What Do I Need To Know About Email Marketing?

When you are sending emails to prospects, it is not like purchasing the traditional list. Due to government CAN SPAM regulations, coupled with maintaining the integrity of our lists, we do not provide the actual email records, instead - we deploy the desired number of records for you and will furnish reporting 3-5 business days after each. There are companies out there that will give you thousands of email addresses for very little money, BE CAREFUL – each infringement will cost you $16,000 per occurrence.

What Can I Expect?

Industry averages across the board are 8-12% opens and 1-3% click-thrus. All statistics rely heavily on a strong subject line, a great value, the creative; time is of the essence (an expiration date) and answering the question that email recipients inundated with 100's of emails daily all ask: "What's in it for me?" You really only have seconds to grab their attention and have them act upon your offer. Nothing is guaranteed, not even the yellow pages, but if we can adhere to best practices (see attached) your chances of a successful campaign will grow with every deployment.

Why Email Marketing?

It’s a rapid delivery system.

  • It drives traffic to your website!
  • It builds your brand!
  • It’s targeted to reach only your best possible prospects.
  • You can track it!

Why Do Other Companies Do Email Marketing?

In this digital, instant gratification age, this is a quick way to communicate with both new prospects and your existing database. Both are equally as important. This is a way to communicate with large amounts of people, multiple times without delay and professional marketing advice.

How Is The Data Sourced?

All of our consumer data is gathered through individuals who have double opted-in to receive information about third party offers. We own approximately 1500 websites ranging from informational to topic specific websites. We also partner with very well-known companies. Once someone has opted in, we then send them a series of surveys. Based on their responses, the process continues gathering all the data points we offer. The more information they provide, the more relevant offers they will receive. At any given time, they can opt out or restrict the offers delivered to them.

Our business data comes directly from the consumer file. Some of the surveys ask the participant where they work and their job function. Once we gather the business address we then can attach basic business data such as sales volume, employee size and SIC classifications through a partnership we have with a major business data provider.

We limit the volume of offers to our members. No one should receive any more than three offers in a given 7-day period.

Our database is continually updated with individuals opting in, opting out, providing more data information through surveys and people requesting fewer offers. Our average lifespan of a member is four years.

What Are The Penalties For Violating The Can-Spam Act?

Each separate email in violation of the law is subject to penalties of up to $16,000, and more than one person may be held responsible for violations. For example, both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that originated the message may be legally responsible. Email that makes misleading claims about products or services also may be subject to laws outlawing deceptive advertising, like Section 5 of the FTC Act. The CAN-SPAM Act has certain aggravated violations that may give rise to additional fines. The law provides for criminal penalties – including imprisonment – for:

  • Accessing someone else’s computer to send spam without permission
  • Using false information to register for multiple email accounts or domain names
  • Relaying or retransmitting multiple spam messages through a computer to mislead others about the origin of the message
  • Harvesting email addresses or generating them through a dictionary attack (the practice of sending an email to addresses made up of random letters and numbers in the hope of reaching valid ones)
  • Taking advantage of open relays or open proxies without permission

What are opt[ed]-in and confirmed opt[ed]-in emails?

Opt[ed]-in (sometimes referred to as Confirmed Opt[ed]-in) is a term that refers to the process by which a mailing list compiler verifies that an individual has requested to receive information from the list owner, their affiliates, or partners. Therefore, the email address was voluntarily given and not fraudulently obtained. This process also affords the compiler the ability to guarantee that the email addresses are 100% real and accurate. Plainly said, an opt[ed]-in email list contains email addresses from individuals who have responded to an offer by way of supplying their email information and have granted permission to third-parties to contact them directly.

What is SPAM?

SPAM is any form of unsolicited, bulk email messages. SPAM may also be referred to as Junk mail.

Which type of email list is the best?

There are many types of email lists. Generally speaking, the best email lists are those you compile yourself from existing business connections. If you're not sure how to begin compiling your email list, AmeriList offers a solution to help you deploy emails to these lists.

Can I buy a list of email addresses?

The simple answer to this question is “yes;” however, there are many factors to consider when purchasing an email list. The first thing to consider is the fact that any credible email list owner will not release email addresses directly to you. They will, however, transmit and send communications to the email list on your behalf.

You should be weary of companies who claim they can sell and fully disclose to you a list of 'opt-in' email addresses. This is not to say that these companies do not have accurate email address lists, but be aware that in order to be able to use their lists for legitimate, CAN SPAM compliant email marketing campaigns, you must first ask the email addressee for permission to contact them via email.

Can I purchase Opt[ed]-In Email Deployment services from your company?

Yes! Email deployment is our most popular electronic product! Since AmeriList works directly with industry leading compilers and aggregators, we have a vast database of both business and consumer emails. All of our compilers secure opt[ed]-in data from confirmed opt[ed]-in files. These means everyone in our email database has agreed to receive marketing solicitations from our advertising partners (you)! We will help you segment our database into a targeted list for your campaign, and then we will deploy your email to the list on your behalf. Sending out your emails from our servers allows us to safely and securely email your target audience in compliance with federal laws. Once your email has been transmitted, you will receive reports that show the number of opens, opt-outs, click-throughs, and more. As with any form of advertising, email works well if there is a strategy and a great offer. If you have a strong creative and a great offer, you can expect positive results.

Do I need an unsubscribe or suppression list?

If you want to continue your email marketing efforts, you must keep an unsubscribe list (also called a suppression list). It is not only against the law to email those that have opted-out of your solicitations, but it is imperative from a business prospective that you respect the wishes of your customers and prospects. Your unsubscribe list should be used as a suppression against any future email campaigns. If you do not keep an unsubscribe list up-to-date, you run the risk of being reported as SPAM, which may cause you to lose business as your domain email servers can be adversely affected. Speak to your IT person about “black listing”.

Did you have a question that wasn't addressed on this page? Call us at 800.457.2899 or fill out the form on our Contact page and one of our highly-trained direct marketing specialists will assist you as soon as possible.

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