E-mail Marketing Tips From The Pros

At the DMA convention in San Francisco last fall, four executives from leading e-mail list companies shared some valuable tips with attendees. Rosalind Resnick moderated the session with Regina Brady of Acxiom, Eric Zilling of ALC Interactive and Deborah Goldstein of IDG Lists on the panel. Here’s the gist of what we learned:

For those publishers with renewal products, Brady reported that inserting an e-mail message into your billing series can lift response. "If you don’t do it, you’re missing an opportunity to communicate with your subscribers using what may be their preferred channel. Brady also reported that one software company that sent messages out to registered users about a recent upgrade saw 65% of those contacted click on the link in the message and download the upgrade.

Frequency is important, Goldstein said. She’s seen the third and fourth message in a series tip the response scale considerably. "One of our clients sent the same message three days in a row and that definitely lifted response."

It’s important to have a special 800 number for people who wouldn’t go to the web site. Offering only e-mail as a reply mechanism can lower your response rate.

Goldstein said response rate ranges from 4 - 9%. Brady added that it can be as high as 10 -20% for customer mailings. Zilling said he’s seen 5 - 10% click on a link embedded in a message and 10 - 20 % of those take the offer. Hard offers receive about a 2% response rate.

Right now opt-in e-mail lists can cost $200 - $300 per thousand. E-mail delivery charges are extra. Brady believes the prices are high due to the scarcity of such lists. But Goldstein commented that managing e-mail broadcasts is twice the labor for the list broker than managing postal lists. "The demand on turn around time is intense," and Goldstein thinks prices should stay just where they are.