More often than not, the questions come from our not-so-famous (but equally important) customers, like one gentleman who asked if GroupMail could send messages to a list of six million email addresses that he had acquired [yesterday]. Of course, my first inclination was that this list of six million was acquired by some means other than opt-in, permission marketing. I explained that technically, the software allows users to create groups of an unlimited size, but that processing messages to such a volume of recipients would necessitate a robust mail server among other things. It turns out, he wanted to just send them through a free mail server like Hotmail without spending any money on anything but the software.

For the sake of all of us, I dissuaded him.

Another call was a bit more realistic in scope. A woman had an opt-in list of 5,000 recipients and wanted to use GroupMail to send personalized HTML newsletters to her list on a monthly basis. Her ISP (one of the big ones) has an email sending policy that prohibits customers from sending more than 200 messages per day through their STMP mail server. They also block Port 25 so GroupMail’s Direct Send mode wasn’t an option. Bulk Send mode doesn’t allow personalization, so that wasn’t an option for her either. I explained that GroupMail or any other desktop email marketing software doesn’t circumvent the email sending policy of her ISP. I suggested that she:

1. Contact her ISP to see if they have a business account that allows more messages to be sent each day (Comcast, for example, allows residential customers to send 1,000 messages per day while their Business customers can send 24,000 per day);
2. use a secondary outgoing mail server, like AuthSMTP, to route her messages through; or
3. acquire a web hosting company who offers full SMTP services and process your messages through your domain-hosted server. Sometimes, domain-hosted SMTP servers are more liberal with their email sending policy than large ISPs

Again, she didn’t want to spend any money on sending her messages out.

As your email list grows, so does your budget. While email remains to be the most cost-effective method for communicating directly with your prospects and customers and provides the best ROI; it’s not free. Aside from the costs required for email marketing software and access to a supporting outgoing mail server, effective email marketing requires time and effort on list maintenance, design, testing, delivery and measurement.

Effective email marketing doesn’t have to be expensive. But it certainly isn’t free.

Update: Seth Godin discussed another cost of email marketing today in his post, Friction

Post script: a tween is a widely used marketing term for a preteen or a preteenager - a person under the age of thirteen years of age who is between adolescence and teenage years. Generally the term is restricted to those close to reaching the age of thirteen, especially boys aged 11-12 years old, and girls aged 12 years old.

* To see this and other comic strips from The Messaging Times, just click the strip.

Marketers respond to needs and wants differently. They may offer a range of products at different price points to respond to the variety of budgets of the people who need them. They may also include extra features or special designs for those who want them. Often, the marketing to needs and wants are combined. When I bought the tires that I needed, the salesman asked if I wanted the treads cut in a certain way for better traction on Mt. Baker.

Often, marketers concentrate on converting basic needs into wants. They understand that we have to buy something if we need it, so they focus on the wallet share by playing to our wants in a time of need and try to persuade us to purchase the upgraded model or extended service for the product we need. They do this by creating stories that play to our emotions. These sunglasses are cool. I want to be cool. Brad Pitt is cool. Brad Pitt has these sunglasses. I want these sunglasses. Sometimes, we’ll be convinced (or convince ourselves) that we need those sunglasses.

Think about the products and services that you purchased recently. Did you need them or want them? What convinced you to purchase something beyond your basic need or want? What story was told? What emotion was involved?

As a matter of fact, the average time spent on a website before moving along is 50 milliseconds. But by shortening the length of our communication to 140 characters or less requires that we pay attention more often to updates as they come in. This can put a strain on anyone who is trying to do other things. Some consider it a serious distraction from productive work. Others praise the real time connection with others.

* To see this and other comic strips by
The Messaging Times, just click the strip!
…

Ok, this post is entirely too long considering the subject. You can read more about my thoughts on microcontent and the importance of brevity in online communication by reading Being Brief.

…and, of course, you can follow me on Twitter at messagingtimes.

Until recently, email marketers sent their messages on weekly or monthly delivery schedules – in line with traditional broadsheet publication cycles. A few years ago, companies like Amazon started showing us how email could be used effectively when messages are sent in response to customer actions and behaviors rather than on a predetermined publication schedule. Buy a book, get an email with a recommendation for another. Visit a product page, get a promotional email for that product. Behavior-triggered email is used more and more today in an attempt to make emails more timely and relevant to the recipient. This strategy is helping to change the frequency paradigm for many email marketers – particularly larger email marketers with the resources available to implement and manage robust behavioral campaigns.

Today, some email marketers are even using psychographic overlays and heat-mapping to optimize their strategy. Some of us might think that this is going a bit too far. Welcome to the new world of marketing.

Flylady.com turned email upside down as early as 1999 by serving up home organization tips and reminders to recipients in the volume of 500+ each month. My wife subscribed for a while, until the volume became too burdensome for both our inbox and her commitment threshold and she eventually unsubscribed. She still knows people who look forward to receiving messages from flylady every few minutes of the day.

The emergence of websites like Twitter and Jaiku have prompted discussions and debates around the Internet about our desire (or lack thereof) for a continuous connection (frequency) to the conversations taking place in those online communities which interest us (relevance). It seems that more and more people feel the need to be continuously connected to multiple streams of communication: SMS, blogs, RSS readers, twitter/jaiku, etc.

