February 19th, 2004 Edition

Solo vs. Email Publications
When most people think of email marketing these days, they are more likely to think about the latest “Penis Enlargement” advertisement
Trends: What Does CAN-SPAM Mean to Anti-Spam Sites?
Since the CAN-SPAM bill was signed into law by President Bush, there has been a great deal of discussion about what the act means for advertisers and publishers who utilize direct online marketing.

Digital Thoughts: Take It To the Limit with Email Marketing
Our industry thrives on the acquisition and consumption of data.

Who is Responsible?
Two months into the Can Spam law, and I’m still being solicited by an African prince who wants me to help him and his oppressed mother transfer funds into my US bank account in return for a hefty commission

Top Offers From Top Networks
Top offerers form these top networks. R.O.Wise Networks, Adteractive, Digital Moses, eMarketMakers, LynxTrack and Azoogle

Published every Thursday, Digital Moses Confidential is a content-driven newsletter serving the online marketing industry.

Please direct questions or comments to editor@digitalmoses.com

GET YOUR COPY TODAY!
To Advertise with us contact editor@digitalmoses.com

DM Confidential Classifieds

AzoogleAds.com - Performance Marketing
Do you work in the Toronto area? If you have ANY online media experience or e-commerce biz dev experience, contact alex@azoogleads.com - 905-946-0300 x221. We need talent, and will pay for it!

Reg Path
Advertisers and publishers wanted please contact reg@digitalmoses.com we are looking for advertisers looking to generate leads on registration paths of publishers.And publishers that have inventory open for hosted deals

Experienced Online Media Buyer - Long Island.
To help grow existing web properties. CPA marketing a must. Team player, detail-oriented, communicator. Salary, Bonus, benefits + 401K. Send resumes to Jenn@IntermarkMedia.com

InternetJungle - Your one stop shop to get you download distribution. ActvieX, Bundle’s, Stand Alone, POP, Email etc… If you have a product you are looking to distribute legally and honestly through downloadable software channels. Email: dag@interenetjungle.com

Solo vs. Email Publications
By Anisa Ali

When most people think of email marketing these days, they are more likely to think about the latest “Penis Enlargement” advertisement or other piece of SPAM cluttering your email box. Email marketing is taking its lumps now.

This has created a situation where any advertisements delivered via email are suspect. Even legitimate double opt-in solo emails have a problem. This is why we are slowly seeing the death of legitimate solo email marketing.

Solo emails that only say, “buy my stuff” are almost indistinguishable from SPAM advertisements. It is also the case that many ISPs treat these solo advertisements as SPAM. But how many people know there is another way to get the advertising message through email?

Email newsletters, also called e-zines or email publications may be the most effective advertising vehicle out there. Here, content is delivered and within this content advertisements are placed. This is like an ad inside the television show Friends… and a solo email advertisement would resemble infomercials.

This has the added advantage of rising through the ad clutter. Usually there are no more than two ads per newsletter. Because the best of this lot are all Opt-in and Confirmed and the content is what people subscribe to, there is NO confusing this with SPAM. Also, there is a rub off benefit of being inside content. It is called the “Halo Effect”.

But the real benefit of this type of media is that it is a much better communication vehicle. The content sets up the environment for interaction. Interactivity creates involvement. Involvement is what brands covet. Positioning is dependent on involvement. This is what good advertising is all about.

Advertising in newsletters allows for targeting toward psychographics or interests. Of course the old way of demographic targeting is also available, but now you know something significant about the people reading in addition to their gender and age. People reading Bass Matters is obviously interested in fishing.

If a newsletter or e-zine is delivering good quality content, a relationship is created. This relationship is what every advertiser needs to capitalize on. Over the years we have discovered that it is best for advertisers to create a relationship with readers. If one tries to only sell inside a newsletter, this will not be as successful as trying to use the ad space to have the reader give the advertiser information.

Once this happens, it is necessary to get permission to connect with them down the road. Hopefully the connection will be more significant than sending a solo email asking the reader to “buy my stuff.” Advertising inside email newsletters eliminates SPAM complaints, offers content, gets through ISP filters, and is the fastest growing part of the industry.

Anisa Ali
Co-founder PennMedia.com & GopherCentral.com
anisa@pennmedia.com

return to top

Banners of all sizes, mini-sites, pops, splash pages, email newsletters, animated interactive banners. 24 hour turn-around.

