Case Studies

How Sifter was launched using Campaign Monitor

If you haven't already heard, Sifter is an amazing new issue tracking tool from the uber-talented designer Garrett Dimon. Garrett chose Campaign Monitor to handle the email marketing side of the product launch. We sat down with him recently to find out how it all went.

1. Tell us a little about Sifter?

Sifter is designed to be a bug and issue tracker for non-technical people. For the most part, we've just been calling it a team todo list. There are plenty of bug and issue trackers designed by engineers for engineers, but we had never found one that we felt truly focused on interaction and interface design first.

Our ultimate goal for Sifter is not to change the bug-tracking world. We just want to provide a simple alternative for people who currently use sticky notes or to-do lists because they're overwhelmed by the existing options.

2. Why did you choose Campaign Monitor for the job?

"Choosing Campaign Monitor was literally a no-brainer... it's one of the few apps that I look forward to using."

For us, it was literally a no-brainer. Many years ago, I did a few HTML emails for clients, and it was some of the most miserable work I've ever done. Testing and validating emails across platforms and email clients make cross-browser testing for the web seem like a party.

After years of watching what Campaign Monitor has been doing and how the tools have stream-lined the process of creating and testing an email, there wasn't much of a competition. I was thrilled with the release of the new version and began anxiously looking forward to sending our first campaign. Now, it's one of the few apps that I look forward to using.

3. How did you grow a list of potential customers?

Primarily through blogging. I've been sharing much of the behind the scenes design process since I first thought of Sifter. Not only did it generate the initial interest that convinced me to turn it into a paying product, but it has driven almost all of the traffic and interest that built our email list.

It's amazing how much openness and sharing can help generate interest in what you're doing. There's always the risk of your ideas being labeled as vaporware, but as long as you're conservative and honest about your goals, it can really help build genuine interest in what you're doing.

4. As an interface designer yourself, how did you find the Campaign monitor experience?

"Without Campaign Monitor, there's no way we would have been able to put together and send a launch email in time."

Let's just say I was a bit envious. With Sifter, I merely simplified the problem and created a solution on top of a simple problem. With email marketing, you can't simplify the problem. There's dozens of combinations of email clients and spam filters that aren't going anywhere. Then you have email authentication and all of the associated topics for helping to ensure that your email isn't spam. Campaign Monitor makes it incredibly easy by hiding all of the underlying complexity and guiding you through the process of setting up an email and sending campaigns.

Without Campaign Monitor, there's no way we would have been able to put together and send a launch email in time. I had assumed that designing, building, and testing an email would be too time consuming, but I was able to put it all together in about two hours. Of course, it took about 6 months to build our list, but creating the campaign was very quick and easy.

5. Your launch email had an incredible 70% open rate, what's your secret?

Well, this is the first email campaign that I've ever sent, so I honestly couldn't tell you. However, I'm a big believer in permission marketing. We've been requiring confirmed opt-in since we started gathering emails, and I'd say most of the people who signed up knew exactly what to expect from us because I've been sharing so much of our design process.

To me it's about quality over quantity. So, we'd never try to inflate our subscriber list. I'd much rather have a small handful of subscribers that care over thousands of people that only have a passing interest.

6. What feature do you like most?

Without a doubt, it's being able to quickly test against the spam filters and email clients. That's such a huge time saver that for only $5.00, I feel like I'm ripping off Campaign Monitor. It removes so much pain from the process that I'd gladly pay $10-$15 for each use of that test and it would still be worth every penny to me. The fact that it's entirely integrated now makes it even better.

7. Any tips or tricks for other customers?

Use confirmed opt-in without hesitation. We lost about 1/10 of the email addresses due to people not completing the second part of opting in, but I see that as a good thing. Other than that, just be incredibly careful about where you collect your email addresses. Just because you have someone's email address from a previous transaction or interaction doesn't make it safe to assume that they want marketing emails from you.