The mailing list is an extremely important component of all Email marketing initiatives. There are several ways to get one - rent one, buy one or subcontract the entire email marketing function to a services provider. Any of these methods are at best a short term solution. and at its worst a morale buster on account of poor list quality leading to poor results.
All serious Email marketers invest time, effort and money in building high quality lists. The results of any email marketing campaign is as good as your list. Compiling, maintaining and consistently building a business relevant mailing list is worth every dollar that goes into it
Characteristics of a Powerful email list:
1.All the contacts in the list have opted-in to receive email communications from you
2. Your contact list also has the first name, last name and preferably a telephone and address apart from the email address. Stay miles away from any list that offers only email id's. Additional information such as age, occupation and other profiling variables will help you target your messages better.
3. The profile of contacts in the list are there in your list because of their interest in your business (product/services). They are either your customers or your prospects.
4. The email id's are current, and have been tested recently
5. The contacts have not blocked you as spam
6. Your list has been built over time, and has grown over time.
Building that powerful mailing list
Building a list is an ongoing activity. It only has a start point. Never a end-point. There are several ways to build, maintain and grow one. Consider what works best for you and implement it. Let's take a look at some of the options, methods and processes:
Rent or buy a list
It's very tempting to get the first campaign out the door at the earliest. This compels us to look for ready lists. Rented or bought lists are largely ineffective and a waste of money. There are however some exceptions. If your customers are other businesses, you could look at procuring/renting a mailing list from another non-competitor business that sells to the same customers. For example, if your business is Computers, you could consider renting subscriber lists from publishers of computer magazines Their lists will be current and relevant to your business.
Build your own list
Nothing beats building your own list. You can mail to the list as many times as you wish and not have to pay for it each time. You can remove ids that have bounced, update new email id's of customers, analyze responses to campaigns, segment the list into different categories and target different campaigns to each and so on. Nothing else gives you the same flexibility, list effectiveness and freedom as owning your list.
Use your customer database
Your customer database is a good starting point. Always ensure your communications to customers clearly recognize them as existing customers as against how you would address prospects. Customers like to be recognized and pampered. And every communication to them is an opportunity to do so. Ensure that you treat customers as a separate entity for any Email Marketing campaign.
All serious Email marketers invest time, effort and money in building high quality lists. The results of any email marketing campaign is as good as your list. Compiling, maintaining and consistently building a business relevant mailing list is worth every dollar that goes into it
Characteristics of a Powerful email list:
1.All the contacts in the list have opted-in to receive email communications from you
2. Your contact list also has the first name, last name and preferably a telephone and address apart from the email address. Stay miles away from any list that offers only email id's. Additional information such as age, occupation and other profiling variables will help you target your messages better.
3. The profile of contacts in the list are there in your list because of their interest in your business (product/services). They are either your customers or your prospects.
4. The email id's are current, and have been tested recently
5. The contacts have not blocked you as spam
6. Your list has been built over time, and has grown over time.
Building that powerful mailing list
Building a list is an ongoing activity. It only has a start point. Never a end-point. There are several ways to build, maintain and grow one. Consider what works best for you and implement it. Let's take a look at some of the options, methods and processes:
Rent or buy a list
It's very tempting to get the first campaign out the door at the earliest. This compels us to look for ready lists. Rented or bought lists are largely ineffective and a waste of money. There are however some exceptions. If your customers are other businesses, you could look at procuring/renting a mailing list from another non-competitor business that sells to the same customers. For example, if your business is Computers, you could consider renting subscriber lists from publishers of computer magazines Their lists will be current and relevant to your business.
Build your own list
Nothing beats building your own list. You can mail to the list as many times as you wish and not have to pay for it each time. You can remove ids that have bounced, update new email id's of customers, analyze responses to campaigns, segment the list into different categories and target different campaigns to each and so on. Nothing else gives you the same flexibility, list effectiveness and freedom as owning your list.
Use your customer database
Your customer database is a good starting point. Always ensure your communications to customers clearly recognize them as existing customers as against how you would address prospects. Customers like to be recognized and pampered. And every communication to them is an opportunity to do so. Ensure that you treat customers as a separate entity for any Email Marketing campaign.
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