Mass email campaigns still work – If done correctly!

Some business owners think that bulk email campaigns are a waste of time.  Nobody reads emails and utilizing mass email campaigns are just spam.  However, real life examples show that a properly written email, sent out to a qualified list, can lead to some healthy results.

Case Study

I was working with a large client recently that sells software.  The client has about 2,200 customers scattered across the country.  My client wanted to sell their latest version to their customer base.  In order to prove my abilities I suggested we do two tests.  The client would work on bulk email campaigns to the whole list of customers while I worked on a smaller sample.

Different Pricing for Different Items

The software in question is offered in different levels, similar to new cars.  Cars with bare essentials cost the least and as the options are added the price goes up.  This software does the same thing.  The most expensive version of the software has every available feature that a person could think of while the cheapest version offers the essential functions without the bells and whistles.

Mass Email Campaigns by My Client

The client came up with a lovely graphic, complete with the company logo and pictures of $100 bills.  The headline said “Save 10% or Save $900”.  At first glance, this is either misleading or confusing.  After all, is $900 a good deal?  That depends on the price.  If the price is $15,000 then the $900 discount will not be as much as a 10% discount of $1,500.  Fortunately, the client was not selling anything in that price range.  Their products ranged from $825 to $3,500.

Over the course of two days the client sent this promotion to its entire list of 2,200 clients.  22 customers responded with interest and asked for more information.  That is about a 1% response rate, very similar to direct mail rates.  One sale closed for $1,200.

My Strategy for Bulk email Campaigns

I approached my list of 131 clients in a completely different manner.  I put together three different emails, one message for each level of software.  After all, since the software had different prices it made sense to discuss the exact discount available for each version of software.  I also began the message with the contact’s first name like this “Hi, John, “ and included the customer’s company name in the body of the message.  This means that all 131 emails looked personalized.  The name of the contact, the name of the company and the exact discount available to each company was spelled out in the email.

So, how did I do?  Out of 131 emails, I received replies from 33 customers asking for a full quote, a 25% response rate.  4 of those deals closed for a total of $6,790 in new business.

Do you think bulk email campaigns work?  Would you like a 20 to 25 percent response rate on offers?  There are three key points to this particular success story:

1. The customer had a list of previous clients they could contact
2. The successful campaign utilized personalization for each message
3. The client offered a fantastic offer to customers in order to get a response.

If you would like to learn more about putting together an email campaign for your current and past clients, get in touch with me.  You can use the contact form below to send me an email and we can set up a time to talk via phone or web chat.