We have been emphasising that for a long time now: we do not recommend purchase of address databases. If what we need to do is just a single promotional mailing, and we are not too eager to develop our own subscriber list, the best solution would be to outsource the mailing to the database of a portal or specialised vortal. If in doubt, we recommend to use the expertise of an email marketing company or one of good media houses.

If our intention is to establish a regular communication with our customers or any other recipient group (employees, investors, newspapers etc.), we need to develop our own database, and we can do it by an appropriate campaign. However, before we decide to run the campaign, we should reflect on how to optimise our marketing activities and how to use them to develop our mailing list.
First of all, we should choose the critical common denominators of our brand and target group representatives; the next step is to prepare the best possible incentives to make them share their contact data. During my holidays in the US I have seen a couple of examples of how this strategy can be put in practice.

One of the examples relates to a bit of shopping I had at Victoria’s Secret. When the transaction was being completed, the shop assistant had a nice chat with me, and then she asked for my email address. She put it onto their system, and informed me that they would keep in touch. No forms to fill in, no signatures, just a nice and straight conversation. I have no idea whether this was a well-planned marketing action  – anyway, it worked. The conversion ratio of suchlike actions must significantly exceed the effectiveness of traditional paper forms.

A couple of days later, I received a welcome email, and it included an option to unsubscribe. This particular email contained an exceptionally attractive offer which made me quit the idea of unsubscribing.

It was all very well prepared in terms of graphics, too. The email contained a special discount coupon – in the form of a bar code, scanned at the shop cash desk. Victoria’s Secret newsletters are mailed irregularly, each every couple of days. The mailings are sent out frequently enough to show that their offers are quite interesting, and rarely enough to make me feel I am not bombarded with unwanted emails. Although we have pinpointed a couple of minor technical errors included in the email itself, we consider their actions aimed at the development of their database to be just right. Their actions also comprise the Internet website of their brand, which include a well-prepared subscription module.

The subscription module link is displayed in the upper right corner of the website, and it is available from all their web pages. It lists all the most important benefits of the subscription, and the email address needs to be put in twice, which minimises the risk of errors when email addresses are keyed in. All users can also start their own account, which enables checking their orders online, and developing their own shopping lists. Special mailings are directed at these users as well.

We do recommend to develop your own action plan which will make sure that your address databases will grow very fast, much faster as ever before. If you are not sure if your brand name is developed properly, you can always call us and ask. As far as my experience goes, I have no more doubts – travel broadens your mind.

Tagi: At Work