 Use Direct Mail to Grow Your Email List
Each year, companies spend billions of dollars sending out direct mail, according to the Direct Marketing Association. Yet many of them fail to take full advantage of their direct marketing efforts by collecting email addresses from their contacts. It's as simple as making sure you give people an option of providing an email address on every direct mail piece you send. "You want to make sure that if you have a reply device coming back, that one of the pieces of information you ask for is an email address," says Patty Taylor, president of First Class Direct, an award-winning Colorado firm that offers a variety of direct marketing services. "It's the simplest thing to do, and it's often overlooked." You may already be sending statements, communications, brochures and catalogs through direct mail. You can use all these methods to collect an email address, and once you have the address you gain a whole new and more efficient way to communicate with those people. A Popular Complement to Direct Mail
Taylor says more businesses are becoming interested in growing an email list from their direct mail marketing. Increasingly, customers at First Class Direct are wanting to beef up their email database so they can send out newsletters, market new items or promote upgrades to existing products.Taylor estimates that about 20 to 25 percent of the company's 380 active clients are using email marketing as communication channel. Email marketing is a fast, inexpensive and effective way to promote new products, services, specials offers and promotions. It's also an ideal way to proactively update your customers. You can provide timely reminders about warranty extensions, product updates and tips that can result in increased profits for your company. But rather than conflict with direct mail, email marketing can be an ideal complement to off-line promotions. And using both tools lets you cater to the variety of styles and preferences people have for communicating. "Any time you can approach people in different ways with the same objective, you will increase the value of both media devices, and you're going to get a better response," Taylor says. Benefits of Building an Email List From Your Direct Mail
Not only is it free and easy to use direct mail to grow an email list, but it's also very effective. Asking for a contact's email address through a direct marketing piece is perceived very differently, Taylor explains. And it's much easier to leverage a lead or sale out of that than a cold list. "You know you're communicating with someone who's given permission," she adds. "And the chances you'll get a positive response are much better." Sixty percent of the potential success of your direct marketing efforts has to do with your list,Taylorsays. If you're mailing to people who are not interested in your offer, you simply won't do very well. And it works the same with email. Email addresses that you generate from your direct mail efforts are yours to use as you wish. Unlike with a direct mail where you purchase one-time use of a list, you can contact prospects over and over again — at no cost. And this can save you up to 25 cents per email, based on the costs of the typical high-quality, double-opt in lists, according to Taylor. Other Email List Building Strategies
First Class Direct offers a number of strategies to help clients capitalize on their traditional marketing pieces. Perhaps the most innovative is Direct2You™. With this program, the company sends targeted consumers a voice mail notification that a pre-recorded message is waiting for them. The person also receives a 1-800 number to call, along with a free incentive. The message is generally three minutes long. "If they listen to the message and answer the survey questions, they will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a prize (such as year's supply of Starbucks coffee)," Taylor explains. "We ask them to leave their email address because they will be notified by email if they win." About 15 percent of everyone targeted dials in and listens to the recorded information, Taylor says. And nearly 30 percent of the people who respond will leave their email address. Double postcards are another effective technique for collecting email addresses. Part postcard and reply device, this tool cost less than 40 cents to produce and send. To maximize your response rates, Taylor recommends offering everyone a freebie, holding a drawing to collect email addresses and paying the 23-cent return postage on the reply card. In addition to Direct2You™ and double postcards, First Class Direct also offers a number of other eMarketing services, including broadcast email and broadcast fax. The company's direct marketing solutions include: preparation, mailing, addressing, postage application, postal automation design, mailing list and list maintenance. For more information about using direct mail to create your own high quality email list, contact Patty Taylor at First Class Direct at 970-224-5066 or visit www.firstclassdirect.com. | 