Contact Michael at mm@maridium.com AOL IM: maridium

Trends: What Does CAN-SPAM Mean to Anti-Spam Sites?
by Sam Harrelson

Since the CAN-SPAM bill was signed into law by President Bush, there has been a great deal of discussion about what the act means for advertisers and publishers who utilize direct online marketing. However, little attention has been paid to what the new law means to the various sites which email marketers once feared. These sites had the power to single-handedly “black-list” publishers who employed commercial email marketing and had a great deal of influence on what mail the ISP’s would or would not allow to reach their users. With the advent of CAN-SPAM, what does the future hold for these once-fearsome sites? Now that the CAN-SPAM law has defined what is acceptable for commercial email, what role do these sites play?

CAN-SPAM maintains a definition for what is legal commercial email. ISP’s, for the most part, either maintain their own white list or employ another firm that decides who reaches their users and who doesn’t. The former role of the spam-list websites has essentially gone away in the current marketplace. Where they once provided ISP’s with the ability to declare that a certain mailer was a proliferator of spam, these anti-spam sites now face a marketplace where the power of permission has been given to consumers.

With CAN-SPAM spelling out what is legal in terms of commercial mail, should such sites shift their focus? Their definition of spam (“unverified opt-in”) is quite different than what the new law allows. While the teeth of such sites is not as sharp as in the past, they still command a good deal of allegiance from ISP’s who maintain they are somewhat helpful at determining which mailers should have access to their consumers. However, if the federal law supercedes the general function of such sites by declaring what is legal commercial mail, how can these sites justify their interruption of commerce and the advertiser/consumer relationship?

Finally, such sites do interfere with the execution of the CAN-SPAM law. Auto-responders to provide verification of opt-in permission can be blocked, along with the rest of the commercial mailings. This verification of permission can prove the difference between successful and profitable data and data which has a lower yield.

The issue of these once greatly feared spam registry websites is an interesting trend in the industry given the implementation of CAN-SPAM. Analysts are already reporting that a very small percentage of commercial mail being sent is compliant with the law, and the amount of commercial email that consumers receive has not decreased. What role do the spam-listing sites play in the new marketplace where consumers set the playing field for permission? Ultimately, will these sites morph into the watch-dogs of the industry?

Sam Harrelson is co-editor of the Digital Moses Confidential. Please send any comments or questions to sam@digitalmoses.com

return to top

Missed last weeks issue? Click Here to view

Digital Thoughts: Take It To the Limit with Email Marketing
by Sam Harrelson

Our industry thrives on the acquisition and consumption of data. This space has explored the issue of data management in past issues (http://www.dmconfidential.com/back.htm). However, the issue of data’s shelf-life has been largely ignored by small and large publishers, advertising networks and by advertisers of all sorts. It is little wonder that ecpm’s continue to fall in general email marketing while the analysts declare online advertising revenues. Will email marketing ever recover its former status as the marquee of online direct marketing effectiveness? Maybe, but that will mean that email marketers must face the hard reality that data possesses a limit on re-selling that cannot be overlooked. As an industry, we must set guidelines and standards detailing the responsibilities of those of us in the media who deal in data. As an industry, we have to develop a way for ecpm’s to rise from the ashes, and allow profitability for publishers and advertisers to return.

Data is the lifeblood of the industry. Those with the best data (segmented, fresh, etc) can charge the highest cpm’s and get the best reputations in cpa circles. It’s no mystery who these players are, as the industry is small enough to observe who has a good reputation and who doesn’t. However, there is a logistical and logical limit as to what we can expect from the performance of data that has been bought and sold innumerable times. The effects of these practices are bad for a) advertisers/publishers b) consumers and c) online marketing.

It takes little imagination to see how badly the uncounted and uncontrolled reselling of data affects advertisers and publishers. Advertisers get little response and profit from data that has changed hands many times, and publishers quickly earn a reputation of having bulk and “junk” data. This is certainly a lose-lose situation for all parties involved.

It’s no secret in the industry that when consumers sign up for certain offers or fail to uncheck the subscribe radio-button on a co-reg, they can be inundated with commercial messages numbering in the hundreds on a daily basis. CAN-SPAM doesn’t alleviate this, and the consumer is left feeling frustrated and mistrustful of certain brands and even email marketing in general. With the federal Do-Not-Call list passed last year, marketers were limited to the amount of time they could market to a specific consumer. This model offers some interesting insight, and it should be an area of discussion for email marketing as the industry faces the post CAN-SPAM market.

