Building and Marketing to Email Databases

Increasingly sophisticated email collection, segmenting and marketing methods are yielding substantial, cumulative success for b-to-b and consumer media companies alike.

By Karlene Lukovitz
Monday, May 3, 2010

If there’s something akin to gold to today’s audience developers, both b-to-b and consumer, it’s permission-based email addresses.

The value of these contact lifelines only continues to grow as audience developers push to reach and convert new prospects for digital and print content offerings, cross-sell a growing number of brand extensions, and migrate renewals and other transactions from print to online.

At the same time, of course, building, maintaining and leveraging email databases for maximum marketing effectiveness requires substantial know-how, supported by adequate customer database technology and skilled staff—not to mention a solid strategy and close internal teamwork.

Audience Development checked in with b-to-b and consumer marketers to garner their input on what’s working on the email front, including techniques for capturing addresses, maximizing marketing response, building loyalty and avoiding list fatigue.

B-to-B: Organic Approach Is Ideal
Although list pros have reported that overall demand for b-to-b email lists has held up relatively well during the recession due to the segmenting/targeting possible on emails generated through vertical sites, most b-to-b media companies interviewed report purchasing outside email lists or email address appends sparingly, if at all.

Cost is the primary obstacle cited with list rentals/appends as opposed to internally/organically generated prospecting email addresses. Permission-based b-to-b email lists continue to have the highest average CPM among domestic lists ($281, per Worldata’s Spring 2010 List Price Index), and response hasn’t been helped by acquisition budget cuts at many b-to-b list-rental sources and high job churn, these ADs report. In addition, some companies either have policies precluding third-party email appends or are wary of using these.

“Appends are expensive—and it’s not just getting the email address, it’s the quality,” says one audience developer. “If an email address permission was collected by offering someone an incentive having little or no relation to our market or content, they’re not likely to be responsive to our offerings.”

Which is not to say that incentives, of a targeted nature, are not in use internally. In fact, “give to get” is the foundation of email address collection for b-to-bs and consumer media alike.

Online, the array of free offerings being used to attract at least a basic registration, including an email address (and often considerably more data), range from free enewsletters to white papers and other informational downloads to Webinars and other events.

During the past year, virtual events have become one of the hottest registrant draws for Hanley Wood Business Media, reports VP, circulation and database development Nick Cavnar. For instance, this year, in connection with the annual International Builders’ Show, the Builder brand offered a virtual, sponsored show home viewable via a virtual tour, complete with blueprints and interactive educational components. During the show and over seven weeks, the site drew 43,000 unique visitors, and more than 15,000 tour registrants (a nearly 36 percent conversion rate).

Balancing Email and Demographics Collection
Of course, the overall goal is always to associate as many relevant business demographics as possible with email addresses, and securing the email itself can in some cases be impeded by requiring site users to answer a raft of qualifying questions. The lengthy registration forms that people are used to filling out to get a controlled magazine can meet with considerably more resistance on the Web.

As one means of addressing that challenge for its free enewsletters, which have up to now required completing a form similar to that for its magazines, Hanley Wood is introducing a two-step registration process, according to Cavnar. Web-based enewsletter promotions accurately state that only a name and email is required to subscribe; however, once the email address is entered, a thank-you message with a request for additional information pops up. All who supply emails—including those who decline to answer demographic questions—are placed on the subscriber list, and receive acknowledgement emails.

“If someone doesn’t realize they’ve subscribed just by providing the email, without completing the questions, the follow-up confirmation lets them know and gives them an opportunity to opt out,” says Cavnar.
“Often, you can match the name and email to an existing record, and also obtain more information each time a person signs up for another content offering, service or event. It’s a balancing act of trying to get as many email addresses as possible while also getting enough demographic information to make them useful.”

Hanley Wood is far from alone in looking to build profiles by collecting information organically, through a series of touchpoints and transactions over time.

Increasingly, capturing emails is one core aspect of overall b-to-b digital strategies encompassing integrated database/fulfillment systems; sophisticated conversion architecture that determines how visitors flow through a Web site and which content, product or service is presented to them next; the ability to engage in event-triggered or lifecycle marketing; and an arsenal of traffic/interaction builders. That arsenal includes honing content, site design, landing pages, on-site promotions and SEO/SEM—plus outreach via social media and targeted bloggers.  All of which puts companies way ahead of the game for upselling within a brand, cross marketing among related brands, turning prospects into longtime customers and producing lead gen and advertising revenue.

For example, all of the above are components key to the strategy underway at The Journal of Commerce (JOC), according to Christine Oldenbrook, VP, audience development for parent company UBM Global Trade.

