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EMAIL VS SEARCH --
WHICH WORKS BEST TO
GET NEW CUSTOMERS?
SUMMARY: DMNews raises some interesting questions about whether Email or Search is best for getting new customers. Read more about it in this article...
DMNews is a good
source of information about Direct Marketing. They regularly
run a couple of special issues, one on Search Marketing, the other
covering Email Marketing.
If you haven't seen these issues, one conclusion may surprise you.
I understand them to say:
If you're trying to reach new customers online, use SEARCH
MARKETING. Don't try to use Email to get new
customers. It won't work.
Although list brokers might argue, you can't buy a targeted list of
email addresses the same way you can buy a list of street addresses
for Direct Mail. Or I should say, you can BUY it but it
WON'T WORK -- not like Direct Mail.
Email is NOT street mail...
- There are too many restrictions and too many constraints on what
you can send to whom.
- And people keep switching email addresses, or using dummy
addresses to prevent junk mail
- And you don't have enough room in the
recommended-35-character-limit subject line to get a flea's
attention, much less attract the interest of someone who doesn't
know or care about you
- And there's too little information about the recipients for you
to effectively reach a group you're trying to target.
With street mail, it's easy to target by demographics and even
psychographics. For example -- You can accurately mail to all the
people with incomes over a certain level and who have 2.5 kids and
dogs with one brown eye who've purchased from department stores
before. (The people have bought at stores, not the dogs...)
Online? Forget about it.
Gary Bencivenga underscores the point in a recent BencivengaBullets issue. He goes even further. He says the best way to sell
online could well be to have a different site for every product
with a different landing page for every search term. Throwing
yourself in front of a prospect when they're looking is your only
hope of catching a new customer.
Is Email Good for Anything Anymore?
Email does still have many strengths. As it's always been, it's
good for maintaining a relationship with a past customer.
And... You can use email to sell additional items -- if the relationship is solid.
But even then, it's all too easy for your customer to jump from
your email to a search engine. There they look up all the
competitive products in the area where your email just raised their
awareness.
That means: if you're going to use email to sell those additional
products, use every persuasive tool you have in that email.
Especially your USP - what's unique about you that serves as a
competitive advantage. Don't let 'em think they can get what you're
selling anywhere else on the planet!
Otherwise - like a lot of things web marketers do - your email
could turn out to just be advertising for your competition.
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