With one of the most trusted women in America inspiring the editorial content, O, The Oprah Magazine has become the personal growth guide for a whole new generation of smart, confident women. An extremely successful new publication and also an astute marketer, O has been able to successfully translate its unique spirit of personal exploration to the Web and other online activities. The Oprah Magazine marketing staff chose the iMakeNews solution as the e-mail service provider for O-Mail, their online promotional service. Stefanie Manning, O's Marketing Services Director, was looking for "…a more cost-effective provider who could manage the entire process, from creative development through deployment and reporting".

A Health & Beauty Aid advertiser teams up with O-Mail for a major product launch
In October 2002, O-Mail created an exclusive co-branded e-mail campaign with a leading skincare company. The campaign had three goals: to help the advertiser launch its new product line, to help the advertiser capture subscribers for future direct marketing efforts, and to capture new subscribers for the O-Mail database. The e-mail was structured to give the a reader three options as she read through the cover page:

1. Click to choose "the right product for you" and to receive a free full-size product
2. Click to view the entire new product line
3. Forward the e-mail to a friend

Dramatic Results, Indeed!
For both parties, the campaign was a huge success and the statistics to prove it were available in real. Over 85% of the 67,000 e-mails were received; of those received, 11,400 (20%) were opened. From the 11,400 opened, an additional 24,000 opt-ins were captured thanks to a "forward to a friend" feature-more than double the original number opened. All told, the combined total between the original e-mails opened and the additional information captured was over 100,000 pages viewed.

24,000 offers were completed, with 17,000 women agreeing to receive future direct mailing from the advertiser-an incredible 71% acceptance rate!

Bottom line, O-Mail was able to add 24,000 new subscribers to their list, an instant 36% increase. (The list has continued to grow, and now includes a total of 111,000 opt-in subscribers.) In addition, O's advertiser added 17,000 new, highly qualified subscribers to their own database, people who will be happy to receive future offers.

Success all around
O, The Oprah Magazine is thrilled with the results, and with the program's execution, which went off without a hitch. "We were very excited to be able to offer such a successful promotion for our advertisers. The promotion was easy to execute in a timely manner, and the results were instant and exceptional!" In fact, this pilot program was so successful, O is now working with other advertisers to create similar programs.

The HBA advertiser, of course, was also delighted, and the company is already planning their next O?Mail promotion.

Just as O, The Oprah Magazine gives women the tools they need to explore and reach for their dreams, O-mail will continue to offer powerful e-marketing tools to their advertisers, who also serve this important audience. And iMakeNews will be there with the services-and the know-how-that will keep producing "O-mazing" results.