Marketo’s Q3 Release cites big news for the Marketing Automation world

marketo outlook illustration
Adam Kemlo
Lead Consultant - EMEA & APAC

17/10/2018

“Marketo launches a new delivery channel for Microsoft Outlook ESP.”

Marketo announced some big news during their Q3 platform release. Drumroll, please… The launch of a new delivery channel that focuses solely on those who use Microsoft Outlook as their ESP.

Having a dedicated channel for Outlook in itself is both very welcome and massive news for the automation world. This puts Marketo ahead of their nearest competitors who are yet to provide a built-in similar function.

Here’s what we think the release means in terms of engaging your native outlook audience.

First off, here are the facts:

  • Outside of Gmail and Apple email applications, Outlook has the 3rd largest market share [according to Litmus, July 2018].
  • Outlook both historically and notoriously is the hardest ESP to tackle in terms of rendering and quality control for the majority of email templates – particularly in mobile devices.
  • Outlook’s technical infrastructure is one of the most advanced out there. It makes deliverability incredibly difficult at times, especially if you have regular high volume sends which in turn pick up Outlook users.

What can we expect?

Having a dedicated built-in channel potentially offers a whole host of benefits which will only assist in improving your performance amongst your Outlook following. Here are a few:

  • Rather than using a third party application, Marketo will be able to identify your Outlook users which in turn will enable you to cater to them as a separate segmentation
  • Knowing your Outlook audience will allow you to develop a proven custom template that displays seamlessly, thereby increasing engagement and improving your customers’ email experience.
  • You’ll have the ability to create a dedicated campaign or nurture journey for the Outlook audience. This allows you to cater to them with a more in-depth sending structure in order to breakdown Outlook deliverability barriers. To sum it up, it will increase your overall deliverability.

Our Verdict:

Marketo has done its homework in this area of Automation. They’ve identified a tool which would otherwise be outsourced to a third party application. By doing so, they have potentially saved their customers a small fortune and given them another reason to stay put! Cue round of applause***

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