Case Study: How a Small Internet Publisher Doubled Its Email Database & Reduced Marketing Spend With Cost-per-Lead

Company: Tripmela, Inc.
Contact: Jared Blank, CEO at Tripmela
Location: New York, NY
Industry: Travel, Internet Publishing, B2C
Annual revenue: Confidential
Number of employees: Confidential

Quick Read:

New York-based Tripmela, Inc., an online travel publisher, has found its niche in India—where the Internet population has grown from 4.9 million in 2000 to 46 million in 2007 (source: Internet & Mobile Association of India), the online travel industry was named the country's leading and fastest-growing e-commerce category, and the Official Airline Guide (OAG) reported a 62% increase in the domestic low-cost travel sector between 2006 and 2007.

Tripmela aggregates the top travel bargains available to the Indian market on its site and sends out a weekly "10 Best Deals" newsletter to its subscriber base, offering a single, user-friendly portal comparable to TravelZoo in the United States.

Like much of the Indian Internet industry, however, Tripmela was still in its infancy when 2008 rolled around. Although its Web site had been launched, advertiser partnerships established, and funding secured, the task of generating a steady stream of Web traffic remained a serious challenge. The company attempted cost-per-click (CPC) and other paid-search campaigns to grow its email newsletter list (its greatest revenue driver), but those efforts turned out to be inefficient and ultimately too expensive.