Anybody starting off in opt in email marketing has some idea that they need to send email that isn't spam.
Spam is unwelcome in anybody's inbox.
But that brings forth a host of questions, such as...
Is my email a legitimate marketing email or is it spam?
What are the consequences of sending it out if it's considered spam?
When can I send email advertising to a particular list of email addresses?
When can't I?
All of these are critical questions and none have simple answers.
Instead, you have to answer those questions for yourself, making a judgment call about the emails you plan to send out. And to make that judgment call as objectively as possible, you need the information contained in this article.
The marketing email spectrum
First off, forget about finding standard definitions for "spam" or "legitimate marketing email." There aren't any that everybody agrees on. Instead, think of marketing email as a spectrum of possibilities.
At one end we have the kind of email that just about anybody would say is spam. That would be an email where, for example...
You didn't ask for the email
You don't know the sender
The subject line is misleading and bears no relevance to the content
You have no interest in the content
There is no way to get the sender to stop sending you the email
Think of the spam emails you get offering "replica watches" or "penis patches" or purporting to be from the wife of the former Nigerian ambassador to the UN.
At the other end of the spectrum we have the marketing email that everybody would agree is perfectly legitimate. One that is based on widely-recognized best practices.
For example, you visit an online store selling pet food. You use a form at their website to submit your email address and tick a box that says, "Please send me a weekly email with special offers on cat food."
The store sends you an email asking you to confirm the request by clicking on a link, which you do. From then on you get an email once a week with...special offers on cat food from that store. It would be hard to find anybody that would claim that those marketing emails are not perfectly legitimate.
(Note: Even with these two situations, you'll find people who disagree. There are those who believe that any kind of marketing email is legitimate. And those who believe that any kind of marketing email is spam.)
Good. So we have the two ends of our spectrum. The "good" end with our clearly legitimate email. And the "bad" end with those emails that are undeniably spam.
Now the tough part. An awful lot of marketing email falls somewhere along that spectrum. And the further you move away from the "good" end, the more likely you are to find people calling your email spam.
What's important here is that there is no magic line to cross. There is no single definable point on that spectrum where your email suddenly becomes spam.
That's because each email recipient has their own definition of what counts as spam. The point on the spectrum where an email turns from "legitimate" into "spam" is different for each of them.
So nobody can say, "If you send that email you are sending spam." Nor can they say, "If you send that email, it's fine, it's perfectly legitimate."
All you can say is that the further you move along that spectrum away from best practices, the greater the percentage of recipients who will think of your email as spam. Exactly how many see it as spam depends on the nature of the people you're emailing.
All you can do is manage the probability of being perceived as spam by choosing to follow (or not) best practices.
So, for example, take our cat food special offer email. What if the pet food store included a special offer for dog food in one of those emails? Most people wouldn't be bothered. But a small percentage would now begin to see that email as spam.
What if you were a regular customer at that online store, always buying cat food. You never specifically requested special offers by email. But they send you them anyway. Again, some people wouldn't be bothered. Some would even welcome the emails. But many would see them as spam.
What if those unsolicited specials were for all kinds of pet food, not just cat food? Hmmm, now more people are probably thinking the S word.
What if you weren't even a customer of that store? What if you weren't a customer and didn't even have a pet? Now we're deep into spam territory.
You see how the further you move away from that legitimacy ideal, the more and more recipients think you're sending spam.
So it becomes a risk assessment game. The more you deviate from the characteristics that define the perfectly legitimate email, the greater the chance of being labelled a spammer. From a marketing perspective, then, you need to know two things if you are to master that "risk assessment game."
First, what exactly are the characteristics that define that perfectly legitimate marketing email? Second, just what is the downside of being labelled a spammer by a proportion of recipients?
What makes a perfectly legitimate marketing email?
Legitimate marketing emails are those where:
The recipients requested it
The email arrives in a timely manner
The email is relevant to the needs of the recipient
The email allows the recipient to quickly grasp who sent it and what it's all about
The recipient can stop getting the emails easily and any time
"Good" marketing emails are those based on permission. You can read more about permission here and I'd urge you strongly to fully digest the articles listed at that link.
Essentially, permission means that the recipient of that email has explicitly asked for those emails, or explicitly consented to receive them.
In its purest form, it means the recipient took some kind of deliberate action with the express purpose of getting those emails. Ticking a box marked "add me to your email list" is one example.
Note the use of the word explicit. One way to begin deviating from the ideal is to forget this little word. An example is asking customers during the online ordering process to tick a box if they don't want to get emails from you.
Those that don't tick have given you permission to send emails. But not explicit permission. And you will find at least some people are surprised to find themselves on your list. You have started the move toward the bad end of the email spectrum.
Permission is the big criterion when it comes to defining perfect legitimacy. But it's not the only one. A related criterion is the idea of matching expectations.
When someone asks to get your marketing emails, they have expectations of what they're going to get. The further you are from meeting those expectations, the more likely you are to be considered a spammer.
That's why it's important to ensure people know exactly what they're going to get before they submit their email address to you. Take a look at the sign-up form on the top right of this page. It tells people what's in the emails and how often they're sent. The "more info" link goes into further detail and shows them a sample email.
That way I can be sure that the expectations of those who sign-up are met by the emails. If I begin to send out emails more often than every second week, or with content unrelated to email marketing, then I can expect some people to begin thinking of those emails as spam.
This is because permission is always temporary.
One oft-forgotten aspect of email marketing is that it's not enough to get the right permission when first adding an email address to your list. Permission is not eternal nor fixed in stone. You have to renew that permission through your email practices.
