Marketing Spend For Email and Social Media Top Plans for 2010

by Jack Loechner, Monday, December 7, 2009, 8:15 AM

According to the November "2010 Marketing Trends Survey"  of business leaders by StrongMail, 89% of respondents plan to increase or maintain marketing spend in email marketing and social media budgets in the New Year. The industry survey of more than 1,000 global business leaders found that the positive outlook is supported by 50% of polled businesses that expect their customers to spend more in 2010, and nearly a quarter more that expect them to spend the same.  Only 8% of businesses expect their customers to spend less.

48% of businesses are increasing overall marketing budgets in 2010, and email and social media marketing are the two leading areas of investment at 69% and 59% respectively. Search marketing comes in third at 42%.  Conversely, events and direct mail lead the pack in decreased spend at 44% and 42% respectively.

Marketing Program Spending Plans for 2010 (% of Respondents)
Program	Increase Spend	Decrease Spend
Advertising	28%	32%
Direct mail	21	42
Email marketing	69	6
Mobile	22	5
Public relations	19	12
Search (SEO/PPC)	42	7
Social media	59	3
Tradeshows & events	20	44
Other	7	7
Source: StrongMail, November 2009

 Social media marketing is a clear focus for businesses, with 69% of respondents planning to integrate it with their email marketing campaigns in 2010.  However, of those who have already integrated the two channels, only 42% are achieving a lift in campaign performance.  35% report no significant lift and another 23% are unable to measure.   Respondents identified the top three benefits of social media marketing as:

• Awareness building (64%)
• Customer loyalty and retention (49%)
• Expanded reach (46%)

 Bill Wagner, executive vice president of business operations at StrongMail, notes that "... this survey reveals a strong focus on high ROI channels like email and emerging ones like social media... (with) an unprecedented number of companies look to integrate email and social media in 2010..."

Most Important Email Marketing Initiatives in 2010
Initiative	% Ranking Among Top 3
Improving performance of campaigns	59%
Growing opt-in list	44
Re-engaging inactive subscribers	28
Integrating with social media marketing	42
Integrating with mobile marketing	19
Improving deliverability	26
Reducing costs	19
Integrating into transactional emails	20
Accessing data to increase relevance	21
Improve segmentation and targeting	46
Centralizing on single platform	11
Other	4
Source: StrongMail, November 2009

Reported survey highlights include:

• 89% of businesses plan to increase or maintain marketing spend in 2010
• 50% of businesses expect customers to spend more; 23% to spend about the same; 8% to spend less
• 69% of businesses plan to increase marketing budget for email; 59% social media; 42% search
• 69% of businesses plan to integrate email and social media in 2010
• 64% of businesses identify increasing awareness as the primary value for social media

Button Up Your Email

by Darrah MacLean, Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 11:32 AM

Have you ever found yourself standing in front of an automatic towel dispenser, waving your hands frantically over the hands-free scanner, praying for a towel to come out? Yeah, me too. Usually, if I wave my hands over, under and around the dispenser long enough, something comes out. The key word here is usually.  

A week ago, I found myself working up a sweat in front of a towel dispenser when a waitress finally came in and said, "Oh, you have to actually touch the button." To which I said, "But the button says hands-free." Her response? "Oh, it's wrong. You actually have to touch it."  Interesting. The directions were wrong and if that nice lady hadn't come in the room, I could still be standing there like an idiot waving my hands. Because the button said hands-free. 

This little interaction got me thinking about the importance of directions, or as we call them in the email universe: CTAs (Call-To-Action). We use buttons and links to tell people what action they need to take if they want to continue their shopping experience. They are the clicking points of your emails, and you'd best be spending some time crafting them.  

Think of buttons and links as mini billboards. You have six words or less to get your point across. Choose them wisely. While CTAs should be visually easy to spot and read, they don't have to be generic. Yes, sometimes down-and-dirty is your best bet, as in this Staples email. "Order Now" works, so why reinvent the wheel? That said, there is always a time and place to get a little creative with your CTA copy. Here are some quick Dos and Don'ts for how to push some buttons in your next email.

