Emedia’s Dirty Little Secret
The Holy Grail of customer information these days is the email address—consumer and b-to-b alike.
The Holy Grail of customer information these days is the email address—consumer and b-to-b alike. In fact, according to a survey CM conducted earlier this spring on b-to-b circ benchmarks, email polled very high in the source mix.
In 2007, 67 percent of respondents indicated email as a top-three source. In-house email lists are certainly cheap and as materials costs pile up, circulators and audience developers are veering into sourcing emedia for more of their promotions. Direct mail and other sources are not going away, to be sure. What we’re seeing, however, is on-the-fly adjustments to the mix to keep overall costs down. It’s a perpetual exercise and a tribute to how well circulators manage the puzzling array of sources.
Yet here’s the catch: How many of your email addresses are actually usable? What kinds of limits are you discovering with how and what you can use email for? In a Webinar based on CM’s survey (archived on Circman.com), Hanley Wood’s Nick Cavnar said he’s got email addresses for nearly 80 percent of his subscribers, but can only use less than 50 percent. “We’re finding a lot more limits on what we can use them for,” he says.
Tell Me What You Think. I Double-Dare You.
When was the last time you saw a letters page in this magazine? Can’t remember? Me neither. Let’s change that. Here are a few choice quotes from some of this issue’s stories—check them out and email your perspective:
cmedit@red7media.com.
On using Web-based testing: “If this means accepting a tradeoff between purity and alacrity, I’ll take alacrity any day.”
—Patrick Hainault, consumer marketing director, Mansueto Ventures.
“An industry with a leaner, meaner, higher quality circ level will be able to more effectively compete for readers and advertisers in an environment with a growing number of media alternatives.”
—Baird Davis, industry consultant and newsstand expert.
“In 2007, we received several thousand Web orders each month for Yoga Journal. We get roughly one-third of sub orders from pop-ups, one-third from embedded links, and one-third from cover ads.”
—Debbie Kane, director of partnerships & Web marketing, AIM.
Bill Mickey
Recently in Online 
Most Read on Audience Development
 |
 |
 |
Career Center
Join the Audience Development Group on mediaPRO
Connect with Magazine, eMedia & Publishing Industry Peers
Latest Audience Dev Discussions
Upcoming Webinars
No Upcoming Webinars
Recent Webinars
