Hi Phillip!

Just a short comment about copy/approach, to go along with the email medium.

I've been telling people for years now, at my seminars, that the most successful e-renewals I've done have taken advantage of the unique legitimacy of email -- it's not snail mail so it can ask whether snail mail is working. Here's my usual e-renewal pitch (subject line and first couple of paras):

"RE: Your Opera Canada subscription

Dear Ms Parker,

We never received your response to the expiration
notices we were sending you about your subscription
to Opera Canada magazine.

I just wanted to check that your mailing address is
still correct, and that you have been receiving the
magazine (and our renewal reminders!).

OPC 51375 R0182RR06
Mary Jo Parker
Los Angeles Opera
135 North Grand Ave
TORONTO ON M6J 2J7

Please let me know if any corrections are necessary.

And if you've been meaning to renew, just reply to
this email, or call our subscription department
TOLL-FREE at 1-800-222-5097. I'll resume your
subscription and send you an invoice. (Please do NOT
send your credit card information via email.)"

[then the offer, some editorial highlights of the upcoming issue, etc.]

"If you reply right away, I can still send you our
exciting Fall 2004 issue (see note from our editors,
below) ... as well as our upcoming annual Opera Canada
Awards issue, celebrating the career achievements of
mezzo Judith Forst, bass Joseph Rouleau, and
conductor Mario Bernardi.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Yours,

Jon Spencer
Circulation Manager, Opera Canada magazine

P.S. Your privacy is important to us. This is the only
time we'll be contacting you by email, and the
last time we'll inquire about your subscription."

I have often done these as plain text, no links whatsoever, just like a personal email. In fact, for Opera Canada in particular, with very few email addresses on-file, I've usually sent them out myself in little batches of a few dozen, one email at a time since I have no sophisticated eblast software at my disposal. So they really ARE a personal email from me.

Although sent out when all renewal efforts have already been mailed, and our usual renewal response rate has been roughly achieved, these emails get anywhere from 7% to 11% renewal response (it varies from magazine to magazine, as well as by source and ancientness of expire), with some very appreciative comments from customers who don't feel like they've been marketed at, but realize instead that we have gone the extra mile to ensure their subscriptions are well served. Subscribers really DO move, they forget to tell publishers, etc. A typical response:

"Pardon me for not having replied to your previous notices. Yes, please renew my subscription to the OPERA CANADA magazine for the next 2 years at the $49.00 rate. The address you have on file is correct and I look forward to receiving the Fall 2004 issue. Thank you for your patience."

Of course, most people don't renew, but because of the nature of the correspondence, they often reply with their reasons, so it serves as a useful mini-survey. An example:

"We have decided not to renew. Too many magazines and newspapers are coming in and I'm not reading them. Thank you for checking."

Someday, I hope to get around to doing a head-to-head test of one approach versus the other, and see which one is better. Or you might want to try testing it out yourself and see how it works on two randomly-selected groups of expiring customers, while controlling for all other variables (prior source, age of expire etc.).

I think this approach works well when contacting fairly recent expires (I usually go back a year or so with this kind of pitch). Older lapsed expires might not be quite as amenable to this approach, without some copy tweaking.

All the best,

-- Jon