by Lon Lindsey

Are you disappointed in the lack of results in getting people to your website or to respond to your carefully worded email message?

My guess is you've tried everything that has been recommended to you and maybe more . . .but the results continue to be dismal. Unless you are one of those rare people who are actually satisfied with web traffic and email response, you may be beginning to question Internet marketing as a way to prospect and attract people to your business.

Let me share with you what has happened? There is a reason for a recent drop in website visits and email responses and it isn't anything you are doing. It's a result of what has been taking place on the Internet the past three or four years. Let me tell you about it.

This is especially for those people who have tried banner ads, free advertising, paid advertising, FFA links, newsletter advertising, give away advertising and targeted emails. Let me give you an example as to what I have discovered.

I don't know about you, but I've been sending targeted email after targeted email out to people based on companies that provide that service. They usually have a membership that agreed to receive such emails based on interest. It's certainly a great concept and initially makes sense to do, but are the results there? Even if you purchase an email list of names or leads for your own emailing, there are drawbacks which I'll explain below.

I've done an informal survey on my own, asking people I know and people I don't know how they determine which emails they read. In other words, what keeps them from hitting the delete button faster than a speeding bullet. The answer I received by 95% was "if I know the person who sent me the email, I at least, open it." Hmmm . . . I was taught that "the subject" is what gets people attention. In other words, I was taught that if my subject sounds interesting enough, people will open my email whether they know me or not. The thing is, that may have once been true when email was rather new, but today things are different. Why? Because of all the hype that people see. In fact, although the word "FREE" is still the most powerful word for advertising, on the Internet it is used so much that people don't react to it like they once did. It takes more than the word "FREE" to get people to respond. Heck, I've even used a subject ad that says "Better Than Free." and my response was worse than my FREE ad. You see, a one line subject ad simply does not have the impact that it once did. Additionally, people tell me they are very reluctant to open any emails from people they don't know as they are afraid of getting a computer virus.

So, what this basically tells me is we are wasting our money to send out emails to people we don't know. By that, I mean I don't think we are getting the kind of return we need to warrant the expense. I mean, it sounds good to have 1,000 or 5,000 emails sent out, but when you figure the response rate per dollar you spend, it becomes alarming and what's more . . those responses usually are not actual sign-ups. They are usually for more information. That's not to say you won't get any responses, because you will get responses. It may be 1 out of 1,000 or 2 out of 5,000 or could be 10 - 50 out of 1,000.

There are many factors that are involved, but what I am saying is I don't think we are getting the biggest bang for our dollar when it comes to targeted safe/responsible emailing.

Let me give you an example. Suppose you purchased 1,000 targeted emails for $150 from a reputable company that has a large membership of subscribers. Let's even suppose that this company has gone to its members and asked them to identify their interests so you can choose the category of interest for your emails to go to. First of all, many of your emails won't even be read. There are two reasons for this:

1. Their targeted email address is no longer valid. People move from ISP to ISP faster than they move from neighborhood to neighbood and if that isn't bad enough, many people have multiple email accounts (often free ones) in which they give out publically and are used strictly to filter their "junk" mail (which they delete without even reading the subject line) and if that isn't still bad enough, you may be mailing to the same person multiple times because they have multiple email addresses registered with that "email send- ing company" you contracted with . . .after all, you purchased email addresses, not names;



2. They didn't recognize who the email was from, thus they considered it junk mail and hit the delete button based on what I mentioned above. Depending on your offer, you may get 10 takers out of a mailing of 1,000.

IF all they have to do is provide you with enough information so you can send them additional information and put them on your own follow-up list. If it is to get them to actually join or purchase something, you will be lucky to get one person out of a thousand.

Here's the problem! People are making a decision based on too little information. A short one-line subject is not enough information for most people who are on the Internet to be motivated to open it up. Like I said . . .many people don't even look at the subject . they look at who it is from. Secondly, many people don't display the whole subjectline and in many instances can't read the whole subject line and if that isn't bad enough, many of those who do could care less in the first place. That doesn't mean they couldn't be interested in what you have. It means you were unable to get their attention so they would look at what you have. Afterall, they've got to see what you have before they can decide if they want it or not.

There is no doubt that what gets people's attention is enough information to get their attention. Even with the postal mail, it is said the most difficult part is getting people to open an envelope. That's why the best envelope a person can send is one that will motivate the receiver to want to open it.

You see, people need to see enough . . . even at a quick glance . . . to determine if they like what they see. They need to see more than a word or two . . but at the same time they are not inclined to read a letter until they have been moved "gently" into the informational text.

The answer is POSTAL MAILING IS STILL KING, but only if you use a postcard pr unenveloped flyer type mailing.

A postcard or flyer type mailing allows a person to get a complete quick view and with the right headline, can get people to move right on down to the text. With email, most people don't make it that far.

Yes, it is more expensive to send out 1,000 postcards via postal mail than sending out 1,000 targeted emails, BUT if your response rate is so low when emailing . . .even at a cheaper rate, you may be paying more per response.

My feelings, based on my own experience and my own limited research is POSTAL MAIL IS STILL KING! Don't get me wrong, email is great and a wonderful tool to communicate and maybe in some situations can be a tool to build new relationships, but in terms of getting information in front of the reader, I still believe you can't beat the mailing out of a professional looking postcard.

So, you say "I've got a webpage that will do what a postcard will do." NO!, You've got a webpage that will do MORE than a postcard will do, BUT how are you going to get them to your webpage? Now we are right back to square one again. Obviously sending an email asking someone to go to your webpage won't work. Remember, you have to motivate people to want to go to your webpage and an email simply asking them to do such won't do that.

The answer to that is knowing the POSTAL MAIL IS STILL KING. Use a postcard to promote yourself by motivating people to WANT to go to your webpage. In other words, use the postcard to do what your email cannot do . . .motivate! Along with a motivational/teaser type postcard, include your URL and now you are able to do what you wanted to do in the first place . . . get people to your website.

I can guess your first reaction to this is "that's too costly." Is it? If you spend $150 for an email campaign only to get no responses, you have just wasted $150, but let's say you spend $300 - $350 for a mailing of 1,000 postcards. Chances are (depending on your card and the receiver's interest) you would get 10 - 20 responses from such because POSTAL MAIL IS STILL KING. Compare a response rate of $15 - $35 each via postal mail versus a No response to $150 per response rate via email. Which do you see as being more expensive?

Right now I still see POSTAL MAIL IS STILL KING!