PROVEN, EFFECTIVE DIRECT EMAIL MARKETING

PROVEN, EFFECTIVE DIRECT EMAIL MARKETING

By Declan Dunn

Remember that crazy story people told you as a kid? "If you

squirrel away one penny today, two tomorrow, and keep on

doubling that every day, you'll be a millionaire in no time

flat!" Sure, if you just had the time. Or the pennies. But

the moral of the story is simple: save your pennies while

you have them.

Instead of pennies, let's talk about customers. The ones

who visit your Web site and/or send you emails. Do you

answer them? Do you try to make them into customers?

Most businesses online don't. They treat their Web sites as

places for people to look at their products. And they throw

away their inquiries-their customers-in search of new ones.

They go to banner ads, try to fool the search engines, and

run around like crazy trying to find new customers,

ignoring the incredible value right in front of their eyes.

The moral of this story is...save your customers while you

have them. Answer their questions and follow up with them

immediately. If you don't, someone else will.

Can you say, with total confidence, that your Web business

is generating all the money it can now? It should be. In

three years, you won't have it so easy. The big businesses

are just starting to come online. Do you think a million

total sites is bad now? Imagine a million more are coming.

Customers will be harder to find as the marketing lists

settle down. Until then, survival revolves around a simple

philosophy:

"You are trying to win customers...Don't ask them to pay

for your efforts to sell them."

-Claude Hopkins, My Life in Advertising

The early models of Web advertising all made the customer

work. Banner ads forced customers to wait for a silly

picture. Push media came and went with the ridiculous

promise (and price) of software that doesn't really work

yet. Misguided Web sites splashed a pretty message on the

cover, while inside they were vacant lots. Just empty

promises, vague claims, and product-driven Web catalogs

lying around. Picking up the old Sears catalog was a more

personal experience than most Web sites. All of these made

customers pay by wasting their time.

The skills outlined here don't make your customers pay for

your efforts to sell them. They benefit your customers

whether they buy or not. The key is in your marketing-not

in Web sites, banner ads, or technology.

Set your goals: By December 1999, I would like to have a

list of ____ qualified, excellent customers who help my

business survive.

The Two-Step Web Sales Process

Step 1: Find out where your customers are meeting. Target

your first contact and make an offer that he/she wants to

read.

Step 2: Get them to your Web site or autoresponder once,

show them you know what you're talking about, register

them, and offer them more.

Email marketing is the most misunderstood term on the

Internet. I'm not talking about bulk email or spam, where

you cold-call a bunch of customers by stripping addresses

and sending them a message they never requested. This is

the myth of volume-that more email is better.

Bulk email is volatile; more companies will sink than swim.

You want the customer to initiate the first contact; then

you can safely and securely follow up with them.

I'm also not talking about push media, where you focus on a

piece of software, hoping it becomes a standard. The idea

is to continually send your customers all the information

and advertising you can, automatically. You spend all of

your time and money developing a product, and forget to

whom you should market. This is the myth of technology,

that hooking onto the latest techie trick is the way to get

more customers.

Push media is volatile; more companies will sink than swim.

Push media focused on the way to deliver the message; bulk

email, on the address gathering. Between the two extremes

is a lesson rooted in traditional direct marketing. Instead

of sending out volumes of email, you want to develop

specific, targeted lists. What you want to find is a

targeted group of customers and integrate them into your

business. Keeping in touch with them is the goal. Email is

the best way to do this because it's easy, simple, and

everyone checks email.

First Contact: How Do I Find My Customers?

Establishing first contact is the toughest goal of any

email marketer. Where do you find your customers? How do

you reach them?

Before you begin, be sure you have something free, like a

special report or newsletter, to give them. Don't make them

pay for working with you. Build an offer that is so

appealing that people send you email. You can then safely

follow up with them and test out the process.

Millions of people are online, but they are forced to

organize the Internet for themselves. Sifting through

search engines and Web sites is a daunting task. The goal

of email marketing is to find the places where they are

meeting and give them the opportunity to contact you.

The most obvious place to find prospects is at other Web

sites, newsgroups, and mailing lists. This method of

marketing still works, but many mailing lists and

newsgroups have settled into their own series of experts.

It's harder to penetrate market share this way. Customers

have a tough time figuring out who is who.

It would be great to just buy a list of interested

customers, as you can in direct mail. Email marketing is

still in its infancy online and many of the so-called lists

are not tested or even targeted. Be wary when buying access

to a list; you may be buying a big spam without a target.

Before buying a list, you'll want to know the following:

To whom the email was sent. A sample of the message that

was sent, to see if your offer makes sense. Some idea of

results generated. Is this just a list of people or of

qualified prospects?

The best means of survival is still the endorsed mailing to

a group of interested customers. Find a Web site with many

customers, or a product/service to which you can easily

provide back-end products. Create a scenario in which you

bring value to the person owning the list, and that person

allows you access to his/her customers. This is one of the

best ways to target your prospective customers safely. It

will also add value to a list of email addresses that many

businesses have, but never take advantage of.