By this I don't mean repeatedly asking recipients if it's OK to keep sending them email. It means that to remain firmly at the "good" end of the marketing email spectrum, you need to keep matching the recipient's expectations.
Many people collect email addresses with the intention of starting up an email newsletter. The longer the delay between signing up an email address and sending out the email, the more likely the recipient is to forget they signed up in the first place. And the more likely she or he is to have changed interests and needs.
So when your first email does arrive, some will see it as spam, either because they think it's unsolicited or simply because it is no longer relevant to them.
This timeliness issue applies equally to subsequent email frequency. Leave it too long between emails (longer than a month or two) and the same problems apply.
This idea of expectations means you need to stay relevant. Recipients perceive spam not just as emails they never wanted but also as emails they don't need. That's why it's important to ensure you match the right email content to the right recipient through some consideration of targeting.
And that's also why you can head the wrong way down the spectrum when you start making too many assumptions about what the recipient would like. If they signed up to your newsletter A, well, surely they'll like newsletter B, too? That's an assumption you are not entitled to make under the idea of permission-based email marketing.
The need for relevancy also means you need to keep an eye on the design of your emails. Because if people can't see or grasp your message, then they become irrelevant. And irrelevancy propels you in the wrong direction on that spectrum.
For more information on these issues, check these blog posts and articles:
Er, no...actually I don't want your newsletterLingo alert: stale permissionLingo alert: assumed permissionBut surely my emails are relevant?How to send more email to your list without annoying them
Additional "best practice" criteria are more formal and include such things as ensuring your emails:
Have a subject line that reflect the contents
Come from a recognizable sender
Contain clear contact information
Contain easy instructions on how to get off the address list
These requirements are often reflected in the anti-spam laws email marketers are obliged to follow.
So now we have a grasp of what makes a perfectly legitimate marketing email. The more you deviate from this ideal, the more people think of you as spamming. So what?
Sending spam is bad for you
Let's clear up a myth first. There are many who believe that complying with anti-spam law is sufficient to protect yourself from any negative effects of sending "spam."
This attitude is widespread and it's utter nonsense. If you believe it, you're in for a rude awakening when you start sending out marketing emails. So please note...
Recipients do not decide whether you are spamming based on the criteria set down in anti-spam laws. Each recipient has their own idea of what is spam and what isn't. They don't care what the law says.
Most of the negative consequences of sending spam (see below) have nothing to do with the threat of legal punishment. And the ability to prove your emails are not spam in the eyes of the law will not save you from these negative consequences.
All complying with relevant anti-spam laws does is protect you from prosecution by the authorities.
So what are these negative consequences?
There are some problems that occur everytime an individual decides you're sending them spam. That person's relationship with your business suffers. Your image, your brand, and your reputation weaken in the eyes of that recipient. Don't underestimate how much people dislike businesses that send them unwanted or unsolicited emails.
This has potential and obvious consequences in terms of customer loyalty, sales, word of mouth etc. With some recipients, your relationship may be strong enough to get away with it. With others, it means they shop elsewhere. They may even badmouth you in public. The Internet is full of bloggers and others openly shaming companies that spam.
It doesn't matter whether you think you deserve the spam moniker or not. It doesn't matter that other recipients think your emails are more valuable than their own spouse. The more you move down toward the spam end of the spectrum, the more people will regard you as a spammer, and the greater the risk of these negative (brand) consequences.
Now throw in those problems that arise when enough people decide to report you as a spammer, which may be as easy as hitting the "this is spam" button at their webmail service.
Once spam complaints pass a certain threshold, you can find yourself on one or more blacklists (lists of email senders with a black mark against their name.) These lists are used by ISPs and others to label incoming email from those blacklisted senders as spam and prevent its delivery. It doesn't take too many complaints before your delivery rates suffer. For more on blacklists, check this page.
And if you start heading even closer to the spam end of the marketing email spectrum, then the service you use to distribute your emails will close your account. The people hosting your website may follow suit. Neither wants to be associated with spam.
A lot of these problems bubble beneath the surface, quietly undermining your email delivery success and your customer relationships while you continue blithely sending out the same kinds of email, blissfully unaware of the long-term damage you're doing to your business.
That's why you'll often hear spammers saying "I've been sending these emails out for months and hardly anyone ever complains." Most people who think you're sending them spam don't complain to you. They complain to some other third-party who has the power to stop your emails getting delivered.
Spamming means risking two core pillars of a successful and legitimate business: your reputation and your customer relationships. It also risks destroying your ability to market through email at all, if you attract the ire of those who guard the email infrastructure.
You now know what makes a "good" marketing email and what can happen as soon as you start to move away from this ideal. So you can assess for yourself whether the email you plan sending is going to cause you trouble or not. And if you're like most businesses interested in a positive brand and solid customer relationships, you'll see that it makes sense to stay as close as you reasonably can to the "good" side of the marketing email spectrum.
Permission-based email marketing works. Spamming doesn't.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Opt in email marketing lists should you buy?
Opt in email marketing lists should you buy?
Many people are intrigued by the idea of obtaining a ready-made list of email addresses they can send promotional emails to. Why wait months to slowly build up your own list of email addresses when you can piggy-back (for a price) on someone else's efforts?
While the idea seems attractive, there's a big trap waiting for anyone pursuing this course of action without care.
The important issue is how you come to obtain that bulk list of email addresses. And here we distinguish between renting a list (list rental) and buying a list.
