Business-to-Business Internet Marketing, Fourth Edition - Lifecycle ...

Generating and Qualifying Leads with E-mail 107
source, there may be selection criteria available, so you may be able to
target a specific audience.
E-mail list rental costs vary, and in a softer economy, they can be
even negotiable. Prices are equivalent to and sometimes higher than
direct mail lists. Permission-based b-to-b lists averaged a $268 CPM
(cost per thousand records), according to the 2001 List Price Index.
The index reported that some b-to-b lists reached over $400 CPM at
the high end. There may be a minimum of 3,000 to 5,000 names per list
order. There is an additional cost per thousand for e-mail delivery with
most e-mail lists, so be sure to ask about it. The reply-to address is
generally the service provider’s, and responses are handled for an additional
fee, typically $50 per thousand names. Your e-mail promotional
copy could encourage a reply-to response, or you could mention a Web
link as a response path.
You might be able to negotiate something called a cost per action
(CPA) media purchase as a counter to the CPM purchase. The concept
of CPA is based on your own experience as a marketer and the response
rate you actually get with e-mail marketing. If the owner of the e-mail
list is highly confident of its quality, CPA could be attractive because it
could mean more revenue. You, as the marketer, pay on the basis of
response, so it is more like a revenue-sharing approach than a straight
list rental. This is a relatively new idea, but it could potentially be a winwin
for list owner and marketer alike.
Smart list buying can also make a difference in the quality of the
names you rent. For example, many opt-in lists are built by using an
incentive to encourage the prospect to agree to receive e-mail. Ask a list
vendor if this is true of the list you want to rent, and see if you can
segregate or eliminate these records. Why? Because they may be weaker
prospects, given the manner in which they were acquired. Also ask how
often the list is used, whether or not your competitors are using it, and
whether the list owner can identify the top responders on the list.
Although e-mail list segmentation is not as common as with direct
mail lists, you should inquire about it. Segmentation basically means a
list has been divided up by certain key criteria, such as an individual’s job
title, or a company’s size or industry type. This kind of information is
available on b-to-b direct mail lists, especially those that have been built
using the qualification cards from controlled circulation publications. Such
criteria then become extremely valuable in targeting direct mailings to
the right types of audiences. The issue with e-mail lists is that many have
been built simply by asking for e-mail addresses and nothing else. As a