Postmark and DMARC Digests have been acquired by ActiveCampaign
Today, I’m excited to share with y’all that Postmark and DMARC Digests have been acquired by ActiveCampaign. I know everyone says they’re excited when something like this happens, but I really, honestly am. Because I believe that with support from ActiveCampaign, Postmark will not only continue to be the email delivery service you've come to love but will become even better.
I recognize that news like this can bring up questions and uncertainty. So let me address some key questions you might have right away:
- Postmark will remain a standalone product, like it has been until now, with the added support and resources that a larger organization can offer.
- The entire Postmark team was offered, and accepted, a position at ActiveCampaign, which means the same folks that support you and the product now will continue to do so with no disruption.
- There is no expected interruption in service, as we’re continuing with the same infrastructure, process, and tools internally.
- Stellar deliverability remains our priority. Maintaining the best deliverability on Postmark is a top priority of ActiveCampaign as well, and crucial infrastructure like our IP pools and mail servers will continue to be maintained by the Postmark team.
In addition to this blog post, we have put together a public FAQ that we’ll continue to update as we receive feedback. Please let us know if you have any questions, big or small. We’re here to help.
Why did we choose ActiveCampaign? #
ActiveCampaign is a thoughtful, product-led company based out of Chicago that is focused on giving small businesses the email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM tools they need to create incredible customer experiences.
Their founder and CEO Jason VandeBoom bootstrapped the company from a part-time side hustle in 2003 to steady growth over 10+ years. We met their team last year and as we've gotten to know each other more closely, we’ve found the humans at ActiveCampaign to be honest, hard-working folks. They care deeply about the customer experience, and share our respect for Postmark’s customers along with the team that supports the work.
Their interest in Postmark originated from customer requests to add application and transactional email to their platform and combine these messages alongside email marketing and automation, CRM, and sales engagement. Their customers understand that user-initiated communications like password resets, order confirmations, and billing notifications are critical to building trust and relationships. Bringing the platforms together will give these small businesses a unified view of all the communications being sent to their customers.
We also share similar perspectives on how to build products and support customers, including:
- We both allow customers to turn off link and open tracking. For our customers that care about user privacy, it’s an increasingly rare feature to find in an email service.
- We share perspectives on being product-led, customer-first, and purpose-driven by staying close to customers, finding new ways to provide value to them, and creating a company culture focused on supporting those customers.
- This may seem small, but we both believe that if someone has the right to contact you, you should have the right to respond. We’ve each written about why “no-reply” communications are no good, and how our own messages will come from accounts monitored by real people who will see—and respond—to your reply.
What’s going to happen to Postmark and DMARC Digests? #
I know this is the part in these types of announcements where you expect me to tell you that “nothing is going to change!”. At which point everyone rolls their eyes. Instead, I’ll tell you that things are going to change, in places where the change will add value to Postmark customers and ActiveCampaign customers alike. And if these changes don’t add value, or worse yet, create an unexpected result for you and your business, we expect you to let us know and hold us accountable.
The ActiveCampaign team emphasized very early in our conversations that they want Postmark to continue to grow and thrive in its own right. There is no plan to roll Postmark into ActiveCampaign’s platform and sunset it. Postmark (and DMARC Digests) will remain available as standalone products, and developers will still use Postmark via API or SMTP.
In addition, we’ll work closely with the ActiveCampaign team to add Postmark functionality to the ActiveCampaign product, such as the ability to design and send transactional emails from an automation, so that ActiveCampaign users can use Postmark without needing to use two separate applications. And if you’re looking for marketing, sales, and CRM tools to thoughtfully connect with your audience and grow your business, we’ll make it easy for you to get started with ActiveCampaign’s platform. If you’d like to check out ActiveCampaign right away, make sure you’re taking advantage of ActiveCampaign’s welcome gift to all Postmark customers and enjoy a 50% discount for 6 months.
As a bootstrapped company we’re always making tough choices about where to spend our time. We might prioritize technical debt one quarter, then jump back into customer-facing features the next. With the support of ActiveCampaign we’re excited to grow our team and put more energy into parallel efforts across both Postmark and DMARC Digests. That means more bandwidth to solve interesting problems in email deliverability and security, improve our internal tooling and continuous delivery process, as well as ship some of the many features you’ve asked for (and that we’ve been eager to build for you!).
To support this work, ActiveCampaign is immediately investing in growing the Postmark and DMARC Digests team. We’re continuing with our roadmap as it was developed based directly on Postmark customer feedback.
TL;DR: Postmark customers will see no disruption in their use of Postmark. You will start to see ways to connect with ActiveCampaign and the ability to gain a full picture of your customer communications. DMARC Digests will also keep going as a standalone product, and you will start to see product improvements there as well.
What about deliverability? #
Email deliverability and speed remain our core focus. Nothing will change here, and it should only improve as ActiveCampaign supports growth in both the team and infrastructure for Postmark. The backend of how we send—including our sending IPs, mail servers, or how we route mail via Message Streams—will remain separate from ActiveCampaign, and we will have vastly more resources to help us continue to be the fastest to the inbox.
What about the team? Who will help me in support? #
One of the key reasons Chris and I agreed to this acquisition was because of the commitments ActiveCampaign has made to our team, and the way in which they have insisted in minimizing any disruptions in how we work.
I feel privileged to share that they offered every single team member a position within their organization. And every single person has accepted the offer. So, the team that you’ve come to rely on will still be here to help you, build for you, and cheer on your success.
The team behind Postmark and DMARC Digests will continue to work independently within ActiveCampaign. We will evolve how we work within ActiveCampaign slowly and intentionally, under the partnership of folks who truly want to see the team and products continue to succeed.
When you email support, you’ll still hear from Dana, Brian, Anna, Shelley, Abdu, Anita, Fi, Nat, and Jordan. And when you ask to “talk to sales” you’ll still get a reply from Rian, our Head of Product. You may hear from some new folks, too. ActiveCampaign is going to immediately support hiring goals to bring more folks on to help build and support Postmark as it continues to grow. As Dana, our Head of Customer Success, says: one of the best things about this change is that we’ll have more hands to do more of the things we’ve been dreaming up. ActiveCampaign will help us deliver more of the features you’ve asked for, faster.
Final Note #
The Postmark and DMARC Digests team goes to work every day to make products that you love to use. Ones that make your business better. That will not change. We hope that you take this leap of faith with us, and allow us to prove it to you. We expect you to hold us accountable to that promise. Join me in showing the team some love, and keep them in your thoughts as you think about what this can mean in the future. They’re here for you, and we know you will be there for them in return.
We know that acquisitions don’t always go right. Many of you reading this came to Postmark because of disappointing results and poor customer experiences post-acquisition with other providers. But we’re committed to this one being different. We know everyone says that, but we’ve proven in the past that we do things differently from our competitors. The entire team is on a mission to get this new phase of Postmark’s growth right, too. We can’t wait to take you along for the ride.
If you’re wondering about Wildbit, I have shared a more intimate post on the blog that covers why we chose to sell. The short version: We continue to believe that businesses are tools designed to support human beings. And after 21 years of running a business, we have found that in our hearts it was time to move on.
My deepest gratitude and appreciation for every single one of you reading this. Thank you for allowing Chris and I to steer this ship to this point, and send it off stronger and poised as ever to be the product y’all continue to rave about.
<3 Natalie
