Re: Email Marketing Response Rates

From: Chip Masters <abc22_2001_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Mon 22 Jan 2001 13:25:39 -0500

COLBY HOWELL <howell_at_corp.ru4.com> WROTE:
> I am looking for _recent_ average response rates to
> email marketing (opt-in and unsolicited). Does anyone
> have any suggestions where to find these for free?
 
TO WHICH JOHN MONGEON <JMongeon_at_edirect.com> REPLIED:
>Response rates for opt-in email marketing vary
>dependant upon list quality, timing of the promotion
>and incentives offered for conversions. Typically,
>email response rates are much higher than traditional
>direct mail campaigns yielding somewhere in the
>neighborhood of 5-15% click thru's.
 
I've done recent and not so recent campaigns for
companies that one might bunch together as big ticket
tech items. Using PMD lists, CTR rates for the best
available set of targeted lists have ranged from 1% to
3%. I know a company that bought a very large opt-in
list of dentists, source unknown, and reported .25%
(yes .25%) clickthrough for a financial service. I have
anecdotal stories from established marketers that < 5%
is standard. Of course quality of lists, message,
offering are major factors and I perfectly understand
all of this. I'm not interested in response rates for
free stuff, free registrations, free prizes, etc.
Obviously, response is better.

As an industry, I believe it's time for us to stop

tossing around the 5%-15% CTR range claim that derives
from very old numbers from list providers. Since
everybody I know has recognized this for a long time,
it seems to me that it qualifies as a dirty little
secret that should be exposed.

Issues: List quality (recency is poor or
indeterminable, original list provider's main business
is off-topic, not enough known demographics (state,
occupation or title would be swell). These issues are
not limited to any single email marketer's collection
of lists. Try filtering the lists of any list provider,
using any criteria, and see if you can come up with
enough names to cover their minimum fee and you will
see what I mean.

Another problem is that there is no reason for getting
burned. These companies should offer smaller tests. I
don't consider a $1k minimum to 4000 names, fully
automated and administered by me, as being a test, I
call that a campaign. Other providers want $5k and
won't even call you back, even if you have worked with
them frequently in the past. Yes, I'm sure you know who
I'm talking about.

If we don't expose these issues, and resolve them, we
might as well call these mailings what they are - junk
mailings. The offerings aren't junk, the opt-in
permission is there, but the lists are junk.

Chip Masters





Received on Mon Jan 22 2001 - 12:25:39 CST