E-mail Lists Still Priced Highest, But Consumer Files Falling: Study
The highest-priced list category on the market is permission-based business-to-business e-mail, according to the annual Worldata List Price Index. This category has a straight average price of $279 per thousand, as of April 2002. It increased in cost $11/M since last April.
The second-highest cost category is permission-based business-to-consumer e-mail at $195/M.
The price of this type of list has decreased $12/M during the April 2001 to April 2002 period studied. The cost drop is due to a number of factors including looser opt-in restrictions and e-mail appending. Most important, there are three times as many consumer e-mail addresses available in April 2002 compared to April 2001.
“We knew this category was going to go down, but we didn’t know it was going to go down as dramatically as it did,” said Ray Tesi, senior vice president at the Boca Raton, FL list company. “It may be time for list owners to drop the price of B-to-C e-mail prices. This will result in more tests for the list owner, so even though they may be selling lists at a lower CPM, it’s probably going to drive their overall revenue up,” he added.
These top categories are followed by postal newsletter files at an average price of $171/M and business magazines/paid circulation at an average of 140/M.
Donor files have the lowest overall price at $76/M, an increase of only $1/M over last year.
The list category that experienced the greatest change is consumer book buyers, which is 5.62% higher than last year. This can be explained by a consumer market “morphing into the stay-at-home, self-help recipient,” said the study.
The next-highest increase is 4.1% for the B-to-B e-mail group. Third is books and CDs, with a nearly 4% increase.
Next is B-to-B attendees/members category, at a 3.6% increase. “Higher base prices in this category may also be traced to Sept. 11, and the post-dot.com economy: less travel, less trade show attendees, smaller hotlines and higher base prices to reach these influencers,” the study said.
