If you missed it, Yotpo announced last week that they are shutting down their email and sms platform to focus on the core product. Existing email/sms customers have until the end of 2025 to migrate.
Here's our 4 Step Guide to making the most of this situation.
Watch out for our upcoming blog featuring the advice of the best email marketers out there.
What's going to happen now?
There's going to be a feeding frenzy among the alternative email and SMS providers - it's already started! Expect lots of emails, outreach, and bigger stands for email marketing firms at eCommerce Expo - however, I strongly advise you to have your plan in place before the end of September.
What would I do if I was a brand on Yotpo?
Don't panic.
- Yes, it's nearly peak.
- No, you didn't need this on your plate.
- But, there is time to take a breath and make sure you do the right thing.
Step 1... data gathering
You're going to have to make some big decisions fast, so you need the right data to do it.
Get hold of (or decide!):
- Your promo calendar for the rest of the year - what's happening when?
- Find out how long a "deliverability warm up" process will take for your list - it varies based on size.
- Team holiday's
- Anything else that impacts when you could migrate
- A quick audit of what you have in email/SMS land: database size, field structure, automations, integrations, data capture points.
Step 2... Decision - when are we moving?
Migrations are a lot less work than they used to be, but there's still a lot of work for your team involved AND they're going to have to learn and deploy on a new system at the "wrong" time of year - let's face it anyone with good sales at Christmas doesn't wants to move email/SMS system in the second half of the year.
So picking WHEN is going to be critical to make your life easier, and minimise any negative impact on your promo calendar.
My thoughts based on the 'average' eCommerce store are that you have 2 windows:
- Go NOW - get it done by the end of September
- Go Second half of December - after the sales die down, before the "end of year" deadline
If you're going NOW - then you need to get things happening ASAP - as I'd imagine there's a limit on how many brands any tech platform can accept in the same month. I mean they'll be ramping up but... book early!
Two reasons why it might be worth going for it in December.
First, whoever you choose to move from will be awesome at migrations from Yotpo by then!
Second, there's always an outside chance that the deadline might get extended... so you'll have avoided damaging peak and be able to move in the new year instead...
But I would probably go for September.
Step 3... Decision - where are we moving?
Before you even look at the providers recommended by Yotpo, I'd do a quick "If we were making this move off our own back, what would we be looking for in our new provider?"
See what benefits you could get from having to move - what functionality have you wanted? What's frustrated you with the existing system?
Basically treat it as a proper strategic decision, rather than a forced move.
THEN
I would interrogate the "recommended" options
- Attentive, recommended for "annual" Yotpo customers
- Omnisend, recommended for "self-serve" Yotpo customers
Clearly, they're going to be most ready to make the migrations as I'm pretty sure they knew about this before everyone else! Plus, it's your easiest move - they're already expecting you.
If that ticks the boxes, I'd probably go for it.
If you're not feeling good about those options - then take a look at who else in the market, maybe:
- You've got the obvious eCommerce darling that is Klaviyo
- GetResponse with their entrepreneurial background, and new push into eCommerce
- There's newly-pushing-into-eCommerce-in-a-BIG way Mailchimp
- Or go more sustainable with Ecosend
- And plenty of other alternatives (see our directory of them all here)
Step 4... make it happen
It sounds so easy 🤣
But, as well as the obvious I'd be making sure my email team were being well looked after - a migration is a TON of work at the best of times - and worse when it's forced on you, so look after the team.
We hope this helps!
Watch out for our second blog about all this - packed with tips from eCommerce's top email marketing experts.
