Case Studies: Cambridge Scientific Abstracts

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) is a privately owned information company that has been publishing abstracts and indexes to scientific and technical research literature for more than 30 years. Content coverage includes life sciences, environmental and aquatic sciences, computer sciences, material sciences and engineering, aerospace, social sciences, and humanities. CSA provides access to more than 70 databases and many print journals. The organization offers precision tools engineered to make conducting research precise, quick and cost-effective.

In 2001, CSA began searching for an email list management solution that provided list segmenting and personalization functionalities for the email announcement lists the company had developed to promote new products and build tradeshow traffic. CSA scanned the available solutions and promptly chose L-Soft's LISTSERV® software, opting for the ListPlex® list hosting service on L-Soft's servers. ListPlex uses LISTSERV as well as LSMTP® for super-fast mail delivery.

"Because LISTSERV has such a strong reputation, especially in the librarian market, I didn't seriously evaluate other products. My target market is librarians and their stamp of approval on a product gave me the assurance I needed."

"Because LISTSERV has such a strong reputation, especially in the librarian market, I didn't seriously evaluate other products," said Emily Fair, Assistant Marketing Manager at CSA. "My target market is librarians and their stamp of approval on a product gave me the assurance I needed."

After the first year of using ListPlex, CSA realized a need for a more "marketing-oriented" solution that could track clicked links within email messages, provide sophisticated reporting capabilities and some degree of flexibility. The organization found all of this when it chose L-Soft's ListPlex® Maestro option, combining ListPlex's trusted hosting with the sophisticated campaign management abilities of LISTSERV® Maestro software. The organization was pleased to find out that CSA did not need to buy expensive hardware or software to house its data; CSA was able to host the data on L-Soft's virus-protected servers.

"LISTSERV Maestro was the best solution for us because we were still able to maintain a 'do-it-yourself' approach, and we gained necessary functionality," Fair said. "My favorite LISTSERV Maestro feature is the ability to determine a future drop date. I can decide today that a message will be sent next month and then I can check it off my daily list of things to remember."

Today, CSA sends anywhere from 6,000 to 50,000 emails monthly to its 15,000 list members with response rates from 12-19 percent and a list attrition rate of approximately 2 percent per year. The company is pleased with L-Soft employees' quick responses and attention to problematic issues.

Case study written in March 2004, with the help of Emily Fair, Assistant Marketing Manager at Cambridge Scientific Abstracts.



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