Targeted Email Advertising
There are three reasons to run a email marketing campaign:
Here we concentrate on the first two.
Advantages of Targeted Email Advertising
Email is a more individual and effective marketing method than
selling through an impersonal website. But being more powerful,
it also has the greater potential of damaging your reputation
and sales. Two things need to be borne in mind:
Research shows that customers don't normally buy on receiving
the first email, but somewhere between receiving the third and
tenth. Like normal shoppers, they like to think and shop around.
You have to be persistent, but also subtle: bombarding readers
with exactly the same pitch day after day will only alienate them.
Happily, email management
programs exist to allow you to automate the entire process
— automatically responding to the replies, sending off the
next carefully-crafted sales letter, keeping records and so forth.
Our products listing page provides
comparisons.
Customers also dislike spam. They expect their permission to
be sought before material is sent to their overcrowded mail boxes.
Your site will therefore give them the opportunity to subscribe
to your newsletter — what is called opting in. "Just
enter your name and email to receive our free newsletter"
is the usual thing, though larger companies may present subscribers
with an extensive form to complete: "Please take a few moments
to enter your details so that we can send you the appropriate
information." Some companies cheat a little by making subscription
automatic unless the viewer ticks asking not to subscribe: the
resulting lists are called opt-out. Other companies are much more
conscientious, sending a follow up email to that the recipients
do indeed wish to receive the newsletter, what is called double
opt-in. You'll need to remember the "opt-in", "opt-out"
and "double opt-in" terms if you purchase lists from
third parties. Naturally, your newsletter has to include its own
mechanism for opting out: "Simply click here to be removed
from our circulation list." A predefined email is sent, which
your bulk mailing program automatically intercepts, amending the
subscriber list accordingly.
Increasing Circulation
If your newsletter is attractively written and truly informative,
then circulation will steadily increase in line with your website
traffic. That's probably the safest way of building a loyal readership
and potential customer base. But if you're in a hurry, four ways
exist of rapidly increasing exposure:
-
rent opt-in lists of email addresses in a category appropriate
to your business.
-
buy email lists.
-
buy a similar or complementary newsletter that the owner
wishes to dispose of.
-
purchase software that trawls the Internet for site in appropriate
categories and harvests the emails.
All have their risks, but we give extensive listings on our resources
page.
List Brokers versus List Managers
Before renting an email list you need to know whether you're
dealing with a list broker or list manager. List managers work
for the companies supplying the lists, and the lists are cheaper.
List brokers work for you on a commission basis, which is paid
by the mail list suppliers. The list broker tries to get you the
best rate going in line with the email list you really want. Being
more targeted, the lists are naturally more expensive, but usually
get better responses.
In dealing with a list manager, you need answers to these questions:
-
what sort of list is it — opt-in, double opt-in or opt-out?
-
what websites/URLs has the list been taken from?
-
what demographic characteristics and interests can you select
by?
-
what's the stated price? (This is the rate card price, usually
quoted by the thousand. You may be able to negotiate a better
rate.)
-
does the stated price include the "transmission"
fee, or is there an additional charge for actually sending
out the emails?
-
what's the minimum purchase?
-
how much has been "tested" followed by "continuation"?
Tested lists are used by respectable companies. If a list
is tested but not continued, then the results weren't acceptable.
Go elsewhere if the list manager won't provide this information.
-
what's the maximum number of mailings/month applying to the
list?
List brokers act as third parties, maintaining contacts and sources
of lists (see our resources page) that enable them to find best
addresses for you at the best price. That means they'll expect
you to be very clear in your expectations (including budget and
type of customer you're trying to attract), and will provide you
with the reasons for their recommendations (i.e. answers to the
questions above).
