Sandy Bay Networks is expected today to unveil its flagship Web site, which will offer marketers several services focusing on search engine functionalities and low-volume e-mail campaigns.
Interested parties can sign on for up to five hosted services at www.sandybay.com. Sandy Bay clients receive a secured Web page where they can check e-mail campaign results and analyze viewers' search engine queries.
The services include:
· Results Engine, which allows firms to add a search engine to their sites. Companies can make rules that determine what products, services or content is shown in response to keyword searches.
· Newsletter Engine, which lets companies develop and send HTML and text e-mail newsletters. Company personnel without HTML training can start and modify e-mail campaigns.
· E-mail Engine, which focuses on marketers' needs outside of newsletters, such as rich media abilities and list management services.
· Membership Engine, which allows e-mail recipients to unsubscribe to newsletter and product alert lists. The feature automatically updates the marketer's list.
Sandy Bay, Burlington, MA, will offer free general market research gathered from clients as bait for its suite of services. The services are offered in monthly subscriptions and scales according to usage, whether consisting of engine searches or opened e-mails.
Sandy Bay CEO Michael Sabourin said marketers should expect to pay $25 a month for 1,000 usages and $300 per month for 50,000 usages. He said customized packages will cost more.
“We're not going after heavily venture-backed firms that want to spend $29 million advertising a sock as a pet,” Sabourin said.
WhatsGoingOn.com, a 5-year-old site that licenses its articles on festivals and events to other sites, recently became the first firm to use Sandy Bay's search engine. The site uses Sandy Bay's search engine reports to serve its viewers and newsletter audience better, said Neil Teplica, CEO of WhatsGoingOn.com, New York.
“We might see a lot of people searching for stuff on London,” he said. “That tells us that we should offer more stories on festivals and events in London.”
The company is also doing inhouse tests on Sandy Bay's Newsletter Engine to decide whether to switch from its current e-mail system. Teplica said his firm would probably pick up the Newsletter Engine because it was technically easier to use than most services on the market.
“I have a general dislike for the market offering e-mail newsletter tools,” he said. “[The systems] are usually far too complicated.”
