Internet
Marketing Tip of the Month
Interactive
E-Mail: Reach Out and Grab Someone!
June, 2002
It
seems there is no end to the constant stream of unsolicited bulk e-mail messages
we get every day. Are we all Viagra-starved day traders looking to add one more
credit card account? In other words, is broadcast e-mail all but saturated as
a fresh marketing vehicle?
Not
in our experience! Our recent broadcast e-mail campaigns have typically produced
a 5 to 10 percent response rate for the following reasons:
Targeted
lists. Good sources of e-mail recipients include: your in-house contact
management lists of customers and prospects, website form data files, your inbox
and address books, and industry lists from purchased CD-ROMs, industry
associations or magazines. And of course, review all your procedures for new
opportunities to acquire e-mail addresses: tradeshow promotions, phone messages,
on-site registration, and printed forms are just a few methods. There are more
aggressive methods for mining addresses, but better to try these methods first.
Good recipients often lead to good results.
Engaging
message design. Good e-mail message design is based on many of the
principles of good direct mail: convey a message, make an offer, provide an
action step, and track all results. We have seen the best results with messages
that offer some prize or giveaway and with messages that engage the recipient in
some kind of quiz, game or contest. Almost all e-mail messages offer links to
web pages for more information or features, but our most unique message designs
feature interactive forms directly in the body of the message. Those forms can
be quizzes, surveys, registration forms or inquiry forms. They can be anonymous
or ask for contact information. (In either case, we can usually track who uses
the forms.)
One
typical design entices recipients to test their industry knowledge in a quiz and
offers a coupon or a chance to win a prize for their participation.
Other
tips for successful broadcast e-mail campaigns include:
-
Set
the sender's name to be an person's name (or fictional name) rather than the
name of a company. Recipients are more likely to open mail from thinking
it's personal.
-
Use
a system or service that distributes your messages individually, with only
the recipient's name or e-mail address listed as the recipient of each
message. Using the carbon-copy or blind-carbon-copy field will get many of
your messages filtered out as "junk."
Tracking.
We can track almost every last detail about a broadcast e-mail campaign,
including how many recipients view and click on links in your message and even which
recipients view and click. That is a great way to easily qualify recipients on a
prospect list.
Frequency.
Repeated messages with some variation often get responses on the third or fourth
broadcasts. But send no more often than once a month to limit unsubscribe
requests.
Contact
Dynamics Online to discuss the design of your
effective and engaging broadcast e-mail campaign.
|
