You're walking down the street. You see a shop. You see 'Giftshop' over the door, so you decide to go in and take a look around.
You're walking down the street. You see an interesting statuette in a shop window. You stop. Looking at other things in the window display, one or two other items catch your eye. You decide to go in and take a look around. Maybe there will be a similar statuette in your price range?
Which of the two scenarios above sounds most likely to you? The second obviously. Yet how often do you come across sites on the internet that don't have anything in the 'shop window' (the 'above the fold' space on the first page of the site), but rely on pure curiosity to get the customer past the first page?
Here's another scenario - What if the gift shop in question could know that the only customers to pass it's window in the next week will be women aged 30-45 with children? Or that only people interested in art would walk down the street? Any sensible gift shop would change it's window display to take advantage of the knowledge it has of the people who will look in it's window!
OK, so how does all of this apply to the Internet?
Well, consider this. Many companies spend a great deal of time and money creating gateway pages that are 'search engine friendly', aimed at getting their web site at the top of the search engine results when someone searches for key words relevant to that companies product or service. These gateway pages work well, as they bring in targeted customers that are searching for the particular product or service that is available on those pages.
Opt-in email generally works differently. You target potential customers rather than people actively seeking your product. So when these 'potential customers' get to your site, they are not necessarily looking right now for whatever you are offering. Therefore you need to find a way to catch their interest quickly.
Back to the shop window analogy. If you know the type of customer looking at your shop window, you should present it to suit that customer. With opt-in email you choose the type of customer that will be looking at your 'shop window' - so why not use a gateway page specifically designed to suit that type of customer?
The common gateway page is 'search engine friendly'. To make the most of your opt-in email campaigns you need a gateway page that is 'customer friendly'.
If you sell a range of products, then have a gateway page that highlights great offers on one or two products most likely to be attractive to your target list. Also, since you know who your audience is TALK TO THAT AUDIENCE ONLY. If you are targeting parents, you can safely talk about the joys of parenthood, with no fear of alienating any part of your audience.
So there you are. Use the fact that you can choose your target audience with opt-in email. Create a 'customer friendly' gateway page, aimed at the chosen target audience only. Then see a huge increase in the results you can obtain from your opt-in campaign.
Dave Broadway
November 2000
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