Maximizing the Internet Source

Circulation Management, May 1, 2003

Byline: SIMON YOUNG

In today's publishing environment with skin-tight circulation budgets, faltering response rates and sky-rocketing business expenses, circulators know that working smarter is key. That's why in the controlled and paid business-to-business space, they're expanding the cost-effective Internet source to help hold down acquisition and renewal costs. Getting consumers used to subscribing online is meaningful: renewals and requalifications obtained via the Internet cost mere pennies versus up to several dollars via traditional sources. Among other advantages are the ability to expand prospect reach and boost response through targeted, personalized promotions.

At Reed Business Information (RBI), we started aggressively employing email and the Internet in 2000. With more than 60 controlled circulation titles in industries such as building and construction, electronics, hospitality, manufacturing, media, printing, and science and medical, the savings from this initiative added up quickly. In the last year alone, we cut promotional expenses very significantly, in part by almost doubling Internet-generated subscriptions. The following are among the techniques we used to do it.

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Set goals and incentivize the players. Management must take the lead in the move online, setting aggressive, but reasonable goals for generating Internet subscriptions and increasing the proportion of subscriber records with email addresses. The added work necessary to meet those objectives can appear overwhelming to circulators whose plates are already full, but incentive programs can be put into place to ease the burden - from special recognition to performance-based pay raises. With the advent of email and broadcast fax, RBI has watched annual, per-title marketing campaigns quadruple in the last six years to an average of 25 to 30, but overall circ costs have started to shrink because of this source shift.

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Build email address lists. Collecting email addresses should be a priority. They not only enable circulators to do more cost-effective email marketing for acquisitions and renewals, they help bring in additional list rental revenue. (Of course, circulators must take care to purge their files of invalid addresses and ensure that they respect individual subscribers' privacy preferences.) To drive email address collection:

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Reexamine your printed qualification forms. At RBI, we often draw attention to the email address section of our qual forms by highlighting or boxing them off. While this alone often produces the desired results, value-adds - offering prospects a reason for providing their email addresses - can help. Consider using sell copy such as: "Giving us your email address will allow you to receive product updates or XYZ Magazine's daily email newsletter," or "Providing your email address will allow you to renew easily online."

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Require email addresses on all Web-based qual forms. When side-by-side comparisons didn't show a significant drop-off in applicants submitting qual forms that required email addresses, we decided to preserve the requirement.

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Leverage your telemarketing vendor relationships. At RBI, one of the governing factors in choosing a vendor is the percentage of subscribers it can amass with valid email addresses. For the best results, circulators should again set aggressive, but reasonable targets and consider incentivizing or penalizing vendors who exceed or fail to meet those targets. (Be aware, however, that if your expectations are too high, vendors might be encouraged to badger customers or fabricate addresses. As with all telemarketing, quality control is key.) Also, always insist that vendors implement checks to validate addresses to ensure that your file is clean for future use. Even simple rule-checking can eliminate many keying errors and improve deliverability dramatically.

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Cross-pollinate email addresses from sister publications. Multi-title publishers should leverage the breadth of their portfolios by working with their fulfillment providers to set up an automatic cross-pollination system. For example, when Joe Smith fills out a qual form for Magazine A and Magazine B, but only provides his email address on Magazine A's form, his sub record for Magazine B will be updated with that information. This not only adds to the email rental file for Magazine B, but also makes the email address available for easy use in upcoming promotions.

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Exploit viral marketing techniques. Pass-along email campaigns to a title's current subscriber base can help increase penetration of key audience segments as well as the number of email addresses collected. Most importantly, even though these campaigns traditionally produce low response rates, cost per sub is still extremely favorable.

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Use the Internet to improve the efficiency of traditional efforts. While direct mail, insert cards and cover wraps have been workhorses in the controlled circulation arena for years, the emergence of email and the Internet has forced circulators to revisit long-held beliefs and reexamine marketing strategies.