Opt-in for Some Viral Stickiness

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by Robert Spiegel

No, this isn't a call to a new xxx site. These are the new terms that are defining the beginning of true e-marketing. Finally, after years of using the concrete world's marketing concepts, e-business is discovering it has quite a few special properties of its own that can drive a flow of credit cards numbers and e-checks. But first, let's see where the concrete world failed.

Banner ads are the net version of display advertising. They were hot through the 90s, but that's because they were the only Internet tool most ad agencies understood. Put up the ad and hope they'll click. They clicked at first, but when visitors arrived at the site, they didn't buy. Now they're clicking less and less. Net travelers find banners ho-hum. It's like touching a magazine ad and getting a brochure. Right, all I wanted was more flat information.

The other concrete marketing technique that failed online was bulk email. You know how much you despise junk mail? Spam is held in even deeper contempt. Even well-targeted recipients resent the intrusion. Consumer groups ran to congress to stop it. Internet servers created programs to filter it away. Direct marketers slunk away in disgrace.

Yet , while banners and bulk email failed, the net exploded with commerce. Why? Because cybersavvy marketers began to devise e-friendly ways to encourage visitors to stay around and buy something. Better yet, they figured out ways to bring them back again. Getting online travelers to visit your site is meaningless unless you can convince them to stick around. The sites that keep visitors are called "sticky." If your visitors tell their friends, your site is "viral." When you can get your visitors to "opt-in" to receive information about your products, you're doing "permission" marketing. These are the techniques that create success on the Internet.

The winners offer their customers everything they can imagine on the given subject. The trick is giving your customer so much on the topic that there's no need to explore other sites. Then you give your visitor a "my" option. Your visitor chooses to receive email updates on the subject, and with these emails, sales notices and new product info. I'm a blues lover. I filled out the "opt-in" at CDNow, so I receive notices of blues concerts, interviews with artists, and of course new CD releases and sales. I read my blues emails as though they're personal mail. This isn't spam -- it's information on Keb Mo!

Here are some of the techniques that are proving successful with Internet marketing.

Vertical Site. This means you offer your customer everything she needs on the given subject. If you sell hot foods, you offer recipes, gardening information, cooking utensils, aprons, clothing, books and, of course, the food products.

Brand identification. Using offline and online publicity and advertising to bring people directly to the site. Since so many sites are able to present the same line of products and services, building a brand is essential for attracting and keep customers.

Permission marketing. With permission marketing you ask your web visitors to opt-in to receive targeted email notices of new products and services. You ask their permission to send them information on your subject of your webstore.

Affiliate agreements. You don't need to open a warehouse to store your products. You can forge affiliate relationships with large companies that fulfill orders and ship products. You can ask a company like Amazon.com to offer books on your subject. Amazon.com takes the order, ships the book, and you get a cut.

These are the tactics of the successful Internet retailers. These techniques will keep your site sticky and viral.