The 2004 Can-Spam Act (sidebar, this page), which made all but opt-out e-mail marketing illegal, has discouraged many blatant spam-generating violators. Industry-supported authentication of incoming e-mail messages is expected to drive another nail into spammers’ coffins in the year to come.
It may be, as Cambridge, MA-based Forrester Research has found, that 60 percent of U.S. consumers have signed up for the do-not-call registry and 33 percent have installed Web pop-up blockers. However, these same researchers note, permission-based e-mail marketing is not annoying consumers, if stability of click-though rates over the past two years is any indication.
The Forrester study also found that consumers place more trust in Web sites and e-mails they sign up for than they do in newspaper, magazine, radio or TV advertising.
Water improvement dealers are certainly in a position to e-market to existing customers and to prospects they generate from mailings, home shows and other means.
Water Technology’s 2005 POU/POE Benchmarking Survey Report revealed the 54.2 percent of dealers were using the Internet for advertising, up from 34.2 percent in the previous year’s survey. In the 2005 survey, 59.4 percent had a home page on the Web.
The new 5.4 percent postage rate hike will likely accelerate the trend toward increased used of e-mail, according to a recent survey by Direct magazine. That survey showed a decline of direct mail directed toward customers, to 76 percent in 2005 from 82 percent in 2004.
At the same time, the use of direct mail to reach prospects fell to 45 percent in 2005 from 49 percent in the prior year, Direct found. For 2006, more than 64 percent of those surveyed predicted an increase in e-mail directed toward customers and prospects.
E-mail marketing has proven it can reach a broad audience at low cost, while maintaining a personal touch. But how can you prevent the misperception that your e-mail efforts are just “spam”?
Answer: Make sure your e-mails are personalized, targeted and relevant to recipients’ interests. And always include a clear “opt-out” mechanism in every transmission.
Identify, identify, identify
Up-front identification of the sending company and the inclusion of an individual’s name in the closing portion of the message help reduce doubt about the validity of the message.
Such personalization, plus a toll-free telephone number, a return e-mail address and perhaps a Web address, along with an easy “opt out” mechanism, have all helped to build consumer confidence and acceptance.
More e-mail marketers today implant active links to their websites right into the e-mail message, permitting instant transport to the site for full details.
Typical e-mail messages have been streamlined. Short messages with clear subject lines are clearly winners. See the sidebar on page 26 for more tips on preparing e-mail messages.
Know your audience
Know your audience before e-mailing to them. Start with your current customer list or database. These are people with whom you have already done business.
Don’t hesitate to systematically solicit the e-mail addresses of your customers and prospects. Today such solicitation is almost as common as requesting a telephone number. (After all, how many times each week are you asked for and give out your own e-mail address?)
Your e-mail messages should reflect your knowledge about customers’ specific needs, e.g., filter changes, softener valve inspections, or salt or bottled water delivery services.
You might also target them for cross-sell opportunities such as RO drinking water systems for water softener customers.
After existing-customer databases, the next-best e-mail list is one you develop from your home fair promotions and other events where you ask people to register for sweepstakes drawings or appointments. Next to the space for a phone number on your pre-printed form, add some space for an e-mail address:
Phone ___________________________
E-mail ___________________________
Build a proprietary list
The Can-Spam Act cast a shadow on the credibility of purchased e-mail address lists. Although they promise to deliver only people who have chosen to “opt in,” purchased e-mail lists are suspect and are best avoided.
A much safer route is to build your own proprietary list.
Don’t be tempted to share your proprietary list — it’s important to protect your prospects’ and customers’ privacy. Don’t risk alienating them with potentially unwanted e-mail.
Print take-one pads for home show promotional drawings that solicit e-mail addresses as well as phone numbers. Set up a master database that includes e-mail addresses as part of your information bank.
Begin to build an information profile of every customer in your database for future e-mail campaigns.
Do you need a Web site?
To do e-mail marketing, all you really need is an e-mail address. But the advantages of having your own Web site are enhanced by e-mailings that link consumers to your Web site at the click of a mouse.
Your Web site has plenty of space to explain offers and product/service benefits. A Web site also adds to your credibility as an electronic marketer. It opens the door to the growing local-search marketing world.
While list-sharing is ill-advised, you can trade Web links with compatible home-improvement providers and gain new customers from their bases.
Growing importance
New e-mail marketing rules and best practices have driven out the specter of spam in the last year. More than ever, legitimate e-mail marketing will become a major direct marketing component for aggressive water improvement dealers, along with direct mail and search-engine marketing.
Dealers will find e-mail a marketing tool of growing importance, for generating new customers and hanging on to old ones.
David H. Martin is president of Lenzi Martin Marketing, Oak Park, IL, a firm specializing in water improvement and environmental marketing that integrates old and new media. He can be reached at (708) 848-8404 or by e-mail at dmartin@lenzimartin.com.
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