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While most email lists will proclaim that they are “targeted, quality leads”
and are all “opt-in emails” this may not necessarily be true. Investigate the
company you are considering renting or buying from. Does it have a good
reputation online? References that can be checked? How long have they been in
business? If it’s only been around for a week, you may want to reconsider buying
from them, no matter how cheap the list rental price.
Normally renting a (good) email list costs roughly 25 cents per address or more.
For this price, you are getting email addresses of people who have indicated
that they are interested in hearing about certain topics. You tell the
rental/subscription company your keywords or business terms, and they will help
you find a list that includes these types of customers. They will then in most
cases take care of the mailings for you, as well as the administration and
backend of list maintenance (updating unsubscribes, deleting invalid addresses,
and adding new members, etc.)
But be aware that even these lists may be of dubious quality. For instance,
these people may be agreeing to receive emails in return for receiving coupons,
discounts, or a free prize. The chances that they are REALLY interested in
reading your emails is questionable. And this is the “better” lists!
Even if the company you rent from has true opt-in lists, there’s another big
problem: they have probably rented these same email addresses out over and over
again. You could be person number 538 trying to reach an already jaded audience,
since email rental companies never retire their email addresses. Instead, they
keep renting them and renting them and renting them…(you get the picture).
You Get What You Pay For: Beware Unethical Companies
Unethical list companies harvest their email lists by looking at the cookies on
web sites, or buying and reselling lists from sites that automatically download
email addresses each time a person visits their site (without their knowledge).
Or they buy them from people who obtain email addresses, and turn around and
sell them to others for money. They then state in their ads that they have
“highly targeted lists” that are “completely legal.” These ads are completely
fraudulent, and can get the person buying or renting them into big trouble, who
is attracted by the fact that they are cheap.
The problem with renting or buying lists from unethical companies is this: when
you send out your emails, the cry of “Spam” will be raised, and your ISP could
ban you from their service. In addition, in several states, Spam is illegal, and
you could face fines for sending out unsolicited emails. In addition, Spam is
perceived very negatively by most online consumers, and your Internet-based mom
web site rating will drop precipitously in their minds. Wouldn’t it be better to
send your emails to people that want to receive them instead, and create a
positive impression with your high level of professional ethics?
Avoid Buying “email list” CDs
They’re everywhere online: promotional ads promising to deliver you thousands of
opt-in email lists for the low price of only $39.95. Most of the email addresses
on CD’s like this are bogus and are created by computer programs. None of the
addresses are opt-in, and you will be accused of Spamming the few legitimate
addresses on these CD’s.
PPS (Co-registration) Services
Pay per subscriber (co-registration) services send new clients your way each
time they hit the “subscribe” button to receive a free newsletter or ezine in
return for receiving software or another freebie. The problem is that all too
often, when a person signs up for the free service, they don’t realize that they
are also signing up automatically for a ton of other options as well, including
newsletters and announcements, unless they uncheck the tiny box at the bottom of
the form. You want to receive a true opt-in list, which means the person had to
actively check the subscription box themselves.
The best of all is to get double opt-in subscribers, who receive a confirmation
email letting them know that they are subscribed to your ezine or newsletter.
But buying targeted lists of this type of customer is more expensive, and can
break most budgets if you want a decent-sized list.
Email List Options
There are email list management services that you can subscribe to, that
specialize in making the care and maintenance of your email lists much easier
(for a fee). They can personalize your emails for you, offer subscribe and
unsubscribe function, and take care of managing the technical aspects of sending
out emails, newsletters, and other promotional items to your clients. These are
an excellent option for most, for reasons that will be discussed below.
Do It Yourself at Your Own Risk
You may be a brave Internet-based Mom who decides that you want to try and “do
it yourself” by buying and learning to use email list manager software. This has
one main advantage: instead of the ongoing fees that you would pay to a list
management server or service, you only pay for the software one time. The
downside? You will need to take the time and effort to learn to use it
correctly, especially if you want to use the advanced features (which is highly
recommended).
You will want software that includes “subscribe” and “unsubscribe” functions,
that can personalize emails, and that can create mail merges.
Most email marketing is created using the format for an “announcement list.”
This means that only the list owner can send message to your list; others can’t
email back replies that are seen by others as would occur with a regular
discussion list. You decide what and how often you will communicate, put the
messages in, and your list software will automatically send the messages out on
the predetermined dates.
If you choose to “do it yourself, be aware that there are perils involved.
Number one is the large amount of data transfer that will occur if your list is
of any significant size. Basically, your emails will be running through your
ISP’s server, using up space on its mail server. They tend to not like this
(unless they are a bulk-mail friendly ISP), and most ISPs will terminate the
accounts of people who try to do this. But if you buy some of the better (as in
“expensive”) bulk mail software, it can “act as its own server” and prevent this
from happening.
Some people try to use the cheap, budget quality mail server software, and
discover that it works like any other mail client. They would do just as well to
use the Outlook Express that came with Windows. The emails are still being
processed through their ISP, which recognizes a bulk mailing and will block
email transmissions once their threshold is crossed: whether 50 emails, 100, or
150 from one address. The more expensive software creates its own “internal mail
server” on your computer, and your ISP only sees that data is being transferred,
without triggering the email server threshold. This alone makes the software
well worth the investment.
Avoid this unlike you like paying large fines
Never, ever buy bulk mail software that “hijacks” the use of email servers on
other ISPs. This is completely illegal, and can result in criminal prosecution,
in addition to having your mail service shut down. And never, ever forge headers
on your emails (putting fictitious server names on your emails, making it look
as if your emails originated from a different address and server than yours).
This practice opens you up to criminal prosecution suits as well. Instead, do it
the right way, and use good server software that creates its own “internal
server” on your computer, or get an account with a bulk-mail friendly ISP
service.
Email Discussion Lists: a Powerful Marketing Tool
If you like the idea of true interactivity, you can also use your email
management software to set up a discussion list for your site. Members can log
in, chat, and ask questions. This has been used as an excellent marketing tool
by corporations that include Apple Computers and some of the major marketing
gurus online. Doing your own “market research” is easy, if you have an
interactive mail list. Just open up your mailbox, and read what your clients and
list members are saying, and you will have a good idea of what they are looking
for, or even ideas for new innovations.
This was lesson two in our series, “Email
Marketing Techniques.”
Be sure to look for lesson three, in which we discuss “Email
Marketing Strategies That Work”.
Email Marketing Tutorial Contents: 1
Basic Rules of Email Marketing
2
Building Your Email Mailing List
3
Email Marketing Strategies That Work
4
How To Write Irresistible Emails
5
Avoiding SPAM Traps: Trigger Words That Filter Emails
6
The Real Truth About Direct Email and Email Lists
7
Creating Compelling Subject Lines (That Will Ensure Your Emails Get Opened) |
