What?s the Value of an E-mail Address?

Although it may not be practical to put a dollar-sign value on an e-mail address there are many financially-savvy reasons to start collecting e-mail addresses if you haven't already begun. If you have, keep reading for a few more tips on e-mail address collection at the end of this article.

Communicating by e-mail has a number of benefits:

1. Quick response ?- You'll be able to measure the effectiveness of your message in about 48 hours, which also means if you are asking for donations to a non-profit organization or selling something online you'll have money in-hand sooner than you would with direct mail.

2. Learn something ?- A content strategy that tracks the recipient's activity within the message will teach you something about their interests.

3. More affordable ?- E-mail allows you to communicate for pennies per message instead of the dollars per message it costs to send direct mail.

4. Better results ?- Response rates to e-mail communications are often better than traditional direct mail.

5. Segment & strategize ?- The technology available to deliver thousands of e-mail messages at a time also enables you to segment groups and target specific groups of people with a message just for them.

6. It's the culture ?- Most professionals who work at a desk every day (and many who don't) are accustomed to using e-mail as a regular form of communication. According to the 2004 Pew Internet & American Life Project, 93% of online Americans use e-mail.

The e-mail addresses you have already collected, just like mailing addresses, are most valuable when they belong to the people who are connected and informed participants in your organization. Many organizations who consider "buying" an e-mail list will soon learn that their money will be wasted on strangers because their best prospects are the ones who are already acquainted with the good work you do. Therefore, it is worth the effort to cultivate your current list and do all you can to acquire their e-mail addresses and their permission to communicate with them by e-mail.

How to collect e-mail addresses:

1. Provide a subscription form on the front page of your website and then give them something to subscribe to: an e-mail newsletter, weekly tips, articles, resources, etc.

2. Remind people to subscribe to your e-mail newsletter in the signature of every person-to-person e-mail message you send out. Have every employee and volunteer do the same.

3. Instruct your staff and volunteers to keep this "top of mind" -- ALWAYS ask for an e-mail address: in person, on incoming and outgoing phone calls, visitors, events, etc.

4. Include a line for "e-mail address" on every return-reply mailing, including event RSVPs.

5. Determine a method for collection ANYTIME you are face-to-face with donors. Don't forget events that have volunteer sign-in sheets, raffle ticket sales or silent auction bids/purchases.

6. Implement a "forward-to-a-friend" strategy and consider offering an incentive for people who send multiple forwards.

7. Avoid being accused of spam ?- be sure to share your privacy policy with an assurance that you will not sell or share their information and, by all means, ask their permission to contact them through e-mail.

Merritt Olsen is a freelance writer and marketing consultant specializing in online and e-mail marketing. Need unique content for your e-mail newsletter that you can't find here? Merritt has the experience and the savvy to write about a variety of topics and can be reached through www.tomorrowsdonor.com.

Copyright ? 2004 Merritt Olsen & The Pursuant Group. Permission is granted to reprint this article in print or on your website so long as the paragraph above is included and contact information is provided to www.pursuantgroup.com.

---

Reach Out and Slap Someone

I got my first email account way too many years ago. I was working for a large Chicago bank in the 1980s, when they introduced an electronic message service... Read More

Guideline to Hiring an Email Marketing Company

A common practice in today's e-commerce environment is to use email marketing campaigns to launch advertising initiatives for products and services offered online. Since 2003, CAN-SPAM laws were enacted to protect consumers from... Read More

Use Autoresponders, to Build Relationships In Your Affiliate Marketing

It's true that "content is king," but equally important to success in online marketing of any kind is contact. Not just the one time "flash in the pan" type either. You need to... Read More

All I Really Needed to Know About List Building I Learned From Stephen King!

I have always been an avid reader of Stephen King's writings over the years, he's one of the few authors that I can safely say I have read everything he has written. Granted,... Read More

Top 3 Reasons Why RSS Is Better Than Email

Everyone is talking about RSS. Blogs, newsites and the like are putting those little orange RSS link thingies all over their sites. What's all the hype about?Okay, email will always have its purpose... Read More

Why Your Email Distribution List is Your Best Source of New Sales

Don't overlook your current customers. After all, they're the ones who give you referrals and potentially come back for future sales.Marty Nemzow, best-selling author and marketing expert, says that not only does gaining... Read More

Email Hosting ? Learn How To Use eMail To Grow Your Business

Email is a wonderful thing. It costs next to nothing and can be sent almost anywhere in the world in a few minutes. When email is used properly, it can help move your... Read More