DO: Make the button a part of the story. By crafting your CTA to play off the headline, you suddenly have a story with a beginning, middle and end -- just like Piperlime does here and here. REI and Backcountry take the idea a step further by cutting out the body copy altogether. They let the headline and button tell the story in a clean and clever way.

Anthropologie knows how to have fun with its CTAs, and this Holiday '08 email showcases its brand voice to perfection. Free People shows off another fun way to incorporate the CTA visually in this email. If only the company had added a carrot or something to make the CTA a tad more obvious.

DO: Take the direct route when needed. Being too clever can backfire, so sometimes a direct CTA is the way to go, as Coach did here. The imagery and headline do the heavy creative lifting, while the "Shop Our Latest Jewelry" pulls the story together. And check out the way Coach added the "Free Shipping" bug just below the link. Sheer genius.

DO: Give customers the option to "Shop this Look." If you're showcasing one small piece of a larger collection in your email, give your customers the option to "Shop this Look" in addition to "Shop the Whole Collection." Tommy Bahama pulls it off nicely in this email.

DO: Try to think outside "Click Here." When emails first starting hitting the inbox way back when, we saw a lot of "Click Here" CTAs. But we've evolved. Using a "Click Here" in today's email world feels really old-school, and not in a cool retro way. If you find yourself taking the easy way out with a "Click Here" button or link, challenge yourself to reword the CTA without it. For example, Pottery Barn could have simply gone with "Learn More" in this email 

DON'T: Forget to include clear directions (remember the towel dispenser). If you're taking the time to send out an email and you have specific sales goals for that email, why wouldn't you direct people towards the experience you want them to have? Bottom line: You risk your click-through when you don't include a clear call-to-action.

Hollister makes a conscious creative decision to leave out the CTA altogether in its emails, like this one and this one. Maybe it's cooler on some level to the teen crowd (it'd be an interesting test, no?), but without a top nav. the lack of a CTA leaves customers hanging. Crate and Barrel emails are always on-brand, but the lack of a clear CTA leading to its Christmas landing page in this email feels like a huge miss. (Although, they win bonus points for the fantastic headline: "Deer Santa." Love it.)

Seniors Are Prolific E-Mailers, Online Shoppers

Today’s Seniors and Boomers Rival Younger Generations in Online Activities

(Alexandria, VA – October 27, 2009) Seniors aged 65 and older (also referred to as “Matures”) have made the Internet an integral part of their everyday lives. In a recent study, 77 percent report that they shop online. In fact, Matures lead all other generational groups when it comes to this online activity. They regularly use email (94 percent), go to the Internet to look up health and medical information (71 percent), read news (70 percent), and manage their finances and banking (59 percent). Matures also turn to the Internet for gaming, approximately half (47 percent) of online Matures regularly play free online games.

Boomers (ages 45 – 64) are heavy online users as well, with 93 percent using email and 71 percent shopping online. Other regular online activities of Boomers are going to the Internet to read news (73 percent), gather information (67 percent) and pay bills (66 percent). Three out of ten (30 percent) regularly watch videos online, and 39 percent regularly go to networking Web sites, forums, message boards and chat rooms.

These findings come from the CTAM Pulse report that includes data from the Life Stages & Life Styles: Turning General Differences Into Media Opportunities, and analyzes four generational groups.

“The technology adoption behaviors of the younger generations is studied frequently and their impact on advertising and marketing is widely known.” said CTAM President and CEO Char Beales. “But this study is unique in that it reveals opportunity among the Boomers and Matures, who have significant purchasing power, are active online and more comfortable with technology than often reported.”

Boomers are tech-savvy and just as likely as the younger generations to own a digital camera, DVD player and cell phone. While younger generations are more likely to send and receive text messages, 92 percent of Millennials (18 – 29), and 76 percent Gen Xers (30 – 44); half of all Boomers (48 percent) text, and a surprising 18 percent of Matures engage in this activity. Although all groups are high subscribers to cable TV service, the youngest generation – Millennials (61 percent), is the highest group to subscribe to cable TV service.

This CTAM research was partnered with BoomerEyes, a division of C&R Research and is based on a total of 1,500 online interviews from June 3 through June 14, 2009.