JOC, which was traditionally under a subscription business model built around the weekly, paid print publication, is in the process of converting fully to a membership model and leveraging all available resources and technology to drive new memberships.

A new corporate database and fulfillment system that enables full integration of data elements across platforms and Web-access authentication is key. But the heart of the strategy lies in concerted expansion of already-substantial premium interactive and downloadable content offerings—what Oldenbrook terms “Webified” content.

JOC.com continues to offer open access to news that draws audiences from the various transportation, government/regulation and logistics/economy sectors that it serves. But the focus is its membership package, base-priced at $345, which includes exclusive online access to in-depth coverage, market intelligence and analysis and downloadable industry statistics, as well as the print (if desired) and digital editions of its weekly publication. (Marketing of live events separate from the membership fee is also an important part of the overall business model.)

Editorial and audience development monitor the download and usage rates for various types of content, and are working hand-in-hand to create and hone both pay-for/gated and registration-accessible, no-fee offerings (including newsletters, white papers and other downloads) that help capture the email addresses of the site’s substantial numbers of new visitors. That email is the starting point for a customer relationship process that’s guided by strategically mapped conversion architecture plus lifecycle marketing—which includes carefully designed confirmation pages, targeted and strategically timed follow-up emails, and other upselling, cross-selling and customer service touchpoints.

Taking the Pressure Off Qualified Email Names
Email list fatigue continues to be a core challenge for many b-to-bs, with audience developers reporting that even email management systems and “throttling” (using parameters to limit the frequency of emails to names) don’t necessarily resolve the issues.

“Only a percentage of our names with emails also have the reader-supplied, qualified demographics in demand by our advertisers and internal departments, including events and advertising sales,” says one.

“Because of that demand, throttling can become impractical to enforce.” Nor is it easy to convince internal promoters and advertisers to try using names that have similar characteristics, but haven’t yet been asked specific questions because of the sources from which they emanated, this AD adds.

Oldenbrook acknowledges that such pressures aren’t uncommon in b-to-b media companies, but says the answer to avoiding email list fatigue is to avoid over-dependence on email marketing by developing on-site conversions. “Push email can be the path of least resistance,” she observes, but if the right systems and practices are put in place to drive new visitors and move them through the sales funnel over time, email efforts can be used discriminatingly, and to best advantage.

Organic email generation and profiling strategies aren’t limited to paid-content models: Ziff Davis Enterprise, to name one controlled publisher, uses similar systems and practices to drive site traffic, capture initial registration info (including email address), gather more demographics with each new offering in the conversion funnel, and provide vertical advertisers with opportunities for online-, email- and live events-based opportunities to engage with their audiences and build brand loyalty and sales.

Collecting Emails Via Traditional Sources
While online channels get the lion’s share of attention these days, traditional controlled circulation channels shouldn’t be overlooked as email collection platforms. For example, given that many b-to-bs are still heavily reliant on telemarketing for controlled print acquisition and requalifications, pushing to secure correct email addresses on the phone as part of the qualification process for the magazine is a common-sense practice. However, attention must be paid.

“Among about 35 separate requirements we have for telemarketer calls, we require that they both collect and verify email addresses,” says Eric Rutter, VP, audience marketing, Reed Business Information, speaking only to the traditional-source side of the company’s email collection efforts. “The question needs to be part of the script, and the telemarketers need to understand that they’re required to ask for the email address and secure it. We also require that they read the email address back to the subscriber for accuracy.” Further, the company has systems in place to monitor phone call recordings to ensure adherence to its requirements.

Appends Work for Many Consumer Publishers
In contrast to b-to-bs, quite a few consumer publishers report considerable success with email address appends.

Clients pay only for clean matches against their postal names—meaning deliverable emails that do not produce an opt-out in response to the initial email “welcome” message sent by the email data supplier on behalf of the marketer (a message supplied by the client). Clean matches are “owned” by the client; there are no one-time or other marketing usage limitations, although email appends cannot be rented out unless the recipient becomes a customer.

Consumer marketers report that match rates generally fall in the 15 percent to 25 percent range. Per-match prices vary widely, depending on volume, negotiation and the supplier. One marketer reports getting recent quotes of just 15 to 30 cents per clean email; another reports average prices falling in the 30- to 50-cent range, but adds that they can go as high as $1 to $2, particularly for low volumes. Pros also recommend testing various email suppliers—some use proprietary email data sources, others rely on data giants like Equifax and Acxiom (which themselves offer appending)—but results can definitely vary, they report.

