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Company News
Mailers Differ
on E-mail Appending
PRIMEDIA Business Magazines
by Beth Negus Viveiros | June 1, 2004
Is e-mail appending a great way to build your list, or is it a
disaster waiting to happen?
It depends on who you ask.
Phyliss Mosca, vice president of marketing for plus-size women's
apparel cataloger Ulla Popken USA, said her company used
appending as a way to build its e-mail file. Web sales account
for 40% of the catalog's business.
The initial results were disappointing, but they slowly
improved, Mosca said during a session at the recent American
Catalog Conference in Chicago. After about six months, the
appending initiative paid for itself in net sales.
Jere Doyle, president/CEO of e-mail firm Prospective Direct,
said he doesn't like e-mail appending because you can't assume
you have the permission to e-mail someone just because they've
purchased through another channel. Recipients could perceive the
communication as spam and report it to their ISP, leading to all
future e-mails from your company getting blocked on their
servers.
Mosca noted that the first e-mail to each appended address was
always an immediate chance to opt out. Appending, she said, is a
technique that "takes time, but it works."
Appending is a "gray area," said Jane
Kaiser, president of Eclipse Direct Marketing. "It
depends on your append source. If you do it properly, it can
work, but its tough."
Meanwhile, conference speakers stressed that the timing of
e-mail is important.
Plow & Hearth found success with an all-text e-mail last
holiday season. The offer was for a two-day sale on the
company's Web site, timed exactly to a severe winter storm that
would blanket the East Coast with snow. The message invited
people to take advantage of the offer if they were stuck inside
- and if they weren't stuck inside, take advantage of it anyway
and be thankful they didn't have to shovel.
Pete Rice, senior vice president of marketing for Plow &
Hearth, said the e-mail was extremely successful because it had
immediacy and was relevant, generating well over 40 cents per
e-mail.
E-mails with a solid offer tend to work better for Plow &
Hearth than softer, brand-oriented messages, said Rice at the
conference. The company sends e-mail campaigns almost weekly,
and coordinates offers across multiple channels.
COPYRIGHT 2004 PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Inc. All
rights reserved.
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