List rental
List rental is a recognized and accepted practice in email marketing. Owners of address lists will send an email to their list on your behalf. And they charge you a fee for this service. The key point is that you never get to see the email addresses on that list. The list owner does the sending, not you.
Now there are lots of ins and outs to list rental, but for now you just need to understand that -- unlike with direct mail -- the actual address list never falls into your hands. So you pay a rental fee every time an email gets sent to the list.
Buying a list
The alternative is to buy a physical copy of a list of email addresses. After you pay the purchase price, there are no further fees to pay. You can send your promotional message as often as you like to the list.
Sounds promising, right?
Wrong.
With very, very few exceptions, purchasing a bulk list like this is a shortcut to email marketing hell.
Someone who has collected a list of email addresses for their own use has a valuable resource. That's why opt in email marketing works so well: you have a list of people you can dip into regularly to boost sales, build relationships, drive downloads, whatever.
But the value of that list is only preserved if you don't abuse it. Send too much commercial email and people soon stop responding. They may even report you as a spammer.
So people are careful with what happens to their list. If they do choose to let other people use it, then they'll want to tightly control this use. And they'll only allow this if the recipients on their list have given permission (when they signed up) to receive such commercial messages from third parties.
So what happens to that list if the owner does sell copies to anyone willing to pay the right price? It gets ruined. Nobody is controlling how many emails or even what type of emails people send the list. The addresses get bombarded with messages and response collapses.
Clearly, no self-respecting list owner is ever going to sell copies of their address list. Not if they want to preserve its value.
If somebody does offer to sell and send you a bulk list of email addresses, 99 times out of 100 you're getting a spam list. That's a list of addresses of people who have not agreed to receive messages like yours, or who are on a list that's been blasted to uselessness by other mailers.
At best, your messages to that list just elicit a poor response. At worst, you're labeled a spammer, which has numerous practical consequences -- all of them bad -- for your brand, bottom line and ability to do business over the Internet. You can end up on a few nice blacklists.
So when you see offers like 1 million addresses for $100, run as fast as your electronic legs can carry you in the opposite direction.
Can you ever buy a list legitimately?
Yes. Lists can change ownership, such as when the parent website owning that list is bought out by another company. That's a specialist situation though, where the list itself (not a copy) is being sold. The seller retains no copy for himself.
You can also pay for email addresses through co-registrations, where other websites invite people to sign up for your own list and charge you a fee for the service.
But buying a copy of a list - nope, don't do it.
This advice may seem logical, but confusing given that marketing professionals and the media seem to talk happily about purchased lists or buying lists. There's no paradox there. They use words like "buying" or "purchasing," but they really mean "renting."
As for the whole piggy-back concept...well, it's no substitute for building your own email list of email addresses from people who have explicitly requested to get commercial messages from you. If you use rented lists, you pay each time you send a message. And it's hard work ensuring you get the right list to match your message and goals.
Homegrown, house lists are by definition matched to your needs, since people are proactively choosing to get your messages because they want to hear from you. And you pay no rental fee when you use that list.
Many people are intrigued by the idea of obtaining a ready-made list of email addresses they can send promotional emails to. Why wait months to slowly build up your own list of email addresses when you can piggy-back (for a price) on someone else's efforts?
While the idea seems attractive, there's a big trap waiting for anyone pursuing this course of action without care.
The important issue is how you come to obtain that bulk list of email addresses. And here we distinguish between renting a list (list rental) and buying a list.
List rental
List rental is a recognized and accepted practice in email marketing. Owners of address lists will send an email to their list on your behalf. And they charge you a fee for this service. The key point is that you never get to see the email addresses on that list. The list owner does the sending, not you.
Now there are lots of ins and outs to list rental, but for now you just need to understand that -- unlike with direct mail -- the actual address list never falls into your hands. So you pay a rental fee every time an email gets sent to the list.
Buying a list
The alternative is to buy a physical copy of a list of email addresses. After you pay the purchase price, there are no further fees to pay. You can send your promotional message as often as you like to the list.
Sounds promising, right?
Wrong.
With very, very few exceptions, purchasing a bulk list like this is a shortcut to email marketing hell.
Someone who has collected a list of email addresses for their own use has a valuable resource. That's why opt in email marketing works so well: you have a list of people you can dip into regularly to boost sales, build relationships, drive downloads, whatever.
But the value of that list is only preserved if you don't abuse it. Send too much commercial email and people soon stop responding. They may even report you as a spammer.
So people are careful with what happens to their list. If they do choose to let other people use it, then they'll want to tightly control this use. And they'll only allow this if the recipients on their list have given permission (when they signed up) to receive such commercial messages from third parties.
So what happens to that list if the owner does sell copies to anyone willing to pay the right price? It gets ruined. Nobody is controlling how many emails or even what type of emails people send the list. The addresses get bombarded with messages and response collapses.
Clearly, no self-respecting list owner is ever going to sell copies of their address list. Not if they want to preserve its value.
If somebody does offer to sell and send you a bulk list of email addresses, 99 times out of 100 you're getting a spam list. That's a list of addresses of people who have not agreed to receive messages like yours, or who are on a list that's been blasted to uselessness by other mailers.
At best, your messages to that list just elicit a poor response. At worst, you're labeled a spammer, which has numerous practical consequences -- all of them bad -- for your brand, bottom line and ability to do business over the Internet. You can end up on a few nice blacklists.
So when you see offers like 1 million addresses for $100, run as fast as your electronic legs can carry you in the opposite direction.
Can you ever buy a list legitimately?
