“Email is dead!” is the phrase that seems to be dominating American direct marketing discussions at the moment, and it has arisen from the decline in general email response rates.

But like all snappy headlines it hides the real detail.

The problem with email is that many B2C lists have been so heavily over emailed that the readership have just turned off.  By chance a couple of weeks ago I did respond to an on-line advert using an email address that normally I only use when working on my experimental blogs.

The product turned out to be rubbish so I didn’t buy, but within a day I was getting emails thanking me for signing up for stuff I had never heard of and didn’t want – and they all must have come from that one enquiry because of the email address they used.

In short, the firm whose advert I saw was making its money mostly by selling on an email list of enquirers, not from the product on sale.

Although I have unsubscribed from each new offer, I am still getting three or four new ones a day from other firms.  The original firm must be doing quite well out of my email address.

My point here is that my experience in getting all these emails is very poor.  Even if I had been interested in the first product I would have been thoroughly cheesed off to get the rest through.  If others share my views, response rates will be going down and down – because it is just the same few people being hit over and over again.

And beyond everything, the targeting is really naff.  I had a slight interest in the first product, but that is a poor indicator of my interest elsewhere.   So the decline in B2C email sales is not surprising.

In B2B the problem is as bad, although the origins are different.  The lists that were brought out at the start went to one address in the company (sales@, admin@).  But in even the meanest firm, most staff have their own email address, and to make a sale or to get a conversation going you need to get to the right person.

This is the problem of B2B email when compared with direct mail – in direct mail even without research, you can buy a list of abattoirs or funeral directors and write to “The Finance Director” and know many of your letters will get through.  In email you can’t – if you don’t have the full address of the person you want you have to write to the general address.  And the simple fact is that for every 1 administrator in a company who will pass on an email, there are 20 who will pass on a letter, even though it is obviously a promotion.

There are two ways around the problem.

a) With email you need to start by collecting the email addresses of the people you want within companies.  It sounds tough but it is not as hard as you might expect – and if you want to know more about it, give me a ring on 01536 399 013.

b) With direct mail, you can simply write the title of the person you want to reach on the top line of the letter.  Not perfect, but it works.  Your delivery rate will be 20 times higher than for emails sent to a general company address (admin@, info@ etc).

For direct mail, at the moment there is one final bonus.  That is that the level of direct mail in the UK is currently running at just a fraction of what it was five years ago, both in B2B and B2C.   So your response rates are more than likely to be way over what you used to get.

As I say, if you want to know more, give me a call.  01536 399 013.

Tony Attwood

Hamilton House Mailings Ltd reg number 2444392 VAT 354907535GB.  Phone 01536 399 000.