Shifting Sources

Circulation Management, May 1, 2003

"It used to be direct mail, then telemarketing," says Zane. "But what's changed drastically is that there's another source - email - in the mix."

Zane sees great potential in email, but recognizes its drawbacks as well. "It's the most inexpensive cost-per-net order there is," he points out, with the potential of reaching tens of thousands of subscribers. But if potential subscribers don't respond, there's little that can be done. Work the list too hard with repeat offers, he notes, "and you're definitely going to turn off people." Zane says CMP manages the number of emails the company sends and monitors the opt-outs to see if they can avoid the "breaking point." He also said it helps to be aware of different levels of permission - differentiating between opt-ins for editorial versus opt-ins for events or other notifications.

Rutter, at Reed, takes what he describes as a "very conservative" approach to email, mailing only to prospects with which Reed has an existing business relationship. Beyond that, he notes, the issue is the availability and affordability of opt-in lists - the only type he will consider. There, the cost-per-order - given email's paltry response rates - approaches direct mail. "It's pretty pricey," he says. "You get 10,000 names for $4,000 - if you get a 2 percent response rate, that's 200 names for $4,000." A better deal is internal lists. While responses average 9.7 percent, according to CM's 2002 survey, "With no list cost and extremely low transmission costs, it makes sense no matter what the response is," says Rutter.

Shannon Aronson, circulation director of CMP's Technology Solutions Group, counts 54 percent of her subscriptions as generated through the Internet - of that, she attributes 75 percent to email blasts, and the remainder to direct-mail campaigns instructing readers to subscribe online. Pure direct mail, from which the group has moved away in the last three to four years, accounts for less than 3 percent of overall subs.

But in the last year or so, Aronson says she's sensed direct mail bouncing back. "You're never going to see a shift back to direct mail the way it used to be," she predicts, "but you do begin to see one area of marketing (email) getting saturated." As a result, she says, "I just don't think we'll continue to see the gains we've seen."

And, as in the consumer world, the effectiveness of email is closely tied to audience. While highly effective for technology and office books, its value is marginal for titles that serve retailers on the floor or distributors on the road. Hearst's Green notes, for example, that he has email addresses for only about 15 percent of the subscribers of auto-repair monthly Motor. "How much of a push will we be able to do with that?" he asks.

ONLINE AGENTS' VALUE VARIES

In CM's 2002 survey, Web-based sub agents accounted for only 2.8 percent of new subscribers; one-third of respondents reported they get no new names from online agents at all. Still, for some magazines, online agents have proved to be a highly valuable source.