Silicon Valley: The e-mail is emerging as one of the most powerful marketing tools on the Net in recent times. The likes of Amazon.com, Gap.com the clicks and mortar, fashion store have been using the e-mail very effectively to build brand and increase sales. E-mail is cheap, direct and can be sharply targeted through personalisation engines.Look at the Net use of any surfer. The surfer might have decided on what sites he would go first. Hopping around is not in anymore. He might probably look at the news on the site and finally settle into his mailbox. Most people go the e-mail first. Research has found that people spend a minimum 25 to 30 per cent of their time online on e-mails. Many people use the Net just for e-mails. Now think about it. As an online marketer, which is the best place to reach the customer. E-mail of course. Hence, it would be ideal to make e-mail primary route to target customers effectively.
The power of e-mails comes from the fact that customers request to be sent mailers. This actually means that sellers are invited and have some amount of trust. Once the seller offers good value on the Net, the customer is willing to buy and come back for more.
Unlike other direct mailing, with e-mail one can track the response rate immediately. The Web logs will tell the company which customer responded and what they bought. In case of a poor response, the company can immediately change the direct mailing campaign. There are two ways in which to commence an e-mail campaign. First, a company can collect e-mail addresses on its Website from visitors and then do an e-mail campaign after it has collected a bulk of address. Otherwise it can purchase e-mail addresses from a direct marketing company. The former will take time and the latter can be dangerous if e-mail addresses are not collected legitimately.
Many direct mail companies indulge in spamming which means sending millions of e-mail messages to addresses on its list. This only leads to waste, as the campaign will not be targeted. But more importantly will leave you with a lot of irritated customers who have your e-mail message which means nothing to them. It is violating the privacy of Netizens.
It is best to build your own list and also buy a list of profiled customers from a direct marketing company. Once these customers have responded to the company's e-mail by making purchases their profiling can begin. As purchases increase the profiling improves and the marketing is more targeted and so forth in an upward spiral.
E-mail is a powerful instrument and cheap. But acquiring customers can be costly and fraught with risks if one indulges in spamming.
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