Let's first quickly define the different types of append services that exist today. Traditional Email Append: You have a large customer database containing names & postal addresses of your customersÉ but are missing email addresses. This service will match your file with a permission-based email database, and provide you the email addresses of your customer. Reverse Email Append: You have a list of email addresses compiled from online website registrations, but don't have full name & postal information. Your subscriber file is matched with a permission-based email database, and the name & mailing address of the subscriber is added to your file. Email Update (also called ECOA or Email Change of Address): Like many marketers, you have a robust email database, but lose around 30% of your email addresses per year because of bouncing emails. By using Email Update Service, your invalid email addresses are updated with a new deliverable email address for the same customer. AMPlify (Append, Model, Prospect): During any Email Append project, your matched customer records can be appended with demographic & lifestyle information. This information can be used to build a profile of your online customers; which can then be used to select look-alike prospects from permission-based acquisition email lists. Email is such a cost-effective medium that many companies use it to help increase the value of the lower performing segments of their file or to help win-back customers that have been lost. Look at your customer database and compare the lifetime value of those customers whom you have an email address for vs. those that you reach only through direct mail or retail channels. The lifetime value of their customers that also receive regular marketing emails is 3-10 times higher than those customers who do not receive email. First we analyze how a client's home-grown customer file performs • Opt-in online buyers generate an ROI of 15x the marketing investment. • Inbound telephone buyers who then provide email for offers generate a return of 10x the marketing investment. Here's some results from customers whose email addresses were appended: • For email addresses that come from email append processing , individual matches resulted in a 500% return over the marketing investment after one year. Household matches still generated a net return of 200%. • Using Email Update Services has also been very profitable. Previous online buyers that had their email address updated with a new deliverable email address resulted in a 700% return on investment after one year. Imagine the results if this client also had access to their most-active offline buyers. I'd like to be 100% clear about something... I'm not saying that any company should stop direct mail campaigns to customers that haven't purchased from you in 2 years . I fully believe that email is incredibly effective as part of a multi-channel strategy. I also believe that email has a short-and-long term branding impact. What is obvious is that email is an effective way to expand communications to your less active customers and to begin to see a monetary value from them once again. As a marketer, it is critical to your success to get the word out about your products through various marketing channels, and to let your customer decide where and how they wish to respond. If the rising cost of printing and sending direct mail doesn't allow you to dig deep into your customer file, then sending emails can be a great way to re-engage these customers. . |
