I think, after many years, that most companies have now got over the belief that, in email marketing, “size is everything”. Sending out 5,000 emails to people who haven’t asked to hear from you is about as effective as sending out to 50 people who have. It’s not about the quantity on your email marketing list, it’s about the quality. Your list has two elements: those who want to hear what you have to say, and those who don’t, but can’t find out how to unsubscribe. The second group are of no use to you commercially (they’re not reading your emails anyway), and what’s more, you’re annoying them. So make it easy for them to unsubscribe, and celebrate unsubscriptions, don’t fret about them. It means your unsubscription system works, and it means that your list is becoming more focused on the people who matter. If you’re worried that someone you report to, with half an eye on the statistics, might wonder why your list isn’t expanding at a rate of knots, point out that the “open-rate” most certainly is.
I agree entirely with the essence of this blog, but not the opening statement that ‘most companies have now got over the belief that, in email marketing, “size is everything”‘. We run an email database and the first question is usually ‘how many names’ or ‘what’s your cost per thousand’? After answering I always turn it around and say ‘surely you are more interested in click thru’s to your unique landing page?’ (you have got a unique landing page haven’t you???) Sometimes we even sell the blast on a cost/click thru basis (reminds me of the old Hannover Press cost/enquiry service back in the stoneage!) because I am confident it works.