• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 1, 2022

For days, we have been getting announcements from firms saying they had been included in various Q1 Forrester Wave lists, including one identifying top email service providers for B2C marketers.

Far be it from us to deny them their glory, but such studies are based on the opinions of the authors, and are often incomplete. Are there really only 13 good providers in the B2C email space, and who are they, other than the ones that have publicized themselves? 

Forrester is charging $2,995 for this report, and it may well be be worth it to you to spring for it,. But here’s a shortcut: Solutions Review has identified the leaders in an analysis of the findings.

Before we share the list, please know that this does not imply an endorsement of the companies, or of the findings by Forrester authors Shar VanBoskirk, Emily Collins, Caroline Provost, and Peter Harrison. Indeed, we can probably think of a dozen more providers that measure up. And Forrester isn’t claiming that these are the only good ones. 

Here’s one other observation: That it’s not only about email. 

As William Jepma writes on Solutions Review: "Forrester recommends that B2C marketers work with an email marketing service provider capable of equipping them with capabilities outside traditional email functionalities and offer dynamic content tools and professional services for onboarding and support."

All that said, here’s how Forrester rates them:

Leaders

Zeta Global

Epsilon

Strong Performers

Cheetah Digital

Emarsys

Iterable

Oracle

Adobe

MessageGears

Cordially,

Contenders

Salesforce Marketing Cloud 

Braze

Netcore Cloud

Challengers

Accoustic 

Here’s a link to the Solutions Review article. In the meantime, you might want to do your own legwork if you’re looking for a vendor.