Newbie questions on renting opt-in lists.

[swarring]

Apologies in advance if this question is frustratingly elementary and has been covered 100 times already in this forum.

I'm brand new to the email marketing idea, and am preparing to rent a 1,000,000 email list for a sports betting campaign. I'll be mailing a mail banner as an affiliate for a sports betting site. The list is targeted to sports bettors, and they've guranteed a 30% open rate. As far as I can tell, the lists they are sending to are not incentivized opt-in.

I've read doubleclick's quarterly report, and know the averages, but honestly, they just seem to be too good to be true. 1,000.000 X 34% open rate X 8.2% click-through X 3.4 (Or close to it, can't remember) conversion would gross me $94,792 at $100/sale! I don't hear about anyone getting rich from email marketing so I'm a bit hesitant to throw my hard-earned money away. If anyone can provide feedback in the way of their own statistics, especially in the area of affiliate sales and/or opt-in list rentals, I would be forever grateful.

thanks,
Steve

[acornwebworks]

Hi!

As you already know, just because the "average" is 34% open rate X 8.2% click-through X 3.4 conversion doesn't mean that's what *YOU* will get.

Have you tested the banner yet? Heck, have you tested your subject line yet? (And don't assume that ones provided by the affiliate company will be effective. They may actually be overused and, therefore, not particularly effective.)

I've never used Doubleclick but am assuming that a 1,000,000 mailing isn't all that cheap.

If not, I'd use smaller, less expensive tests of my subject line to see which one gets opened the most...and of my ad, to see which one converts the best.

Good luck!

Kendall