Commentary

Ads In E-Mails

Ads In E-Mails

An article by John Frook, carried in BtoBOnline, describes the benefit (or dangers) of using e-mail newsletters as an advertising vehicle in spite of the comfort level of b-to-b marketers in using direct e-mail campaigns. Frook points out that by placing an ad in an e-mail newsletter, marketers are relying on a third-party list that may or may not be as up-to-date or as demographically sound as the publisher claims, and the brand message may get mixed in with editorial content.

According to Forrester Research, 32% of BtoB online marketing expenditures will be e-mail newsletters by 2005, Forrester said. Marketing in e-mail newsletters can be a powerful piece of the interactive budget because it is immediate, said Scott Altman, director-marketing for MindArrow Systems. He said that tests are always conducted with a sample group of 500 and his company has had a 4% to 10% response rate.

Inceptor Inc., a Maynard, Mass.-based online marketing company, claims a conversion rate averaging 23%, with costs as low as 2 cents per reader up to 38 cents per reader, and sometimes the lower-priced newsletters outperforming the higher-priced ones.

Laura Tanner, VP-marketing for communications, Seagull Software Systems said for the article that "Print advertising does have a shelf life…" yet she claims an average 10% to 15% response rate to an e-mail marketing campaign placed in front of the right target audience.

Read the entire article here.

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