E mail addresses for e-mail shots - what's legit?

[Diesel]

I've been looking into this and getting a third party to handle it for me. The upfront costs were high and a 'database' i.e list of e-mail addresses for several local companies had to be bought - £500 for 1000 names of which the relevance and validity I cannot judge.

Now, as I understand it, this database had to be one based on a call centre having previously called up a potential recipient company and obtained the marketing or procurement manager's permission to be sent e-mails.

Although we all hate spam (no I don't need purple pills 20 timesa day!!!) , this all sounds a bit odd to me. Cant imagine anyone calling me from India asking if I want MORE e-mails getting very far!

What's the score here? Given better financial terms I think it could work - I often buy stuff from e-shots (as I call them :) ) from Dell/ Ebuyer/Wiggle/Virgin Wine etc - esp with a nice hooky special offer or discount.

Cheers

D

[david64]

Although email marketing can work it doesn't really give you good value for money in my opinion. It's a pretty short term punt.

Also keep in mind the damage it could do. You are going to be sending emails to people who don't know you. These people have probably mostly unwittingly clicked on a checkbox on a site somewhere that says "can we send you emails promoting 3rd party companies" - so long as you are using opt-in. If I got your marketing email though, that would be it you'd be off the role call of companies I would spend money with. People don't have respect for companies that do this kind of thing. I would spend your money on enhancing your rep. on an on-going basis rather than a quick email punt in the hope of a bit of short-term business.

Alternatively, you can look at a newsletter to provide info to people and promote yourself at the same times. As a general rule people are not interested in your company. If you send out a load of commercial gumpf they won't care. However, if you can get people to subscribe and actually take an interest in your newsletter, you are building up a base of valueable customers and/or evangelists.

[Diesel]

That's very interesting David.

I really quite like receiving my glossy html mails from Maplin/Dell/Photo Warehouse etc I guess however there has been some passive opt-in somewhere when they had a foot in the door...

I also receive totally unsolicited ones from actors agencies, DVD duplicators, industry event organisers, website builders etc. Unless timely and relevant these probably get deleted pretty quickly. They don't annoy me though as I can see the potential relevance being in the same sort of industry. However the purple pill pushers do annoy me!!!! Bloody cheek!!!

I'd be interested in other views, as I think people actually thinking of/looking for services I provide that chance upon a nice looking graphic rich e-mail could still be worth a punt?

Hear you on the more 'education' based 'Newsletter' style approach though.

Thanks for the input.

D

[david64]

If you can afford it and think it might be worth it, then it is worth a punt :p If it doesn't work then at least you have learnt something or at least you are not doing it optimally. I think you'd want to look at something like this:

http://www.mailchimp.com/

There are also apps available that do the same sort of thing.

Your also right that some people might actually be interested in whatever it is you do. It depends on what sort of person gets the email. Someone like me is just going to bin it.

As I mentioned though, and this is what I would be worried about, you are going to be sending email to people who haven't specifically said they want mail from you. They might think, "Right. I am not ever going to deal with these spammers."

Another thing I would mention is that when you contact people out of the blue like this, the recipiants will sometimes go into a forum like this and ask if anyone knows or has dealt with the company in question. You never know what sort of reception you are going to get.

[Diesel]

Thanks David - there was another good link on the site you linked to:

http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/purchased-rented-email-lists-suck/

Lots of conflicting advice out there and partisan views!

Cheers

D

[Cornish Steve]

£500 for 1000 names seems rather a lot to me. You can obtain email addresses for officers of many companies simply by searching their website or the Internet in general. Can you not put one of your own people on it? Plus, I'm not a big believer in using email. Is there a reason why you can't just pick up the phone and call? It has a much bigger impact.

While the usefulness of email communication varies from one industry to another, I suspect some people gravitate towards it because they don't like cold calling. What are your reasons? Do you have evidence email will work the best?

[david64]

Lots of conflicting advice out there and partisan views!

Welcome to the world of online promotion.

[Cornish Steve]

And I just thought about something else. Have you considered attending a large conference in your industry? You'd need to check this out in advance, but many of the larger conferences give you a directory of all exhibitors and sometimes of all attendees, including email addresses. For a tenth of the cost you mentioned, you could get rather a nice list.

[CrackingProductions]

Great tips thanks Steve.

On a personal level, sometimes I'm receptive to a VERY timely cold call but they generally annoy me (especially in the middle of editing - grrr!!) so I'd rather not go down that route. I've done a few well researched and hopefully very timely cold calls myself recently but I think it far more intrusive, time consuming (in jumping through the hurdles) and more potentially damaging than an e-mail. What do you think?

D

[Cornish Steve]

I've done a few well researched and hopefully very timely cold calls myself recently but I think it far more intrusive, time consuming (in jumping through the hurdles) and more potentially damaging than an e-mail. What do you think?
It really depends. I plucked up courage and made some cold calls a year or so ago. I was quite surprised that, in about 4 out of 5 cases, I was able to get through to the decision-maker and have a good, meaningful conversation. Sure, in one or two cases, the gate-keeper just gave me the decision-maker's email address and told me to go away, but no big deal.

So, from my experience (and it really takes me out of my comfort zone to place a cold call), phone calls work an awful lot better than emails. With phone calls, you can speak and interact and ask questions and answer objections and build rapport and arrange for a follow-up. You can't do any of these things with email - much of which is probably treated as spam anyway.

But it all depends on your industry, your budget, and how wide an audience you seek to reach. The only thing I would caution is not to let shyness or feeling uncomfortable stop you from calling someone.

[Hattey]

Hi

For what it is worth I am currently working for a client in obtaining email addresses and it is going really well.

I think the key is that I am speaking to the person that would be responsible for the product they are selling - we are confirming this and asking if we could send them some info via email for them to look at when convenient to them?!

I am not getting any negative responses at all so in my opinion it can be worthwhile! I would also consider a follow up call after email to gather thoughts and see if interested which has been successful in the past!

As for the Data, that does sound on the high side, we don't change that much, however, it does depend on the data, if it has been profiled right down you would pay for that which can sometimes make it better to opt for the cheaper data and get someone else to clean it!

Just a thought! Hattey

[Diesel]

Hi Hattey - that all sounds very positive & business like. Do you mind me asking what product or service this was? I think some things may be far more suitable for such an approach.

Thx

D

[Hattey]

Hi Diesel

We are currently working for a water aeration company and contacting Local Authorities.

I do agree that perhaps some industries work better than others but I think it depends on the approach. We are not just sending emails out because they ticked an 'opt in' box somewhere, we are actually speaking to them but not in a sales call capacity - just confirming they are the decision maker and happy for us to email some info that could be useful to them.

We gather this information for a few clients but we don't get much negative responses because it is aimed at the right target market so the product we are offering to email them about is appealing to them it's just a case of whether they take it any further now or in the future.

What is it that you are wanting to achieve Diesel?

Hope that helps but let me know if you would like any more information.

Cheers Hattey :)

[Diesel]

Hi Hattey

Now THAT is pretty niche - I wouldn't think they get bombarded with 10 water areation calls a day ;)

Its a good soft approach though - just making sure you are targeting the decision maker, rather than sending out hundreds of e-mails in the thought that you have done and achieved something (but in reality may not have).

For me I just want to just spread the word a bit - all I need is for people who dont know us to click a video of our work or discuss a potential project and then the reality of our standard of work and how we approach things does the rest. I couldn't hard sell to save my life - but just getting someone to view our work and testimonials always does the trick:) In fact I'm off to 10 Downing St right now to do some filming - all by referral :)

Cheers

D