Gaining insights into email engagement and conversion rates for SaaS products

When it comes to SaaS platforms, email communication is often the unsung hero of user engagement. Features like transactional emails, notifications, and password resets are critical, but choosing the right email service provider is rarely straightforward.

In one of our recent client projects, we encountered this challenge head-on. Our client's SaaS platform relied heavily on precise email communications across multiple languages, with a need to track engagement patterns for different user segments. Every release cycle brought questions about which emails performed best, which language versions resonated most, and how trial users engaged with communications.

It became clear that the most economical option, Amazon SES, wasn't delivering the insights needed. That's when we decided to migrate to Postmark.

The idea was simple: we needed more than just email delivery; we needed actionable insights. We built an email service with abstraction in mind, allowing us to switch providers while maintaining consistent delivery patterns, including a sophisticated digest system that combines communications per person per topic based on user preferences.

Comparing the options

Amazon SES

At $0.10 per 1,000 emails, SES is extremely cost-effective. However, what it offers in affordability, it lacks in analytics capability. Detailed user-level tracking requires significant custom development, making it complex to implement and maintain.

Postmark

At $15 for 10,000 emails per month, Postmark stands out for its transactional focus, ease of use, and long log retention. Its built-in open/click tracking and message streams with tags make it ideal for segmenting different types of emails. Additionally, there’s an exposed API for even more detailed analytics.

SendGrid

Priced at $19.95 per month for similar volume, SendGrid balances robust features with scalability, offering tracking at both aggregate and per-user levels through webhook events.

Mailgun

At approximately $35 per month, Mailgun offers developer-centric flexibility and detailed tagging, but only provides 30-day log retention even in its most expensive plans.

Transforming our client's email strategy

The impact of switching to Postmark was immediate. We gained detailed insights into which email templates performed best, how different language versions were received, how trial users engaged with communications and it enabled more effective A/B testing experiments. 

We were able to track:

• Open rate differences between transactional and digest emails
• Engagement patterns across different languages / regions / templates
• Trial user behavior compared to established customers

The improved analytics allowed our client to catch underperforming emails early and improve them, rather than allowing them to continue underperforming indefinitely.

Lessons learned & recommendations for your choice

Building the email service around detailed analytics showed us how much value there is in identifying and eliminating invisible bottlenecks. Email engagement had been an unavoidable black box; by making it transparent, we unlocked new ways to improve the user experience.

Today, the email system is an integral part of our client's product strategy, helping them communicate confidently with users at every stage of their journey, regardless of language, region, or user segment.

When selecting an email service provider, consider:

1. Analytics needs: If detailed tracking and long retention are priorities, Postmark is excellent for simplicity and effectiveness.
2. Cost vs. features: For balancing cost with functionality, SendGrid offers a good compromise.
3. Future growth: Consider not just current needs but how your email strategy might evolve.

For our client, Postmark's combination of detailed analytics, ease of implementation, and reasonable pricing made it the clear winner. The insights gained transformed their approach to user communication, turning email from a simple notification channel into a strategic tool for engagement and retention.