• Increasing the effectiveness of their multi-channel efforts. • Growing their email list rental files • Early notice of subscription renewals • Third-party survey invitations • Notifying customers of special content available on their website, which enhances their ability to up-sell an existing customer. Over the last year, a new strategy has proven
to be very successful – Acquiring the email address While interviewing some clients for this article, I learned some interesting facts. It seems that many newspaper publishers face a complex challenge. They have done a tremendous job of building content laden websites. Because of this, overall readership (online & print) is increasing, however, in spite of that they still see total print circulation and print advertising revenues on the decline. On the positive side, revenues from the online components have grown because of increased online activity! However, that growth hasn't typically been enough to offset the lower revenues on the print side of the business – resulting in an overall decline in revenue. This leaves many publishers faced with the biggest challenge of retaining and winning back print subscribers. Including email as a multi-channel marketing
strategy has proven to reduce the cost-per-order (CPO) for Another client learned that the response rates for the win-back email campaign were high during the first few broadcasts. They noticed dramatic reductions in the CPO, but found that after 6 months, the CPO from campaigns to the remaining non-responders contacted via email began to significantly increase! They found that the key to continued success with online reacquisition efforts was to continuously acquire the email addresses for the most recently expired subscribers. By constantly running their expired subscribers through monthly or quarterly email append programs, the average CPO can be stabilized and will result in substantial cost savings over time. Another interesting comment from a client is that early results are indicating that the online responders are more valuable than expired customers that renew from an outbound telemarketing call. Analysis is showing that customers who renew from a telemarketing call are quicker to cancel their subscription than those who respond to an email renewal offer. One belief is that the telemarketing renewal is more of an impulse buy, where an online renewal is a more deliberate action... they have to open the email, click-through, and then complete the subscription information online vs. just saying "OK, sign me up" on the telephone. So not only is the cost to communicate lower, but the responders are worth more in the long run. Initial email append testing with many publishers often starts by utilizing the 3-6 month expired subscribers. I've even seen success with clients that have used their 24-48 month expired subscribers. While you can expect lower response rates for expired customers whose last renewal date has long since passed, our clients have seen better CPO figures on this audience compared to the direct mail/telemarketing customers! As part of the process of an email append, many providers include the broadcast of an initial welcome message to introduce email communications to these former subscribers. We've learned that including a soft renewal offer (one that doesn't change the overall 'welcome-feel' to the email) helps the consumer see the value of allowing the company to contact them via email. It also has the added benefit of helping to drive immediate results for the publisher. As you work with a reputable provider of email
append services, testing will prove that reaching out
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