Permission MarketingDirect Marketing


One of the most cost-effective ways to promote and market your web store is through direct email. There simply isn't an easier, cheaper, more direct way to talk to someone online. There are other benefits to creating and managing a proprietary mailing list, such as maintaining relationships with current customers, increasing repeat customers to your storefront, and promoting your brand in the marketplace. And keeping your business and the products or services it sells in front of your customers and prospects is one of the best ways to reach your target audience to achieve your goals.

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Download the free informative article titled "Reach Out & Touch Someone6 Ways to Grow Your House List for Fun & Profit" at www.MyEcommerceSuccess.com.


Though it sounds easy, email marketing does take work to do right. You must start with a clean email list of people who have confirmed their willingness to receive your email offer (have opted-in), then target and personalize that offer for the best response. And that's the most important part of email marketingsend only to those who have asked to receive your offers.

Caution: What's Opt-in Email?

Opt-in email is the direct opposite of spam. People who opt-in to an email list have said in advance that they are willing to receive unsolicited email from companies on the Net that meet the list criteria. For example, someone who would like to be kept informed of newly released software might opt-in to an email list that announces new software products. Under no circumstances should you use bulk lists, often sold on CD-ROMs. They typically contain names of people who have not agreed to receive unsolicited email. Be aware that if your ISP receives complaints about your company's emailing practices, it could shut down your account.


The opposite of responsible, or opt-in, email marketing is spam. And spam is the bane of any good email marketing program. Though sales are made from spamming email addresses, your online business reputation can be harmed in the process.

So, before you plan your grandiose email marketing scheme, be aware that opt-in email marketing is really permission marketing. It's a good idea to find out how to get that permission and the ways to get the best results.

Just what is meant by permission marketing? Permission marketing means getting consumers' permission to email them an offer before it shows up in the email box.

It works like this. When a consumer visits a permission marketingenabled eBusiness, registers at it, or buys something from it, the consumer is asked, "Would you like to receive information from us periodically about new sales or receive our newsletter?" The consumer then responds with either a yes or no by clicking a box. If the answer is yes, then the consumer has given permission. If it's no, he hasn't.

An important point to remember is how you construct your email offer.

First of all, sell benefits, not features of your product or service. For example, suppose you're selling diet food. Instead of stating "Our food contains low fat or low calories," say in your offer, "Lose 10 pounds in 30 days!" Selling benefits rather than features gives your recipients something they can identify with. Also, make your offer sound exclusive and for a limited time. This makes the recipient feel special and motivated to take action immediately.

Getting permission is extremely important for your email marketing strategy and the reputation of your eBusiness. So plan to do it right. One good way is to use the services of Yahoo! store.

Creating and Using Permission-Based Mailing Lists

There are several ways to build a permission email list:

  • Offer a reason for a visitor to give you her email address, such as a free subscription to your newsletter, a free download of a media or text file, or free entry to a contest or sweepstakes.

  • If you have a business in the real world, ask customers for their email addresses.

  • Include your email subscription information on all of your offline materials, including print advertising and direct mail.

You can even use your Yahoo! store to collect email addresses at the point of purchase. When customers make purchases at your Yahoo! store, they have the option to enter an email address where they'll receive correspondence related to their orders and special offers from your company. Yahoo! Merchant Solutions automatically maintains this as a secure emailing list for your store, which you can later use to send out direct email marketing programs or your own email newsletter.

Free Info

Download the free informative article entitled "Reach out and Touch Someone: 6 Ways to Grow Your House List" at www.MyEcommerceSuccess.com.


If you would like to increase your direct marketing campaign beyond the emails you collect from each order, Yahoo! offers two fee-based programs, Campaigner by GOT and infoUSA.

GOT Campaigner

Campaigner can help you grow your customer base, increase sales, create repeat customers, and measure the ROI (return on investment) of each direct emailing campaign (see Figure 13.4). The cost through Yahoo! is as little as $25 a month and you can grow your permission-based contact list as easily as adding a Subscribe Now button on any page of your online storefront.

Figure 13.4. GOT Campaigner's easy-to-use wizards will guide you step-by-step through the process of creating an email campaign.


Though GOT does not provide any email lists, its Campaigner can help grow your business using web-based email marketing tools. You can upload your own list or enter one online; it manages bounce backs and unsubscribes automatically, and stores lists of any size in a secure account.

Campaigner's web-based templates let you insert a variety of graphics into an email message, such as logos and pictures in color. No technical knowledge is required. And you can schedule and send your direct emails out whenever you like. With Campaigner, you can publish electronic newsletters, run promotions, send out announcements, distribute online catalogs, and manage a permission-based prospect and customer list.

InfoUSA Prospecting Lists

Renting opt-in lists is a great way to promote your business and build a customer base. To provide business and consumer mailing lists and sales leads to Yahoo! store owners, Yahoo! has partnered with infoUSA (see Figure 13.5). For as little as 10 cents per name, you can rent a mailing list from infoUSA.

Figure 13.5. infoUSA has hundreds of email lists to choose from. You can search through their lists to find your targeted market.


How can this help market your businesses? Acquiring new customers is a never-ending job for a business. No matter what you sell, you need a constant flow of new customers to keep your business growing. You can use the tools provided by infoUSA to analyze who your customers are and use this information to find new prospects just like them. infoUSA will provide you with qualified leads any way you want themvia email or download, or delivered on disk, labels, or sales leads cards.




Launching Your Yahoo! Business
Launching Your Yahoo! Business
ISBN: 0789735334
EAN: 2147483647
Year: N/A
Pages: 149

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