Warning: These 5 Mistakes will destroy your email appending

Email appending

Email Append is a process that allows marketing professionals to reach more potential audience with accurate and deliverable emails, resulting in a successful and cost-effective email marketing campaign. It is also known as an email marketing method that involves taking known customer data (first name, last name, and postal address) and matching it against a vendor’s database to obtain email address. The reason to append your database, sales people do not ask for email addresses while adding customer details to the database. There are also chances that the input method doesn’t exist for an email address.

The benefits of Email Appending Services are many. Some of them are:

• Accelerate your email marketing results
• Grow your revenues
• Improve customer service and retention
• Minimize expenditures
• Safeguard your sender track record
• Maximize your ROI
• Increase project effectiveness and get to vast quantities of your target audience concurrently

The first thing to do is to understand email appending perfectly. This gives you an edge and you can make informed decisions. There are some common Email Appending mistakes made by marketers which can be avoided.

1. Selecting vendor without doing homework: The vendor selection process can be a very complicated if you don’t know how to approach it from the very start. There are a lot of shaded vendors out there. If you have decided to choose one or more vendors then your vendor selection process becomes that much easier. Before you decide on a service partner, take time for a little sleuthing. Ask the vendor how long they’ve been in business, which professional associations they belong to, what kind of industry attendance they have, who their associates and clients are, and what other services they offer.

2. Selecting a Vendor Mainly on Price: Successful businesses require reliable, professional vendors who can provide quality goods and services that support profit margins. Once a list of potential vendors has been established, the next step in the selection process is to issue formal requests to all the vendors. A company can either issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP asks vendors to specify how they would provide a service or solve a business problem as well as how much they would charge for such a solution. Companies should not approach vendor selection exclusively from a cost-saving perspective. Vendors can be seen as business partners who may provide value in various business areas.

3. Not asking for 100% opt in data: A high-quality, trustworthy vendor or a good email list provider should be able to promise you 100% opted-in e-mail addresses (with detailed opt-in info, including source information). Your vendor should be able to tell you exactly where their data came from.

Is my list an opt-in data?

That depends on your vendor how your vendor has obtained list, and the process that contacts went through when they gave you the database.

4. Afraid to Ask Right Questions: Take necessary caution while choosing a vendor. A reputable vendor can offer the best services and features that help you align resources with the needs. The right resources will help you reduce the time between prospecting and successful sales closure.

Here are some typical questions that you need to ask before choosing a vendor for appending services.

• How much does the vendor charge for the service?
• Is the vendor’s service reputable?
• Is the vendor associated with a regulatory body?
• Who are the former clients and partners?
• Do they have verifiable credentials such as client testimonials on the website?
• How accurate is their appending service? (Check the match rates)
• Is the vendor’s business compliant with CAN-SPAM GUIDELINES?

5. Ignoring Direct List-Building Options: Ignoring direct list building is the main mistake in appending services. Through direct list building we can save money and lot of resources. When you decide to promote your small business, you have two choices: Rent a list or build your own. You can build your own mailing list once you understand how to use your current resources compile addresses from customer records, customer correspondence (including complaints), records regarding warranties and service, any sales prospects your salespeople have gathered, and contact information from former customers. You can get addresses from customers’ websites, trade directories, association directories, chamber of commerce directories, and magazine and newspaper stories about people in the community.

Final Thoughts: Email Appending not only agrees to add missing information about your target audience but also helps in Data Cleansing. This technique correct errors like miss-spelt localities, names, email ids, inauthentic identities, fake email ids, etc. Thus, the above-mentioned strategies will help every business to meet further profit through appending methods.

About Author: Hello, I am Charles, a marketing specialist with over 6 years’ experience developing marketing strategies for small and medium scale businesses. At present I’m working with Mailing Data Solutions, a leading provider of business mailing lists and marketing data solutions.