Back In the In-Box
Ken Magill of Direct Magazine
Septeber 1st, 2006,

After shying away from e-mail following the dot-com crash, business-to-business direct marketers apparently are embracing it again, and not just for retention.

Eighty-four percent of the B-to-B DMers recently polled by Direct say they're using e-mail for marketing, up more than 13% from last year.

While higher postage rates are a natural explanation for a boost in e-mail activity, greater accountability doesn't hurt, either.

For example, Jane Kaiser, president of New York consultancy Eclipse Direct Marketing, says she recently was able to prove to a top office-supply merchant that simultaneously sending a catalog and e-mail to customers resulted in a 25% lift in response vs. mailing the catalog alone.

Kaiser adds that she's noticed increased interest from B-to-B marketers for the fourth quarter that can't be explained solely by seasonal activity. “People are going right to e-mail for Q4,” she says. “It's been across the board.”

A renewed appreciation of the notion that multichannel customers generally spend more than single-channel buyers also may help explain why 39% of all Direct's survey participants say they use appending to get their customers' e-mail addresses, compared with just 22% last year.

“Beyond email list rental, our inquiries in the append space, particularly on the B-to-B side, have really gone through the roof,” says Scott Hardigree, vice president and CMO of database marketing services provider Teramedia.

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Teramedia is quickly becoming a dominant player in the multi-channel sector of the list industry, by providing the unique and highly deliverable lists for direct mail, opt-in email, telemarketing and data append initiatives. For more information call Teramedia at 407.420.1108 or visit http://www.teramedia.com/.

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