Yes. Lists can change ownership, such as when the parent website owning that list is bought out by another company. That's a specialist situation though, where the list itself (not a copy) is being sold. The seller retains no copy for himself.
You can also pay for email addresses through co-registrations, where other websites invite people to sign up for your own list and charge you a fee for the service.
But buying a copy of a list - nope, don't do it.
This advice may seem logical, but confusing given that marketing professionals and the media seem to talk happily about purchased lists or buying lists. There's no paradox there. They use words like "buying" or "purchasing," but they really mean "renting."
As for the whole piggy-back concept...well, it's no substitute for building your own email list of email addresses from people who have explicitly requested to get commercial messages from you. If you use rented lists, you pay each time you send a message. And it's hard work ensuring you get the right list to match your message and goals.
Homegrown, house lists are by definition matched to your needs, since people are proactively choosing to get your messages because they want to hear from you. And you pay no rental fee when you use that list.
What is opt in email marketing?
Opt in email marketing is, as the name suggests, the use of email in marketing communications.
What sort of email?
In its broadest sense, the term covers every opt in email you ever send to a customer, potential customer or public venue. In general, though, it's used to refer to:
Sending direct promotional opt in emails to try and acquire new customers or persuade existing customers to buy again
Sending opt in emails designed to encourage customer loyalty and enhance the customer relationship
Placing your marketing messages or advertisements in emails sent by other people
Give me an analogy...
You can think of these three main forms of email marketing as the electronic equivalent of:
Direct mail
Sending people a print newsletter
Placing advertisements in subscription magazines and newspapers
There is, however, one extremely important difference - the issue of permission (see later).
Why is email marketing so popular?
Email marketing is so popular because:
sending email is much cheaper than most other forms of communication
opt in email lets you deliver your message to the people (unlike a website, where the people have to come to your message)
email marketing has proven very successful for those who do it right
For more information, see the article Why do opt in email marketing?.
Let's briefly review the three types of opt in email marketing:
1. Direct email
Direct email involves sending a promotional message in the form of an email. It might be an announcement of a special offer, for example. Just as you might have a list of customer or prospect postal addresses to send your promotions too, so you can collect a list of customer or prospect email addresses.
You can also rent lists of email addresses from service companies. They'll let you send your message to their own address lists. These services can usually let you target your message according to, for example, the interests or geographical location of the owners of the email address.
2. Retention opt in email marketing
Instead of promotional email designed only to encourage the recipient to take action (buy something, sign-up for something, etc.), you might send out retention emails.
These usually take the form of regular emails known as newsletters. A newsletter may carry promotional messages or advertisements, but will aim at developing a long-term impact on the readers. It should provide the readers with value, which means more than just sales messages. It should contain information which informs, entertains or otherwise benefits the readers.
3. Advertising in other people's emails
Instead of producing your own newsletter, you can find newsletters published by others and pay them to put your advertisement in the emails they send their subscribers. Indeed, there are many email newsletters that are created for just this purpose - to sell advertising space to others.
Where's the catch?
This all sounds great of course. Imagine how much cheaper it is to send a message to thousands of email addresses, rather than thousands of postal addresses!
It's not that simple, unfortunately. Quite apart from the complexities of designing and delivering email messages to the right people, getting them to actually read and respond to your message, and measuring and analysing the results, there is the issue of permission.
What's "permission"?
Responsible email marketing is based on the idea of permission. This is a complex issue and the subject of intense debate in the marketing community.
Essentially, you need an email address owner's permission before you can send them a commercial email. If you don't have this permission, then the recipients of your mail may well regard your message as spam; unsolicited commercial (bulk) email.
You do not want to send spam!
If you are accused of sending spam, then you may find your email accounts closed down, your website shut off, and your reputation in tatters. In some parts of the world, you may even be breaking the law.
Quite apart from these practical considerations, there is also a strong argument which says that long-term successful email marketing relationships with customers and others can only work anyway if they're permission based.
The big question, of course, is what constitutes permission...and that is the main subject of debate. It's important to remember that it's not your views, or even the views of the majority, that count, but the views of those receiving your emails and those responsible for administering the infrastructure of the Internet.
An example of permission is when your customer buys something from your online store and also ticks a box marked "please send me news about product updates via email". You now have "permission" to send that person product updates by email, provided you also give them the opportunity to rescind that permission at any time.
Educate yourself
It's important to stress that anyone considering opt in email marketing must read up on the subject of permission and spam. If you don't understand the importance of permission and the risks of ignoring it, then you could be heading for commercial disaster.
Don't panic, though. It's actually relatively easy to ensure that the address lists you use or build yourself are permission-based.
OK, now that you're armed with some brief background information, browse the rest of this site to find the resources you need to develop a better understanding of how email marketing can work for you and your (potential) customers.
What sort of email?
In its broadest sense, the term covers every opt in email you ever send to a customer, potential customer or public venue. In general, though, it's used to refer to:
Sending direct promotional opt in emails to try and acquire new customers or persuade existing customers to buy again
Sending opt in emails designed to encourage customer loyalty and enhance the customer relationship
Placing your marketing messages or advertisements in emails sent by other people
Give me an analogy...
You can think of these three main forms of email marketing as the electronic equivalent of:
Direct mail
Sending people a print newsletter
Placing advertisements in subscription magazines and newspapers
There is, however, one extremely important difference - the issue of permission (see later).
Why is email marketing so popular?
Email marketing is so popular because:
sending email is much cheaper than most other forms of communication
opt in email lets you deliver your message to the people (unlike a website, where the people have to come to your message)
email marketing has proven very successful for those who do it right
For more information, see the article Why do opt in email marketing?.
