Beyond Creates Email-Marketing Arm

January 23, 2001

LONDON (Revolution UK) - Digital advertising agency Beyond Interactive has launched a new email marketing division.

The unit, called Dialogue Management, offers clients targeted, personalised email campaigns.

The new division is headed by Tim Armstead, previously a planner and buyer at Beyond, and will initially be staffed by five people.

The service has been trialled over the last three months with bol.com and Beyond said it is in discussions with other clients.

"Following extensive discussions with our clients about their needs, we decided to set up a division which is totally geared towards email marketing. Dialogue Management is based on the principle that not everyone is looking to buy at the time of visiting a web site. It provides an alternative means to communicate with consumers by building an ongoing, permission-based dialogue with them," said Armstead.

According to research by Forrester, clickthrough rates for opt-in emails are around 10 per cent, with 2.5 per cent going on to make a purchase at the sender's web site.

"We've had great success using email to acquire new customers for bol.com since we started working together last October, and we look forward to working with Beyond Dialogue Management in 2001," said Arndt Roller, director of online marketing and business development at bol.com.

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