Email Monetization Strategies

Today, Nielsen Business Media announced they are shuttering Sales & Marketing Magazine. Yet another case of a print publication unable to adapt to the Internet era. With all the upheaval in the world of publishing, one of the hot topics is monetization of digital properties — how do publishers make money from the Internet?

A recent study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), “Email Monetization Strategies,” discussed the role email can play in generating revenue. Email is widely recognized as an important medium for building a relationship with consumers.

Enewsletters’ consistent format and personalization features often lead to increased brand loyalty and can provide reliable revenue streams for the publisher via ecommerce, sponsorships, or ads
59% of marketers surveyed indicated that they would be increasing their allocation to email marketing in 2010
A Ketchum study cites 80% of marketers agree that email leads the way as the media channel that performs most strongly

Why? Because in the eyes of consumers, permission-based email is important and they spend time daily reading their opt-in email messages:

Of US Internet users, 42% use email newsletters
59% of email users spend 20 minutes or more with permission email weekly
58% of consumers believe email is a great way for companies to stay in touch with them
57% say that receiving email from a company they did business with gives them a more positive impression of the company

Enewsletters are among the most valuable properties. Consumers have shown a high propensity to purchase from within the email channel. According to Forrester Research, enewsletters garner the most trust of all interactive advertising. In addition, email is very useful for offer and promotion testing. Valuable information can be gathered when combined with audience demographic, geographic, and behavioral data.

Some other interesting data points from the report:

According to the DMA (Direct Marketing Association), email has as high as $47 ROI per dollar spent
16% of email is viewed on a wireless phone/organizer; that percentage will continue to grow
71% of the US online audience watches video on the Internet, but most ISPs block email that contains rich media code, including video

Before you dive into a revenue program for your email/enewsletter properties, make sure you’ve covered the bases. You need a solid contact list that is regularly updated (normal churn will wear that list down over just a few mailings), you must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, and the content of your epubs must deliver true value to readers or they will only read once, then dump whatever you send next.

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