For the general climate of email marketing, the uncontrolled selling of data only leads to lower ecpm’s and less trustworthiness within the industry. These two conditions are quite necessary for email marketing to operate successfully and produce a profit for publishers and advertisers. It’s a symbiotic relationship that cannot be disqualified.

Short term gain and profit should not and cannot stand in the way of the long term value. Our industry is at a cross-roads, and we must decide if we will continue to buy/sell data on a wholesale value, continually de-valuing the market. If that is true, data would have to be an inexhaustible resource that could be mined at all times with anyone with the correct resources. However, the post-bubble period of online marketing has shown that data is a limited resource. We must respect consumer wishes and not continue to inundate their inboxes and deplete the very real and exhaustible resource that is data. This means we must place a limit on how many times data can be sold, optimally three times with no reselling by the buyers.

What do you think?

Sam Harrelson is co-editor of the Digital Moses Confidential. Please send any comments or questions to sam@digitalmoses.com

return to top

Top Offers Top Networks

Adteractive, Inc. Top Offers:

Adteractive, Inc. offers net 15 payment terms and the most aggressive CPA and CPC pricing around. We are happy to structure retroactive performance tiers above and beyond our published rates.

Here are a few Adteractive Exclusives: (additional clients listed below)

AIU Online: (Contact for Best Rates)
- Action: Short Form.
- CPA: Contact us
- Conversion: 10-15% from the click. ($1.50-$2.00+ EPC)
- Real-time reporting, no charge backs.
Note: We have unlimited inventory on AIU along with the highest payouts and best converting form
online.

DirecTV Lead Gen: (Contact for Best Rates)
- Action: Submit page 1! Short form.
- CPA: Contact us
- Conversion: 15-25% from the click.
- Real-time reporting, no charge backs.
Note: This is one of the better DirecTV lead generation offers out there. Contact us for pricing.

LowRateSource.com: (Contact for Best Rates)

- Action: 5 Drop Downs, Submit any Combination of Page 1!
- CPA: Contact us
- Conversion: 20-30% from the click. ($1.50-$2.00+ EPC)
- Real-time reporting, no charge backs.

Note: Lowratesource offers the highest bounty and conversion for this type of mortgage offer.
Try the original 5 drop down only deal - great creative available.

Expertdebtsolutions.com: (Contact for Best Rates)

Action: 2 Drop Downs, Submit Page 1!
- CPA: Contact us
- Conversion: 20-30% from the click. ($1.00-$1.50+ EPC)
- Real-time reporting, no charge backs.

Note: This is the highest converting Debt deal available. Unlimited Inventory. Try it - you will like it!

Other clients include Columbia House, Universtiy of Phoenix, iWon, AIU, Kennedy Western, Netflix, Chase, Discover, Ameriquest and more! All at the guaranteed highest payouts around. Come join the original Ad network and make some cash today.

Contact: Diego Canoso, dcanoso@adteractive.com (415) 762-2266 x121 for additional information

R.O.Wise Networks

Fast payments, exceptional affiliate support, exclusive offers, and unique creatives. We offer custom bounties for volume above our published rates. Contact an R.O.Wise rep to discuss all our offers. Join our rapidly expanding network of web and email publishers today.

The net panel.com Exclusive CPA: $1 25% conversion from the click
Fastest growing internet survey panel. Slick creatives and incredible conversion. *INCREASED BOUNTY* Online survey panel is one of our hottest offers. 85% of consumers that start the survey fully complete it. This new bounty increase should yield a 10%-15% increase in effective revenue.

My diet resolution Exclusive CPA: $40 Hottest Low Carb Diet

Exclusive marketer of this leading low carb diet. With new years resolutions still in motion now is the time to promote this offer.

This is the best converting diet offer we ever had so take advantage of all the hype with the amazing diet.

My debt helper Exclusive CPA: $3 for 5 drop downs - 20% conversion from the click
Hot creatives and easy conversion for exclusive debt offer. Five simple drop down fields on first page for an easy conversion.

Ipsos Exclusive CPA: $2 Great Converting Survey Panel
The Ipsos i-Say Panel, an online survey panel. Members will be automatically entered into Ipsos "New Member" Sweepstakes for $1,000! Each time they complete a survey, they will have a chance to win cash &/or prizes. In addition, each month they're on their panel, they'll be entered into their monthly half & half draw for $250 and an additional $250 is donated to the charity of their choice.

