E-mail marketing doesn’t need to generate hundreds of responses to be effective. Just take the case of Sigma Ancient Coins [http://www.sigmacoins.com], a Web site that sells ancient coins. Every coin on the site is unique and has a picture so customers can see exactly what they are buying.
Sigma had recently collected about 30 new coins from a recent buying trip to Europe and wanted to inform its customers about the new merchandise and hopefully entice them to make a purchase. BeOnTheNet, an Internet marketing and consulting firm that works with Sigma Ancient Coins, encouraged the company to send an e-mail to a small target audience — 100 of Sigma’s customers. The e-mail took all of 15 minutes to prepare.
The e-mail contained a brief announcement notifying customers that Sigma Ancient Coins had just added the 30 or so coins for sale on its site. Within two hours of sending the e-mail two of the coins sold for a combined value of more than $500. After the coins were sold, Sigma Ancient Coins left the coins up on the site and tagged them as sold. Customers could then see the coins they may have wanted but were too late to purchase. Sigma displays coins that have already been sold on its site for up to two weeks, giving the customer an incentive to buy quickly.
BeOnTheNet advises its clients that such e-mail offers can be very effective if conducted infrequently. This example demonstrates that small, targeted e-mails even within a company’s own customer base can yield positive results.