“There’s definitely an upfront investment for appends, but we’ve generally found that promotions to email appended names do very well,” says Bonnier Corp. list/database director Mary Pizzarelli, who stresses that a well-planned strategy is the foundation of that success.

“You need to have your entire plan in place and be ready to roll immediately once the matches are ready and the addresses are ‘fresh,’” she says. “There are many elements involved—including producing the various offers and getting these approved, determining the email effort schedules, deployment and watching the back end. You really need someone dedicated to spearheading the coordination of the team’s efforts.”

Bonnier focuses on direct-to-publisher name appends and, as with direct mail and other source programs, segments email efforts. Two key groups, not surprisingly, are recent (last six months) expires and actives near expire (one month out). Bonnier also uses demographic appends and modeling to yield responsive prospect segments. Whether new business or renewal efforts, strong, well-tested offers and premiums are obviously critical, Pizzarelli notes.

As part of its integrated marketing strategy, Bonnier also employs reverse appends, adding postal addresses to existing email names to enable adding print efforts to targeted segments. And of course, appends are just one source of emails—the online, consumer marketing and editorial teams are also continually working on site design and content, offers, SEO and other means of driving online traffic and conversions, emphasizes Pizzarelli.

Give/Gets Run the Gamut
When it comes to email address collection, consumer publishers of all sizes are heavily engaged in free content offerings—enewsletters are ubiquitous, as are online downloads and digital premiums.

“Clearly, the most effective efforts offer something that’s of real value to the prospect—a strong incentive for supplying the email address,” notes Thea Selby, principal in San Francisco-based Next Steps Marketing, an audience development consultancy. “Further, in messaging, the emphasis is increasingly on content and offering real value in some form, as opposed to heavy or persistent sales messages, because publishers see that this is both effective and reduces list fatigue and opt-outs. These days, it’s not unusual to hear a client refer to ‘having conversations’ with prospects and customers, rather than ‘marketing’ to them.”

Selby notes a recent successful effort for The New Internationalist that appealed to its socially conscious audience by offering to plant a tree for every email-inclusive registration received. “At 10 to 25 cents per tree, when purchased in volume, the cost for this program was very reasonable,” she reports.

Another client, Shonen Jump, a magazine, Web site and enewsletter devoted to manga (Japanese comics), has had great success in generating email addresses by promoting sweepstakes for manga-related prizes entered by answering surveys, Selby adds. The surveys are promoted and accessible on the brand’s Facebook fan page, as well as the site (mobile isn’t used because of government restrictions relating to marketing to children in that medium).

Like many publishers, Entrepreneur Media has found that asking prospects or subscribers to write in email addresses on print promotions generally is not productive, and can actually depress response, but continues to work on driving people online to order or renew, reports VP, consumer marketing Mark Tavarozzi. In a new test on print renewal efforts, subscribers are being incentivized to go online to renew with digital book premium—a condensed version of a book that sold well in print format. Although an email write-in option is available on the print promotion, the pitch emphasizes getting the digital download immediately by registering online. “We’re confident this will generate email addresses for us—and hopeful that it will also enhance renewals,” says Tavarozzi.

In addition to a variety of topic-specific enewsletters, some magazines drive registrations by offering various tools on their brand sites. Meredith’s Better Homes and Gardens, for example, offers tools for home decorating, organizing a family’s schedule, journaling, photo sharing and many others, along with screensavers and an app for creating (and sharing) a virtual bouquet.

Speaking of apps, many publishers are of course heavily promoting mobile (and now iPad) applications, plus Twitter and RSS Feeds, Facebook sign-ups, and so on.

Some brands, including many of Hearst’s magazines and BH&G, draw large numbers of email registrants by offering games (often syndicated ones, like Sudoku, mah-jongg and solitaire) that have no direct connection to the brand’s subject matter—and/or sweepstakes. Good Housekeeping, for instance, promotes major sweepstakes in the magazine as well as on its site, driving readers to go online and register for a chance to win. Marie Claire has an area offering numerous games and sweeps—including daily register-to-enter giveaways, in which products are supplied by advertisers as a form of exposure.

But for all of its value, email marketing may be over-emphasized, at least by management at smaller publishing companies, believes consultant Rebecca Sterner. “I’m all for it, but it should be viewed as a valuable part of the source mix, not as a total replacement for other sources,” she says. “Many companies don’t have the resources to invest in the staff and systems needed to really build the email source, and I can’t say that I’ve seen a lot of small- to medium-size publishers getting really outstanding results.”