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www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/technology/article.php/893431
By Alexis Gutzman September 27, 2001 You have read over and over that it is less expensive to get an existing customer to make a purchase than to get a new customer to make a purchase. The most recent figures I've read suggest that it is six times as expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain a customer. You have also read that the least expensive way to market to existing customers is via targeted e-mail. Yet, you have been reluctant to begin any marketing via e-mail because (choose all that apply):
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to take you through the entire process of starting your own newsletter. I went through all the steps outlined below myself, identifying and testing each product. I also corresponded with the developers of the various tools you may need; I will also have tips from them on getting the best results.
Yes, you can do e-mail promotions without doing a newsletter. However, if you want to grab and hold the attention of busy customers or members, then you have to provide them with more than just the information about the products or services. You have to give them a reason to care about the product. Procrastinate No Longer In brief, here's the list of tasks you need to perform to start your own newsletter:
If you're really ambitious, you might want to do the following, as well.
Getting a List to Get Started
If your business is not the kind that's inclined to having lists of interested parties — such as online publishing, consulting, or any site without a membership requirement — then you'll have to rely on other sources of lists. In fact, pack rats have an advantage over the rest of the world in this regard. To Purchase a List or Not?
Other than being ignored, the problem with purchased lists — particularly when you purchase them from someone offering you one million addresses for $99 — is the quality of the addresses. There may be one million e-mail addresses, but how many of them are still good? Since you may end up paying for list services based on how many messages you send, you will really regret paying for 500,000 messages that bounce. Harvesting Addresses from Your Inbox
It's relatively easy to harvest addresses from an Outlook Express folder or from any text folder. When it comes to harvesting, you can either harvest only from the sender's address or you can harvest from the entire message. The advantage of harvesting from the entire message is that if someone sends something to you and eight other people, you'll get the sender's address as well as those of the seven other people. The disadvantages of harvesting from the entire message are that you'll get more junk addresses on your list, and you are more likely to have your newsletter seen as spam by people who have never corresponded with you. On the other hand, if your newsletter is going to be inspirational, for example, and you've received inspirational messages in the past that were addressed to 40 people, then those people might also appreciate your newsletter. This is definitely a judgment call on your part. There is pretty good software available for harvesting from the entire message. E-mail Address Extractor, from MazePath Software, is a very fast product for harvesting from the entire inbox. My inbox, including all subfolders, yielded over 5,000 addresses. If you don't use Outlook Express, then you need to export all your messages into a text file and harvest from that. The harvested addresses go into a text file, with one address on each line and no duplicates. If you are harvesting from several files, be sure to save the harvested text files with different names or you'll overlay your previous file; by default all addresses go into addresslist.txt. For harvesting the sender's address from Outlook Express, you can use Outlook Express Archive Pro, also from MazePath Software. In addition to backing up your folders, Outlook Express Archive Pro will also permit you to filter messages or extract all senders' e-mail addresses into a text file with one address on each line and no duplicates. By now, you should have a text file with one address on each line. Whether those addresses came from a database, your order-management system, or your inbox, you're ready to verify that the addresses actually work. Next week, I'll tell you how to do that. Alexis D. Gutzman is an author, speaker, and consultant on e-business and e-commerce topics. She's the producer of The Online Marketing Report. Her most recent book, The E-commerce Arsenal: 12 Technologies You Need to Prevail in the Digital Arena, was named one of the 30 best business books of this year. For up-to-date information about her research and speaking engagements, visit The Alexis Gutzman Group's Web site. |
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