Seven Fresh Ways to Score With E-mail Marketing

Although many marketers have some sort of e-mail marketing program in place, not all of them are successful at it. A recent Direct Marketing Association study, “The Power of Direct Marketing,” showed that e-mail returned $57.25 for every dollar spent on it. Atlanta-based list firm Response Media believes there are a number of untapped, profitable e-mail marketing tactics. Below are seven easy-to-implement tips.

1. Add an “access your account” link to your subscription e-newsletter. This results in more visits to your site and more revenue per visit, Response Media says.

2. Convert offline customers to online. Invite customers who read your catalog, call your contact center or while at your store cash registers to sign up for your e-mail list. This will help to leverage the high cost of customer acquisition by expanding the number of channels customers can do business with you.

3. Cost-efficient list growth. Track names that bounce from your lists rather than opt-out. When you find the names of the people that have bounced, take measures to salvage those names instead of losing them completely. Instruct your e-mail service provider what a bounce-back is vs. an opt-out. By determining a response as a bounce-back, it allows you the opportunity to offer the ability to change consumers’ e-mail preferences in addition to simply opting-out.

4. Keep aware of the e-mail address changes of your customers. Develop strategies to retain valuable customers before you’re forced to spend more money to reacquire these same customers because of an e-mail address change.

5. Co-registration — when two sites partner to build their respective e-mail lists. When visitors to your Web site register for your newsletter, they’re offered the chance to sign up for newsletters from the partnering Web site. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, co-registration grew 290 percent in 2005, to 753 million. This is a highly cost-effective tactic to grow your e-mail list. Partner with someone who targets the same customers as you and doesn’t offer a product mix that directly competes with yours.

6. Understand your entire customer base. Compile demographic surveys, census data and market research reports to learn your past, current and prospective customers and their buying habits. Merge offline customer data from sources, such as direct mail, with online data, such as e-mail, to determine how often you reach your customers. Compare your response rates from when they were independent of one other to one master list comprised of both to see which is more effective.

7. Provide options to e-mail recipients who look to opt out. Before removing them from your list, see if they would rather cut back the frequency of e-mails rather than eliminating them completely. Customers who choose to stay are willing to be contacted. Just remember to abide by their contact parameters.

For more information, go to www.responsemedia.com .