Email Marketing Question

I sell a product to businesses through direct mail. I want to try opt-in email marketing but I have two problems:
a) The companies I have spoken to want a minimum order of $2000 which is more than I want to pay just to test.
b) With the number of impressions I get (250,000) for $2000, if a get even a small fraction of a 1% response I will have trouble with fullfillment.

Does anyone know of an email marketing company with smaller minimums?

Thanks in advance,
Bill Martin

Hi Bill,

The only thing that comes to my mind is to try ezines.... Are there any ezines which target the kind of people who would be interested in your product?

Ezine advertising can be expensive or cheap - from as little as $5, to over $1000 per ad - it mostly depends on how large their subscriber base is. If there are several ezines which are aimed at your target market, you can inquire about ad rates to the various ezines, and choose the one which seems most appropriate to you.

Ezine lists can really vary a LOT in quality, though, so keep that in mind. You have to test! I also ALWAYS subscribe to any ezine I'm considering, to check that it is a decent quality ezine that I think people will read!

Many ezines offer several options - from solo ads (which are essentially mailings of just your ad, to their list), to top sponsor ads, and classifieds. So you can choose which seems most appropriate for you.

Of course, it goes without saying - make sure the ezine is an opt-in ezine, so that only those who explicitly subscribed receive it.... (Otherwise, the subscriber numbers will be "padded" with people who really have no interest in the ezine at all.)

- Dien Rice

> I sell a product to businesses through
> direct mail. I want to try opt-in email
> marketing but I have two problems:
> a) The companies I have spoken to want a
> minimum order of $2000 which is more than I
> want to pay just to test.
> b) With the number of impressions I get
> (250,000) for $2000, if a get even a small
> fraction of a 1% response I will have
> trouble with fullfillment.

> Does anyone know of an email marketing
> company with smaller minimums?

> Thanks in advance,
> Bill Martin