SMARTDRAW IN BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT:

Flowcharting E-mail Marketing Campaigns with SmartDraw

Fuzzy Signal
Gary Brotman, Director of Marketing Communications for MUSICMATCH, the global leader in personalized music software and services, was in search of an easy way to visualize his e-mail marketing campaigns.

"Developing this system requires us to document the user experience, starting from the moment they subscribe to our newsletters," said Brotman. "Flowcharts are the best way to illustrate this process."

He also wanted to illustrate the relationship between the company's online advertising campaigns and new customer acquisition.

"I wanted to flowchart how customers get from our banner ads on other sites to the MUSICMATCH website, www.musicmatch.com," said Brotman. "I felt this would help us measure the effectiveness of our online advertising."

Brotman heard about SmartDraw from a friend, and he decided to give it a try.

Tuning In
Brotman was amazed at SmartDraw's simple yet effective approach to diagramming.

"It was very easy to pick up," said Brotman. "I didn't even need the tutorials to get started. It was a breeze!"

SmartDraw makes flowcharting easy by providing built-in flowchart symbols that users can simply "drag and drop" onto the page. The software helps align and arrange these symbols to create a perfect-looking chart in just minutes.

"I was very surprised at how easy it was to insert the different flowchart shapes and connect them," said Brotman. "I love the way the arrows follow when you move the boxes around. Plus, the boxes reshape themselves around the text so I don't have to do any adjustments manually. Very intuitive!"

SmartDraw's user-friendly interface makes it easy to find the symbols and features users need.

"SmartDraw is very accessible-I didn't have to drill down very deep to find what I wanted," said Brotman.

Perfect Reception
Brotman is so impressed with SmartDraw that he plans to use it to visualize even more of his customer-relationship processes.

"I was looking for a simple way to convey thoughts and ideas, without a steep learning curve, and SmartDraw helps me do this," he said. "It's the most efficient way I've found to create flowcharts."

SmartDraw even makes it easy for Brotman to share his ideas with other MUSICMATCH employees who don't have SmartDraw themselves. It's as simple as copy-and-paste.

"Pasting my SmartDraw diagrams into Microsoft WORD^® and PowerPoint^® is effortless," he said. "This is great, because it allows me to easily share them with my co-workers."

Brotman finds SmartDraw clearly superior to other diagramming tools on the market.

"I am very impressed," said Brotman. "Some people swear by Visio^®, but SmartDraw continues to be my first choice."