Let's briefly review the three types of opt in email marketing:
1. Direct email
Direct email involves sending a promotional message in the form of an email. It might be an announcement of a special offer, for example. Just as you might have a list of customer or prospect postal addresses to send your promotions too, so you can collect a list of customer or prospect email addresses.
You can also rent lists of email addresses from service companies. They'll let you send your message to their own address lists. These services can usually let you target your message according to, for example, the interests or geographical location of the owners of the email address.
2. Retention opt in email marketing
Instead of promotional email designed only to encourage the recipient to take action (buy something, sign-up for something, etc.), you might send out retention emails.
These usually take the form of regular emails known as newsletters. A newsletter may carry promotional messages or advertisements, but will aim at developing a long-term impact on the readers. It should provide the readers with value, which means more than just sales messages. It should contain information which informs, entertains or otherwise benefits the readers.
3. Advertising in other people's emails
Instead of producing your own newsletter, you can find newsletters published by others and pay them to put your advertisement in the emails they send their subscribers. Indeed, there are many email newsletters that are created for just this purpose - to sell advertising space to others.
Where's the catch?
This all sounds great of course. Imagine how much cheaper it is to send a message to thousands of email addresses, rather than thousands of postal addresses!
It's not that simple, unfortunately. Quite apart from the complexities of designing and delivering email messages to the right people, getting them to actually read and respond to your message, and measuring and analysing the results, there is the issue of permission.
What's "permission"?
Responsible email marketing is based on the idea of permission. This is a complex issue and the subject of intense debate in the marketing community.
Essentially, you need an email address owner's permission before you can send them a commercial email. If you don't have this permission, then the recipients of your mail may well regard your message as spam; unsolicited commercial (bulk) email.
You do not want to send spam!
If you are accused of sending spam, then you may find your email accounts closed down, your website shut off, and your reputation in tatters. In some parts of the world, you may even be breaking the law.
Quite apart from these practical considerations, there is also a strong argument which says that long-term successful email marketing relationships with customers and others can only work anyway if they're permission based.
The big question, of course, is what constitutes permission...and that is the main subject of debate. It's important to remember that it's not your views, or even the views of the majority, that count, but the views of those receiving your emails and those responsible for administering the infrastructure of the Internet.
An example of permission is when your customer buys something from your online store and also ticks a box marked "please send me news about product updates via email". You now have "permission" to send that person product updates by email, provided you also give them the opportunity to rescind that permission at any time.
Educate yourself
It's important to stress that anyone considering opt in email marketing must read up on the subject of permission and spam. If you don't understand the importance of permission and the risks of ignoring it, then you could be heading for commercial disaster.
Don't panic, though. It's actually relatively easy to ensure that the address lists you use or build yourself are permission-based.
OK, now that you're armed with some brief background information, browse the rest of this site to find the resources you need to develop a better understanding of how email marketing can work for you and your (potential) customers.
Why do opt in email marketing?
Why do opt in email marketing?
People unfamiliar with opt in email marketing often wonder what all the fuss is about. Didn't spam kill email as a marketing vehicle? And if spam didn't kill it, what about web feeds, instant messaging and all the other clever ways we can communicate online? Isn't email outmoded?
Those wondering about the benefits of email marketing in today's ever-changing online and marketing environment will find the answers below.
It works
Businesses engage in email marketing because it works. And works well. Here are the numbers...
According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing generated an ROI of $51.58 for every dollar spent on it in 2006. The expected figure for last year is $48.56, and the prediction for 2008 is $45.65. As such, it outperforms all the other direct marketing channels examined, such as print catalogs. (See reference.)
A February/March 2008 retailer survey by shop.org revealed that email marketing has the second lowest cost per order (CPO) of any online marketing tactic. The CPO of $6.85 compares favorably with, for example, paid search's CPO of $19.33. (See reference.)
A 2008 survey by Newsweaver and B2B Marketing Magazine of 175 UK B2B marketers revealed 78% considered email "critical" or "very important" to their B2B marketing strategy (see the press release.)
In a December 2007 survey of Internet marketers by MarketingSherpa, email to house lists beat paid ads in terms of ROI, with 42% describing email as having "great ROI - outperforms other tactics." Only SEO and behavioral targeting (which you can also do with email) scored higher (see article).
In another December 2007 survey of over 2000 marketers by Datran Media (note: an email marketing service), 80% of respondents "indicated email was the strongest performing media buy ahead of search and display." 55% expected "ROI from email to be higher than any other channel" (see press release.)
Marketers responding to a July 2007 global survey by McKinsey put email second only to paid keywords in terms of online marketing efficiency (see article.)
A July 2007 survey of over 3,000 marketers involved in search marketing(!) by MarketingSherpa saw "email marketing to a house list" garner the most votes as the strongest marketing tactic. And it gained more votes than any other tactic for "good ROI" (see the report.)
A 2007 survey of over 1,000 advertisers by Outsell Inc. put email as the second-most effective online marketing tool after the company's own website (see MediaPost article.)
Research conducted by Shop.org in 2007 revealed email generates sales at an average cost per order of under $7, comparing favorably to $71.89 (banner ads), $26.75 (paid search) and $17.47 (affiliate programs.) (See reference.)
In a March 2007 survey of hotel marketers by Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, 58.7% cited email marketing as one of the Internet marketing formats that generate the best results and highest ROI (see the survey results.)
In a March 2007 column, usability guru Jakob Nielsen listed an email newsletter as "probably the single-highest ROI action you can take to improve your Internet presence." (See 10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities.)
