Government Email Delivery: What are your options?

When it comes to government notification delivery systems, there are more options out there than you might think. The most popular government delivery system seems to holds a monopoly over most local, state, and federal organizations and can charge customers whatever they want because of it.

The basic features we’re talking about include sign-ups for both email newsletters and text message notifications. Let’s say you work for a small local government entity and want people to be able to sign up for email or text notifications through your website. You will likely be told the $250,000+ option is the only one that is tailored to your needs.

This just isn’t true.

CastleCourier has been built in response to the competition, with a highly scalable, customizable and better solution. Talin Senner, CEO of Wildcard Corp. says it’s important to offer alternatives to such huge companies in order to serve all kinds of government entities.

In a world dominated by one company, those simple services are being exploited and companies are being charged unfairly. It’s not difficult to create a system that has the same functions, uses the same Google Analytics data, and looks nicer, for cheaper. In conjunction with the Office of Public Affairs, for over 7 years https://delivery.fbi.gov has been getting more, and better signups than the competition.

CastleCMS, Wildcard’s custom-built open-source content management system, is a great option for government websites, as the notification delivery system is built-in. When your website is built with CastleCMS, you do not need to pay more for this feature. The same systems used by the big dog government notification delivery system are used here too.

Scalability isn’t an issue either. Wildcard’s CastleCourier delivers an average of 435,000 to users every day, with a 99.9% delivery success rate. That leads to over 156 million email a year. The links in those emails and notifications bring the user to the original website, increasing site traffic. The competitor brings users to their own website that hosts their own information about the customer’s website, which in the end divides your traffic, not increase it.  CastleCourier increases your website's traffic directly, and measurably.

If the goal of sending notifications to customers is to bring them back to your site, increase site traffic, and increase involvement with your organization, is this major government notification system really even doing its job?

One of the perceived “bells and whistles” of the big-dog government email delivery system is that they allow cross sign-ups, where for example if you sign up for the newsletter from the Department of Homeland Security, you will see suggestions for other related organizations, like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. This feature is convenient for the user but is exclusive to current customers of the major company. Meaning if a government entity does not use the government notification system, they are excluded from all suggestions customers might see on other government sites.

CastleCourier doesn’t discriminate like this. Wildcard Corp. is happy to offer inclusive service and to work with any cross-service to offer suggestions like the competition does.

Wildcard Corp. is providing a worthy alternative to this industry giant, and for a fragment of the price. “Providing a better service for cheaper.”

As mentioned, the current government email notification system uses Google Analytics data to track the number of clicks and more, but the catch here is they keep that data to themselves. CastleCourier on the other hand, integrates that data right into your own site, giving you a holistic view. You do not need a third party to monitor that information for you.

Another benefit of CastleCourier is its customizability, and you don’t need to dump in tens of thousands of dollars for your page to look how you want it. When your site is built with CastleCMS, it is part of the deal. Even as an independent service, the price is negligible in comparison to the competition, and can be built into any CMS. Tailored to any case mission, be it state, local, or federal, Wildcard’s service is integrated right into the CMS. Even the smallest agency with the smallest budget can benefit from it.

Federal agencies should have no problem transitioning to a different service, as security is not a concern. The main competition boasts FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) compliance. Achieving this is typically seen as a particularly difficult hurdle to overcome when trying to penetrate the federal government with a new service or product. CastleCourier does not face this challenge. Already hosted on FedRAMP compliant servers, this cheaper option is just as secure as the big-dog.

Long-story-short, in regard to delivering notifications or newsletters through government websites, you have choices. Just make the right one.