CTAM, the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing, is dedicated to helping the cable business grow. As a non-profit professional association, CTAM provides consumer research, case studies, topical publications, conferences and the CTAM SmartBrief to more than 4,500 individual members. On behalf of its 90 corporate members, the organization leads the Advanced Cable Solutions Consortium and facilitates national cooperative marketing efforts, including the Cable Mover Hotline™ and the Cable Means Business initiative. For more information, go to www.ctam.com. CTAM is also on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

More Evidence E-mail’s Not Dead

Nov 17, 2009 1:35 PM, By Ken Magill

Someone forgot to tell small-business owners e-mail is dead.

According to a just-released survey done by Hurwitz & Associates on behalf of e-mail service provider Campaigner, 46% of businesses with 20 employees or fewer use e-mail marketing today and of those who don’t, 36% plan to begin doing so in the coming year.

“The survey points to a major adoption trend in small business email marketing,” said Laurie McCabe, partner, Hurwitz & Associates, in a statement. “As the recovery from the recession gets underway, businesses that already have email marketing programs in place are better positioned to take advantage of new opportunities to increase sales and revenues.”

Meanwhile, according to a newly released survey by e-mail service provider VerticalResponse, well over two thirds of respondents said they plan to increase their e-mail marketing in 2010.

According to VerticalResponse, 74% of 831 companies with fewer than 500 employees plan to increase their use of e-mail marketing in 2010.

Also according to VerticalResponse, 38.9% of companies surveyed with 10 or fewer employees and 34.1% of businesses with from 11 to 100 employees plan to increase their e-mail marketing by “a lot” next year.

Endless emails from Endless.com

This is worth reading. Came in this morning from DMNews' E-Mail Marketing Weekly.

Dianna makes a great point about the low value of numerous untargeted emails. Most companies struggle to send relevant offers based on a lack of demographic and transaction data. Endless.com has it all and doesn't use it. Shame on them!

Endless emails from Endless.com. Is it some kind of cruel joke?? 8>)

Endless e-mails are not the way to win a customer
by Dianna Dilworth

July 29, 2009
About a week and a half ago I ordered a pair of sandals from Endless.com and since then, the e-mails have seemed endless.

While I have been an Amazon customer for years, this was my first time ordering from their independently run e-commerce shoe store. So like any good e-commerce store, it sent me a confirmation e-mail to let me know that my purchase had gone through, as well as a follow up e-mail the next day to let me know that my product had shipped. These two e-mails are a great use of e-mail so far.

But then the blasts began... Continue Article

Email's ROI

Email's ROI in 2008 was $43.52 for every dollar spent on it. - DMA (2009)

Almost half of interactive marketers surveyed say their organization struggles to prove the ROI of its efforts, while 7 in 10 say there are understaffed to do so. - Forrester Research (2008)

55 percent of the respondents cite that they expect ROI from email to be higher than any other channel. - Datran Media, "Marketing & Media Survey" (2008)

Email is delivering sales at an average cost per order of less than $7, compared to $71.89 for banner ads, $26.75 for paid search and $17.47 for affiliate programs. - Shop.org, State of Retailing Online 2007 report (Sept. 2007

Marketers Can Now Reach New Movers Using Anchor's New Mover/New Connects Data At Affordable Prices

Identifying new movers is an important marketing tool in establishing long-term relationships with new customers as they move into a new neighborhood. To help marketers reach this highly desired demographic, Anchor Computer is pleased to introduce one of the most current, accurate and comprehensive New Mover/New Connects data feed available today.

Farmingdale, NY (PRWEB) June 28, 2009 -- New movers are highly motivated buyers and spend more on home-related purchases within the first three months of living in their new household versus current homeowners. Marketers can now reach these new prospects at the right time using Anchor's New Mover/New Connects data at affordable prices!

Anchor's customers will now have the option to inspect any New Mover/New Connects data they identify on their file before they buy. After evaluating the data Clients can choose to buy on a "Net Hit Basis" versus having to buy all the data available on a "Gross Basis".

