Re: E-mail list valuation

From: Heather Dettman <hdettman_at_websidestory.com>
Date: Thu 08 Feb 2001 12:28:57 -0600

BRANDI JASMINE <brandi_at_brandijasmine.com> WROTE:
> I maintain a list which is published daily. Right now
> we have over 2,800 subscribers ... how big does that
> list have to be before it becomes a marketable
> commodity for ads or sponsorships? What rates are
> common for email advertising "banners"?

NELSON E. TIMKEN <netimken_at_erols.com> WROTE:
> I have two questions in addition to yours about email
> marketing. First, a very basic one- how do you grow an
> email opt-in list to that size? How do you begin to
> really pick up numbers in an age when people are so
> concerned about "Spam".
>
> Second, what is the viability as a marketing tool of
> HTML email vis a vis regular text?

Brandi, Nelson and all:

The size of a list is not the only thing to consider
when determining the price. As others have pointed out
you can successfully sell lists with relatively small
amount of subscribers if your audience is targeted.
The more general the demographics and interest of your
subscribers the more email addresses you need in order
to make it appealing to advertisers.

Nelson, in response to your questions, the best way to
grow your lists and avoid spam is to provide your
subscribers with compelling content. Something they can
use and will want to pass along to their collegues,
friends, family, etc. If you provide valueable
information on a specific topic you will build a
targeted audience who will do your marketing for you.
We currently distribute a newsletter containing web
site development and marketing content. The
information is highly useful and attracts a targeted
audience of about 175,000 web masters. The
subsriptions increase monthly because our users pass it
on to others. Each newsletter is sold for $8,500 to
$10,000, depending on ad placement.

Promotions are another way to grow email lists. I am
currently running a promotion for another newsletter
with 20,000 subscribers. The weekly newsletter
highlights wierd and wacky sites on the Internet. The
audience is not as targeted so I need to build up the
subscriber base in order to sell advertising at a
desireable rate. Current subscribers are encouraged to
fill out a form and send a message to five friends and
invite them to sign up for the newsletter. The
subscriber is entered to win a MP3 player each time one
of their friends signs up.

I hope this helps,

Heather Dettman
Manager of Media Marketing
WebSideStory
Tel: 858.546.0040 ex. 352
Email: hdettman_at_websidestory.com
http://www.hitbox.com
http://www.yep.com





Received on Thu Feb 08 2001 - 12:28:57 CST