The difference between doing email appends right and doing them wrong involves changing one significant step… the outbound message. Instead of the outbound message containing a link to opt-out, the outbound email marketing message should have registration as the primary call to action. This approach to email appends is called "opt-in" email append.
ExactTarget was one of the early proponents of this approach and we have now real life experience with this approach under our belts. Opt-in email appends have been very successful in delivering highly responsive subscribers without the headaches and pitfalls associated with opt-out appends. However, the challenge is in getting a significant number of people to convert on these outbound email invitations.
Success in converting opt-in email appends involves defining your value proposition. It involves having a compelling reason for subscribers to register--selling your program to the prospective subscriber. All of which is based in the bedrock of marketing success... a good strategy combined with strong campaign execution.
Once you have your strategy for enticing prospective registrants, follow the steps outlined in my previous post about opt-in email campaigns.
The thing that clients like about this approach is that they only pay for emails that are likely to perform. It can take a while to get past the reality that this is not going to add a million email addresses to your list, but that shouldn’t be the point. There are only two business models that can drive revenue from an unresponsive email address—list brokers and email append vendors. By working with these providers on opt-in programs, you eliminate waste and ensure that you will get email addresses of real, live people that are likely to respond.
Yes, this puts a premium on the associated costs and makes pricing more complicated. Don't expect to pay $0.50 per email address acquired through an opt-in append. Things like the loyalty of people on your house file, the strength of the call to action, the size of the input file, and anticipated conversion rates may be considered in determining costs. But at the end of the day, this is in the best interest of the client as it avoids the issues typically associated with opt-out email appends and the overall quality is much, much higher.
The Silver Bullet?
Companies looking at email appends are typically looking for a fast and efficient way to grow their lists. Don’t buy into the promises of a quick and easy solution to grow your list. To be completely cliché “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.”
Done right, email appends can be effective—but they still take time, careful planning, good execution, and financial resources. It is not the silver bullet that most people imagine when they latch on to email append as the solution to their list growth woes.
- Done wrong, as is the case with opt-out email appends, we have found that these initiatives are more time and cost intensive as other list growth tactics.
- Done right, in the case of opt-in email appends, we have found these initiatives to be at least as time and cost intensive as any other list growth tactics.
Given this reality, 9 out of 10 times, I prefer to invest the same time and resources into other proven list growth methods. A couple consistent winners are:
- Make sure that there are compelling opportunities to register for email throughout your website. This is basic, basic stuff… START HERE.
- Integrate search campaigns with email registration. Search campaigns should be integrated with email registration efforts. Capturing email addresses on landing pages is the first step. Aligning the call to action on your landing pages with specific search campaigns is the second step. For example, visitors from brand keywords should get a different call to action than visitors from direct in-category keywords or competitive keywords.
- Integrate with offline efforts. Provide an incentive as part of your existing direct mail or print advertising efforts to register with your company online.
- Partner co-registration. Find like minded companies that you can cross promote. You include a signup space on their page and vice versa.
- Tradeshows are huge for B2B marketers. This is no secret, but there is often a significant effort involved in collecting all those business cards and then getting those contacts to opt-in to your program. Do the due diligence and get these systems in place.
