Email Publishing Inc., the leading provider of message delivery and email subscription management services, today announced it has been selected by Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) to manage several email-based customer communication programs for Quicken.com, QuickBooks.com and Intuit's Small Business Community. Email Publishing will handle all aspects of delivery of email content and provide administrative list management services for a broad range of customer-related information, including newsletters, product and service notices, technical support issues and more.
"Email is emerging as the most preferred and cost-effective customer communication tool for Internet-based companies like Intuit," says Andrew Currie, president and CEO of Email Publishing. "Intuit customers can now receive the information they want in a timely and familiar manner, and Intuit can concentrate on improving customer relationships without the headaches of managing hundreds of thousands of email addresses."
"Email communication complements our strategy to provide current and useful information to our customers via the Internet," says Carol Corcoran, marketing communication manager for Quicken.com, Intuit's consumer finance Web site. "Our customers have unique information needs ranging from technical support notices to newsletters, and email is a perfect solution to meet these differing needs, at the same time helping us strengthen our relationship with them."
The Trend Toward Customer Communication Via Email
Email Publishing's client base consists primarily of periodical publishers and Web companies. Clients include CMP Media, PennWell Publishing, Miller Freeman, Cahners Publishing and Geocities. Companies like Intuit, with its increasing emphasis on the Internet, are turning to email management and distribution firms to foster more targeted and personal relationships with Web-savvy customers.
"Email Publishing's proven track record of managing sophisticated, large-scale email communications played a major role in our decision to select them from our initial group of potential vendors," says Intuit's Corcoran. "Additionally, the Email Publishing system gives our customers the flexibility to select the communications they most want to receive."
Email Publishing will manage all aspects of email distribution and list management for these programs. Depending on the type on content, email can be delivered as text or as graphically enriched HTML. The company's specialized, proprietary system provides automated processing of undeliverable email addresses and a customer service "safety net" for any subscribers who need personal assistance. The technology allows end-users to subscribe, un-subscribe or change their email address directly via user-friendly Web-based forms. Recipients also have access to customer service via telephone, fax or email.
"We're seeing an increase in interest from large organizations that have email lists of more than one million customers," says Email Publishing's Currie. "In addition to the distribution of product updates and other timely information, email communication helps drive traffic to Web sites and ultimately increase sales."
