I am often asked by our clients whether I can recommend a data supplier so that they can buy an email marketing mailing list. And my answer is, have you explored all your options? Renting a list is taking a shortcut and depending on the supplier it could be the best route. However, can you be confident it will deliver a return on investment?

This latter point was brought home to me a while ago with one of our clients (who shall remain nameless). The company in question was determined that buying lists was the way to go. They duly purchased a file of targeted names and addresses and sent out their email. The results were not good – a 1% open rate, of those 1% clicked through to the client’s website, and of these only 1% purchased! That is not what I would describe as a particularly good ROI, especially when, comparing to the DMA’s Q3 2008 benchmarks, the figures show you can achieve closer to 11.5%CTR.

This just shows me it’s not the size of the list that matters. You can have a huge number of email addresses but if the message you send isn’t relevant to the audience then the end result will always be unsatisfactory; this applies equally if you have acquired the list directly yourself or have rented one. Simply put, if the recipient does not recognise your brand and perceive your message as relevant to them, they will be unlikely to engage.

Therefore, the perceived challenge is ensuring that you use and build lists that are made up of recipients that are receptive to your message. But the fact of the matter is that getting these people on your list in the first place isn’t difficult, it just takes a bit more effort; like remembering to put a sign-up form on your homepage, including a field in your DM or a checkbox during checkout in an e-store!
 
Incorporating social media can be a powerful way to build a list of receptive people. By including social media bookmarking links in all the emails you send your recipients can more easily – and are therefore more likely to - share the email with their likeminded friends and colleagues through their social networks.

I love using the social networking channel as a way of describing and then enforcing the reasons behind the best practises in email marketing. Ask yourself the question at the outset ‘Why would anyone add this email I am sending to their social network?’.

The answer is simple; the recipient must feel the message was targeted to them, they must find it interesting, relevant and compelling, so much so that they want to share it with people they know. We of course achieve this by segmenting and targeting to ensure we are delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time.

So what is my point? Well we all know it can be a considerable effort to do all this targeting and the temptation is often to send larger volumes of emails to achieve the goals we set ourselves.

However, the upside of a recipient adding your message to their social network can also be considerable. Especially when we factor in that with a simple click of the button your message is now being viewed by many, many friends of the original recipient, and this technology is far easier than the traditional ‘tell a friend’ functions we all know and love.

Having first deployed this technology nearly three years ago we have tracked a vast addition in viral activity in the eventual opens, clicks and ultimately ROI a campaign can achieve.

Add to this by including a clear link to ‘Sign up to this newsletter’ in the email creative and a massive uplift can be gained in list size. Why? Well it’s simple; if I find an email interesting, relevant and compelling, the chances are my friends and contacts will find it just the same. Naturally they are more likely to want to sign up to future editions as a result, hence you start to build a list of users who are engaged with your messaging and readily anticipating your next mailing. The list might not be massive but it will help you deliver the results you want to achieve.

Tink Taylor
Business Development Director
dotMailer