A report in mid-2005 from JupiterResearch stated that..."when done right, $1 spent on e-mail can generate a $9 return." (See "Outlook 2006".)
The money is following the results...
In a 2008 survey of 200 corporate markters, 74% said they would increase spending on email campaings over the next three years (see article).
In January 2008, Jupiter Research forecast that spending on email marketing will grow from $1.2 billion in 2007 to $2.1 billion in 2012 (see press release).
In a December 2007 survey of over 2000 marketers by Datran Media (note: an email marketing service), 82% of respondents "indicated that they plan to increase their use of email marketing in 2008" (see press release.)
A November/December 2007 survey of B2B marketers and their spending intentions noted that over 70% expected to increase their email marketing budget in 2008 (see report.)
An end-of-year 2007 survey of marketing and sales execs by PoliteMail found over 80% "have plans to increase use of email for sales and marketing." (see survey results.)
In a September 2007 article, eMarketer predict spending on email advertising to rise 82% to $616 million in 2011. And spending on email marketing to rise 11% to $1,650 million over the same period (see article.)
In McKinsey's July 2007 global survey of marketers, more respondents used email than any other form of digital advertising vehicle. 51% said their spending on email would increase over the next three years, while 11% said it would decrease (see article.)
In a 2007 survey of large retailers, 88% of respondents noted that email marketing had "...increased as a priority in 2007." (see article.)
If you're wary of statistics, then consider the results obtained by real marketers in real organizations. Here's a list of over 90 case studies showcasing successful uses of email. And nearly all of those are published at independent media websites, not at vendor sites where they're just trying to sell their particular email marketing solution.
Why it works
Email marketing works for a variety of reasons...
It allows targeting
It is data driven
It drives direct sales
It builds relationships, loyalty and trust
It supports sales through other channels
Modern email marketing services and solutions support database integration, segmentation and various other tricks and techniques for improving the targeting of outgoing messages. Advanced methods generate on-the-fly emails customized down to an individual recipient basis.
And every email campaign you send out generates a heap of actionable data you can use to refine your approach and messages.
Email promotions and offers generate immediate action: sales, downloads, inquiries, registrations, etc. Informative email newsletters and other emails send people to offline stores and events, prepare the way for catalogs, build awareness, contribute to branding, strengthen relationships, encourage trust and cement loyalty.
All in all, a pretty good way of going about your marketing business. But...
Let's not get carried away
Just like a garden only bears fruit if managed properly, so it is with email marketing. We know it can work, but you have to get the basics right. The basics of building a list of people who want to hear from you, crafting a message, and ensuring the emails get through to those on that list.
And once you have the basics right, there's a whole spectrum of more sophisticated tactics you can employ to drive further success. Because the metrics show us that there's plenty of room for improvement and plenty of rewards waiting for those who do improve.
For example, one report found that "using web analytics to target email campaigns can produce nine times the revenues and eighteen times the profits of broadcast mailings."
At a simpler level, just mailing a small coupon offer to customers who hadn't purchased for a while brought in a tonne of extra sales for one retailer.
Convinced? Start the email marketing journey with a look at the basics of opt in email marketing. Then go on from there with the help of these top resources:
Email marketing article directory
Email marketing blogs
People unfamiliar with opt in email marketing often wonder what all the fuss is about. Didn't spam kill email as a marketing vehicle? And if spam didn't kill it, what about web feeds, instant messaging and all the other clever ways we can communicate online? Isn't email outmoded?
Those wondering about the benefits of email marketing in today's ever-changing online and marketing environment will find the answers below.
It works
Businesses engage in email marketing because it works. And works well. Here are the numbers...
According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing generated an ROI of $51.58 for every dollar spent on it in 2006. The expected figure for last year is $48.56, and the prediction for 2008 is $45.65. As such, it outperforms all the other direct marketing channels examined, such as print catalogs. (See reference.)
A February/March 2008 retailer survey by shop.org revealed that email marketing has the second lowest cost per order (CPO) of any online marketing tactic. The CPO of $6.85 compares favorably with, for example, paid search's CPO of $19.33. (See reference.)
A 2008 survey by Newsweaver and B2B Marketing Magazine of 175 UK B2B marketers revealed 78% considered email "critical" or "very important" to their B2B marketing strategy (see the press release.)
In a December 2007 survey of Internet marketers by MarketingSherpa, email to house lists beat paid ads in terms of ROI, with 42% describing email as having "great ROI - outperforms other tactics." Only SEO and behavioral targeting (which you can also do with email) scored higher (see article).
In another December 2007 survey of over 2000 marketers by Datran Media (note: an email marketing service), 80% of respondents "indicated email was the strongest performing media buy ahead of search and display." 55% expected "ROI from email to be higher than any other channel" (see press release.)
Marketers responding to a July 2007 global survey by McKinsey put email second only to paid keywords in terms of online marketing efficiency (see article.)
A July 2007 survey of over 3,000 marketers involved in search marketing(!) by MarketingSherpa saw "email marketing to a house list" garner the most votes as the strongest marketing tactic. And it gained more votes than any other tactic for "good ROI" (see the report.)
A 2007 survey of over 1,000 advertisers by Outsell Inc. put email as the second-most effective online marketing tool after the company's own website (see MediaPost article.)
Research conducted by Shop.org in 2007 revealed email generates sales at an average cost per order of under $7, comparing favorably to $71.89 (banner ads), $26.75 (paid search) and $17.47 (affiliate programs.) (See reference.)
