Increase the Reach of Your Next Email Marketing Campaign TowerData’s new email change of address solution promises better results and increased ROI

New York, N.Y., January 7, 2003 – There is much more to email marketing than just sending email messages. To begin with, you need the email addresses of the people you are trying to reach. Also, once you have them, you need to retain your customers when they change their email addresses by replacing old, undeliverable email addresses with current, working email addresses. Today, TowerData, is helping clients do just that with the announcement and launch of “Email Update,” a patent-pending email-change-of-address (ECOA) service.

Internet users change email addresses five times more often than they change postal addresses, and the average email list has a 13% bounce rate as a result. Undeliverable email is a pervasive problem representing reduced response rates, lost sales opportunities, and increased costs. According to recent data from e-Dialog, 55% of the marketers surveyed say their companies will increase their email marketing budget this year and the dollars are adding up quickly. Based on Forrester’s numbers, by 2004, 430 billion marketing emails will be sent in the U.S. at a cost of $2.0 billion. According to TowerData, at an average rate of 13%, that could mean a loss of approximately $260 million in bounced email this year.

At present there are very few solutions that help email marketers prevent these losses from occurring. Current services rely too much on consumers learning about, visiting, and submitting information at a central web site. TowerData is different because it leverages a permission-based network of over 20 web sites, and it uses a non-intrusive, patent-pending method for tracking email address changes in its proprietary database of 70 million consumer records. TowerData can thus provide first-rate, up-to-date information to ensure email list accuracy and greater end results. On average, TowerData is able to update 5 to 10% of an email list within two weeks and over 20% of a list on an annual basis. No other company provides its clients with the same level of depth and accuracy in its results.

The company’s new product, “Email Update” helps companies stay in touch with customers even if they move, change jobs, or change ISPs. This is how it works… A client sends TowerData a list of its undeliverable email addresses. TowerData then matches the client’s list to its ECOA database and sends emails to the client’s customers inviting them to share their current addresses. The updated database is then returned to the client with a summary report.

TowerData takes pride in the fact that it is a “boutique” data marketing services company that specializes in email accuracy services. It is especially known for working with its customers to solve the tough problems that others can’t solve. With the introduction of “Email Update,” TowerData is the first and only company in the industry to offer in-house capabilities for email append, ECOA, and email list hygiene.

“Given the current market climate it is necessary now more than for email marketers to stay in touch with their customers and cultivate accurate customer lists that provide greater reach and increased ROI,” said Tom Burke, President of TowerData. “At TowerData, customer retention is our primary business and we are intent on helping our clients conserve money and maintain the quality and size of their email lists by developing and providing them with a wide range of data quality related products and services.”

Of course risking the loss of $260 million dollars is only the tip of the iceberg. What does the average “lost” customer cost a company in terms of potential sales? Customers are clearly valuable and industry statistics show that it is much more cost effective to retain existing customers than acquire new ones. According to Jupiter Media Metrix, email customer acquisition costs an average of $114 per customer, yet a customer costs 5 to 10 times more than retaining one according to eMarketer. A 5% increase in retention yields profit increases of 25 to 100%, and repeat customers spend, on average, 67% more, says Bain and Co. Do the math. Maintaining a current customer base makes better business sense and costs less than losing current customers and having to find new ones. If a customer has purchased in the past, you need to encourage repeat behavior in the future. You can’t do that if you do not have a way to contact your customer. And, if you can not contact your customer — you run the risk of losing him/her forever.

It doesn’t have to be that way! Email marketers are being encouraged by management to seek out data accuracy services to help lower their average bounce rate, increase response rates, bolster sales opportunities, lower costs and increase return on investment. TowerData’s goal is to make marketers more aware of the vast range of services that it offers. So, for a limited time, new clients can take advantage of a FREE, no obligation match test to see how many customers TowerData can immediately reconnect them with.

About TowerData

TowerData improves the quality and size of customer email lists, thereby making email marketing campaigns more successful. Through its patent-pending products, TowerData enables marketers to rapidly convert customers from postal mail to email, prevent invalid email addresses from getting on their lists, and identify and update undeliverable email addresses that exist on their lists. TowerData makes sure its clients have the most accurate email addresses available and is committed to providing the highest-quality professional services in the industry.