What does this mean for marketers? Most list brokers ask for specific data details, run a query from their database and return all the data on their file. This is referred to as buying data on a "Gross Basis". Anchor, on the other hand, will provide our clients with daily or weekly New Movers/New Connects and allow the client to run it's own proprietary sort and report back only what is unique to their database. This we refer to as our "Net Hit Agreement Program".

"By using our 'New Mover/New Connects Net Hit Agreement Program', marketers will be able to reach new buyers when they are ready to purchase, stated Dean Kuzminski, Vice President, Phone Data Services". He continued, "I strongly urge marketers to contact us to compare our prices and results versus their current source".

Anchors "New Mover/New Connects Net Hit Agreement Program" enables marketers to:

Lower marketing costs per lead Improve return-on-investment by lowering operational expenses. Reach new consumers/businesses that have actually moved Obtain newly connected phone numbers for those that have added or changed a phone line Increase market share

Our New Mover/New Connects records are compiled from Telco and Multi-Sourced data feeds, which are updated, scrubbed, CASS™ verified and ZIP + 4® coded every 24 hours to ensure 100% accuracy and deliverability.

Anchor provides a complete array of Data Processing, Database Marketing and Document Personalization Services and Software to the direct marketing industry. For more information on all of our services, please visit www.AnchorComputer.com, call 1-800-452-2357

E-mail Appends: The Good, the Bad and the Realistic

Done correctly, this once-maligned strategy can be a real boon to your list health.

by Catherine Algeri - Posted originally at www.FundraisingSuccesMag.com

Aug 1, 2008

As with any new industry, the early days of online fundraising were filled with both success and failure. Some organizations quickly found a new stream of revenue … while others found themselves struggling to get out of that black hole known as the spam filter.

Now in 2008, a year where political donors broke every record for online giving — even contributing $10 million on a Web site in one night — organizations can move forward with online outreach knowing that others have blazed the trail before them.

Over the last five years, fundraisers have found a successful model for reaching out to their donors online in the form of the well-coordinated e-mail append.

A definition
The e-mail append at its best takes a portion of your donors and activists — those with whom you have established relationships — finds corresponding e-mail addresses and gives these donors a chance to decide if they want to hear from you via e-mail. It then appends these names to your files.

Common fears
Before I outline the difference between a good e-mail append and the type likely to relegate you to the spam folder for all time, let’s address the immediate concerns most nonprofits raise when considering an e-mail append.

1. I’m afraid an e-mail append will make me spam!
This fear speaks to the difference between a good e-mail append and a bad one. The early days of e-mail append certainly generated a few horror stories. Fortunately, the industry has really learned from its mistakes. Today, most reputable vendors send welcome e-mails on your behalf — on their own servers — and only return the valid e-mail addresses that did not opt out of e-mail communication. This way, when you start e-mailing these addresses, you’re in the good graces of your donors and the Internet service providers.

2. I’m afraid I’ll be wasting my money!
According to the article “Get An Email Address, Generate Income,” in the April 15 issue of The NonProfit Times, the average worth of an e-mail address on your file is $7.86 a year, per Convio’s recently published benchmark study on e-commerce between July 2006 and June 2007.

In fact, many nonprofits bring in $5 to $10 in contributions for every $1 spent on e-mail append processing, according to the article “Email Append: Hot online strategy or too hot to handle?” in NPT’s March 15 edition. Considering that you can append multiple e-mail addresses for $1, there is a low level of investment required to find out how valuable your e-mail addresses will be — and the research is in your favor.

3. I’m afraid I’ll anger my donors!
An e-mail append that gives your donors the chance to say no (opt out) to hearing from you via e-mail shows your donors that you respect their preferences.

Complaint rates for e-mail appends often are as low as half of 1 percent. Ask your vendor if it uses the Direct Marketing Association’s Email Preference Service list. What’s more, if you work with a vendor that has an aggressive suppression file, taking out those people who have hit the spam button or complained on e-mail appends for other clients just might whittle your list down to your friendliest donors.

Remember, these people are your donors because they care about your mission. Sending them e-mail updates between fundraising efforts is a great way to show them that you don’t just write when you need something, but that you value their participation. In reality, e-mail will strengthen your donor relationships, not weaken them.

