Tips on Email List Management

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Home Why Choose Us? Email Marketing Services Free Marketing E-Newsletter Contact Mark Vogel Site Map Privacy Policy		Tips on Email List Management If you are still maintaining your lead lists and customer lists the way you did several years ago, it’s time to change your practices. Your emails to customers and prospects need to be personalized and customized in order for you to stay relevant. No more “Dear Valued Customer” letters or generic one-size-fits-all emails. The most difficult part of implementing a strategy of personalized marketing communications is building a highly-segmented master database. Done properly, email marketing yields the highest return on marketing investment of all media. A recent study by the Direct Marketing Association shows email’s ROI for 2008 to be $45.06 for every dollar spent. Compare that to just $15.55 non-catalog direct marketing. And while 60% of companies surveyed by MarketingSherpa in September 2008 plan to cut spending in print advertising, 40% plan to increase spending on email marketing. You see why Vogel Marketing Solutions strongly recommends that companies of all sizes consider taking a more aggressive and better-managed approach to email marketing. Here are some recommendations to help ensure you are emailing with the right frequency, relevancy and personalization. Create one Master Database: there are numerous benefits to maintaining one database of all customers, prospects and suspects: Saves money: if you are mailing hard copy newsletters, sales sheets, and other marketing materials, you can convert the recipients to emails if you have every recipient’s address. Even if you converted only half of your list to email, think what you will save in postage and printing costs. Email marketing has the highest return on investment than any other marketing initiative. Improves response rates: when your recipients feel you are speaking directly to them and their needs your response rates will rise. From a personalized salutation to adjusting images based on demographics/psychographics, I can provide the technology to ensure no two marketing communications are alike. Provides measurement: with one master database, you can more easily view trends over time and between your various market segments -- allowing you to refine your efforts through data analysis. It allows you to more easily compare behaviors of sales team members, and holds marketing more accountable for generating the right volume of the right leads at the right time. Saves time: because marketing can now take a greater role in communicating with your target audiences, sales will spend their time nurturing a smaller universe of more highly-qualified leads. Marketing can now automate processes that were traditionally done one-at-a-time by sales team members. Click here to download a free flowchart that shows the process needed to build a Master Database. Segment, Segment, Segment!: this means you must maintain more than just name, address, phone and email. There’s no easy answer on HOW to go about that, since each company will have different needs. But these segments could be things like demographics (age, gender), geography, buying habits (what did they purchase last, and when?), sales rep owner of that lead, prefer email over phone calls, decision-maker vs. influencer, company size, NAICS, their birthday, etc. Everyone is a Marketer: it is vital that you take a holistic approach to growing your list. Everyone must participate in the process -- even if they don't perceive themselves as part of the email marketing program. Look at all OFFLINE marketing efforts to acquire data for your online marketing program: print ads, tradeshows, lead referral programs, newsletters, telemarketing, customer service, receptionists, out-bound telemarketing, sales calls, service calls, contests, and point of sale channels. Always ask for email—without it you’re stuck with costly 20th Century communications methods. Keep it clean: set a plan for routine list hygiene. You’d be surprised how much outdated information can be found in company databases. This is especially critical with email. If a recipient fails to even open you emails after 3, 4, 5 or more sends, then either call them to see if they want to keep receiving the emails. Otherwise, that email might actually be dead, and is owned by an AOL or Comcast to be used as a “spam trap” or “honey pot”. If you keep emailing a non-responsive email, you could be blacklisted as a spammer. Learn more about the latest CAN-SPAM regulations >> Be relevant: here are some tips to help ensure your emails are relevant to the recipients’ wants and desires: Frequency choices: allow your recipients to choose how frequently they receive your emails. Everyone appreciates being given a choice. Click behavior: look at the pages each recipient clicked to, and tailor your future messages to them based on the interest they demonstrated by their behavior. Geography: tailor your message based on where they live. Listrak, for example, provides a geo-tracking feature if you don’t already have the recipient’s hometown location. Dropdown or radio button selections: on your email sign-up page, make it easy for them to provide details on their preferences. This includes frequency of emails, HTML vs. text, length of time before buying decision, current use of a competitor’s product, and more. The less they must key in, the more willing they will be to surrender information about their preferences. “Welcome” emails: if they take the time to subscribe, surely you can take the time to say “thanks!” This can be easily automated. Make the thank you relevant with content that aligns with their profile. Two-way personalization: even if you successfully personalize your email (“Dear Ms. Smith”) you should also sign the email from a real person, including the “from” address. Keep the tone conversational, and include contact information for the individual (avoid “info@”). This is especially important if the recipient deals with a specific sales rep or CSR. The email must be from THEM. Surveys: these can not only provide valuable market data, but allows you to ask for additional information from your audiences. Even if someone has been on your list for some time, they may have changed positions at their company, and can provide additional contact info for other decision-makers and influencers. Readability: many B2B recipients now use handheld devices such as Blackberrys to check email. If you are sending HTML-only emails, much of the content will be lost. Be sure to send both text and HTML versions of the same email. Keep you key offer “above the fold”, and place descriptive “ALT Text” in your images. Most email programs block images, so be certain the text that is displayed says who it’s from and what it is. Relevant graphics: most email service providers offer dynamic profiling tools to build a relevant email design based on the recipient’s profile data. For example, if a recipient’s zip code indicates they live in an urban area, drop in images that reflect that environment. Keep it simple: don’t try to overload your email with too many offers or too many links. If your message appears confusing or too time consuming, they’ll hit delete. Bite-sized pieces are easier to swallow than serving up a big buffet. Provide a clear call-to-action.
		Copyright © 2009 Vogel Marketing Solutions LLC \| 255 Butler Avenue \| Suite 201-B \| Lancaster PA 17601 \| 717-368-5143 VogelMarketing@verizon.net \| www.VogelMarketing.net

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Tips on Email List Management

If you are still maintaining your lead lists and customer lists the way you did several years ago, it’s time to change your practices. Your emails to customers and prospects need to be personalized and customized in order for you to stay relevant. No more “Dear Valued Customer” letters or generic one-size-fits-all emails. The most difficult part of implementing a strategy of personalized marketing communications is building a highly-segmented master database.

