GetResponse sees the opportunity in an Asian strategy

GetResponse, known for its email marketing, is now a provider of online marketing tools, and focused on investing in Asia to be closer to clients from the region. 

Source: GetResponse.
Grabowski.

“Singapore, along with Malaysia and Thailand, is our first step to building our local presence in Asia. Currently, we are in the midst of planning to setting up offices here with local teams to underline our growth in the region,” said GetResponse CEO Simon Grabowski. “We’re also exploring options to expand our marketing activities, deepen our affiliate relations here and develop dedicated partnership programmes for our resellers.”

Grabowski further explained that Singapore’s attraction is as one of the biggest markets in ASEAN, with a highly developed economy and a growing startup scene. Companies here are quick to adopt the latest trends in online marketing technologies,” he noted.

“The EU and US markets are not developing as rapidly, while there is still room for email marketing to grow in Asia with consumer groups here being more willing to experiment with new solutions and technologies,” he added. “With the region also being one of the highest users of smartphones and mobile gadgets, there is also a demand for email marketing to be mobile-friendly to increase the effectiveness of a campaign – this is something GetResponse offers over other players here.”

Demand for email marketing is actually increasing, especially in ASEAN, according to Grabowski. “This region is also the fastest growing technology market globally but there is a lack of regional email and online marketing solutions. Email also goes hand-in-hand with digital and mobile marketing although small organisations may not have the budget for digital and mobile options. As such, we still think there’s a need for a comprehensive email marketing service such as GetResponse,” he said.

Besides email automation, GetResponse offer complementary marketing strategies and channels such as social media integration, landing pages and stock photos which can be customised for marketing campaigns.

The Landing Page Creator 2.0 software, for example, helps GetResponse clients create promotional landing pages and mini-sites, and can also collect data from potential subscribers. “This helps online marketers and SMEs here to create effective and comprehensive lists of information for their marketing campaigns,” Grabowski said.

“Marketing automation is also important here and we are developing a suite of tools such as lead scoring, tracking activity of website visitors to be linked with timely and relevant automated emails. Through improving the timeliness and relevance of our client’s messages, it can help to improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.”

GetResponse has already differentiated small businesses from larger companies with different plans. For as low as US$15 a month, small businesses are given access to fully-automated marketing tools, while the GetResponse Enterprise version is for companies with more advanced email marketing strategies.

But what about email spam? “All of our subscribers are required to comply with our anti-spam policy which prohibits users from sending out unsolicited emails,” Grabowski said. “We also participate in industry initiatives to promote responsible, permission-based email marketing.”

The Email Service Provider Coalition (ESPC) and Surety Mail, he said, are two such initiatives that work towards getting the right emails to those who want them.

Grabowski added that every message sent from a GetResponse account contains a link to unsubscribe which cannot be removed. “If a subscriber opts out, the link will automatically update the mailing list to take them out of future mailings,” he said.