4. I’m afraid an e-mail append will hurt my direct-mail program!
Think of it this way: There are two organizations in the same field — one has sent you a mail piece, and the other has sent you a mail piece and e-mailed you a reminder and an e-newsletter highlighting its successful use of donations. It’s likely that the organization making the extra touch will stick out in your mind. What’s more, many nonprofits are doing matchback analysis to keep track of how online and mail campaigns are working in tandem — and are thrilled with the results. In an increasingly competitive market, e-mail can bolster your direct-mail results.

The good e-mail append
Here are some questions you’ll be glad you asked your vendor and the answers you should be looking for:

Q. Is the database permission-based?
A. E-mail addresses should never be guessed or deduced. Your vendor might not be able to reveal every source of the data, but it should be able to confirm that every e-mail address has opted in to third-party e-mail messages.

Q. Are you CAN-SPAM compliant?
A. Breaking the law generally is a bad way to kick off a fundraising campaign! Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 to protect consumer e-mail rights. Make sure your vendor complies!

Q. Do you send a welcome message or just add the data to my file and ship it back to me?
A. If anyone offers to slap some e-mail addresses onto your file and then hand them back to you … run like the wind! A welcome message protects your server score with the ISPs and ensures that you only add valid, permission-based e-mail addresses to your file. Plus, no one wants to pay for bad e-mail addresses.

Q. What is your typical match rate?
A. This will help you set realistic expectations and strategies for your campaign. It also is an opportunity to find out if your vendor can do a name and postal address match. If it is able to link postal information, this typically increases the number of ways you can find a new e-mail address.

Q. Do you have a multivendor approach?
A. No vendor has all the e-mail addresses in the United States. See if your vendor is able to check your file against multiple databases, remove duplicates, and handle the process for you and your staff.

Q. Do you charge based on all matches or just valid matches (post-welcome message)?
A. Again, no one wants to pay for bad e-mail addresses. Make sure you find out up front if the vendor charges for every match found or for every valid match returned to you post-welcome message.

Q. Is this a household match or an individual-level match?
A. A household match is an e-mail found for the postal address of your donor. An individual match is linked specifically to your donor. If your cause is political or controversial, an individual match is critical.

Q. What type of a suppression file do you use?
A. Ask the vendor if it maintains a suppression file of complainers, bad addresses or spam-button pushers. Also ask if it uses the DMA Email Preference Service file as suppression.

Managing your expectations
Before you pitch the e-mail append to your boss or your board, make sure you are managing your expectations, which means avoiding these common fantasies:

Fantasy No. 1: I will immediately make money!
Yes, the average value of an e-mail address on your file is $7.86 a year. Yes, many organizations are recovering five to 10 times what they invested. But this did not happen with one e-mail; nor did it happen without a strategy. When you mail a 48-month lapsed donor, what type of response rate are you expecting? Look at your audience, and determine realistic response rates. E-mail is a fantastic way to cultivate your lapsed donors at a low cost.

Fantasy No. 2: An e-mail address will be good for all time!
E-mail updates are critical to the health of your file. When’s the last time you considered mailing a file that you hadn’t NCOA’d in the last six months? Out of the question, right? Well, it’s estimated that people change e-mail addresses at a rate of 20 percent per year. Continuing to e-mail addresses that ISPs have bounced back to you is a recipe for spam.

Side note: How does an e-mail update work? Similar to an e-mail append, you send a file of hard-bouncing e-mail addresses to a reputable vendor. It will search its permission-based databases for new e-mail addresses linked to your records. Then the vendor will send a “welcome back” message to those e-mail addresses on its server. It will return only those e-mail addresses that are valid and have not opted out of hearing from you at this new e-mail address.

Fantasy No. 3: If they didn’t opt out the first time, I don’t have to use an opt-out link in the future!
Not so fast. Giving donors an escape hatch in every e-mail is the best way to keep them from hitting the spam button. DMA guidelines [see box above] require that you give your donors the chance to opt out with each e-mail.

