Email Marketing- Harder Than Most Think

October 2001
John Piccirillo

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Lately, the talk about email marketing has increased in intensity. We've been implementing, advising and writing about email marketing for nearly 3 years and have learned a number of valuable lessons.

Email marketing is about consumer control, a dynamic dialog, mass customized content, and a cost effective way to increase the share of wallet with existing customers.

Unfortunately, in their rush to hit the 'Send' button, many are still making critical mistakes. These mistakes are making email marketing harder, more expensive, and eroding the benefits email marketing can provide.

Process, Process, Process

How are you going to acquire opt in addresses, how often are you going to mail, what are you going to say, how are you going to maintain relevancy, how's it going to work with your other channels, and how are you going to measure success? The software companies aren't going to help with this part and it is by far the most important.

The Mediathink process is over 20 steps in length and requires a team of 3 to 4 people to execute because of the number of disciplines needed to guarantee success. It's unrealistic to think that the person who guarantees the integrity of your data can also outline a clear strategy, deliver killer creative, create complex queries to mass customize the mailing, and analyze campaign results and make recommendations moving forward. It takes a (small) village to profit with email.

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