Subject: Email Is Now The Preferred Marketing Tool (Iconocast) (fwd)
KJ Quigley (kjq@onramp.net)
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 09:17:17 -0500
Message-Id: <35BF2EED.F34303E7@onramp.net> Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 09:17:17 -0500 From: KJ Quigley <kjq@onramp.net> To: Roundtable <roundtable@cni.org> Subject: Email Is Now The Preferred Marketing Tool (Iconocast) (fwd)
This doesn't sound like a promising development to me, but then again,
I don't like reading spam, whether it is "targeted" to me or not. Just
the thought that I may now begin to receive unsolicited e-mail ads in
the 350K range makes this sound even worse.
Keith Quigley
<kjq@onramp.net>
> Subject: Email Is Now The Preferred Marketing Tool (Iconocast)
>
> Reading time: 2 minutes
>
> ICONOCAST - July 22, 1998
>
> Written by Michael Tchong
>
> E-MAIL MARKETING
>
> Compared to the flashy, thoroughbred Web, e-mail is a drab
> workhorse. But two recent polls, one by Ernst & Young and
> another by the American Management Association, reveal that
> e-mail is used more frequently than any other communication
> tool and is now preferred over the telephone and even face-
> to-face meetings. That's a major shift from earlier surveys,
> which found that the telephone was used much more routinely.
>
> Several companies are trying to exploit e-mail's new-found
> stature as a primary communication tool by creating e-mail
> marketing solutions that transcend spam. Toronto, ON-based
> Media Synergy offers @loha @ctive Email, which lets e-mail
> marketers broadcast animated messages to either Macintosh
> or Windows users (customers send PC executable files and
> ask that Mac users request a compatible version).
>
> A typical @loha @ctive Email message is about 350KB, which
> includes a 90KB player (the player does not have to be sent
> with subsequent mailings, but a newer player can remove an
> older one). Media Synergy marketing VP, Linda Hazzan, tells
> ICONOCAST that one National Geographic campaign received a
> 32% click-through rate while netting 23,000 new names.
>
> By comparison, a National Geographic ad banner drew a 3.1%
> click-through. Another mailing by CBS SportsLine achieved
> a 20% response rate. Media Synergy charges $0.50 per lead
> and a $4,000 set-up charge plus the cost of creative. The
> average campaign costs between $12,000 and $15,000. For
> companies who want to buy and install their own lead-
> generation server, the one-time cost is $25,000.
>
> Another approach is offered by San Mateo, CA-based Digital
> Impact, whose Merchant Mail Network can "sniff" e-mail
> clients to judge if they're capable of receiving HTML.
> The extra effort is apparently worth it. Digital Impact CEO,
> Bill Park, tells ICONOCAST that recipients of rich e-mail
> are two to three times more likely to respond. Too bad that
> only 33-35% of e-mail clients are HTML-enabled, according
> to analyst estimates, because more than half of all clicks
> originate from rich HTML users.
>
> Very few people (in the "single-digits") ask to be removed
> from future mailings. The key is Digital Impact's ability to
> personalize each message, says Bill. If users get promotions
> that match their interests, they rarely complain [MatchLogic
> reports that 30% opt out of regular e-mail programs].
>
> To further assure marketing integrity, Digital Impact will
> only work with TRUSTe-compliant clients. Mailing costs vary
> from $0.025 per e-mail to $0.10 depending on targeting and
> HTML options, but include complete tracking of results,
> including ROI, RFM (recency, frequency, monetary value),
> seasonality, etc.
>
> (c) Copyright 1998 ICONOCAST.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a16 : Tue Mar 23 1999 - 03:33:39 EST