While speaking with a prospective client we learned that he promoted his Michigan printing business via the Detroit Chamber of Commerce.  Normally, this is a great opportunity to drum up some business, and their email list was well over 17,000 Detroit based business owners at the time of the broadcast email.  Thankfully, a mass email to their list only cost $85 at the time which is bargain basement cheap considering you are theoretically going to be targeting only business owners.

Great deal right?  Well, not so much!

The client graciously shared his conversion rates with us and we were shocked at the lack of action.  At a 1 percent conversion rate, the prospective client would have received 170 responses to his offer.  Let’s say that the response was an absolutely dismal .25%, he would have received 43 orders.  The total amount of orders for this campaign? Four…  That’s right, four lousy orders!

We had to ask him if the offer was what he considered a ‘really good price’, he confirmed that it was.  His offer was a 1000 piece, custom 4 color brochure for $275, which is dirt cheap.  He didn’t even break even on the ad considering the time that he put in to create the copy for the mass email.

Here’s the Problem

Our client discovered a problem with the way that they email their list.  When a new company sets up an account with the Chamber, they are instructed to leave a ‘default email address’ that is automatically added to their broadcasting list.  The problem with this scenario is that people do not use their default address very often, or they don’t have a website setup yet. This makes the email that is sent out to their list ineffective.  If the Chamber used all of the addresses attached to the account they could up the amount of clients on their list, charge more for a broadcast email, and be a more effective means of advertising for the customer.

Not the Clients Fault Right?

Well not so fast…

At a minimum the client should have received a 1% conversion rate on the broadcast email.  I’m guessing that the ad copy that was sent out was not very effective.  This is a big mistake! Always make sure that your ad copy is compelling.  Send it to a fellow business owner and get an opinion, that’s what friends are for!

In the end the client covered the cost of the ad AND learned how not to write an advertisement, a successful first attempt in our book.  On his next attempt he can up the conversion rate with more compelling copy and end up ‘in the black’!