Around 1985, I met a marketing professional called Vin Jenkins who had been contracted to write a series of small books for Australia Post on the emerging science of direct mail marketing.

I had met Vin when I was at Monash University in Marketing. He asked me to describe and document how I thought direct mail interacted with the other promotional and communication techniques in marketing, and how I saw the relationship of direct marketing to TV, radio, magazine and print, etc. The section I wrote formed part of a published set of books on direct marketing sponsored by Yellow Pages.

When I think back the emerging role of email campaigns is similar to the emerging role of direct mail at that time

Over the last year, we have become very active in running email campaigns for a number of progressive clients in our customer base. We have become involved in many recent campaigns and because of this all our email experience has developed rapidly through suppliers of email databases and contacts in the e-Commerce industry. There is generally not a lot of information available, just like in the early days of direct mail.

What is oblivious is that email campaigns are growing faster and having more influence on direct marketing than direct mail campaigns in the 1990’s.

In addition emails are much more acceptable and widely read than direct mail even in its most progressive marketing days. It’s acceptable to get a 10% readership (quicker and easier to read) and at least a 5% response for an email campaign which compares much more favourably than the better estimates for good direct marketing campaigns, usually around 3% readership and response.

While direct mail in my opinion, is in a mature to declining phase in its life cycle, email marketing is in its infancy and take-off phase in the life cycle and has many contributing years ahead for marketers and savvy SME’s.

For those companies that collect emails, probably in preference to telephone numbers, this technology offers tremendous opportunities at a very cost effective budget, provided it is not treated as direct mail online. It needs copy that is professionally written like good direct mail with a thorough understanding of the target market consumers, their sentiments, and consumer behaviour.

The benefits list below is a combination of my thinking and Rajiv’s thinking, so it is a mixture and fusion of traditional marketing overlaid with today’s technology, and time and cost constraints.

Here’s how we see it:

1. Email campaigns are very cost effective. If you have your own list, they are cheap, cheap, cheap to send. If you don’t, then you can purchase a list of around 16,000 clients selected (sample specific) to your profile and target market for around $2,400 a cost per reach of 15 cents per customer. Much cheaper than the stamp and envelope alone, and guaranteed to get to the reader and get read.

Note: the cost can go up if you want specifically targeted professionals, individuals or difficult to access markets.

If you are using your own email list (customer database), a bounce rate (the rate of emails bouncing back to the server) of 10% is acceptable.

For a purchased list of emails a bounce rate of less than 10% is usual, however the email campaign is costed on the basis of a click through rate of 25% (This means 4,000 customers of the 16,000 customer emails will actually click and visit your website / landing page)

The cost of the purchased emails per click through is 60 cents – still cheaper than the envelope and the stamp.

The primary role of the email campaign is to get the consumer to act on an offer within a short time period. It is not a platform for just attracting attention or building corporate loyalty etc. Its major design is to get a “here and now” (viral) offer on the table in a short and efficient timeframe using emails that have a succinct offer that can be acted on with the click of a mouse (click through) or payment by credit card etc.

Consumer behaviour dictates that when the email is received it is easy to read, short in length, the offer is apparent and concise, and the action required (if they want to take up the offer) is easy and quick to enact, and time frames for response or delivery of the service or goods are acceptable and precise.

3. Emails are not like direct mail where the offer builds and builds, often with a story line. They get straight to the point in the same way as an advertisement with a coupon for a cash back or a prize.

4. Email campaigns can open the door to continual or successive offers based on membership, loyalty, or repeat purchase. They suit all industries, just as direct mail. They can be used for legal services, e-Commerce, insurance, banking, travel, hospitality, lifestyle and wellbeing, health, automotive, real estate, etc. etc.

5. Email campaigns must have professional copy that talks to the individual with some knowledge about the way they think, act and buy. It must have immediate rapport with the reader, but it must talk to them in a personal and individual way so they will not delete it as “another person wanting to sell me something”. They will want to open the email because it has a topic and initial opening line that captures their interest and creates desire.

6. Email campaigns should be run over short time periods. The offer, acceptance and delivery should take no longer than two weeks, and preferably should be concluded within 10 days. Otherwise, why use email, which is a quick response communication tool?

7. It doesn’t matter if everybody emailed does not take up the offer. If the offer is genuine, trustworthy, without gimmicks, and strikes at the needs base of the recipient, then brand reinforcement and interest will strengthen that person’s future relationship with your organization, whether they be an established customer or an emerging/ new customer.

Emails are therefore unique. In our case study it costs 60 cents to get a click through for 4,000 customers, yet all 16,000 customers (another 12,000) get positive reinforcement of brand, product / service and organisational image and credibility.

8. In the past, direct mail response rates of 1.5% – 2% to specific offers were seen as good to excellent. Similarly, email responses of around 3% should be your target, but 5% is achievable and this is considered good to excellent. There is also a “pass on” rate where the email can be forwarded to friends and colleagues.

9. There is no reason why you can’t use a trial an email campaign using your existing customer base, and then once you are satisfied, extend the email campaign to a purchased email database for your specific customer. This way, you can see if your existing customer base can be extended and successfully replicated through email online campaigns.

10. Whatever you do, do not use email campaigns to “go fishing”. They must be Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, give a definite Response and Time result. They must be S.M.A.R.T.

David Higginbottom
Competitive Edge (Asia) Pty Ltd