In the last week or so I've had conversations with two different clients that went like this.
- Me: "So about how many member e-mail addresses do you have for this group?"
- Them: "Uh, I think about... I'm not sure. Maybe a couple hundred?"
- Me: "Is it part of your application process to collect an e-mail address?"
- Them: "Yes. Well... it was on the online app, but I think... (to the other "them" at the table) do we have it on the form in-branch? I think so."
People. PEOPLE! You need to be actively collecting e-mail addresses. Here's why, courtesy of my Twitter friend Ron Shevlin who tweeted the link (e-mail me if you are scratching your head over "Twitter" and "tweeted"):
“E-MAILS SENT TO HOUSE FILES FOUND TO PRODUCE HIGHEST RETURN-ON-INVESTMENT FOR SOLICITING DIRECT ORDERS
ORLANDO, FL, OCTOBER 13, 2003 — A new landmark study from the Direct Marketing Association (The DMA) found that e-mail offers, particularly those sent to in-house customer lists, produced the highest overall return-on-investment (ROI) for marketers focusing on soliciting direct orders, generating leads or building store traffic.
Copy and pasted totally without permission from The Direct Marketing Association”
There's more to this article (and I sincerely apologize for the screaming caps– their choice, not mine) but you can see why it's VITAL that we are building e-mail databases.
There's no excuse. You're sitting at your computer right now, so you can e-mail everyone who needs to make this change. I mean it.
Nala