3 Email Marketing Questions Answered (part 2)

3 Email Marketing Questions Answered (part 2)

Getting back to 3 common questions I get about customer database marketing:

First was How Often? Answered here.
Next is Should I Buy/Rent a list? Let’s tackle that now.

My role in most interactions is to be the one saying “Why would we do that?” and in the case of Buying or Renting an email list, that’s where we start. Why would we want to rent a list? The common answer sounds like, “I see that I can get a list of XX emails belonging to [insert buyer title] for only $500 or something like that” followed by them questioning me about whether or not it works.

My answer? “It depends.”

If we’re trying to generate new orders and the thinking is that “it’s worth a shot – it’s a pretty good price – it’s quick”, I agree on all those  points. Those reasons are valid but simple isn’t easy. Here are some things to think about:

Dollar for dollar ROI. Direct marketing avenues like blind email blasts or postcards tend to follow a similar pattern. What you invest, you tend to get back in return. Simply put, if you spend $500 on a campaign, it’s reasonable to expect $500 in return. Based on what your business is, $500 may not even be an option, right? If you’re selling a service that requires a minimum $60,000 annual commitment and we’re talking about a $500 email list, you’ll hear me say “I doubt it will work.” If it were a $50,000 list campaign, my gut would settle down.

It’s not unlike other business development opportunities. The “top of the pyramid” avenues for finding business are limited. That’s where the “Perfect audience” resides.

When we’re looking at renting email lists for finding new business we’re probably not working in the Top of the Pyramid. If we’re lucky it’s the middle of the pyramid and most likely it’s fishing in the bottom. There’s no judging going on here, it’s just that we need to realize that expecting returns from a rented email list is a little like buying a lottery ticket. If it works, it works but plan on making your money in other ways.

That said, I still buy the occasional lottery ticket. It’s not my last $2 and my inner economist reminds me that “someone is going to win, $2 isn’t a huge sum to me, and $100MM is a huge sum to me”. I simply don’t expect it to work.

So, what do we do with the original question? Should I buy/rent a list?

Let’s get back to our objective. Define it. A common comment I hear is “but my list is so small, I need more names”. Now, is that the objective? Mailing to a certain # of names? Growing the list? Or is it nurturing existing contacts and helping them understand how we help businesses like theirs? Maybe it’s getting people to engage with us by putting on a webinar or download a report?

I’m okay with any of those objectives. It just needs to be defined. “I want to grow my list by 100 names in my target market” is an objective you can work with. Just remember to define it further before starting. . .what happens if we only get 50 names, is that a success? 25? 5? What’s our minimum acceptable standard?

(Generally, at this point in the conversation we get into talk about Cost Per Acquisition and Lifetime Value . . .navigate the feelings that come from not having the right measures in place. . .decide that “the perfect is the enemy of the good” and start taking some action. . .it’s a process, not an event.)

Should you buy or rent an email list? As with all things the answer is “it depends”. Whatever you decide, make sure you’re doing it “on purpose” and you’ll get your money’s worth. Swear.

Good stuff.