The final question
Why do you need to e-mail donors? Donors are critical to the health of our organizations, but it’s not an exclusive relationship. They are donating to other organizations and, increasingly, are being approached online for gifts.

In fact, FY 2009 budgets for most direct marketers, on average, have planned for a 55 percent increase in e-mail prospecting budgets, according to the article “Less for More” in the June issue of Direct. Staying at the forefront of your donors’ minds with e-mail has gotten much easier — and far more critical.

Plus, didn’t you hear? The average yearly value of an e-mail address on your file is $7.86!

The DMA's E-mail Append Guidelines

The Direct Marketing Association (The DMA) offers specific guidelines for appending e-mail addresses to consumer records. The DMA’s Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice must be adhered to as a condition of membership in the association; unresolved violations place companies at risk of expulsion and attendant publicity.

"E-mail has proven effective as a vehicle for communication between ethical businesses and consumers," said Patricia Faley Kachura, vice president, ethics & consumer affairs, The DMA. "We’ve adopted guidelines that outline the appropriate ways to approach consumers in order to establish effective e-mail relationships."

The guidelines as published in The DMA’s Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice, are as follows:

Guidelines on E-mail Appending to Consumer Records

Definition of e-mail address appending: E-mail address appending is the process of adding a consumer’s e-mail address to that consumer’s record. The e-mail address is obtained by matching those records from the marketer’s database against a third-party database to produce a corresponding e-mail address.

A marketer should append a consumer’s e-mail address to its database only when the consumer gives a marketer permission to add his or her e-mail address to the marketer’s database; or

1. There is an established business relationship with that consumer either online or offline; and


2. The data used in the append process are from sources that provided notice and choice regarding the acceptance of receiving third-party e-mail offers and where the consumer did not opt out; and


3. Reasonable efforts are taken to ensure the appending of accurate e-mail addresses to the corresponding consumer records.

A marketer should not sell, rent, transfer or exchange an appended e-mail address of a consumer unless it first offers notice and choice to the consumer.

All messages to an e-mail appended address should include a notice and choice to continue to communicate via e-mail.

Marketers should have in place appropriate record keeping systems to ensure compliance with these guidelines.

Welcome Email Message Guidelines

By Don Monell

Your Welcome Message is your first-online-impression to your customers. It is an opportunity to proactively open up a new channel of communication that is convenient and cost-effective.

We have put together guidelines to make your Welcome Message a positive experience for your customers, while also staying in compliance with federal and state regulations.

Welcome Message Objective

To introduce your customers to email communication and the benefits of receiving email from your company.

To openly state what kind of information you want to send them via email (receive special offers, newsletters, information, discounts, etc.)

To let your customers know you respect their online privacy and offer them an opportunity to opt out from receiving future email from your company/organization.

To verify the deliverability of each email address.

Message Requirements

From Line: in the email message that clearly states your company/organization name.

Subject Line: that is relevant to the subject matter of the message. You want to grab your customers attention, but in a way that is not misleading or deceptive.

A clear statement as to how to opt-out from receiving future email and an unsubscribe link that will appear at the bottom of your message and will allow your customers an easy method of opting-out from future email communication.

Your company/organizations postal address must appear at the bottom of the message.

Recommended

An introductory statement that clearly expresses why you are contacting the customer (Fill out the form on this page to have sample permission letters sent to you for review).

State a clear benefit that motivates the recipient to continue receiving your emails. Customers are more likely to welcome a message that seems relevant and offers value.

Keep the message brief. If you need to go into more detail on something, you can offer a link to your website or special offers page.

State a clear benefit that motivates the recipient to continue receiving your emails. Customers are more likely to welcome a message that seems relevant and offers value.

Anchor Computer Announces Improved Phone Append Match Rates

To respond to the dynamic changes in the Phone marketplace, Anchor can now Append both Consumer and Business telephone numbers in one pass. This provides better match rates with lower processing fees.

(PRWEB) May 20, 2009 -- Anchor Computer, Inc., a leading provider of data and data processing services is pleased to introduce a new Consumer/Business Combination Phone Append and Verify service. This is an exciting new addition to its ever expanding Phone Data Services.

