Marketers are getting a bit of a mixed signal from subscribers regarding e-mail these days. Subscribers are happy to receive relevant news and information (even sales pitches) through e-mail, and they continue to sign up for e-mail programs at high rates. But they are also quick to dismiss messages if they find them not to be relevant or if the messages come too frequently.
Subscriber fatigue aflicts marketers doubly today—as inbox clutter increases competition for subscriber attention (and clicks), and our Web sites no longer drive the same level of file growth.
To widen reach, improve responses and reduce complaints in 2008, it's critical that marketers adopt two key list management actions: Expand the footprint of your sourcing and segment your file to deliver relevant messages to subscribers more often.
Expand the Footprint
While Web site sign-ups still account for the majority of new e-mail subscribers, many b-to-b marketers are finding their list growth is slowing or declining. This alone requires an expansion of strategies. E-mail list rental, online lead generation and online advertising are becoming staples, along with search and trade shows. It's very smart to be cautious when soliciting prospects online—the value is not just in high numbers but in data quality. Consider these protections:
- Quarantine new subscribers to watch response rates after the first month, in order to protect your sender reputation. Data quality issues can depress deliverability for the entire file.
- Be sure to carefully vet all partners to ensure that your brand is protected and subscriber trust is ensured. Legitimate publishers and acquisition sources will welcome the scrutiny.
- This tracking also allows better negotiations with publishers and list owners—increase leads from top sources, pay less for lower-quality data or drop partners altogether.
- Data segmentation allows you to customize a welcome series to each source.
Building the file outside the Web site also demands that the e-mail messages themselves have value to prospects and customers who have engaged with your company and brand in third-party situations.
The offer must be compelling. Here's a hint: "Sign up for special offers" is not compelling. Subscribers are interested in making more money, impressing their boss, serving their customers, finding new leads, shaving hours off development cycles and increasing productivity. Be sure to invite them to your house file by providing information and value on what they desire most—benefits, not features.
Segment the File
It's a common lament among marketers, "If these people opted in, why do they ignore my messages, or worse, complain about them to the ISP/receivers?"
The simple answer is that marketers broke their promise. Your subscribers were promised relevancy and value. If the messages that arrive don't speak to their interests, then they are quick to dismiss the entire e-mail program. In fact, b-to-b subscribers are twice as likely as their b-to-c counterparts to ignore (or unsubscribe, or report as spam) an e-mail program that comes too frequently, according to MarketingSherpa's "Email Marketing Benchmark Survey, November 2007."
Built-in features of most e-mail broadcast systems, along with more easily accessed e-CRM data, make segmentation within the reach of all b-to-b marketers. Segmentation can quickly move response per subscriber from occasional to frequent—boosting response rates. By its nature, segmentation creates the relevancy you need to attract the right audience to your file (a strong offer additionally will improve acquisition ROI) as well as keep those subscribers engaged longer.
Consider testing these simple segmentation approaches:
- Create a unique welcome series by acquisition source to engage with new subscribers. Subscribers from search may need more education than those signing up from your Web site. Third-party sources also give you a clue to the subscriber need—you might get leads from financial publications as well as technology and manufacturing. Greet and engage each in their own language.
- Treat prospects differently than customers. Prospects are in a very different state of the sales cycle and have different interests and education needs.
- Track "browsers" on your Web site who are also subscribers and send them relevant content based on their browsing behavior. These messages are often considered a service by subscribers and can initiate a dialogue with sales or account teams, and can also build loyalty.
- Trigger messages using key subscriber behaviors. High page views from an e-mail can be an opportunity to up-sell or address a product question—and build loyalty. Lack of response is an opportunity for a win-back campaign or to encourage the subscriber to change preferences.
Combining segmentation and broader-reach list-building tactics will help marketers strengthen not only the size but the engagement level of their files.
Stephanie Miller is VP-strategic services at Return Path (www.returnpath.net), an e-mail marketing services provider. She is also the co-author of "Sign Me Up! A Marketer's Guide to Creating E-mail Newsletters that Build Relationships and Boost Sales" (Return Path, 2005). You can reach her at stephanie.miller@returnpath.net.
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