Behind E-Mail Append’s Resurgence

Many catalogers are missing important data that would allow them to make better use of both direct mail and e-mail to market effectively. Specifically, they don’t have the following:

1. E-mail addresses from many of their customers; consequently, they can’t use multichannel marketing to reach their best targets. They can certainly mail their catalogs, but they’re missing the one-two punch of using direct mail with e-mail.

2. Their e-mail lists often don’t contain name and address information. Therefore they don’t know the portions of their lists that are current or past customers. As a result, they can’t launch special campaigns to their best list segments.

Appending is a useful strategy to counteract both these situations.

E-mail appending has been around for several years. But it’s seeing a big resurgence in use. I’ve recently received e-mails from catalogers, publishers and major marketers asking for permission to send me e-mail. And it makes sense this is happening.

Catalogers who use a combination of direct mail and e-mail can gain greater sales than either channel generates alone. Below is an example of an appending permission e-mail I recently received. The subject line was: “A Special Invitation from Draper’s and Damon’s.” It’s short, focused, visually appealing and includes an easy opt-out link. The one thing I’d do to improve this e-mail’s impact is include a special offer with a promo code to capture attention, stimulate interaction and immediately generate sales.

Use appending only for existing customer relationships, and only when you have a name and full postal address. Only append to customers, and be mindful of how recently you’ve interacted with these individuals. When customers haven’t purchased from you in two years, they probably don’t consider themselves customers and are less likely to want your e-mails.

Look for Qualifying Permission
There are many reputable e-mail appending services. Make sure there’s qualifying permission on the database of the service you choose, namely the individual opting in to receive third-party e-mails. Use strict matching criteria so you’re matching on an individual and not a household level.

In this easy process, you provide customer names and addresses to your selected appending service. The service will typically identify e-mail addresses for 25 percent to 35 percent of consumer files. Match rates will be much less for B-to-B.

A “permission pass” e-mail containing the chance to opt-out is sent to those names. You’ll likely experience an opt-out rate of about 2 percent. After the campaign, you’ll want to flag the opt-outs in your database. Then you can begin sending regular e-mails to the balance of the e-mail addresses.

Flag names in your database that come from appending. This lets you monitor their productivity and measure e-mail appending’s effectiveness.

Support any catalog drops with e-mails to customers on your e-mail list. It’s good to feature the catalog cover and highlight that the catalog is in the mail.

An example from Orvis appears below as well. It’s been edited to show only the initial screen. The e-mail features two catalogs and the subject line: “See 150 brand-new gifts from our latest catalogs.” The first paragraph mentions the catalogs are in the mail. Another approach is to explain that e-mail recipients are getting a sneak peek at special merchandise.

Many catalogers make it almost too easy to sign up for e-mail. They only capture e-mail addresses because they fear additional questions will depress completion rates. Ask for name and address information, but make information submission optional.

If you only have an e-mail address, use appending services to learn more about your e-mail registrants. Get names and addresses to use in the personalization and segmentation of your e-mail campaigns.

Conduct a further matchback to your existing customer database to flag those e-mail recipients who are also customers. Or test mail a catalog to a portion of these names that aren’t current customers.

Being able to identify current customers among your e-mail recipients allows you to be more intelligent about your e-mail marketing, perhaps providing special offers based on their prior purchase history. You can also support your catalog mailings to these individuals with e-mail.

One other use of this type of appending is to find deliverable e-mail addresses for your bounces. Many catalogers do this quarterly. They take all the bounces that have been removed from their e-mail distribution and identify another e-mail address for these names.

Consider both types of appending efforts. They’ll grow your housefile of e-mail addresses and allow you to take advantage of multichannel marketing. Test these techniques and measure their impact before you consider a rollout.

Reggie Brady is president of Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, a direct and e-mail marketing consultancy in Norwalk, Conn. You can reach her at (203) 838-8138 or reginabrady@att.net.