The fast-paced “time is money” mentality of business often makes us forget that patience is a required virtue. Never was this maxim truer than with the evaluation and use of email list. Too many businesses approach an email marketing campaign with the expectation of instant gratification. Without any prior experience, the sheer numbers involved have them thinking that a single broadcast to an email list will make them immediately and wildly wealthy. While this certainly would be nice, email marketing unfortunately just doesn’t work that way in the real world.
Many marketers new to the email channel presume that ROI can be measured according to the same metrics as a traditional mail campaign. They later learn that email marketing metrics more closely resemble those of display advertising or television broadcast campaigns. In these media, it is common marketing knowledge that a person must see your message 7 times before acting on it. This means that, while broadcasting once to an email list is absolutely a step in the right direction, once simply isn’t enough. The real returns arrive down the road, when you have broadcasted multiple times. Too often, we see businesses try one email broadcast who, when the returns aren’t what they expected, write the entire medium off without giving it a second try. Worse yet, many of them blame the email lists themselves. Even the highest-quality email lists may not show you the returns you expect, if you don’t give them the chance to perform under their optimal conditions, and that means repetition.
These days, people are inundated with so many emails that a single message from a company simply doesn’t make the cut. They have little reason to open a single email from a business they don’t know. Even if they were potentially interested in what you have to offer, single emails are often simply lost amongst the flood. The best email lists simply cannot guarantee 100% readership of your email. What they can guarantee, however, is the chance to demonstrate you and your business as consistent, reliable, and present when their interest does arise. People may not open your first email, but once they’ve seen your name and subject line several times, a genuine curiosity may be sparked. At that point, you have shown that you are persistent, that you really do want their attention, and that you have something to offer, (and hopefully you really do!).
The truth of the matter is that email marketing, and direct marketing in general, do produce short-term rewards, but where they really shine is in the long term. Email is great for building trust and loyalty over time, which translates into dedicated customers for your business who will not only repeatedly buy from you, but will also advocate for you. These are the kinds of customers every business should be striving for.
The next time your business decides to purchase email lists, make sure you give them their fair hearing before giving up on them. Many businesses have experienced enormous success with email marketing, but the majority of them have committed to multiple broadcasts, because that’s what works. It could work for you, too. Please give US Data Corporation a call at (888) 610-3282 for any of your email list needs.
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