Global Banking & Finance Review editor, Wanda Rich discusses how organizations can use email marketing to expand and generate revenue with Liviu Tanase, CEO of ZeroBounce.

What are the biggest challenges in the email marketing industry right now?

One of the greatest challenges is the organizational ability to create a comprehensive email marketing strategy and the right plan to execute on it. Also, it’s become a challenge to find the most reliable email service provider (ESP) to support strategic efforts and fight data decay and spam. The path from email send to delivery has gotten increasingly complicated and has created many new players.

Each individual issue, and more importantly, the overall marketing strategy need to be carefully crafted. Small oversights can cause deliverability issues and can derail even the best email campaigns.

Optimizing ESPs, data decay, and spam, and pathway navigation are not easy challenges, and it takes a strong operational plan to stay on top of them. Like any other project, an email marketing program is only effective when you manage to get all your wheels spinning in the right direction.

The teams managing each issue need to work within the parameters of the larger strategic marketing goal. Also, they need to have a platform and technology to enable the management and analytics of their marketing campaigns.

Fortunately, organizations today have access to so many useful technologies that can manage individual issues within the larger framework. I’m inspired by the abundance of businesses that have emerged in this space and the innovation that has enabled a smoother and more reliable email marketing universe.

How do you help your customers overcome their challenges?

Our goal is to be the #1 source of tools and information when it comes to maintaining email hygiene. Using a clean database is essential when you send marketing emails. With email addresses and consumer data becoming obsolete so fast, organizations want to reach out to experts who can help them. Thus they can stay abreast of methods to maintain healthy relationships with consumers and provide goods and services in the most efficient manner.

Companies use our email validation API to verify email addresses in real time and make sure they’re accurate and real. Also, they use our bulk email validation system, which is a fast and easy process: upload – validate – download. What they get back is a powerful, high-performing email list they can use confidently.

Also, our customers know that whenever they reach out to us with a question, we’re always there to answer it. Some of the most experienced people in the industry work at ZeroBounce, and I’m happy that we can put our knowledge to good use. This way, our customers avoid the many pitfalls of running unsafe and inefficient email marketing campaigns.

What would you say ZeroBounce does differently than other email validation companies?

The first thing that comes to mind is our data protection system. We use military-grade encryption mechanisms on the platform to ensure that all data and consumer information stays safe.

Then, it’s the efficiency of our service: ZeroBounce promises 98+% accurate results. As a bonus, when downloading lists of email consumers, users notice we added missing information about their subscribers – name, gender, and location. If our customers haven’t gathered client data in the list building process, we provide it for them as part of the service offering. This tool makes segmentation and personalization much easier and helps our customers to generate greater returns on marketing spend.

Another feature that sets ZeroBounce apart is our email scoring system. We call it ZeroBounce A.I. because it uses artificial intelligence to rate the quality of an email address. When our customers know that they have a great lead, they can focus on marketing to that specific person and maximize revenue.

Finally, our team plays a tremendous role: they are stellar professionals and genuinely empathetic people. Whether we’re educating our customers through our blog or cleaning email lists, it all starts with our genuine desire to help. People feel that. The feedback we’re getting is overwhelmingly positive and that only drives us to do better.

How do you choose the people you work with? What are the qualities you most appreciate in the people you hire?

My partners and I build ZeroBounce around the idea of helping businesses thrive. The more you focus on supporting others to be successful, the more successful you will become, as well. Every person who works at ZeroBounce has the same mindset. It’s contagious, and it is a large part of the “secret sauce” of our business.

Another quality that I appreciate is the reliability of our team. Our business runs 24/7, 365 days a year, and we know that we can count on everyone; they are “all-in”. ZeroBounce employees are always diligent, fast and productive. I love that about them.

When it comes to our engineers, the quality that I applaud the most is their innovative minds. They’re always thinking of new solutions – sometimes for problems that don’t exist yet.  We always try to anticipate our client’s needs to provide a pathway that propels email marketing efforts forward.

What are the most important pieces of advice you would give to someone who’s just starting their own business?

Dedicate yourself, trust your team, create a culture that is based on respect, performance, and continuous evolution.

What’s the most important piece of business advice you’ve ever received?

Never stop if you really believe in something.