Using Opt-In E-Mail Advertising... does it work?!

[Conscript]

Hey guys,

I am considering using an opt-in e-mail campaign to launch a new product (which is nearing completion).

I was wondering if anyone here has any experiences with services that claim to send your e-mail to tens of thousands of opt-in e-mail addresses. I found a few services that claim to be able to send your e-mail to as many as 250,000 or 4,000,000 opt-ins at decent rates (ranging from a few hundred to a thousand US dollars).

I also contacted Entrepreneur.com's advertising department and they told me they rent out their e-mail list at 5 cents per address (and they are listed as a source of e-mail addresses at one of the companies I allude to above).

So has anyone here ever used opt-in lists for marketing? If so, what were your experiences?

I was hoping to send out to about 100,000 e-mails targeted toward people who subscribed to business-related lists. I am hoping that this generates at a bare minimum 3 sales for me (I am selling my product at $87) so that I can at least make my money back on sending the e-mail, though of course the more I sell the better.

What do you guys think?

(BTW, if you want to check out one of those companies go here: http://www.americaint.com/guaranteed-traffic/opt-in-email-marketing.html . The reason I suspect they are pretty legit is that they do offer up a phone number and physical address for their business, so I don't think it's some sort of basement/shady operation.)

 

[fnixws]

I personally opt out of ALL advertising / allowing emails from Administrators ect.
So not sure how many people would accept if you give them a choice.

 

[DavidsAwesome]

I know I sign up for all the spam in the world.... Gosh, can't get enough.


If someone opts-in, it's not because they want to, it's because they don't know they did. It would give your company a bad reputation because people associate it with spam.

 

[TaoPhoenix]

Slippery paths of BulkEmail

I think "Opt-Out/Opt-In" and (semi) "Valid Sent From Name" were a couple of the provisions from the US CAN-SPAM act which kinda meant well but didn't exactly stop the problem.

You get credit for testing the mood of the times and generally being a nice guy. But even in your quotes above are the clues to trouble.

1. DavidsAwesome got part 1. "You didn't know". For varying values of legal arguments on which clicks count as a legal Opt-In, someone may actually have opted in, but generally been either confused or Knew&Forgot. Except the owner of a list "doesn't forget" so the mail goes forever. Then it becomes a pain to OptOut.

2. "What did you opt in for?" At least your co-vendor warned you that they rent their list. If I opt-in to Conscript because he's the second greatest thing since sliced bread (having missed the first slot for not being Swede-Tastic), that doesn't mean that I opted in to something random like DLG FUNFUNFUN who happened to drop some cash. Your email travels farther and farther over to the dark side.

3. Outright fraud. Some guys/companies just fake it entirely. Whatcha gonna do, spend $500 in value-hours of yours or someone else's time to track them down hardcore, give them a cheese sandwich with too much tobasco sauce and a warning to contact every subsidiary they ever sold you to and stop mailing you? Please.

It's a tough issue. If I had to work out a compromise, I wonder if something like a single email with "directions to get updates on demand" has any use. The age of Seller-Push is almost over. It's moving toward Buyer-Pull. If I had a weblink perhaps stored on my site utilities page to "click to receive the latest news" on my time schedule, I would. I'd do that for anyone. This isn't the 1950's anymore either. Word of anything circulates at mach 1, and people are now used to dealing with data, so people don't "forget" as fast these days.

 

[krakjoe]

I wouldn't think it would give you the three sales you're looking for. In my lifetime, I have probably recieved 1 gagillion emails, out of those 1 gagillion I have purchased the goods offered in 0.

Better to get your idea some presence with contextual advertising and build your own list, like someone said most people join these lists at the end of a three page form by not unchecking the "are we allowed to sell your email address" box.

When was the last time you opened your inbox and thought what can I buy today ...

 

[Conscript]

I agree with most of what you guys are saying. But I would imagine if 1,000,000 e-mails go out, what is the statistical probability at least a few would result in sales?

I mean if only 10% (which is the company guarantee) are opened, that's 100,000 people who read/scan the e-mail. If only 1% click through to visit my website and 1% of those people buy, that's 10 sales ($870 revenue). The 1,000,000 opt-in list costs $499 to send out to.

Even if only half a percent click through, I still about break even.

Mathematically I think it makes sense.

I can see how the reputation can be harmed if its interpreted as spam. But then again I am not talking about sending out adult "performance" enhancement ads and its not like I am sending them out to random people.

The list would be of business owners and decision makers and I have a product that would have great appeal to this group.

Perhaps relevancy softens the blow?

It's probably worth mentioning that contextual ads on websites, banner ads, and most of these types of ads perform horribly. Even Google Ads cost a fortune for the responses they deliver ($499 on Google would buy me maybe 500 clicks maximum for the keywords I'd have to target and most of those would probably be window shoppers anyway, maybe I'd get a sale or two but it would definitely be a struggle to just break even).

 

[DavidsAwesome]

Try it if you're willing to risk it. I'm not about to buy anything from a business so desperate for attention that they resort to spam. Even if I was looking to purchase hosting, if I got a spam email I wouldn't go with that company, simply because they have invasive marketing techniques.

...If the religious people come knocking at your door early in the morning and wake you up, are you going to actually read their bible and convert? I know I wouldn't. I'd be pissed that they bugged me, and I'd realize that they aren't worth my time.


Heres an example. I got a call the other day from a credit card company offering me a guaranteed-acceptance card. I asked how they got my information, they said it was from another credit card company that had denied my application. I hung up the phone.

Another example... You're an FWS member, and you probably have the "receive emails from administrators" box checked. Technically, you're opted-in for any emails that Peo wants to send you. What if there were hosting industry offers coming to your inbox? Wouldn't that annoy you after a bit?


And if all you're worried about is ROI... yeah, it's possible you'll get the money back, maybe even a profit, but at what cost to your businesses reputation? At what cost to yourself? I don't like to do things that are immoral, and sending out spam in my mind is immoral.

 

[Conscript]

Well the difference between Spam and an opt-in list is that people signed up for the offers.

If I started receiving offers from hosts because I accidently left that box checked and I did not want to receive them, I would click the opt out box (knowing it is legitimate because I signed up for the website to begin with).

So I think its unfair to compare opt-in lists (especially double opt-in lists which only add addresses after the person receives a confirmation e-mail and clicks through to CONFIRM they want to be on that list) with spam.

 

[krakjoe]

Can u get any sort of local advertising for the same sort of outlay ??

I can see how mathmatically it makes sense, what I don't see is how this company can guarantee anything at all, and that's what you're basing the maths on ...