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Direct Marketing Via Email
By Joy Busse, CEO & President - Busse Design USA
February 2000
What If We Built You A Web Site But Nobody Came? Help Drive Traffic to Your Web Site But Be Smart About It...
Personalization can:
E-mail is rapidly being recognized as the tool of choice for affective online one-to-one marketing.
Response rates from targeted e-mail campaigns are running significantly better than similar banner campaigns.
However, it is crucial for marketers to use e-mail appropriately - Jupiter Communications recently found that nearly 1/3 of consumers only read e-mail from known sources. With filtering software readily available in most e-mail programs, and with junk mail on the rise, it's vital to create a message that your target audience will read.
The opt-in, opt-out debate
Direct marketers have strong opinions on either side of this debate. The opt-out model is currently predominant in the real world where we receive junk mail and telemarketing calls until we take some action to stop them. Some direct marketers insist that the response rates to unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) warrant its use. However, some states have passed legislation that bans its use, in a similar manner to unsolicited faxes.
Opt-in marketing means that only those who have requested contact will receive it. This type of mailing is much more targeted, allows you to perform demographic research (which is very handy data to have if you are selling advertising on your site), test different mailings, track results, etc.
We do not recommend sending unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE).
Whether or not it is legal, it is counter-productive, since a high proportion of recipients won't read it; many people do object to its use, will not do business with you, and may complain to your ISP. UCE is marketing to an untargeted audience that has no interest in your business.
Building an opt-in e-mail campaign:
There are basically two ways to develop your database:
- either rent a list or build your own (or a combination of these!)
Several highly reputable companies exist that solicit sign-ups for product and service announcements in many different areas. Names can be rented, usually for one-time use based on these categories - current pricing ranges from $0.12 to $0.20 per name, although prices are predicted to rise.
Well-known companies in this field:
www.postmasterdirect.com (Netcreations)
www.webpromote.com
Sift, Inc., at www.sift.com can help you to build e-mail addressesinto your existing customer database, as well as providing opt-in list services.
The degree of targeting is dependant on availability, and how many people have signed up for the list of your choice. Some services, such as Sift, are providing demographically sorted names, SIC code sorting, etc.
However, the strongest targeting is the list that you build for your own company, since that is composed of contacts who have requested your mailings specifically.
Build your own:
Offer incentives for visitors to register at your site, e.g. your newsletter, special offers, news about your products, catalogs, sweepstakes, contests, etc.
Note: contests and sweepstakes on the Internet are strictly regulated - for further information on this, visit www.arentfox.com.
Collect as much information as you need to qualify visitors as a lead, or to have appropriate demographic information, etc. Use a contact form with validated fields - don't use a mailto: link, or you lose control of what they tell you. But don't ask too much - people hate filling in forms online, and don't ask for anything that could be sensitive or confidential - unless it's justified by context and you have a secure server, etc.
Do include a privacy statement when you ask for this information that assures the visitor that you don't sell names to third parties - and honor it! The Direct Marketing Association Web site has further information - www.the-dma.org.
Database / List Management:
A variety of solutions for list management exist, partly depending on the size of your contact list:
- maintain the list manually from an in-house database
- build a control panel and interface on your Web site
- outsource the whole process
Companies that provide services in this field include:
These companies provide a range of services that allow you to broadcast personalized messages to your whole database, or to individuals. They can also maintain mailing lists, supply an extensive range of reports on these, and allow subscribers to join or leave.
Creating your message:
- do personalize (this is where the contact /database manager comes into its own)
- make it short and concise, with valuable information
- add incentives to visit your site, preferably time-limited
- always offer opt-out instructions, and action them
- offer both text and html versions, if possible
- don't SHOUT (using all caps)
- decide on a frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) and keep to it - regular repeated messages bear more weight
Tracking:
- test some different versions of the message
- create duplicate pages of your site with slightly different URL's for each message version, so that you can track exactly who comes to the site from each one
- or, if you are outsourcing, use a tracking service provided by one of the above companies
In evaluating your results, be sure to discount bounced-back or undeliverable e-mail addresses, and "remove" responses.
Autoresponders:
They say that it takes at least 7 contacts to close a sale.
One great way to keep in regular touch with your customers and prospects is to use an autoresponder that creates personalized messages and sends follow-up e-mails at specified intervals.
A company that provides this outsourced service is AWeber http://www.aweber.com .
In conclusion, whichever of the above methods you choose, make sure that you keep your database up to date. This includes following up bounced e-mails - often you can track contacts to new companies and gain new customers through old friends!
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