming more and more important that the person getting the emails is seeing the sale events in the order that will most appeal to them," Diamond said.

Also within data mining, HauteLook is aiming to track which recipients share deals and information on social networking platforms. That could allow it to identify influencers and send customized emails to them.

"These guys are some of the most sophisticated I've seen at trying to make social sharing a part of every customer touchpoint," said Ryan Deutsch, vice president of emerging media at StrongMail.

On a more basic front, all HauteLook emails need to be delivered nationwide at approximately 11 a.m. EST. Diamond said pinpoint timing is crucial because the emails need to arrive far enough before a sale begins, but not so far before that people relegate the tip-off to the back-burner and forget about it.

Sales last about 48 hours. "It's extremely important that everyone is getting (the email) at essentially the same time, so that everybody has the same opportunity for the available inventory," Diamond said.

Diamond said the shift of ESPs from CheetahMail to Silicon Valley-based StrongMail was not driven by cost-cutting, though that is an "added bonus." He said CheetahMail has played a notable role in HauteLook's growth since its December 2007 launch.

HauteLook is free to customers and has partnerships with some 850 retailers for exclusive online sales events.