In a March 2007 survey of hotel marketers by Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, 58.7% cited email marketing as one of the Internet marketing formats that generate the best results and highest ROI (see the survey results.)
In a March 2007 column, usability guru Jakob Nielsen listed an email newsletter as "probably the single-highest ROI action you can take to improve your Internet presence." (See 10 High-Profit Redesign Priorities.)
A report in mid-2005 from JupiterResearch stated that..."when done right, $1 spent on e-mail can generate a $9 return." (See "Outlook 2006".)
The money is following the results...
In a 2008 survey of 200 corporate markters, 74% said they would increase spending on email campaings over the next three years (see article).
In January 2008, Jupiter Research forecast that spending on email marketing will grow from $1.2 billion in 2007 to $2.1 billion in 2012 (see press release).
In a December 2007 survey of over 2000 marketers by Datran Media (note: an email marketing service), 82% of respondents "indicated that they plan to increase their use of email marketing in 2008" (see press release.)
A November/December 2007 survey of B2B marketers and their spending intentions noted that over 70% expected to increase their email marketing budget in 2008 (see report.)
An end-of-year 2007 survey of marketing and sales execs by PoliteMail found over 80% "have plans to increase use of email for sales and marketing." (see survey results.)
In a September 2007 article, eMarketer predict spending on email advertising to rise 82% to $616 million in 2011. And spending on email marketing to rise 11% to $1,650 million over the same period (see article.)
In McKinsey's July 2007 global survey of marketers, more respondents used email than any other form of digital advertising vehicle. 51% said their spending on email would increase over the next three years, while 11% said it would decrease (see article.)
In a 2007 survey of large retailers, 88% of respondents noted that email marketing had "...increased as a priority in 2007." (see article.)
If you're wary of statistics, then consider the results obtained by real marketers in real organizations. Here's a list of over 90 case studies showcasing successful uses of email. And nearly all of those are published at independent media websites, not at vendor sites where they're just trying to sell their particular email marketing solution.
Why it works
Email marketing works for a variety of reasons...
It allows targeting
It is data driven
It drives direct sales
It builds relationships, loyalty and trust
It supports sales through other channels
Modern email marketing services and solutions support database integration, segmentation and various other tricks and techniques for improving the targeting of outgoing messages. Advanced methods generate on-the-fly emails customized down to an individual recipient basis.
And every email campaign you send out generates a heap of actionable data you can use to refine your approach and messages.
Email promotions and offers generate immediate action: sales, downloads, inquiries, registrations, etc. Informative email newsletters and other emails send people to offline stores and events, prepare the way for catalogs, build awareness, contribute to branding, strengthen relationships, encourage trust and cement loyalty.
All in all, a pretty good way of going about your marketing business. But...
Let's not get carried away
Just like a garden only bears fruit if managed properly, so it is with email marketing. We know it can work, but you have to get the basics right. The basics of building a list of people who want to hear from you, crafting a message, and ensuring the emails get through to those on that list.
And once you have the basics right, there's a whole spectrum of more sophisticated tactics you can employ to drive further success. Because the metrics show us that there's plenty of room for improvement and plenty of rewards waiting for those who do improve.
For example, one report found that "using web analytics to target email campaigns can produce nine times the revenues and eighteen times the profits of broadcast mailings."
At a simpler level, just mailing a small coupon offer to customers who hadn't purchased for a while brought in a tonne of extra sales for one retailer.
Convinced? Start the email marketing journey with a look at the basics of opt in email marketing. Then go on from there with the help of these top resources:
Email marketing article directory
Email marketing blogs
opt in email marketing
Opt In E-mail marketing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
It has been suggested that Email marketing software be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)
Internet Marketing
Display advertisingEmail marketingE-mail marketing softwareInteractive advertisingSocial media optimizationWeb analytics
Affiliate marketing
Cost Per ActionContextual advertisingRevenue sharing
Search engine marketing
Search engine optimizationPay Per Click advertisingPaid inclusion
Mobile advertising
This box: view • talk • edit
Email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:
Sending emails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
Sending emails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing old customers to buy something immediately.
Adding advertisements in emails sent by other companies to their customers.
Emails that are being sent on the Internet (Email did and does exist outside the Internet, Network Email, FIDO etc.)
Researchers estimate that US firms alone spent $400 million on email marketing in 2006.[1]
Contents[hide]
1 Advantages
2 Disadvantages
3 CAN-SPAM compliance
4 Opt-in email advertising
5 Terms
6 References
7 See also
//
opt in email marketing Advantages
Email marketing (on the Internet) is popular with companies because:
The advantage of a mailing list is clearly the ability to distribute information to a wide range of specific, potential customers at a relatively low cost.
Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or printed newsletters, it is less expensive.
An exact Return on investment can be tracked ("track to basket") and has proven to be high when done properly. Email marketing is often reported as second only to search marketing as the most effective online marketing tactic.[2]
It is instant, as opposed to a mailed advertisement, an email arrives in a few seconds or minutes.
It lets the advertiser "push" the message to its audience, as opposed to a website that waits for customers to come in.
It is easy to track. An advertiser can track users via web bugs, bounce messages, un-subscribes, read-receipts, click-throughs, etc. These can be used to measure open rates, positive or negative responses, correlate sales with marketing.
Advertisers generate repeat business affordably and automatically
Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of email subscribers who have opted in (consented) to receive email communications on subjects of interest to them
Over half of Internet users check or send email on a typical day.[3]
Specific types of interaction with messages can trigger other messages to be automatically delivered.
