The landscape of business-to-business (B2B) applications continues its rapid expansion and evolution, profoundly influencing how companies operate. For Email Service Providers (ESPs), this shift presents a significant opportunity: leveraging these marketing apps within a dedicated marketplace can become a critical competitive advantage.
“There Will Be a Marketing App for That”
While once a humorous quip, the phrase “There’s an app for that” has transitioned from a consumer joke to a fundamental reality. Apps are now an indispensable part of daily life, and this truth is quickly extending to marketing professionals. The expectation is that specialized solutions will always be available for specific needs.
What is a Marketing Software Marketplace?
An apps marketplace serves as a centralized hub where third-party vendors can offer plugins and software designed to enhance an existing technology or platform. It’s a digital storefront for specialized functionalities.
A pioneer in this space, Salesforce Appexchange launched in 2005. Even though Salesforce.com was already a dominant force, its apps marketplace significantly amplified the power and versatility of its marketing platform.
The Proliferation of Apps and Marketplaces
When you think of apps, B2C mobile marketplaces likely come to mind. Now, imagine that same concept applied to the B2B world, accessible via a website rather than a smartphone. This scenario is rapidly becoming the norm as leading companies embrace the “app for that” philosophy.
Currently, one in five top U.S. companies operates an apps marketplace. Studies reveal that third-party Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps, which are B2B-oriented, are growing faster than their consumer-focused mobile counterparts. Furthermore, a remarkable 43% of all existing app marketplaces belong to technology companies, underscoring the business world’s embrace of this model.
Why Should ESPs Offer an Apps Marketplace?
Despite the prevalence of tech companies running marketplaces, not every Email Service Provider currently offers one. However, the benefits are compelling, suggesting that more ESPs will – and should – consider it.
**Here’s why an apps marketplace is crucial for ESPs:**
* **Addresses Unique Customer Needs:** While an ESP’s core platform provides essential functionality, customers often have specialized requirements that generic solutions cannot meet. Third-party apps fill these crucial gaps.
* **Fosters Third-Party Innovation:** Offering a dedicated sales channel for targeted customers actively encourages other developers to build and integrate solutions, enriching the ecosystem.
* **Streamlines Implementation:** A marketplace makes discovering, integrating, and deploying new functionalities quick and easy, drastically reducing the time needed to implement marketing software.
* **Adds Significant Value for Customers:** By providing access to a broader range of tools and integrations, an ESP delivers much more comprehensive value to its customer base.
* **Expands Platform Capabilities:** An apps marketplace effectively extends the ESP’s platform with additional development power and innovative insights from numerous external sources.
* **Enhances Platform Appeal:** The platform becomes richer, more powerful, potentially easier to use, and ultimately more attractive to both existing and prospective customers.
Ultimately, offering an apps marketplace is poised to become a significant game-changer for ESPs, providing a crucial competitive edge by delivering integrated applications that build upon their core platform for increasingly powerful marketing capabilities.
While a substantial user base is typically required to justify the cost of creating a marketplace, many smaller companies can still benefit immensely. They can develop specialized solutions to be offered via larger marketplaces, creating a win-win scenario: the large ESP enhances its product offerings, and smaller companies gain broader reach for their useful applications.
Typical Marketing App Offerings
If you’ve ever wished for a specific functionality or integration with your ESP’s platform, there’s a good chance it already exists or is in development. What kind of solutions can you find in an apps marketplace? Consider the extensive selection on ExactTarget’s HubExchange marketplace (now part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud), which boasts over 75 apps as an example.
**In such a marketplace, users can find software to help with:**
* Sophisticated A/B testing
* Content marketing strategies
* Email list growth optimization
* In-depth email analysis
* Seamless Experian Acquires Techlightenment to Bolster Social Media Reach“> social media integration
* Effective mobile marketing campaigns
* Data validation and hygiene
* Cart abandonment remarketing
The variety and depth of these offerings are immense, frequently driving innovation within the marketing software ecosystem. All applications are built to integrate seamlessly with the ESP platform, eliminating the need for extensive IT involvement and drastically reducing implementation time.
Real-World App Development: An Example
An example includes `eMVision`, an application developed by ClickMail. This application provides deeper insight into email analytics, leveraging the visual reporting power of Tableau Software.
The decision to create `eMVision` was validated when Salesforce Marketing Cloud (formerly `ExactTarget`) announced the launch of its `HubExchange`. This provided a targeted marketplace for promoting `eMVision` to a relevant user base.
While not every one of the hundreds of ESPs needs to offer an apps marketplace on the scale of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, the undeniable benefits for the ESP, the customer, and third-party vendors make it a compelling proposition. The marketing software ecosystem will undoubtedly be transformed by the continued rise of app marketplaces in the near future.
Image is a detail from Gartbers Digital Marketing Transit map