Email-Based Retargeting is a new category and a new channel. You’re definitely going to have to get the whole C-Suite on board, so we made this guide about how you should explain Email-Based Retargeting to your CEO. 

1. It’s a new channel.

Email-Based Retargeting is a method of acquiring email addresses and postal records from anonymous website visitors who are not on your list yet, then marketing to them in a CAN-SPAM compliant way. 

We identify up to 35% of traffic that bounces from your website without filling out a form, and connects that traffic to real profiles of real people.

We use identification technology that’s similar to BounceX, but the key difference is that we’re handing you NEW prospects who are NOT already on your email list.

Email-Based Retargeting bridges what we call the “Identity Gap."

The Identity Gap is the gap between identification technology like Clearbit Reveal (which identifies IP addresses and connects them to companies that have visited your website), and data enrichment technology like Clearbit Enrich (which tells you company and social profile information when given a list of email addresses).

2. It’s legal in the USA, but not anywhere else.

There are two key points here. 

1. The first point is that in the USA (but not anywhere else), Email Marketing is actually opt-out, rather than opt-in. Read more about that here. We actually comply with opt-in best practices set by Spamhaus.
2. We give you profiles of real people that we have identified who have opted-in to a partner network of websites whose opt-in language and privacy policies explicitly say that the data will be shared with related and unrelated entities, and upon filling out the form, the user agrees to receive marketing from those parties, email and otherwise. 

Read more about how Email-Based Retargeting is legal here.

Email-Based Retargeting is NOT GDPR COMPLIANT.

3. It’s probably economic for your business.

We are seeing e-commerce customers, on average, acquire customers in the $15-25 range, which is cost equivalent to what we are seeing through Facebook.

This isn’t true for all eCommerce businesses, but it’s true for most of the businesses we’ve observed.

To lower risk and substantially raise the odds of it being economic, only put Retention.com code on your high-intent pages. 

4. Email-Based Retargeting raises Email Marketing higher up the funnel.

Before Email-Based Retargeting, Email Marketing was a down-the-funnel channel. 

Website traffic shows intent either by opting-in via your website or by purchasing something from you. 

Either way, that’s very high-intent traffic. 

Email-Based Retargeting records show far less intent. They don’t even touch a form before they bounce from your website. 

You will have to treat these leads different from your normal email list, and evaluate conversions and CAC efficiency on a longer horizon.

We recommend implementing a five-part warm-up series with storewide coupons attached, then adding these leads to your main Email Marketing list. 

We recommend evaluating EBR over 60 to 90 days, and we’ve structured our contracts with a 3-month out if it’s not working for you.

If you need help converting, we can connect you with agencies that are pros at EBR.

5. It’s inexpensive, and you own the record forever.

Compared to other sources of email addresses, our 25¢ starting price is very competitive (and much lower at significant scale). 

So long as you have an opt-out link on the email you’re sending, you can email these people as much as you’d like until they opt out.

6. It’s easy to set up, free to start, and integrates with everything.

Our code takes under 60 seconds to put on your website. We offer a one-click, pre-made email that you can send to your tech team that contains the script. 

If you can’t believe this is real and just want a data sample, we’ll give you your first 25 records free. 

We either have or are building integrations with every major Enterprise, Mid-Market, and SMB Email Service Provider (ESP). We are integrated with Zapier and Segment. 

If we don’t have an integration you need, let us know. 

7. This is not our first rodeo. 

We started an ESP six years ago called Robly. We built this tool for ourselves to bridge the Identity Gap between ID tools and enrichment tools. 

Check out Robly’s reviews here.

The Complete Guide to Retention.com vs BounceX

This is the first question we get when talking to any Enterprise customer, so I decided to create a blog post about it.

For the best and most comprehensive results, use both BounceX and Retention.com simultaneously.

#1: Retention.com gets you contacts who are NOT already on your list.

This is the most important difference between the two. And yes, it’s legal to email them in the USA.

BounceX’s matching technology is fantastic, but at the end of the day, you’re sending more emails to people who are already on your list.

Retention.com is a source of new, fresh leads using Email-Based Retargeting. 

It’s legal, and CAN-SPAM and CCPA compliant. 

#2: Retention.com also gives you postal records. You can trigger automated postcards from website visits.

BounceX isn’t going to give you postal records. 

This is a major difference. 

Direct mail is a substantially less crowded channel than it used to be, and we can pass you hyper-targeted lists of website visitors by landing page.

#3: Retention.com is affordable, and easy to get started.

Pricing starts at around 25¢ per record. 

You pay for the record once, and can market to them until the customer opts-out. 

You can get our code on your website and integrated with your ESP in under five minutes.

BounceX...not so much.

#4: Retention.com only gives you contact records once a day.

BounceX has the advantage here, as a real-time triggered-email solution. 

Retention.com sends contact records to your ESP or CRM once a day, at around 11 am EST.

We recommend you set up an automation in your ESP that nurtures and builds trust with these website visitors, and gently nudges them down your marketing funnel. 

It’s different than mailing someone on your list.

#5: Retention.com is self-serve.

BounceX is a full-service marketing agency. They’re going to design and execute all of the campaigns for you.

Retention.com is a lightweight SaaS application that identifies people on your website, then sends the contact records to your ESP, CRM, or Direct Mail automation system for you to do the marketing.

#6: Retention.com is CAN-SPAM compliant, but NOT GDPR compliant (but our database of contact records is only from the US)

The second most frequently-asked question we get is, “Is this legal?”

The answer is yes. Click through to our legal section. Retention.com is US CAN-SPAM and CCPA compliant, but it’s not GDPR compliant.

BounceX is.

In Summary

Retention.com gets you contacts who are NOT already on your list. BounceX sends more emails to people you’ve already been emailing. 

Retention.com broadens your audience by sending you opted-in contact information of people that visited your website. With postal records. 

Questions? Let me know: adam[at]retention.com