Specific types of interaction with messages can trigger other events such as updating the profile of the recipient to indicate a specific interest category.
Green - email marketing is paper-free
opt in email marketing Disadvantages
Many companies use email marketing to communicate with existing customers, but many other companies send unsolicited bulk email, also known as spam.
Internet system administrators have always considered themselves responsible for dealing with "abuse of the net", but not "abuse on the net". That is, they will act quite vigorously against spam, but will leave issues like libel or trademark infringement to the courts. Most aministrators passionately hate spam, which they define as any unsolicited email. Draconian measures — such as taking down a corporate website with or without warning — are an entirely normal response to spamming. Typically, the "Terms of Service" in Internet companies' contracts allow this, so the spammer has no recourse.
Illicit email marketing antedates legitimate email marketing, since on the early Internet (see Arpanet) it was not permitted to use the medium for commercial purposes. As a result, marketers attempting to establish themselves as legitimate businesses in email marketing have had an uphill battle, hampered also by criminal spam operations billing themselves as legitimate.
It is frequently difficult for observers to distinguish between legitimate and spam email marketing. First off, spammers attempt to represent themselves as legitimate operators, obfuscating the issue. Second, direct-marketing political groups such as the U.S. Direct Marketing Association (DMA) have pressured legislatures to legalize activities which many Internet operators consider to be spamming, such as the sending of "opt-out" unsolicited commercial email. Third, the sheer volume of spam email has led some users to mistake legitimate commercial email (for instance, a mailing list to which the user subscribed) for spam — especially when the two have a similar appearance, as when messages include HTML and flashy graphics.
Due to the volume of spam email on the Internet, spam filters are essential to most users. Some marketers report that legitimate commercial emails frequently get caught by filters, and hidden; however, it is somewhat less common for email users to complain that spam filters block legitimate mail.
Companies considering an email marketing program must make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States' CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act),[4] the European Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 or their Internet provider's acceptable use policy. Even if a company follows the law, if Internet mail administrators find that it is sending spam it is likely to be listed in blacklists such as SPEWS.
opt in email marketing CAN-SPAM compliance
Because the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 authorizes a USD 11,000 penalty per violation for spamming each individual recipient, many commercial email marketers within the United States utilize a service or special software that helps ensure compliance with the Act. A variety of older systems exist which do not ensure compliance with the Act. To comply with the Act's regulation of commercial email, services typically: require users to authenticate their return address and include a valid physical address, provide a one-click unsubscribe feature, and prohibit importing lists of purchased addresses which may not have given valid permission.
In addition to satisfying legal requirements, service providers stepped in to help customers to set up and manage their own email marketing campaigns. The services provide email templates, automatically handle subscriptions and removals, and generate statistics on how many messages were received and opened, and whether the recipients clicked on any links within the messages.
opt in email marketing Opt-in email advertising
Opt-in email advertising or permission marketing is a method of advertising via electronic mail whereby the recipient of the advertisement has consented to receive it. It is one of several ways developed by marketers to eliminate the disadvantages of email marketing.[5]
Email has become a very popular mode of communication across the world. It has also become extremely popular to advertise through. Some of the many advantages of advertising through email are the direct contact with the consumer and is “inexpensive, flexible, and simple to implement” (Fairhead, 2003). There are also disadvantages attached to email advertising such as, alienating the consumer because of overload to messages or the advertisement getting deleted without getting read.
Permission email marketing may evolve into a technology that uses a handshake protocol between sender and receiver (Fairhaed, 2003). This system is intended to eventually result in a high degree of satisfaction between consumers and marketers. If opt-in email advertising is used, the material that is emailed to consumers will be “anticipated.” It is assumed that the consumer wants to receive it, which makes it unlike unsolicited advertisements sent to the consumer (often referred to as spam). Ideally, opt-in email advertisements will be more personal and relevant to the consumer than untargetted advertisements.
A common example of permission marketing is a newsletter sent to a firm’s customers. Newsletters like this are a way to let customers know about upcoming events or promotions, or new products.[6] In this type of advertising, a company that wants to send a newsletter to their customers may ask them at the point of purchase if they would like to receive this newsletter.
With a foundation of opted-in contact information stored in a database, marketers can automatically send out promotional materials. The marketers can also segment their promotions to specific market segments.[7]
opt in email marketing Terms
There are number of terms used in email marketing, marketers in this space have to be familiar with, to name a few: auto-responder, bounce message, click-through rate, double opt-in or opt-in, open rate and spam for example.[8]
opt in email marketing References
^ DMA: "The Power of Direct Marketing: ROI, Sales, Expenditures and Employment in the U.S., 2006-2007 Edition", Direct Marketing Association, October 2006
^ Brownlow, M: "Why do email marketing?", Email Marketing Reports, June 2008
^ Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Tracking surveys", March 2000 – March 2007
^ The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 online at ftc.gov or PDF Version
^ Fairhead, N. (2003) “All hail the brave new world of permission marketing via email” (Media 16, August 2003)
^ Dilworth, Dianna. (2007) Ruth's Chris Steak House sends sizzling e-mails for special occasions, DMNews retrieved on February 19, 2008
^ O'Brian J. & Montazemia, A. (2004) Management Information Systems (Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.)
^ Marketing Sherpa (Jul 29, 2004), The Ultimate Email Glossary: 178 Common Terms Defined, Marketing Sherpa retrieved on September 4, 2007
opt in email marketing See also
CAUCE
Customer engagement
Categories: Internet advertising and promotion E-mail Spamming Internet marketing by method
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)