HINT: You can also buy lists, but be careful. I've seen

random (i.e., spam) lists of customers at about five cents

a name. Highly qualified lists can get up to 20-30 cents a

name. It's still cheaper than direct mail, and the savings

of time and headaches (for you and the customer) is

considerable if you take the time to find out if this is a

good list.

You need to determine how to qualify your prospects, to

narrow down whom you want to reach. Print media is perhaps

the best way still to generate significant email marketing,

because you can find targeted groups of customers via trade

journals, newsletters, and magazines. Then use email

marketing as your follow-up to their contacting you. Always

mix email marketing with another form of marketing, such as

direct mail, telemarketing, or faxing. Let them hear from

you outside the Web.

HINT: One way to qualify online prospects is by asking for

an email address and ZIP code. I run my ZIP codes through

Response Doubler, a software program that pinpoints the top

two percentiles of discretionary income in the U.S. by ZIP

code. I follow up all inquiries via email, and direct mail

those people in the top two percentiles income-wise with my

costly, direct-mail message.

Email marketing really means following up with your

customer. Often the fourth or fifth contact will lead to a

sale. But allow people to remove themselves from your list

with the following in every marketing email you send:

"If you would like to be removed from this list, please hit

the reply button and respond with any message."

Don't ever send email to someone who asks to be removed.

This is part of your qualifying process. Weed out those who

are uninterested and try to build up your list to include

qualified prospects only.

What you'll end up developing are lead lists (for new

inquiries), and your customer list (for loyal, paying

customers). The third key element is to build your remove

list, all those addresses that do not want to hear from

you. Many database programs exist which can compare your

new inquiries to your remove list. That way you avoid

sending a message to someone who doesn't want to receive

it, and protect yourself from flames or possible shutdown

by your ISP for sending inappropriate email.

Email marketing is a consistent and cost-effective way to

follow up with your customers. You need to treat every

contact as a significant lead and follow up via email.

Here's how to put email marketing into profitable action:

* Build your email mailing list as your primary business

asset. Separate those new inquiries, your lead list, from

your steady customer list. Finally, keep a detailed remove

list of all those people who don't want your messages.

Many of these are available online and can help protect

you from customers who would be incensed by your email

marketing.

* The goal is to have your customer make first contact,

and for you to follow up. Respect the wishes of your

visitor; don't market to someone who doesn't want to hear

from you.

* Give them something of real value, such as a good

special report or newsletter, to encourage them to contact

you. If you don't give them something, you won't get

responses. Most online businesses fail to give them

anything at all.

* Use email newsletters and dispatches to contact your

customers. Give them enough information but not too much.

How do you figure that out? Ask them and test. Don't

forget to include your ads in these, as well.

* Don't feel up to writing? Sit down with yourself,

someone who sells the product or service (could be you),

and an interviewer. Sell the interviewer your product or

service. Record it. Transcribe it. Save it as a text-only

file in a word processor. Separate the interview into

smaller sections. Email it in parts. You then can email an

ongoing, valuable document that includes advertising,

rather than another sales letter.

* Create several follow-up letters. First contact is a

free report or newsletter. Second contact means checking

in to see if they have any questions, and making them a

special offer. Third contact should qualify them to see if

they want to explore working with you. Don't give up with

one or two messages unless they ask you to.

* Send out surveys or contests; test out questionnaires.

Set up interviews. The real goal is to get them to respond

to your message. This is how you qualify people. Those who

respond are potential customers, but keep emailing those

who don't immediately respond as well.

* Explore ways to mix faxing, telemarketing, direct

mail, and email to provide a diverse approach to your

customer. Find the one that works best, but use email and

at least one of the other approaches to truly set you

apart from the rest.

Be careful when establishing first contact with email

autoresponders; some people may not understand that this

email address will always send them a message. Be creative;

use several steps. Follow up with a combination of

autoresponders, targeted email messages, sales letters,

invitations, surveys, contests, and much, much more.

EXAMPLE: A visitor to your Web site requests your free

newsletter. You email it to the visitor via an autoresponder. You

receive a reply. Then, using Eudora Pro or another good email

program, you follow up the request with another message thanking

the visitor for requesting your materials. Use this to focus your sales

message outside of the initial free report or newsletter. Every two

weeks you send the customer another message. Test out the

best approach for you and your customers.

Declan Dunn 6960 Ridgeway, Magalia, CA. 95954 Phone: (800)

280-9807 or (530) 873-3637 Fax: (530) 873-0192

Declan Dunn offers consultations, seminars, and training to

Web businesses, developers, ISP's, and consultants. E-mail

dunn@activemarketplace.com or call (530) 873-3637 with

questions. All materials Copyright 1998, 1999 Michael

Declan Dunn and ADNet International.All Rights Reserved.