Subscription marketing tips from SIPA

30 March 2008

Roundtable discussions and interactive presentations on subscription marketing and publishing

I attend the SIPA conference in London every year. We hear examples of great marketing from both UK and American marketers.

The great thing about these Specialized Information Publishers Association events is the format. It’s quite informal, with a whole lot of round table sessions you can choose from on the day. Everyone, not just the speakers, openly share their experiences, just like a real-life chat room (yes, chat-rooms existed long before computers came along).

We all know how difficult it is to get a publisher to tell us what’s working – that’s why it’s worth paying the conference fee (SIPA members get a discount).

I have stopped attending other conferences because they are too formal: there is usually some chap on the stage with slides and a fixed presentation and not much inside information is delivered. Audience questions are limited in scope and time. Answers are usually cagey.

The SIPA conferences are different.

Example tips
In contrast, this conference welcomes interactive presentations, and speakers walk around and chat with delegates before and after the presentation. Below are a couple of examples of the great tips I picked up, with my comments on why the tip is valuable.

And by the way – I am not employed by SIPA in any capacity, nor do I get any payment from recommending their services. They are just a very helpful bunch of people.

These examples were delivered at the end of the conference as ‘bullet points’. Some delegates may have missed their significance, or may forget the advice, so it’s worth getting the lot and putting them on your office wall. Business can only benefit.

1. What’s the best day / hour to send out an email campaign? An Ebay survey found it’s 2.00 pm Tuesday.

Comment: timing is important because if you are running a test promotion, remember you need to use your best copy, best offer, best list, and despatch your email on the best day and at the best time. Otherwise, if your promotion fails, you just won’t know why. If you need to make your promotion more profitable before rolling out the test to your complete list, it’s a simple process to make adjustments once those initial test results are in. This advice applies to your direct mail efforts too.

2. How many times can you re-use an email? If your email promotion works, re-mail it right away. It will work up to three times.

Comment: with traditional direct mail, the reason we don’t immediately re-mail a successful pack is because of the cost. Although it may work well on it’s first outing, response will drop by around 50% if you mail it out to the same people within 30 days. Because of print and production costs, this usually means your ROI (Return on Investment) will be too low to make it worthwhile. With email promotions, those print and production costs don’t apply. Time and trouble represent most of your outgoings. Once you know all this, you will notice how other publishers disguise those re-mailed emails!

Usually, once an email has been sent out a few times, it’s best to give it a rest for a month or two.

Each year the conference gets bigger. Most of the delegates are at the hard edge of marketing – their performance is measured on profits and how much new business comes in. You’ll meet with millionaire business owners through to new junior marketers – all wanting to pick up important information on what’s working in today’s tough market.

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