Question

Topic: Strategy

Build Opt-in Email Client List

Posted by Anonymous on 6/21/2010 at 11:54 PM ET 250 Points
What do you think of Robo calling financial clients
to announce a contest to win a flat screen TV?

I’m running a contest for a client to collect e-mail addresses. We have over 3000 names on the client list.

We tested a direct mail campaign to 300 clients, the response was week (9%)and calling each client
would take way too long and too time consuming.

Any suggestions from anyone would be greatly appreciate. Thanks in advance.

To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 6/22/2010 at 12:29 AM Accepted
    If you're trying to show that you care about your prospects and treat them with respect and care, then starting with a robo caller will likely start your relationship on the wrong foot. 300 (or 3000) names are fine - if they are people who you are your target market, as determined by your marketing strategy document. If they are simply names, and you're playing a numbers game, then you're likely to be frustrated at why those names aren't converting into clients.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 6/22/2010 at 9:57 AM Accepted
    Dear KT,

    Automated or robotic calling in terms of telemarketing is, in many states illegal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocall#2009_Federal_Trade_Commission_action...

    A 9 percent response on a list of 300 people in terms of direct mail is actually pretty good (the average response rate is anywhere between 2 and 4 percent).

    Those 3,000 names? The key is in figuring out which of them are most likely to respond to your offer. The bait is the free TV but beyond that you need to build a list of people that want what's behind the TV offer, not just the offer of the TV.

    Here I'm talking about aligning your value proposition with the desired outcome of your main audience. Match these closely and give stellar value again and again and you'll create a following.

    I hope this helps.

    Gary Bloomer
    The Direct Response Marketing Guy™
    Wilmington, DE, USA
  • Posted by michael on 6/22/2010 at 10:30 AM Accepted
    Do YOU like robo calls? Few people do. 9% is pretty good. Most direct mail is 2-4%. Did you call each one?

    If they area already real clients then I would go with an email campaign.

    Michael
  • Posted by michael on 6/22/2010 at 10:33 AM Accepted
    Clearly I didn't read that. The question is the value of the email address. If it's a high value then definitely take the time to call them all.

    Michael
  • Posted by steven.alker on 6/22/2010 at 12:58 PM Accepted
    If you want to piss off your existing clients, go ahead, but it seems rather a risky approach when your mailing is hitting between 3 and 30 times the industry norm (Financial services, direct mail = 0.3% over here)

    In your business, it was all about getting names of people to talk to and then talking to them. 20 years ago, we’d pay a doorman a bottle of decent Scotch to “borrow” an internal directory!

    But you’ve already got the names and the numbers, so why the problem with phoning them yourself? Yearly call back is routine and expected in the industry and a special offer is a good reason to get them on the blower and to get them talking. A Robo-Caller can’t listen for their buying signals and to their dreams.

    It seems to me that you are missing the wood for the trees here.
  • Posted by matthewmnex on 6/24/2010 at 8:49 PM Member
    This may sound a little over simplistic but IF THESE PEOPLE ARE ALREADY YOUR CLIENTS -WHY DON'T YOPU ALREADY HAVE THEIR EMAIL ADDRESESS?

    Any way, giving away a flat screen TV to get back a few email addresses is a very very expensive proposition :-)

    May suggestion would be, simply make sure that the sales teamm and or client relationship managers call their clients and just ask them for their email address. No need for prizes or gimmicks - simply as them for the address :))

    You will get a much higher response than 9% if these people are already your clients :) You shoukld be able to collect 100% email addreses over the next couple of months. PS: 3,000 names is a very small list of people to call - a team of 2 relationship managers can dfinately manage all of that in a wekk or so.

    Good luck,

    Matthew
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Strategy)