Very few email marketing businesses can survive on a single product. Most of the banner ads etc. That's right, that nice flashing, rotating advertisement you see for the latest in software technology will, in all likelihood, cost the company more in advertising than it will generate in sales. Because the companies know from experience that once they have a customer, he will normally buy something else. That buyer of the new software package will probably buy the upgrade to it later on.
Companies talk in terms of the 'lifetime value' of a customer.
This can be many times the value of the original sale. More people have gone bust in the 'mail order business' trying to make money from a single product than in any other way. Email marketing runs along a similar vein and the guidelines for success remain the same. Lesley Anne Lowe is publisher of Advance Consultancy News, a weekly newsletter devoted to online marketing techniques, maximizing online profits and developing 'killer' advertising strategies. Copyright 1996-2001 Horizons Unlimited Group .