Although only 10% of U.S Internet users have access to broadband, e-mail vendors say much can be learned from that limited market. Once penetration increases, rich media e-mail—including video, animation and audio—that DSL and cable lines can deliver to customers will be vital to e-mail marketers struggling to cut through the clutter.
Already those "big, fat pipes" are sending "big, fat e-mails such as e-books, games, business-to-business demonstrations, software, music and interactive catalogs," said John Rizzi, CEO of e-mail marketing company e-dialog, at a session on broadband at the net.marketing conference yesterday. Some 65% of companies plan to add streaming media to their advertising mix in 2001, according to the Yankee Group.
And, interest and response rates are high--often because the cleverness of the creative causes the recipient to pass the e-mail along to friends. A Sony campaign for the film the "6th Day" for example, delivered a clip of the movie along with a form asking for information about the recipient in return for a chance to enter a sweepstakes. Some 47% filled out the form, and 21% passed on the e-mail.
In addition to being a productive way to add customers through passalongs, broadband enables dynamically changing messaging. If Staples.com, for example, sends an e-mail with a special offer on a printer to its small business customers, and the offer doesn’t perform well with the first group of recipients who open it, Staples can change the offer before it goes out to more customers. Indeed, the shorter the distance from impression to conversion, the better the results, said Jay Stevens, director of marketing at rich media company Radical Communications. He pointed out that a message can also be switched "on the fly," that is during the transmission process.
A major problem, however, is the lack of broadband penetration. A way to find out if customers are broadband-enabled is to ask them, and to poll them about whether or not they wish to receive rich media messages even if they can receive them. Rizzi says his clients’ experiences have demonstrated that businesspeople always on the road and "geeky" technophiles prefer plain text messages. Sniffer technology for rich media can also determine what format a recipient can accommodate—plain text or HTML. A downside to text, however, is the technology can’t track whether text e-mails have been opened. HTML click rates can be tracked.
With rich media, it’s also important to craft the creative to suit the medium. "Don’t just take a commercial you’ve made and throw it in the e-mail," Stevens said. Amusing content that keep the talking heads to a minimum works best. "It’s Short Attention Span theater," Rizzi said; the e-mails must be no more than 60 to 90 seconds, and be suited to a 2-inch-by-2-inch block on a screen.
Rich media is not a panacea, cautioned Stevens. It can be viable revenue source, but it doesn’t take the place of solid direct marketing practices. "It’s the value of your list that still counts," he said.
