Nothing Happens Until You Have an Email Address

Vendors that focus on the acquisition of email addresses have been shamed for too long. Admittedly, the email acquisition space is rife with vendors of ill repute, and plenty of people have lined their pockets with the money of marketers hoping for a quick way to grow their prospect databases. This does not mean, however, that ALL acquisition vendors or all email acquisition practices are bad!

Earlier this year, Trendline conducted a study, commissioned by CertainSource, on the current state of email acquisition practices. While concerns rightfully linger about the potential for negative consequences to deliverability and sender reputations that can stem from paid email acquisition tactics, there are a lot of bright spots as well.

• 85% of marketers that are satisfied with their acquisition efforts use at least one paid acquisition tactic
• 77% of all marketers currently use at least one paid acquisition tactic
• 71% of markets have used a third party vendor to assist in their email acquisition efforts
• Using display to drive online registration is the most popular paid acquisition tactic, used by 41% of all marketers
• Marketers that prioritize acquisition are more likely to be satisfied with their overall marketing efforts

While email may be well suited to retention marketing, this cannot happen unless preceded by email acquisition. Yet, email acquisition is difficult and fraught with challenges—highlighted by the fact 46% of marketers express concerns about using paid acquisition tactics.

According to our research, the key to success is rigorously analyzing acquisition performance so that these efforts can be optimized over time. There is no quick fix nor are there sure fire solutions that will work for everyone, but there are professionals out there that can help you do it right and who understand the dedication and effort required to do email acquisition right.

Let’s stop shaming the efforts of third party vendors that focus on email acquisition and start encouraging the ones that do it responsibly and profitably.

The full report is available at www.trendlineinteractive.com/acquisition (BTW, no registration is required).