"Phone append clients by adding consumer phone append to their business phone append jobs are achieving up to a 37% lift in match rates and consumer phone append clients by adding business phone append are achieving up to a 20% lift in match rates", stated Nancy Atwood, Vice President, E.Commerce Services.

"We are excited about being able to offer our clients Consumer and Business Phone Append and Verification processing in one pass, and most importantly with blazing fast turnaround times". She continued, "Our comprehensive suite of Phone Appending, Verification and Reverse Phone Appending products all with customized intelligent matching (CIM) are designed to meet all of our clients phone data needs".

Anchor provides a complete array of Data Processing, Database Marketing Services and Software to the direct marketing industry. For more information on all of our services, please visit www.AnchorComputer.com, call 1-800-452-2357 or email us at E @ AnchorComputer.com.

To Append or Not to Append?

I called Julie at Fuel Interactive when I read her post to congratulate her for offering this positive approach to email append. When I spoke with her she gave the reason she provides this service to her clients, "Because, it works!".

By Julie Dural on April 27, 2009 4:37 PM

Many email marketers tend to shudder at the words “data append”. The idea of dumping hundreds or thousands of unknown email addresses into a list that you worked so hard to compile ‘legitimately’ can be terrifying.   If that’s the case, where do the benefits lie? Are they worth the risk of numerous Spam complaints, bounces and unsubscribes against your reputation? If done properly, the answer for the client or your company is yes.

As a person outside or new to the email marketing industry, it’s important to know exactly what a data append is. Many in the industry feel it is a “black hat” way of doing email marketing, but many also swear by it to get a multitude of names on your list quickly. An example of a data append goes like this: 

I fill out a form when I stay at a hotel with my first and last name, address, city, state, zip etc, but I leave out my email address. A data append service goes through the guest history and finds all names that are not listed with an email address. They then do a mass search to find their email address based on their name and address and send a custom “opt-in” form to this collection of email addresses.  

From there, the append service takes those that did not bounce or unsubscribe from the append and delivers the results. It’s easy, it’s legitimate and it does eventually get more business. However, there are additional steps that may seem tedious but are extremely beneficial to the overall health of your email database. I’ve learned to do at least one more “cleansing” of the list before adding it in with your regular database. 

In our most recent data append, we originally received over 50,000 addresses. Before mixing these names with our regular database, I sent out a regular email offer to this appended list. Unlike the original email that was sent, which was simply an opt-in message (ie. “We would like to extend our offers to you in the future”), we now offered them an actual resort special.  By the time the unsubscribes and bounces were filtered out the second time, we brought our numbers down to 47,000 names. 

The Ultimate Test – Does the Append Bring Return?

When I added the appended names in with our regular database, I put them under the segment called “append” so I could track how well it performed compared to the existing database.   The results came back strong for the appended list. The percentage of bounces and unsubscribes were the same as compared to the regular database, and the clicks and open rates fell at about average for the travel industry.

Results were as follows:

2/23/2009
	Appended List	%	Regular Database	%
Bounces	84	0.6	231	0.6
Unsubscribes	31	0.2	58	0.1
Total Opened	1833		7942
Unique Opened	1244	8.5	4922	13
Total Clicked	467		2222
Unique Clicked	327	2.2	1457	3.8

 

It’s important once again to note that while a data append can be beneficial to your client or company, remember to use caution before simply dumping the names into your database. A few tips for appending:

Label the appended names under their own segment and keep an eye on their performance.

If the appended list is very large, add in names a few at a time as you send emails.  This way, you don’t run the risk of being blacklisted if there are a lot of bounces and unsubscribes that result from the initial send.

Be sure to choose the right data append company. Do some research and don’t just choose a service based on price. Remember, your reputation is at stake.

Focus on selling the person on your email list with your opt-in message. Let them know that you have the best intentions to satisfy their needs as a consumer and make it clear that you appreciate their business in the past.

Email Segmentation for Higher ROI - Website Magazine

I'll admit it. The reason I'm linking to the Segmentation blog is because it is one of the most productive data append service Anchor Computer provides. Forgive me for being so self serving.

Email Segmentation for Higher ROI - Website Magazine

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