So what about email as a continuous conversation platform? I suppose that it already is for the personal communication that we enjoy with family and friends. Whether people want to be in touch so regularly with a commercial emailer depends, I guess, on the value of each message that is sent. A joke of the day, puzzle of the day or tip of the day have all been used successfully in the past to keep recipients engaged with publishers on a daily basis. I think that it really comes down to common sense. Take a look at your own email offers – whether they be newsletters, promotions or updates. How often would you like to receive them if you were on your own recipient list? More often than not, content determines frequency.

“…Interviews with marketing executives revealed that using compressed video without sound, with animated gifs, and clickable screen shots of videos can result in click-through rates that are two to three times the usual rate.

Some 9% of marketers are currently experimenting with video in email, and another 21% plan on including video in their email marketing efforts in the next 12 months, according to a July 2008 JupiterResearch/ClickZ survey of 286 email executives…” continue reading

This supports a recent Nielsen Online study confirming that online video remains a popular and growing online activity.

“…Nielsen Online provided overall online video usage data for April 2009, which shows that approximately 119 billion unique viewers watched seven trillion total streams during the month. The numbers reveal that year-over-year, total streams are up 24%, streams per viewer are up 27% and time per viewer is up 58% percent…” continue reading

Of course, embedding video in email is still problematic. Not only does it increase your message weight and affect delivery speeds, but it is often (if not usually) blocked by ISPs and email security systems as are other executable files.

But all is not lost. You can still achieve higher click-through rates by using video screen captures in your message as an image link, which recipients can click on and be brought to the video hosted online. Some email marketers are also experimenting with animated gifs in their messages and using certified video email systems.

Have you used video in your email campaigns yet? What was your experience?

“…Using our lack of a venue to our advantage, the Model will be experimenting with new spaces for live music throughout the year. Unusual rooms, outdoor spaces, places where live music is not normally encountered, will all become new spaces for music with performers and projects drawn from a range of music genres…” continue reading

Today’s Live Lunch performance, Music for the Busses, will feature some traditional Irish sounds by Gerry Harrington and Margaret Rhatigan at the Bus Eireann station in Sligo at 2:30pm.

Gerry Harrington

Margaret Rhatigan (on Whistles)

Sometimes, you can improve an old product or service simply by changing the experience for people/users/visitors/listeners. Creating experiences and telling good stories is what marketing is all about. Of course, it helps greatly if you are creating experiences and telling stories about a great product, like traditional Irish music.

Reznor says, “Anyone who’s an executive at a record label does not understand what the internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact – no idea. I’m surprised they know how to use email. They have built a business around selling plastic discs, and nobody wants plastic discs any more. They’re in such a state of denial it’s impossible for them to understand what’s happening.

“One of the biggest wake-up calls of my career was when I saw a record contract. I said, ‘Wait – you sell it for $18.98 and I make 80 cents? And I have to pay you back the money you lent me to make it and then you own it? Who the f**k made that rule? Oh! The record labels made it because artists are dumb and they’ll sign anything’ – like I did. When we found out we’d been released (from their recording contract) it was like, ‘Thank God!’. But 20 minutes later it was, ‘Uh-oh, now what are we going to do?’ It was incredibly liberating, and it was terrifying.” …continue reading

As Reznor and other artists realize that they can keep a much larger percentage of their product and tour sales themselves, they are beginning to go solo (business wise) and take responsibility for their own digital sales, tour promotions and merchandise. Of course, it is probably much easier to have someone else take care of the business side of things; but the Internet (and a new generation of digital music enthusiasts) makes the business of selling music and communicating with fans much easier today. And the reality is that it won’t be very long before CDs (like LPs before them) will be gathering dust on the shelves they remain on.

As Reznor says, “As an artist, you are now the marketer.”

• If you show meat eaters a shocking PETA video about the harsh reality of chicken, pork or beef factories, many will become defensive (or disgusted) and tune you out. There will be a low rate of conversion.
• If you use scare tactics (i.e. red meat rots in your stomach or a red meat diet causes cancer) some meat eaters will quickly point to contradictory studies or tune you out. There will be a low rate of conversion.
• If you share a delicious gnocchi recipe (which happens to be vegetarian), many meat eaters will try it. They may not become vegetarians after eating the dish, but they will learn that there are delicious non-meat alternatives to consider when planning meals. There will be a good conversion rate.

Often, people begin a vegetarian diet by gradually adding non-meat alternatives to their meals over time. Seldom do they cut meat out of their diet overnight. Understanding this, it would be prudent for vegetarian marketers to communicate the variety of delicious non-meat alternatives rather than the concept that meat is evil.

You might have better success asking someone to try something new rather than telling them to stop doing what they’ve been doing for a long time. Often, telling someone that they should change sides (or allegiances) will cause inaction or resentment. There is comfort and security in familiarity. Abrupt change is usually disconcerting for people.

The same is true for any product or service. Telling PC users that they are behind the technology curve rather than showcasing cool Mac applications or functionality will persuade some, but upset others. This my-way-or-your way approach to marketing risks building walls, rather than bridges, between you and your prospects.

More than once this year, there was confusion about which address to use for delivery. For one company, Standard shipping meant UPS. Another company used Standard shipping to mean regular delivery by the Post Office. On one occasion, it became so frustrating that we canceled our order (a $310 loss for the company).

Making it easy to place an order is important. But making it easy for that order to get to the customer who paid for it is equally important. Spend a couple of hours minutes adding some clarity about your shipping fulfillment process on your order form.

If you ship via UPS, state that clearly (i.e. We ship everything by UPS). If you use the United States Postal Service (USPS), let your customers know. It could mean the difference between a sale and a cancellation.