Done properly, email marketing yields the highest return on marketing investment of all media. A recent study by the Direct Marketing Association shows email’s ROI for 2008 to be $45.06 for every dollar spent. Compare that to just $15.55 non-catalog direct marketing. And while 60% of companies surveyed by MarketingSherpa in September 2008 plan to cut spending in print advertising, 40% plan to increase spending on email marketing. You see why Vogel Marketing Solutions strongly recommends that companies of all sizes consider taking a more aggressive and better-managed approach to email marketing.

Here are some recommendations to help ensure you are emailing with the right frequency, relevancy and personalization.

Create one Master Database: there are numerous benefits to maintaining one database of all customers, prospects and suspects:

Saves money: if you are mailing hard copy newsletters, sales sheets, and other marketing materials, you can convert the recipients to emails if you have every recipient’s address. Even if you converted only half of your list to email, think what you will save in postage and printing costs. Email marketing has the highest return on investment than any other marketing initiative.
Improves response rates: when your recipients feel you are speaking directly to them and their needs your response rates will rise. From a personalized salutation to adjusting images based on demographics/psychographics, I can provide the technology to ensure no two marketing communications are alike.
Provides measurement: with one master database, you can more easily view trends over time and between your various market segments -- allowing you to refine your efforts through data analysis. It allows you to more easily compare behaviors of sales team members, and holds marketing more accountable for generating the right volume of the right leads at the right time.
Saves time: because marketing can now take a greater role in communicating with your target audiences, sales will spend their time nurturing a smaller universe of more highly-qualified leads. Marketing can now automate processes that were traditionally done one-at-a-time by sales team members.

Click here to download a free flowchart that shows the process needed to build a Master Database.

Segment, Segment, Segment!: this means you must maintain more than just name, address, phone and email. There’s no easy answer on HOW to go about that, since each company will have different needs. But these segments could be things like demographics (age, gender), geography, buying habits (what did they purchase last, and when?), sales rep owner of that lead, prefer email over phone calls, decision-maker vs. influencer, company size, NAICS, their birthday, etc.

Everyone is a Marketer: it is vital that you take a holistic approach to growing your list. Everyone must participate in the process -- even if they don't perceive themselves as part of the email marketing program. Look at all OFFLINE marketing efforts to acquire data for your online marketing program: print ads, tradeshows, lead referral programs, newsletters, telemarketing, customer service, receptionists, out-bound telemarketing, sales calls, service calls, contests, and point of sale channels. Always ask for email—without it you’re stuck with costly 20th Century communications methods.

Keep it clean: set a plan for routine list hygiene. You’d be surprised how much outdated information can be found in company databases. This is especially critical with email. If a recipient fails to even open you emails after 3, 4, 5 or more sends, then either call them to see if they want to keep receiving the emails. Otherwise, that email might actually be dead, and is owned by an AOL or Comcast to be used as a “spam trap” or “honey pot”. If you keep emailing a non-responsive email, you could be blacklisted as a spammer. Learn more about the latest CAN-SPAM regulations >>

Be relevant: here are some tips to help ensure your emails are relevant to the recipients’ wants and desires:

Frequency choices: allow your recipients to choose how frequently they receive your emails. Everyone appreciates being given a choice.
Click behavior: look at the pages each recipient clicked to, and tailor your future messages to them based on the interest they demonstrated by their behavior.
Geography: tailor your message based on where they live. Listrak, for example, provides a geo-tracking feature if you don’t already have the recipient’s hometown location.
Dropdown or radio button selections: on your email sign-up page, make it easy for them to provide details on their preferences. This includes frequency of emails, HTML vs. text, length of time before buying decision, current use of a competitor’s product, and more. The less they must key in, the more willing they will be to surrender information about their preferences.
“Welcome” emails: if they take the time to subscribe, surely you can take the time to say “thanks!” This can be easily automated. Make the thank you relevant with content that aligns with their profile.
Two-way personalization: even if you successfully personalize your email (“Dear Ms. Smith”) you should also sign the email from a real person, including the “from” address. Keep the tone conversational, and include contact information for the individual (avoid “info@”). This is especially important if the recipient deals with a specific sales rep or CSR. The email must be from THEM.
Surveys: these can not only provide valuable market data, but allows you to ask for additional information from your audiences. Even if someone has been on your list for some time, they may have changed positions at their company, and can provide additional contact info for other decision-makers and influencers.
Readability: many B2B recipients now use handheld devices such as Blackberrys to check email. If you are sending HTML-only emails, much of the content will be lost. Be sure to send both text and HTML versions of the same email. Keep you key offer “above the fold”, and place descriptive “ALT Text” in your images. Most email programs block images, so be certain the text that is displayed says who it’s from and what it is.
Relevant graphics: most email service providers offer dynamic profiling tools to build a relevant email design based on the recipient’s profile data. For example, if a recipient’s zip code indicates they live in an urban area, drop in images that reflect that environment.
Keep it simple: don’t try to overload your email with too many offers or too many links. If your message appears confusing or too time consuming, they’ll hit delete. Bite-sized pieces are easier to swallow than serving up a big buffet. Provide a clear call-to-action.