Direct Mail Versus Email
It's always interesting to observe the differences between how consumer and b-to-b publishers market to their readers
It's always interesting to observe the differences between how consumer and b-to-b publishers market to their readers—whether for renewals, new business, or any touchpoint, for that matter.
In this issue, we present that contrast in stark detail. Starting on page 16, contributing writer Jane Zarem reports on the importance of e-lists in the b-to-b realm, noting that direct mail for some publishers has all but vanished, save for a few, small, highly segmented in-house lists. While most publishers have been curtailing direct mail in favor of more aggressive use and rental of email lists for years, the effect is particularly acute this year as more of them are backed into painful budget decisions during a grim economy. And, reports Zarem, it’s only been the last year or so that email lists have truly come into their own in terms of data quality, cost and performance—and the reporting speed goes without saying. PennWell, for example, has isolated direct mail for only the best performing prospects, as has Nielsen. Ziff Davis Enterprise has dropped it altogether. Each has picked up the slack with email lists.
However, this is not to say that direct mail will disappear completely. It’s certainly alive and well in consumer circles—especially for retention, notes contributing writer Karlene Lukovitz in her report on renewal strategies on page 26: “Developing the potential of email efforts for immediate and long-term cost savings continues to be a heavy focus for larger publishers in particular. But print is still the dominant channel...”
Indeed, for many consumer publishers, it’s still very much a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” scenario in retention strategies. If it works, keep doing it.
And even among b-to-b publishers there’s a sense that direct mail, as with any subscription source, will circle back in favor again. Consumers have short memories, budgets will expand back to acceptable levels, and the direct mail void of the last couple years will eventually morph back into an opportunity.
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