Get Viral

Hey, using eBooks, eReports and eCourses is a fantastic way to build a list.You can use these things as an "incentive" for joining your affiliate program, as a "thank you" for visiting your... Read More

Three Phases to Email Sensitivity

The neurophysiological dynamics of understanding each email message are very complex. From that complexity, three basic phases float to the top that you will want to become familiar with. I like to label... Read More

Email Marketing Best Practices

Now that we've explored the importance of sending permission-based email, let's take a closer look at some of the techniques and practices that the most experienced email marketers use. These best practices can... Read More

Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated -- Email Marketing

Recently, there has been a lot written about email and its (impending) death. From what you read on forum boards and in newsletters from well-known internet marketers, email marketing is dead. Too many... Read More

Why Are People Cheesed Off With the Internet?

Having been connected to the "net" now for about eight years I can't help but notice the amount of deception that goes on. And it seems to be getting worse. It has got... Read More

22 Simple But Highly Effective Methods To Ban E-mail Opt-In List

Here are 22 simple but highly effective methods to build anemail opt-in list easily?List RentingOne of the quickest ways to build an opt-in list is to rent a list from a company.These lists... Read More

To Get Your Email To Stand Out From All The Junk

We know that email marketing is a cheap method to reach our customers, prospects and subscribers. However, the increasing amount of unsolicited commercial email is clogging up the inboxes of everyone.So how do... Read More

How To Create An Irresistible Subject Line For Your Next E-mail Promotion

As I logged into my e-mail account, I clicked on the Bulk folder to check the latest newsletters. Most of the newsletters and mailing lists that I'm subscribing to, arrive in my Bulk... Read More

Lesson #5: Four Easy Ways to Kill Your Business Using Your Autoresponder... And How to Avoid Them

The importance of building an opt-in list over spamming (a.k.a., using unsolicited commercial email) is something that I can never stress enough. You must avoid it at all costs!That and more can kill... Read More

Just Because You Can...

Just because you can communicate with hundreds of people virtually via email, doesn't mean you should. The phone still exists because it's a valuable tool -- especially for small business owners.Over and over... Read More

Improve Email Deliverability: 15 Tips for Email Marketing Success

Delivering email newsletters and sales messages to opt-in subscribers and customers is getting more exasperating-and more expensive-by the day. Delivery rates for email have gone through the virtual floor. According to MarketingSherpa, one... Read More

Email Marketing Tips for Reaching an International Audience

Targeted, cheap, fast, trackable and with more reporting than traditional offline direct mail techniques, email marketing is used extensively by international marketers.But although why is an easy question to answer, how is one... Read More

Autoresponder Tips

An autoresponder is useful for, well, responding to people who send you inquiries through email. They are actually more than just merely useful - they are an essential tool in any webmaster's toolbox.... Read More

How To Get People To Constantly Open Your e-Mail Promotions Or Your Newsletter

In this article I'm going to talk strictly from a subscriber's point of view. If you're marketing online, what would you do to find out how people think so you can target your... Read More

Lesson #1: Autoresponders 101

What the heck is an autoresponder?An autoresponder is much like a fax-on-demand system, where you call a number - or, in this case, email a specific email address, fill out a form on... Read More

Introduction to Autoresponders

If you've reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep up with answering the mountain of emails that threatens to bury you alive every single day, you're ready to learn about autoresponders.The bad... Read More

New Realities for E-Mail Marketing

Spam e-mail is no longer the mild irritant it once was - it's clogging corporate networks and ISP mail servers and has become a real productivity drain, forcing corporate and consumer e-mail users... Read More

A Little Secret That Produces BIG Results

What if I told you that with each passing day, you are losing dozens of subscribers to your newsletter? As you read this, you are probably losing potential customers, and taking money right... Read More

How to Laser Your Email Messages

If you're in business and use email, you've likely learned to KISS (keep it short & simple). However many people still think that writing an email should be like writing a letter to... Read More

Wise Ways To Build Your Email List

Just about every successful Internet Marketer will tell you that, "The money is in the list". But, how do you go about building a good-sized email list? Here are several wise ways that... Read More

The Power of a Referral Script

The key to the success of e-commerce is in the combination of the power of viral marketing, permission marketing and one to one marketing.Have you ever heard of Amazon.com, Bluemountain Cards, or Hotmail?... Read More

Email Marketing: How Much is Too Much?

I have a special new email address. It's in addition to my primary email address and it's where I tell online marketers who want my business, to send their mailings.I didn't want to... Read More