Return On Subscriber – Email Marketing Blog

Today I spoke at the Houston AMA on market research and one of the questions that came up is how much should you research your opt-in list compared to going to an external list and qualifying them. Some of the discussion surrounded the purity of market research and how you should focus on blind surveying, “who” should ask for the survey (you or the MR firm), and if you should even consider using your own list.

I worked at Gartner for 5 years managing custom primary research projects for clients like Dell, Microsoft and HP. During that time I did not think even consider in-house lists because of th the “biased” nature of the list. Now running marketing campaigns for similar companies I have found that in-house lists are comprised of those people with interest in your company, so wouldn’t you want to get their feedback first? So why is there such a polarizing effect between marketing and market research? Why can’t they work together? Isn’t the end goal to craft messaging and products to sell more? Aren’t both pieces of information important?

Me and 4 of my co-workers are in this competition tonight for the Portland, OR Advertising Federation. (Band name: Evil Rock Overlords Inc.) We are the last of the 7 bands and should be going on around 9:30. Each band plays 3 songs. We will be playing Judas Priest, Motley Crue and Spinal Tap. Should be hilarious if you are out and about. This will be your one chance to see me in leather pants or tight jean shorts.

PAF’s Battle of the Bands Presented by Comcast Spotlight
June 26, 2007 / 7:00 PM / at Someday Lounge

PAF’s Battle of the Bands is a night of fun dedicated to those in our industry that have the Rock Star desire! For one night the musical talent in our industry will live in the spotlight and on the red carpet. Many of our member agencies have their own house bands, BotB will feature 7 totally awesome “butt” bands competing to find out who is the best (for this year at least!). It will be a fun night supported by advertising’s most talented – in and out of leather pants!
Buy your tickets at the door, this will definitely be a standing room only night! Rock On!

Event Cost: PAF Members $10.00 / Non-Members: $10.00

Web Worker Daily is a blog that gives you tips and resources on getting through the life as an internet worker. Very relevant content for all aspects of Internet jobs – from developers to sales.

I really enjoy the blog and have been turned on to a ton of great tools, tips, apps, and more through this site and it has made it into my daily reading.

The gang at GigaOM do a great job with this blog. Keep up the great content!

Here is a post on “How to Use LinkedIn Effectively” which has made me fianlly realize what to do with this site. http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/06/15/20-ways-to-use-linkedin-productively/#more-882

A client of mine in the beautiful state of Colorado came up with a great promotion to drive new business that was new to these jaded eyes – a drawing for an iPhone.

This contest proved to be very successful for my client – Kudos Heidi, great idea!

The best contests/giveaways build off something that has its’ own buzz, outside of your brand.

Take for example, the iPod (which may be the quintessential giveaway of this decade). The iPod took the world by storm and had an established place as a must-have for anyone who considers themselves as “with it”.

The key to the iPod giveaway is that the iPod is a “tangible” prize. People know it doesn’t cost an inordinate amount, and think they can win it (if you have ever been to trade show, you have probably entered 36 iPod drawings). Think about te iPod giveaway vs. the “new car” giveaway, or “a trip to the Oscars with a meet and greet with George Clooney” – a pipe-dream at best. The iPhone has a similar tangible element and a buzz brewing, along with the voicemail feature – maybe the greatest invention ever.

Be careful, there is an issue with this giveaway though – you must have AT&T wireless as your provider to use your iPhone ( There are strings attached.) – very similar to say a DirectTV dish giveaway or a Sirius Radio giveaway. Are you giving away a year of service of just the device? If you are not upfront with the requirements, you can have an unhappy winner, which can cause brand damage.

As long as you manage the expectations of your prize, you will have a very happy winner, as well as new leads and customers. Why not buddy up with Steve Jobs and his “revolutionary device”. New leads, new customers, and increased interest. You are also giving your brand a new look as cutting edge and with the times. You get it.

So what do you with these contest/giveaway leads that haven’t signed off on your products/services?

Stay tuned….

I clicked on this banner ad (which I rarely do) the other day. I like cheeseburgers, I like heavy metal, what the heck, right?

McDonald’s “Burgercon” told me to go to the microsite www.Burgerconitson.com. I went, they told me it was on, ran through some amusing flash, and then to IM or email a friend the same URL.

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Huh?

No battle? No personalization? No laughs? No email address/mobile number gathering? Nothing?

Can you tell me what the point of this is? I would love to know. All I see is a misguided viral marketing attempt that probably cost $50k – before media buys.

What a waste of a good starter concept. You need to “flesh” these ideas out Ronald (pun intended). This is really taking the easy way out, at the expense of the user.

What a let down.

On June 21st, Eyetools Inc. CEO and founder, Greg Edwards will join eROI’s Dylan Boyd to speak about best practices in email design.

Learn the

We spend all day looking at lead capture, email campaigns and microsites. I think microsites are great for campaigns but should have a purpose.

I could just be dense, but what is the point of this site? The videos are not funny, there is no lead capture, no call to action, the videos have nothing to do with the product. The theme of the campaign (Voted #1 vodka in 2033 and the iRobot feel) is a few years too late.

http://www.blame.svedka.com/

Am I missing something? It is long past the days of driving traffic to have an effective campaign. If it does not boost sales or grow a customer database, does it really work?

Poll – Take Our Poll

So “The New” AOL, along with “The New” Yahoo email clients are ignoring the “From” email address name. They are just showing your real email address. See the AOL example below

View Inbox

The question to you: Are you “news@yourcompany.com” or are you “no-reply@ttp-companyname-pcp.com”.

In a bloated inbox, with a SPAM button right above – it matters.

You need a real email address that a subscriber feels would get answered. Otherwise you are Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Google, etc…except you’re not.

Polls – Take Our Poll

We all know that our biggest clients are not always our more loyal ones, so the question I am often faced with is, how do you grow revenue long term?

• Make it easy to interact with your brand – Whether I am shopping, finding the information I am looking for, signing up for your email, or creating an account – a website should be simple and clear.

• Ask Me – When I sign up or create an account, so many companies don’t ask me what I like, but a lot of companies the do ask don’t listen.
• Immediate communication – Send me an email right after I sign up. Let me know you are out there and you want to know me. Nothing is more frustrating than making the decision to give you my personal information and for me not to know if you even got it.
• Be Gracious / thank you – My mother always to told me to be polite and a simple thank you can go a long way. If your corporate direction is discounting, send me a coupon, if it is value, reaffirm why I signed up.
• Show them you care – Let me know that you value me and my time. If I am going to spend a good amount of my time with you and your brand, you should show me how important that is to you.
• Don