An obvious question. If the lists are opt-in, how are they available
for rent anyway? Subscribers give their emails for a newsletter,
and the agreement includes the promise that the addresses will
not be disclosed to third parties. True, but websites often ask
their readers if they'd be interested in receiving information
on further products and services, and it's the addresses of these
interested readers that are made available, often via the email
service that manages the newsletter for the website. Readers have
given their permission to be placed on other lists, but of course
expect to receive appropriate advertising.
List Managers: Buying Lists
Rather more risky is purchasing lists. They tend to be cheaper,
but may contain a lot of duff material. Be prepared for frequent
opt-out messages and the occasional complaint. More seriously,
they may prove an expensive economy when ROI is considered.
Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI)
An email marketing campaign is an expensive undertaking, and
you need to do your sums carefully. Renting and emailing will
probably cost 15 to 40 cents per address. Some 1% to 10% may be
interested enough to click through. Of these visitors, some 0.5%
to 5% may purchase. How much is each sale costing you in email
advertising?
Suppose you were very successful in all respects. Each email
cost you only 15 cents; 10% clicked through, and 5% purchased.
Then the cost of each sale would be $0.15/(10% x 5%) or $30.
If, however, you had to pay 40 cents per address, and got only
a click-through rate of 1% and a sales conversion rate of 0.5%,
then the cost of each sale would climb to 0.40/(1% x 0.5%) or
a staggering $8,000.
In fact, e-retailers pay something around $80 per sale on average,
which makes sense if the object is to secure a loyal customer
rather than achieve the one sale. You can also see why successful
companies work hard at providing a newsletter and fostering good
customer relations.
Can you tell beforehand the results of an email marketing campaign?
Not initially. Some suggestions:
-
go carefully. Do a trial 2,500 to 5000 shots before committing
yourself to a large campaign.
-
model yourself on the market leaders. Examine what works
for the most successful companies in your sector, and adapt
their copy to your purposes.
-
experiment. Keep modifying both list and copy, monitoring
response carefully. You'll eventually find what works and
what doesn't.
-
add some special offer to increase click through rates.
-
offer competitions or co-promotions to acquire email addresses
cheaply.
-
employ professionals. A good copywriter may set you back
$1000, but could double the click through rate.
Buying Newsletters
Maintaining a regular newsletter is time-consuming, and many
companies cannot now devote the necessary resources. Our resources
page lists brokers who will handle the sale and purchase of
unwanted newsletters. Needless to say, your acquisition will have
to be broadly similar in nature and readership to your present
newsletter, and you'll need to explain to the new clientele that
the newsletter now has a new owner, " providing even more
inside information and help", etc. Your bulk mailing program
will automate the process.
Compiling Your Own Lists
The riskiest approach is compiling your own lists with software
that trawls sections of the Internet. Certainly you can acquire
very extensive targeted lists, but none of the email addresses
come from individuals or companies who have specifically opted
in to your newsletter, and response rates may be poor. Moreover,
the approach is technically spamming, and so frowned upon by the
email marketing community. The approach works, but may damage
your reputation and bring threats of legal action.
Running the Campaign
Email campaigns are a sequential operation:
1. Targets, budgets and approaches decided.
2. Lists identified or prepared.
3. Email written.
4. Trial runs conducted.
5. Final crafting by copywriter and designer (email is often
in HTML format).
6. Test email sent to list owner, list manager, list broker (if
any) and to yourself.
7. Email edited. Double check:
-
subject line, which is all that many potential customers
will see.
-
all links, particularly link to the website page: mistakes
here will make the whole exercise pointless.
-
your own website and ordering facilities: it has to look
and function 100% to get sales.
8. Email approved and signed off.
9. Email blast: emails sent — chose Tuesdays through Thursdays
for best results.
10. Results tracked: list management companies will provide you
with reports; DIY shots you must monitor yourself.
11. Campaign assessed, learned from, and a new campaign prepared.
Targeted email advertising has many tricks of the trade, and
you should visit sites featured in our e-book.
Company | Disclaimer |
Email
Copyright © 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 LitLangs All Rights Reserved
