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Applied Information Group Raises E-mail Service
Bureau Standards with HTML Messaging and On-Line Campaign Tracking
Applied Information Group (AIG) continues
to set the pace for direct marketers implementing e-mail marketing techniques. The veteran computer service bureau announces the addition of two new e-mail service upgrades:
AIG now gives direct
marketers the attractive ability to send HTML pictures in the body of each e-mail message. Product shots, line art, starbursts, graphics, large type, and animated moving images can be sent to recipients
greater impact. AIG's new e-marketing software programs determine whether each addressed message should display HTML pictures or text eliminating the extra time and inconvenience of sniffer programs.
"It's a fact," notes Mitchell Rubin, AIG president, "that the elements of color and imagery increase response rates in print. This is especially true in Web environment where graphics
generate greatly increased click-throughs."
The state-of-the-art e-bureau also added the ability for direct e-marketers to track each campaign at the AIG web site, appliedinfogroup.com.
Marketers can visit the site and download reports that measure response (click through rates) as they appear. "The figures literally change before your eyes," note Rubin.
AIG builds and
maintains e-mail databases, fulfills e-mail files, conducts merge/purge for e-mail lists, and delivers e-mail messages to e-mail address files. The list service bureau also fulfills on-line requests as
well as receives, tracks, and reports responses.
"E-marketing is becoming an essential element of most direct marketing campaigns," says Rubin. "Providing computer e-mail services
is a natural extension of our traditional list service bureau offering."
According to Rubin, direct marketers are using e-mail in a number of ways to complement direct mail activity. Software
companies, for example, send e-mail notices for upgrades. Similarly, publishers are sending e-mail notices for subscriptions and renewals. Catalogers can boost orders by sending e-mail messages alerting
customers that their next catalog will arrive shortly from which they can take advantage of a special offer. And now marketers with web sites can drive traffic to their sites with e-mail messages
containing HTML.
Much like traditional mailing list services, AIG standardizes e-mail lists to ensure that all elements of each record are organized properly. AIG's e-mail processing software
program looks at each record to verify a user name and a deliverable domain name. Then it matches files to permission based lists. Additionally, AIG can conduct an permission based campaign for a new database where the
customers have not had a chance to get their permission. AIG also matches e-mail lists to postal address files for tandem marketing programs.
Prior to delivering e-mail, AIG formats the message, incorporating
links to a web site or a response mechanism giving recipients options to respond positively or permission based of future promotions. Messages can even include a microsite with an electronic direct response
offer. The program handles on-line information fulfillment requests by automatically sending requested information upon receipt of a positive response.
"The beauty of e-marketing is that
within hours after sending e-mail messages, marketers can look at a report detailing the responses, ranked according to list source and segment," Rubin points out. "Campaigns can be adjusted on
the fly rather than waiting the few months necessary to evaluate postal campaigns."
Rubin also noted that mailers appreciate the security that comes by placing e-mail processing with a
DMA-member list service bureau that abides by industry guidelines for ethical list usage. Such service bureaus are already entrusted with data belonging to the most respected mailers in direct marketing
and can be trusted not to abuse e-mail files.
Applied Information Group has served direct marketers as a PC-based, state-of-the-art computer service bureau since 1988. The firm also handles
mailing list fulfillment, merge/purge, database development, analysis and modeling, data warehousing, and list enhancement.
WebOTIS Gives List Professionals Instant Online Count Access and List
Ordering Ability
Direct and e-mail service bureau, Applied Information Group (AIG), launched an upgraded
version of its online count and ordering software, WebOTIS, which gives list professionals immediate counts and crosstabs for lists maintained and fulfilled at AIG. The program also lets direct marketers
place and track list orders as well as generate shipping and billing reports at AIG's website, www.appliedinfogroup.com.
"There's been an explosion of data available on lists," notes
Mitch Rubin, President. "WebOTIS makes it easy to sort through the data and explore any combination of selections from any number of lists. You can get one number up to several thousand count
variations with a single request, which can be omitted, from previous order."
WebOTIS is installed at American List Counsel's Compilation and Data Management Divisions where Gay Bitter is
Compilation Manager and WebOTIS Administrator. Asked what she likes about the online count system, Gay points out that, "WebOTIS is extremely fast. I can log in, check a few selection buttons, and
have answers pop back to me immediately while I'm still on the phone with my client."
The program also allows users to continue working while it processes more complicated counts that require
a few minutes to download. For example, AIG maintains ALC's Ultra Affluent Masterfile, which contains dozens of data variables on well over three million names. Bitter said she can command WebOTIS to
search for millionaire yacht owners over 50 years old in 25 states, and millionaire airplane pilots under age 50 in 25 others in a single count request. While this may take a few minutes to give her
those 100 counts, she can continue processing additional count requests for different criteria on other lists. She will get these counts back in an Excel spreadsheet that she can e-mail her customer.
"The breakthrough innovation in WebOTIS is true multi-tasking functionality on the web, which is virtually non-existent in most web applications. Your count results automatically appear on
your web page without clicking buttons or opening other windows," Rubin explains. "We also developed a community where each list owner or manager can view the counts or orders for all users
that they enable to view their files. Therefore, list marketing professionals can simultaneously share information and review set-up on-line."
"A major WebOTIS time-saver is the ability
to create folders that archive counts for future reference," adds Bitter, "which is real handy when you want to perform order omissions for your next mailings. Once you have a count set-up, you
can run it with a single click after your next update to get the new numbers without any additional set-up."
Indeed WebOTIS contains an order history console that displays a visual record of
all previous counts and orders for each direct marketer. This component helps list professionals analyze past campaigns and makes placing future counts and orders easier.
WebOTIS software
features point and click navigation and is easy to use. Therefore users don't have to key in codes to get to the data they need. Counts and crosstabs are organized into an Excel spreadsheet with
headings, percents, and cumulative totals by clicking a link. List managers can generate billing reports by clicking through dialog boxes. Users can access the program's shipping and status module, click
into the package carrier's website, and confirm the whereabouts of the package. All counts can be saved for reference or re-use. For example, after an update, users can run the count without any set-up
by clicking one button.
One of the multi-faceted, data-intensive databases that resides online at AIG is the nation's most comprehensive list of teachers, the Quality Education Data (QED) file. In
conjunction with Scholastic, QED specializes in school market data collection. Its Educator DataSource tracks more than four-million educators, capturing data from telemarketing transactions, direct
mail, and surveys from three levels: district, school, and individual teacher.
"Since the QED database contains a wealth of information," according Rubin, "we needed an online
access tool that was flexible enough to enable our users to develop very sophisticated count requests. With WebOTIS, a count request for all third grade teachers, state-by-state, for example, can be
delivered in seconds."
Applied Information Group has served direct marketers as the leading PC-based computer service bureau since 1988. The company handles mailing list fulfillment,
merge/purge, database development, analysis and modeling, data warehousing, list enhancement, and Internet marketing.
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