What's the value of an email address to your organization?

For most companies, an email is worth between $5 and $50, especially when you account for channel-cost savings and incremental revenue realized through lifetime customer value. Your master email contact database is an extremely valuable corporate asset, often valued between $100,000 and $5 million or more! This is why today's market leaders are consistently growing their email lists 20 percent or more year-over-year. These smart marketers are leveraging every touch point as an opportunity to ask for permission to email. It's a land grab for permission to communicate via email with prospects and customers. Just look around and you'll find that more and more businesses are asking for your email address: websites, in-store, customer service representatives, events, tradeshows, etc. And remember, a quality opt-in email address may not only mean a new sale; if properly managed, it also means the beginning of a lifelong business relationship. It's that simple. It's that important.

How will you rapidly accelerate the quality and quantity of your email list size?

• Website: Start by adding the ability to join your email mailing list on all existing data capture forms on your website. For a best-in-class example, go to Wine Enthusiast to see how a simple, quick sign-up form on the footer of every page on their website has boosted results.
• Landing pages: Odds are your company spends two to three times more money than it should on media budgets to generate traffic to landing pages for lead capture. Focus your attention on improving the performance of your landing pages by testing incentives to join your email database. Then, engage these newbies in a lead nurture program to convert more leads to sales. Keep an eye on Harley-Davidson as it is driving paid search traffic from keyword buys directly to custom landing pages with sign-up forms for email follow-up.
• Master contacts database: For most organizations, their email list is merely 30-40 percent of their postal mail contact database. Narrow this gap by cross-pollinating your other channel communications to promote the benefits of joining your email program.
•  Transactional emails: On all transactional emails, offer your customers the opportunity to join your email list to receive marketing-related emails. Be sure to include a business rule to only display this offer if the recipient is not already on record as having opted-in to receive marketing-related emails. For a best-in-class example, check out Allstate.
• Customer service call center: Be sure everyone who deals with customers in your organization supports the shared goal of opt-in email list building. Train call center personnel and test scripts to increase acceptance rates when proposing email sign-up during transactional customer interactions. Companies excelling in this area realize take rates for email sign-up of 60-70 percent. For a best-in-class example, purchase a product online from Fingerhut.
• In-store: Take advantage of all store traffic by including a display or kiosk to capture email opt-ins. For a best-in-class example, visit a Hertzberg Diamonds store and take note of how effective it is with presenting you with a compelling reason to stay in touch via email.
• Referral programs: Consider launching a sweepstakes with a referral form to use viral marketing to exponentially grow the size of your addressable email contact database. Virgin America, which was just approved to fly in the U.S., ran an award-winning "name the plane" contest to generate buzz and build a sizeable opt-in contact database for future email promotions.
• Events or tradeshows: For you B2B marketers, email capture at events and tradeshows should be one of your highest priorities. Make sure you are not buying emails by offering incentives or giveaways that have nothing to do with the nature of your business as this results in poor quality leads. Instead, offer to send interested attendees an email with a link to something they will value.