Meet My Palm Pre

4G Weekly Digest October 14th, 2009 - Volume 5, Issue 8

By: Emma Hancox, Marketing Director
By Emma Hancox, Marketing Director
Contact the author at emma@maravedis-bwa.com

As time spent on social networking sites continues to increase compared to time spent on other Internet portals, and even on e-mail or instant messaging, the number of display ad impressions on social networking sites is also growing. But with all the hype over social marketing, e-mail based campaigns remain the most effective way to reach target audiences. Why? E-mail is the preferred channel to receive online marketing messages, as long as some basic rules are followed: choice and permission.

Recently, e-mail marketing platform company ExactTarget revealed in its “2009 Channel Preferences Survey” that opinions about permission-based marketing were becoming increasingly favorable: e-mail is preferred at a rate of three-to-one over any other channel for marketing communications. However, permission is vital. For half of all respondents, unsolicited messages were considered unacceptable even from companies they did business with regularly.

Although use of social networks for written communication is on the rise, the majority of people are not very open to receiving marketing messages through such channels. Consumers are more willing to opt-in to receive marketing messages through e-mail rather than through social networking sites, which are now becoming more popular than e-mail for personal communications.

Some tips to make e-mail messages more conversational, and hence more effective:

Try sending some of your messages from marketing, and some that appear to come from a specific sales rep. People can be more receptive when a message is coming from a real person.
Combine standard segmentation approaches (lead source, geographical region, industry, etc.) with behavioral data (who opened an e-mail, downloaded an offer, visited more than three pages on your site).
Use A/B testing in your e-mails to see which messages resonate with your audience.

Build your relationships with "check-in" e-mails from a sales rep once in a while. Prospects and customers will appreciate you asking them what they find most useful about your specific programs and what they'd like to see in the future. These are great opportunities to ask how you're doing as a company and ensure that your e-mail communications are useful and informative.

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