Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

Of course they agree that three deployments is good. You're paying for them. More deployments means more revenue for them.

The costs are all over the place because the quality is all over the place. Without knowing all of the facts, I'll go ahead and just say that you can not get a legitimate list rental (especially one that is double opt-in) of 4 million (4 sends to 1 million names) for only $2,000. No way. No chance.

If through some magic this is actually a double opt-in list, ask how many times it's being mailed to each month. It has to be so often that it's fatigued beyond belief.

Conversely, a CPM of $500 is pretty high for any consumer list unless it is extraordinarily targeted. Even then, I've never seen a consumer list that costs this much. It's more likely in the B2B world.

Being CAN-SPAM compliant means nothing. Opt out email can be 100% CAN-SPAM compliant. Complying with CAN SPAM requires little more than a valid reply address, a meaningful (non deceptive) subject line, an address in the email, and a means to opt out.

Being AOL whitelisted is nice, but again that's not all that hard. If you really want to read up on it, go here:
https://postmaster.aol.com/

It's better to be whitelisted than not, and this will certainly help the mail get through to AOL users. Also, to keep your AOL whitelist status you have to keep your bounces low and your complaint rate low, so if they are truly whitelisted with AOL, that's a minor plus. Again, though, it's not that hard to be whitelisted.

We've been in email marketing for ten years, and I can count on one hand the number of times that renting a list has worked for a paid offer with a consumer product. Are you trying to make direct sales or are you doing lead generation?

Be very, VERY cautious here. List quality is often shoddy and brokers overpromise and underdeliver. If you are putting a good chunk of your marketing budget or rsik capital into this, I would really think twice. This type of effort is ONLY for those who can afford to lose every cent as a pure test.

Are most of your potential vendors located in Florida by any chance?

This is dangerous ground for novices, and I don't want to see you make a mistake with your hard-earned money. If you would like to discuss your plans offline, contact me. I will not solicit any of your business; I just don't want you to throw away your money.

- Paul

Alan, everything Paul said is true.

I would like to add two more things to what he said:

1) You said that "it seems that a low response to a high volume of emails has a better chance of ROI. ". Actually, what you want is a higher response from a targeted list -- the volume isn't nearly as critical as the focus.

The right list with the right people will beat the wrong list every time. Remember The Apprentice wedding dress challenge? The Apex team stood in Grand Central Station handing out fliers (500,000 people pass through every day). The Mosaic team sent a targeted email to a list of 23,000 subscribers to a bridal newsletter. At the end, Apex earned only $1,064.47. Mosaic made $12,788.94.

2) The best way to get an email list is to build it yourself. It will take longer, but the list quality will be better and the people on it will have already demonstrated interest in your product (because they will have responded to something you did). Instead of buying a list, build traffic to your site (with adwords, articles, a youtube video, postcards, etc. etc.)

I agree with everything said so far, and I want to emphasize not putting all your eggs in email. Even with targeted lists, response rates are low. Many of the people we deal with through the NMOA get a better response with postal direct mail.

If you can target your customers, I would look into specialty magazines that cover your area. You can get some great buys on space advertising, and many times you can find some targeted email options through the magazines. You can check www.nmoa.org for both list brokers and discounted magazine advertising options.

Alan,

One thing to do is to send out test emails to the lists of the 3 different brokers. Depending on the response, you can mail to a bigger list.

Of course, the list that will be given to you will be the hottest, meaning they just purchased something very similar in the last 6 months.

In any case, you need to be able to test the response before you commit on buying any list.

Another thing is the copy. Make sure you have a good copy writer write your copy with your list in mind. This will help you reap the most of your lists.

Happy hunting.
Dave

Hello,

I am a list broker and I want to help you with your list issue. Not as your broker but with some advise on consumer email lists.

I would be more than happy to review the list sources you are looking at for free.

Data
Where are the names coming from?
****This is critical and determines 80% of success and failure!!***

Are the names coming from 7000 website registrations?
(we call this junk email name harvesters)

You need a list that is focused towards your product offer. Someone who has bought or responded to a similar produce. (very hard to find with email marketing)
You will also pay a higher CPM for this type of list.

$2000 for 1 mill emails is most likely a waste of your time and money. The names most likely came from surveys or website reg. Can you go to one of the websites and register your self? Ask for sample websites etc...

How and why are they registering? Are they doing it to win something? What information are they collecting?


The key is to find a list that captures a persons primary email address. Most people have several email accounts. The one that you use for junk and the primary you use for the things you are most interested in.
For example: I love to cook so when I reg at a site it is my primary email address because I want that information. When I am not sure I use my yahoo address which I check once a week.

Testing

Test no more than 5,000 or the minimum. Don't pay for 3 blasts upfront. If it does not work the first time why do it again? Any reputable list company will work with you on price for a reuse.


List Usage:

Who has used the list successfully? How many times have they used it? If they have no continuation usage that means the file does not work.

Choosing the right list is critical as well as a great subject line and landing page. Remember, the whole premise of Direct Marketing is to target and mail/email less, not more.


You might want to consider postal mailings. Postal is still king and there is a lot more subscriber/mail order buyer information available. It is a proven method of driving people to your site.


Please email or call me and I can give you my opinion on the files you are looking at. No strings attached and I promise not to try to sell you. I joined this site to help others out and learn from the experts.

Best of Luck

I would suggest staying away from list brokers and stick with the interactive agencies who specialize in email list rental. The big guys can find you the best lists that have been proven to work time and time again. The agency's are usually able to get the lists cheaper than the brokers anyhow. Here is a list of some of the top email marketing agency's that my firm has used in the past:

Avenue A/Razor Fish - https://www.avenuea-razorfish.com/
OgilvyInteractive - https://www.ogilvy.com/o_interactive/
Viralytics Media - https://www.ViralyticsMedia.com
Rapp Collins Worldwide - https://www.rappcollins.com/