My mortgage helper Exclusive CPA: $5 30% conversion from the click
Hot creatives and easy conversion for exclusive mortgage offer. Five simple drop down fields on first page for an easyconversion. We pay on 100% of all leads.

eMarketMakers Top Offers:

Co-Registration Offers (Opt-Ins; Opt-Outs; Custom Co-Reg) – Over 30 Co-Reg offers to choose from. Newsletters, opt-outs, education, Dish Network, Wyndham, MLM, Cash Advance Health Insurance, Travel…you name it. Inquire at info@emarketmakers.com .

Kaplan - Extremely Professional Education offer from Kaplan! For both online and offline degrees. Performs really well to all demographics! Degrees include Business, Criminal Justice and Financial Planning. 1-page form pays $12 CPA.

My Diet Resolution - Looking for the perfect Diet Offer? No diet is perfect, but this diet offer creates a custom diet for Subscribers! And for a few dollars they get an individualized eating plan! It's Atkin's Diet Approved! We're paying $40 CPA!

Rapid Quote - Get paid on FIVE FIELDS, One-page on this easy homeowner refinance offer. Excellent clicks/conversions on this one; good, clean creative. ***Higher Payout***now at $6.50 for 5 pull-downs.

Win An iPod - Get paid on one-field! Users fill in an e-mail address which enters them to win a iPod! Converts Phenomenally, performs well to all lists! CPA now at $0.40.

Exclusive AzoogleAds.com Offers:

#453 LowRateAdvisors – 5 drop downs, 1st page lead!
CPA:   $7.50
Current Stats: $2.00 eCPC , 20% conversion from the click.
All that is required for a lead is for the user to select from the 5 dropdowns on the landing page and you will be paid the CPA. LowRateAdvisors allows users to save money on their mortgage, and other debts they may have. This is by far THE EASIEST lead form that you can possibly have. No further action from the user is required for you to be paid, just the 5 drop-downs.

#446 1ClickDebtRelief -  four pull downs, 1st page lead!
CPA:   $4.25
Current Stats: $1.40 eCPC, 20% conversion from the click.
This debt program pays on just the first page. When the user pulls down the 4 menus and hits submit you get paid, it's that easy.

#448 Find Romance - The BEST Performing Dating Deal!
CPA:   $3.45
Current Stats : $0.60 - $0.80 eCPC, 18% conversion from the click
You will be paid on GROSS leads for only the FIRST PAGE of the registration. There are NO chargebacks. This offer is converting at as much as $0.80 eCPC, whereas other dating offers have a hard time hitting $0.20 eCPC. If you have done well with dating offers in the past, you MUST run this offer. Find Romance is an offline dating service that matches real singles with one another, this is NOT an online dating site.

#426 Extended Warranty Provider

CPA: $6.00
Current Stats: 0.80 eCPC, 16% conversion from the click
Extended Warranty Provider is a VERY easy Lead Gen offer where the consumer only needs to fill out the first page of the registration to obtain a FREE Quote on extended warranty for their vehicle. This offer pays on Gross leads in Realtime

#588  AudioBookClub!
CPA:  $20.00
Current Stats: $1.00 eCPC,  5% conversion from the click.
An exclusive new advertiser, it pays out on gross leads, in real-time with no chargebacks. Consumers are offered 4 audio books for only .99 cents, with a free player.

LynxTrack
Top Offers:

FREE DINNER at Applebee's Exclusive! PAYOUT: $11.50 CPA

Get a $20.00 gift certificate good at any Applebee's restaurant. This offer is less than 24 hrs. old, and we expect it to be a network hit! You can wait for results, or be the first into the market with this great, broad audience, general consumer offer!

JUST ADDED: 50 Mystery Classics - DVD Movie Pack PAYOUT: $7:50 CPA

Brand new this week, just added to our great DVD lineup (which includes our hit '50 Horror Classics')! Get 50 classic mystery movies for the price of one! All the Dick Tracy's, all of the Sherlock Holmes greats! Nancy Drew and more. If you scored big on 50 Horror Classics last week, don't hesitate to run this great offer now!

FREE Websters 2004 Millennium Encyclopedia Exclusive! PAYOUT: 30% revenue share

Newest version of the Websters CD -ROM. Pay only shipping and handling. The ultimate encyclopedia reference collection for the whole family. 12,000 photos, videos and sound clips! High converting offer and monster clicker that will result in a very high ecpm on your lists!

