Tips to Build Your Email Address Database

WHY BUILD YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS DATABASE?

Gaining your customers' email addresses will:

With in progress communication and merchandising pressures impacting marketing budgets for many an organizations this year, email marketing could become the "silver lining " for many an marketers.   But how do you create a flourishing email marketing campaign if you do not have a substantial email database?  That question may be one of the largest Net related challenges facing companies this year.

Research shows that the majority of organizations have email addresses for less than 10% of their communication files.  So how do you level the playing field and start to add quality permission - based email addresses to your database?

Here are several tips that you can use to cost effectively build your email address information and increase your client participation and retention rates: 

START TO ASK FOR IT!  

Every communication or touch point with a client should start or end with a request for an email address.   By utilizing the four points below, you should be able to add email addresses for 5% to 10% of your communication file over the course of one year.

1.  Direct Mail Collection

Think just about how more time and money you spent for copy and design on your last new direct mail piece.  Most companies have started to ask their customers for their email address information inside these mailings.  This is a great step forward. However, companies need to look at one major improvement if they want to increase their email address collection rates. 

To date, most requests for email address information have been pushed, shoved or packed into whatsoever white space remains.  It should be no surprise that the success rate has been less than stellar.

To improve on these efforts, you need to provide your members with a reason to release their email addresses to you.  E-newsletters, purchase confirmations, petitions, and special discounts and offers are but a few of the benefits that wish encourage your members to move on board.

2.  Web Page Collection

Many companies have an email address collection function in place via the web.  To improve your sign-up rates, add text below the email request box that informs your visitors of the special email benefits that they wish obtain (i.e. e-newsletters, purchase confirmations, delivery updates, etc.) upon registering.  You can likewise utilize a pop-up link to inform users of these special benefits.

Finally, your email address request function should be accessible on your home page. Don't do your users go and look for it.  Every click away from your home page reduces the chances of your users taking an action and providing you with their email address information.

3.  Existing Email Information Collection

Don't forget to ask the members of your existing client base for email addresses of their friends, family and associates.  Infective agent marketing is a powerful tool to use and is extremely cost effective!  You could ask them either to provide you with additional addresses or just to pass on your newsletter, email specific offers, or else information to others they feel have similar interests.

4.  Merchandising Collection

Don't assume that your merchandising agents are asking for email addresses from potential customers.  Ensure that your agents have an updated script, which outlines the antecedently represented benefits to potential customers of providing their email addresses.

The suggestions above are a great start!  Yet they actually should be viewed as a secondary plan for building your email database.  To exponentially and efficiently grow your email database, please see on!

EMAIL APPENDING  

Utilizing an email appending service enables you to add email addresses for up to 25% of your communication file, all inside 3-4 weeks.

Email Appending - is the process of adding an individual's email address to that individual's communication record in side your existing database.  This is accomplished by matching the communication information against a third party, permission based information of communication and email address information.

Best Practices - Email Appending is not a prospecting tool. The DMA (Direct Marketing Association) and its interactive arm AIM (Association of Interactive Marketing) have guidelines in place that dictate that email appending only be used to append email addresses to your existing opt-in communication record home file.

The Process - Your opt-in communication file is firmly transferred to an email appending provider, who wish do an initial gross email address match of your file against its opt-in information of communication and email address records.  Your appending provider wish then send these matches a permission-based message prepared by you.  All bounces and opt-out requests wish be removed from the list.  At that point a valid permission-based email address file of your customers wish be delivered back to you. 

Cost - Less than the cost of a communication stamp!

IN SUMMARY

The 1st step of any flourishing email marketing effort is to build a permission-based email address list of your customers.  The simplest, fastest and most cost-effective way to do this is through email appending, which wish modify you to add email addresses for up to 25% of your communication file.  Secondary efforts of email address collection via focused direct mail, web, infective agent and merchandising practices are likewise important and wish modify you to add email addresses for an additional 5% to 10% of your base on an annual basis.

Best of luck in building your email address database.  As many an companies have already learned, the ROI and cost savings to be achieved wish far exceed your expectations.

Bill Kaplan
CEO
FreshAddress, Inc.