Learning Center: Basic Email Marketing Concepts

Below you will find some common words used in describing and explaining email marketing campaigns. This is more than just a standard glossary but also expands on each term and how we apply them to our email marketing campaigns.

Email Marketing Terms and Strategies

CPM - In email marketing, Cost Per Thousand (CPM) is a commonly used term. It can refer to the cost per 1000 names on a rented list, or the cost to send 1000 messages.

Email Open Rates - This number is very hard to forecast and is often varied. An extremely cool or desirable offer that is sent to an established list might see open rates in the range of 40 - 60%. A list that hasn't been mailed to in a while or an offer that is not as interesting would see lower open rates and most likely an increase in unsubscribe activity. Overall, we would expect average open rates to be in the 25 - 35% range.

Goal Conversions or Click Though Rates - This is another hard number to forecast or estimate. Our experience has shown a range of 1 - 2% to be "good" click through expectations. Obviously the design of the email and the call to action on the link can have a large impact on those numbers.

Opt-in or Double Opt - in email marketing is generally used to keep a list updated on news, promotions and product developments. The site visitor or customer opts-in or asks to be sent this type of email. However, as great a list as this is we have found that most opt-in lists still produce low results for new sales. Often a 10% open rate is "good", and you might expect a .02% buy rate (for every 10,000 messages sent, 100 will get opened and maybe 1 or 2 will buy). It is for that reason that the opt-in list is best used to build trust with existing customers, for continued branding efforts, to encourage add on purchases, or "tell a friend" types of activity.

Bulk Email - This method will allow you to reach the largest number of potential customers. Unfortunately, most bulk e-mail mailers also constantly SPAM their list with junk mail, which will decrease the number of mail getting to the inbox, open rates, etc. However, since most of these list members will have never heard of your product, the buy rates will increase. There are other reasons to send email other than just to get a sale. A well planned, targeted emarketing campaign will reach the right customers (target audience) at a lower cost than traditional marketing methods. Email can also provide traceable, measurable results that can be used to refine the overall marketing plan. It can also collect detailed information about customer responses to the advertising campaign by comparing varied methods of promotion and advertising like identifying how different catch phrases, email ad campaigns, and copy attracts visitors to the website.

Of course there are other factors to email strategy besides writing copy, finding a list, and setting up an email campaign. Success - or failure - can be the difference between emailing a list at 5pm on a Friday night or at 9pm. If you've ever sold something on eBay you might have used that same strategy. The number of spam emails in the recipient's inbox can also have an effect on the success rate.

Rental list (or Acquisition list) and cost - This type of list is a targeted group of recipients who have opted-in to receive information about certain subjects. Using permission-based rental lists, marketers can send email messages to audiences targeted by interest category, profession, demographic information and more. Renting a list can really vary in cost. Some tired and heavily mailed lists are as low as $260 for 1,000,000 names, while others are $600 for 500,000. For targeted and well maintained email lists, the typical order size is 3,000-5,000 names. The average cost for consumer email lists is a CPM of $250-$350 while the CPM for a business list is $300-500. In most cases, mailing list brokers enforce a minimum charge of $500, regardless of the size of the list. An "expired" list may be cheap to buy, but will cost more in the long run with poor response rates.

Basic Email Marketing Concepts

The primary expense is in the design of your mailing. Plan on spending about $500 to $2,000 for an e-mail campaign, depending on what other services are needed - email management, tracking, and fulfillment - in addition to the list.

619.573.6713

Give us a call for more informaition or to get a Free Quote.

Our Services

Client Login

Login:

Password: