email marketing:

Is their any "good" opt-in list marketing?

[awoyo]

Howdy folks!

I hate spam as much as the next person, but I have to say I am putting some real thought into email marketing. Is their any input on "good" opt-in list marketing, or is it all basically considered spam? I know there are dozens of spam outfits who claim their lists are pure opt-in but are in fact not. But how about email marketing, newsletter marketing, etc from reputable sources, say like Yahoo? Are there any case studies from anyone who may use this method and have good experiences with any particular marketing service?

Thanks,

Jim

[eljefe3]

As far as I know the best email marketing is gathered by the site for opt-in customers.

Are there any email marketing pros out there that can help awoyo on his specific questions?

[skibum]

It's often a crap shoot. Some lists are good, some aren't. The method of address collection doesn't seem to matter a whole lot, though an Opt-in ist is definately safer and much better than some CD with 1,000,000 names for a few hundred bucks. As noted, some "Opt-in" companies are shady.

Some campaigns prove to be very successful with customer acquisition costs of around 3-5 bucks. Acquisition being defined as getting a response from the rented list and a sign up for the house list. Others aren't so successful.

After YAHOO opened the Spam tap [webmasterworld.com], lists from them might not be such a good idea.