A database is only as good as its quality, the same goes for E mail addresses. According to the DMA the majority of E mail campaigns in the UK suffer from a bounce rate of around 30% or more. This is due to two factors 1) the quality of the original data sourced and 2) keeping it up to date.
So where do I get E mail addresses from?
There are two ways to obtain E mail addresses. Buy them from a broker or acquire them yourself.
There are many brokers around marketing E mail addresses; you need to be careful about the data you buy for the following reasons:
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How old is the data? (if its more than 3 months old then it could have already started to decay and your receive and response rates will suffer). |
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Who are the decision makers? (will the e mail addresses be profiled by job title/decision maker?) |
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Can the E mail addresses be profiled by SIC code, number of employees or turnover, if not then it won’t help you in targeting. |
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Do you get the E mail addresses for a single use or multi use? |
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Where do the responses go to (you or the broker?) |
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Can they guarantee that the E mail address owner has opted in and given their permission for E mails to be sent to them from multiple users? |
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Are they also selling the same data to your competitors? |
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Some brokers operate a time leasing or auction type service, availability of data may well not match your marketing plan or campaign. |
The one way to guarantee a high receive rate for your target market is to source the data yourself or through an agency. This means calling the companies in the target market, introducing your company and asking for permission to send an E mail to the decision maker you want to communicate with.
What is important when maintaining my database?
Make sure customer information is current, remove people who have opted out from your database and ensure there are no duplicate entries.
If you don't, ISP administrators might consider you to be a spammer and could blacklist your marketing emails; getting removed from a black list can be messy. Remember according to the DMA and Royal Mail a database that is not maintained will decay by about 20% every 3-6 months.
What does the law say?
The EU's Privacy and Electronic Communications regulations state that marketing emails must not be sent to individuals without their consent. But the rules do allow for promotional messages relating to 'similar products and services'.
What are the pros and cons of DIY?
Pros:
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The data is yours, you won’t get everybody agreeing to give you their E mail address, but you will be assured that those that have will have given their permission (remember the EC Directive on permission based E mail marketing) have opted in. |
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The data is yours, the database has been built by you or your agency |
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You will not sell the data on to your competition! |
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The fact that you have called them and asked permission means that you have already entered into a dialogue and begun to raise your profile |
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The data will be current and up to date at the time of acquisition |
Cons:
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The data will need to be kept up to date. A good E mail marketing system will have an in built recipient confirmation screen to help you keep your data up to date. As with any data you need to keep on top of it but the effort will pay rewards with respect to the success of your campaigns. |
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Cost - it will take more time and effort to build the database but the cost will be outweighed by the quality of the data and you are not restricted to single use. You can use it across several campaigns however keep in mind that recent research indicates that you should not be sending more than 1-2 E mails per month to your target audience. |
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