Low Rate Finders Exclusive! PAYOUT: $7.50 CPA

Network conversion close to $2 eCPC!

Everyone needs a little extra money around tax time --give your members a terrific bargain with this chance to save on mortgage and other debts. We only require 5 first-page dropdowns to pay you, so this converts extremely well!

National Auto Warranty: Exclusive! PAYOUT: $6.00 CPA

Steadiest performer on the network, always-consistent eCPC above $1.40! National Auto Warranty is one of the leading online automotive plan programs available. Very simple lead generation form, pays on gross leads, first page only!

Contacts:

Doug Walker 310.861.8788 doug@hydragroup.com AIM: Camden110

Scott Steele 310.861.8788 scott@hydragroup.com AIM: Production71

Zac Brandenberg 310.861.8788 zac@hydragroup.com AIM: zzllbb

DigitalMoseS
Top Offers:

Degreematch - $4.00 CPL: DM Exclusive, this campaign pays on the First Page, 7-8 fields, No Scrubs!

Net Money Wizard - $10.00 CPL: Accepts leads from all 50 states, accepts home purchase leads that others don't, which account for about 40% of all conversions, no chargebacks! You will get paid on anybody that comes in and fills out the form. 18%-22% click to conversion.

NMW Cash Advance - $5.60 CPL: Short, one-step form - No chargebacks! Over 20% click to conversion. This is a high-volume, fast-growing market!

Robert G. Allen - $40 CPA - This offer features the advice of the very well known Robert G. Allen. It has been converting around 1.3%. This is a high payout, and ECPM's are great! Cost to end user is $39.95.

BestDegreeGuide - a 100 page plus complimentary ebook. Download is free, and no registration is required. test it today

Net 10 Payment Terms
Contact us, deals@digitalmoses.com for additional information

Who Is Responsible?
By Effie Mansdorf

Two months into the Can Spam law, and I’m still being solicited by an African prince who wants me to help him and his oppressed mother transfer funds into my US bank account in return for a hefty commission.

Our friends in Washington have not been successful as of yet in warding off the evil spammers, but have, at best, tried to regulate already accepted best practices among legitimate email marketers. However, how to approach those practices has left many in the industry quite perplexed.

There are a lot of gray areas in the Can Spam law that allow email marketers to be somewhat lax with it. Right now about 40% of our clients do not supply us with their suppression lists, even though they are required to by law. Although as a publisher, we may be held responsible if we email one of their subscribers who has opted out of a particular advertiser’s list. However we are not responsible if we are not supplied with that list.

The reason some advertisers still don’t have suppression lists, or unsubscribe copy on their creatives, is one of those many gray areas in the Can Spam law. The Can Spam law requires the “Sender” to include a way for the email recipient to unsubscribe. But, just who is defined as a sender remains vague. Is it the advertiser? The list owner? The publisher? The same goes for suppression list responsibilities. The truth is, an email recipient does not understand differences between a publisher, list owner or advertiser. All an end user sees is either one unsubscribe copy, in the case of just the publishers unsubscribe copy, or two very confusing copies from the publisher and the advertiser. What results in the second case is something like this:

“To no longer receive emails from Widgets R’ Us please click here."
"You are subscribed to Deals R’ Us. To unsubscribe please click here.”

Clearly an email recipient can get confused and even more agitated than before. Do they really understand the difference between unsubscribing from an advertiser and unsubscribing from a list owner? And does anyone take the time to unsubscribe from both? What results from this is confusion on both ends, from the email recipient and from the sender. Email recipients get confused and agitated by being faced with more confusing unsubscribe links than before. Marketers are confused regarding the responsibilities among list owners and advertisers.

The can Spam laws have not yet been successful in regulating the already legitimate email marketing industry. Their vague language in the act and their lack of understanding of the industry has resulted in confusion, frustration, and misinterpretation of the law. As far as the real purpose of the act, to CAN SPAM- well, lets look as a less popular clause in the act, under Section 5:

“Requirements to place warning labels on commercial electronic mail containing sexually oriented material”

None of the offers in my inbox to see the Paris video or grow my supposed manhood have come with a warning…

Effie Mansdorf
Production Manager at Ward Media, Inc.
effie@wardmediainc.com

return to top

Don't miss out! Get Back Issues of The Confidential here

copyright © Digital Moses
The articles and opinions expressed within are those of industry professionals and do not necessarily represent those of Digital Moses LLC