E-marketing Basics - Light up Your List - Guest Blog by Dan Ogdon

[#1]

E-marketing Basics - Light up Your List

By Dan Ogdon

An often used tactic for E-marketing involves selecting everyone in your list and blasting a single message to all contacts.  While this approach has the potential to be received by a large number of people, you will be left scratching your head why your metrics have not exceeded your projections and worse, why they may be much lower.  Your contact list is as diverse as your customer’s business ventures.  The list should require the same type of service that won you the business in the first place – something tailored that meets their needs as if they were the only customer.

Now, take a savvy marketer that defines specific target segments within their list, crafts a message directed to each target’s needs and delivers to the target at the time that is most relevant.  Yes, this takes some more thought, planning and effort, but the results are blowing away their expectations and their contacts are more engaged than ever.

Let’s look at the numbers.  Say your list size is 1,000 contacts, your conversion rate to sale is 5% and your product costs $350.

Marketer A:
Sends to all 1,000 contacts at once with the same message
Open rate: 24% - 240 contacts opened your message
Click rate: 9% - roughly 22 clicks on your message sending them to you website
Conversion rate: 5% - roughly 1 sale

Revenue generated by Marketer A - $350

Marketer B:
Sends to 700 contacts because not all are qualified, splits the list into two groups, one of 500 contacts and one of 200 contacts, developing targeted messages for each.

Message 1: 500 contacts
Open Rate: 36% - 180
Click Rate: 24% - roughly 43 clicks
Conversion Rate: 5% - roughly 2 sales
Revenue Generated from Message 1: $700

Message 2: 200 contacts
Open Rate: 39% - 78
Click Rate: 26% - roughly 20 clicks
Conversion Rate: 5% - roughly 1 sale
Revenue Generated from Message 2: $350

Revenue generated by marketer B: $1050

Only two different messages needed to be drafted and some thought into what defines each target group needed to be established.  By simply targeting their message, Marketer B was able to achieve 3 times the revenue than Marketer A, using 70% of the list. 

When you are developing your next E-marketing campaign, stop before you even think about your message.  Think first of who your message will be sent to and why you are sending it to them, more than just “Well, I haven’t sent an email in a while, better get one together”.  Your contacts will thank you with their loyalty, their evangelism of your brand and ultimately their pocketbooks.