You’ve mastered segmentation, you’ve nailed the strategy behind your cross-sell program, and you’ve even learned a thing or two about customer value measuring. So why should you make room for direct e-mails and e-newsletters in your customer relationship marketing program?

Cost, speed and more efficient communication, just to name a few reasons.

Establishing and maintaining strong customer relationships depends on maximizing every opportunity to interact with customers — and their inbox gives you just one more option.

“You really need to have multiple hits of your message,” says Lane Ware, CCG senior vice president/strategic consulting. “And communicating that message in a different medium is a great way to repeat that message without customers feeling that you’re being redundant.

“Plus, different people respond to different channels, so you may reach people who are more apt to respond through e-mail than traditional direct mail.”

Indeed, interactive marketing can supplement your more traditional marketing efforts to generate customer loyalty — especially when e-mail is used to distribute value-added content in the form of an e-newsletter. A recent study by IMN Inc., an e-mail newsletter firm, revealed good news for retailers and financial services companies. It found that those industries garner higher e-mail open rates — 55 percent and 48 percent respectively — compared with the industry-wide average open rate of 39 percent. In the print world, that’s the equivalent of getting the customer inside the envelope, and it seems that more retail and financial companies are able to accomplish that with electronic communications.

CCG’s retail and financial clients have found similar results. When fresh-obsessed grocer A&P Canada recently e-mailed its premiere issue of Club Fresh e-News, 65 percent of subscribers opened and read the publication. And just under half of subscribers open Countrywide Financial’s FrontDoor e-newsletter each quarter.

While ongoing, value-added newsletter content certainly merits a strong place in any CRM strategy, one-off direct e-mails also serve a role in communicating a more focused message, usually in the form of a cross-sell offer or special announcement. That’s because when you take advantage of fiber-optic connectivity to send your message, you can enjoy the benefits of having:

Fast correspondence.
From idea to mailbox, quick turnaround in the print world is eight weeks, at best. But when you can cut out the time for print production by using an e-mail format, you can deliver critical information on a need-to-say-it-now timeline. For retailers, that may mean sending out an HTML e-mail regarding an upcoming sale or special promotion instead of a direct mail package.

Postcards without the postage.
At an average cost of $.05 per address, according to a recent survey by the Association for Interactive Marketing, e-mail delivery may allow you to promote one more offer and send one more critical message without breaking your budget. And, as you know all too well, driving down the cost per mailing may be just what the budget-holders need to sign off on an extra communication opportunity.

The right medium for the offer.
For banks promoting online banking, for example, what better way to communicate about this tool than with an online vehicle? And retailers who have an internet presence may use direct e-mail to advertise a special web-only offer. The Gap, for example, periodically e-mails promotions for free shipping when customers spend at least $100 on an order at gap.com. An e-mail format makes it easier to click to see the latest styles and place an order.

All the space you need.
A typical direct mail package has enough room for a letter, buckslip and reply envelope. But what if you have more to say? The interactive nature of a direct e-mail message means customers can link to the added information they need.

One-on-one contact.
“Mass-media gives you an opportunity to communicate general messages. Direct mail gets more personal. And e-mail allows you to really zero in on one-to-one communication,” Ware says. “CCG is all about getting the right message to the right customer, and e-mail is the perfect medium for that — it’s easily versioned and personalized.”

Immediate measurement.
Click-through stats are available immediately after a campaign “launches,” so you’ll get the numbers you need to back up your marketing budget, learn more about your customers’ interests and refine your next message so it’s more effective.

While spam has made it more difficult for some companies’ opt-in e-mails to reach their customers, e-mail marketing is definitely here to stay. According to a study by Arial Software, 76 percent of respondents said they plan to increase e-mail marketing efforts this year.

If you’re thinking about ways to improve results with your already-approved 2004 budget, call Senior Vice President/Strategic Consulting Lane Ware at 1.800.525.0313 x106, or send an e-mail to lane@customer.com.