If selling has been a part of your life you have almost certainly run into examples like the door-to-door salesperson knocking a hundred times to get one sale or a direct mail response rate of 1-2%. Similar industry numbers exist for email campaigns and I recently got an education in what can happen when your target is actually interested in your message.
After adding a new video segment to my Toronto Island site I notified a selection of those who had purchased the DVD. I used MailChimp to manage the campaign, keeping the number low enough to maintain the "free" status of my account, but high enough to get meaningful data. Keep in mind that all recipients had invested in at least one copy of the DVD documentary, so email from the site's owner wasn't unknown. Mail Chimp allows one to select an industry or business segment from the experience of which comparative data is drawn to give your results a context. I selected "Media & Publishing".
- 44.6% of recipients opened my email compared to 20.1% for the industry.
- 25.6% clicked on the link to new content, compared to 2.1% for the industry.
Sales so far (about 10 days) are 2.2% of total mailings. I don't have a comparison for this result but it's a safe bet that nowhere near all of those who clicked on industry emails purchased, so my results are well ahead again. Having been a retailer for most of my adult life it is natural for me to reflect that building relationships with customers is among the keys to growing sales without growing expense disproportionately. The more closely your offering fits your customer's needs and wants the better your rates of return will be. I hope to have more to share on the subject as I (nervously) take my own advice.
