Kelly ], Andrews
The biggest buzzword in e-mail marketing is “opt in.” We’ve all heard that marketers ideally should send e-mail only to those who stand up and say they wish to receive it. But how do you get your prospects to stand up?
The answer is to adapt some of the same techniques that work in the off-line direct marketing world. Before you build your house list, note that when a prospect or customer submits an e-mail address to you for one purpose, he or she is not necessarily opting in to receive marketing e-mail. While many direct marketers have e-mailed successfully to Web site registrants who haven’t explicitly opted in, the best practice, is to avoid gray areas.
If you want to send marketing messages to e-mail addresses you collect, include a question in each registration form that clearly asks whether the individual would like to receive e-mail communications from you. Post your privacy policy (visit www. the-dma.org/policy.html for help drafting one), and include opt-out instructions in every e-mail you send to your house list.
1. Run a Sweepstakes or Prize Promotion.
Sweepstakes, one of the most effective (and most legally beleaguered) promotional methods from the off-line world, get even better response online. Explains Jim Williams, vice president of the e-mail marketing division of ClickAction Inc.
“Web sweepstakes have a very high novelty factor. People still think, ‘You mean all I have to do is give them my name and e-mail address and I’ll win a trip?'”
Use a prize promotion to generate registrations from your existing Web site traffic, or for a wider pool of names, place banner ads on compatible sites to promote the contest.
Sweeps-driven banners get the highest click-throughs on the Web, and most Web surfers are willing to submit their name, address and even demographic information if they know a prize may be involved. Of course, be sure you follow sweepstakes regulations to the letter and ask for explicit permission to send e-mail to registrants. While some entrants will not give permission, just as most entrants to direct-mail sweeps do not make purchases, those who do are usually valuable enough to give a return on investment.
Advises Unity Stoakes, marketing manager for Webstakes, a New York-based Internet promotion company, “The results will be better if the offer is more relevant to the content the user comes from and the goods the marketer is selling, but because the list is an opt-in, you know that the people who opt in are likely to be interested in the offer.”
2. Make Web Site Content Available Only to Registered Users.
If your company’s Web site includes a great deal of free content (articles, interactive tools, chat rooms, etc.), make this valuable content available only to those who register by submitting an e-mail address and password.
Bonus: This method not only gives you the opportunity to ask users to opt in to receive e-mail, but it gives you a means to track user behavior so that you can deliver one-to-one marketing programs (such as targeted banner ads and product offers) whenever registered users return to the site.
3. Send an E-mail Newsletter.
Make useful content and news available via a newsletter. Be aware that permission to send an e-mail newsletter is not a blanket approval to send any type of e-mail message, so either ask for subscribers’ explicit opt-in to receive marketing messages or proceed cautiously. For example, you might be able to include a product discount or other offer in the text of the newsletter, but if you send stand-alone marketing messages, you risk angering your subscriber base into permanently opting out.
4. Set Up a Preferred Shopper or Other Customer Club.
Encourage loyalty from existing customers by asking them to sign up for a preferred shopper club that informs them of new products that may interest them, special discounts for members or other exclusive offers. This system has worked well for Amazon.com, which sends e-mail messages about new and notable book titles based on the interest categories for which users have registered.
5. Establish a Discount Notification System.
Attract bargain hunters and liquidate distressed merchandise to boot by asking Web site visitors to sign up for a discount notifications. This system has been used effectively by airlines, with American Airlines and Delta filling empty seats by promoting last-minute, ultra-low fares to user-specified destinations or popular excursion cities.
6. Sign Up with or Devise an Affinity, Bonus or Incentive System.
Incentive and bonus points systems (Webstakes, MyPoints, Netcentives) can entice people into signing up for e-mail, and once they’ve registered to receive e-mail, it’s up to your offer to convert prospects into buyers.
7. Offer Virtual Greeting Cards.
This suggestion, made by Rosalind Resnick, president of NetCreations, which offers the PostMaster Direct opt-in e-mail marketing services, has many variations.
Bluemountainarts.com built itself into one of the most popular sites on the Web with its virtual greeting cards, while 1-800flowers.com gives away free virtual bouquets in addition to selling its real-life flowers and gifts. Bill Lederer, CEO of Art.com, a site that sells fine art prints and framing services, plans to add virtual greeting cards with virtual art attached to the site this month.
The beauty of this method, which is similar to member-get-a-member programs, is the potential for geometric growth if each recipient send cards to two or three friends.
8. Ask on Your Order Form.
Include a box on your order form (both on the Web and through the mail) that customers can check if they wish to receive e-mail messages from you about special offers or new products. This may not be the most aggressive way to build a list, but it’s especially effective for loyalty marketing efforts since everyone who signs up this way is an existing customer. Plus, it never hurts to ask. Explains Jim Williams, “If you’re going to Coach or Park Seed to shop, it’s going to be valuable to you to receive their e-mail announcements.”
