At press time, Bob Alcorn, COO of high-tech firm nFrame, was putting the finishing touches on his company's second e-mail newsletter. He whistled as he worked — at least in a figurative sense — because he had every reason to believe this newsletter would captivate the customers who received it and bring him new business.

Here's why: In mid-December, the very first e-newsletter nFrame broadcast was an explosive success. It delivered a 54% open rate, and the clickthrough rate was 6.5%.

Even more thrilling were the 15 calls his sales team received inquiring about nFrame's products after “The Managed Advantage” mailed. Three of these have already resulted in sales. Eight or nine in all are likely to convert, Alcorn says. Since the average sale is about $28,000, that's a nice bit of change for one campaign.

Even more remarkable, most of the 2,000 recipients were prospects nFrame had never contacted before. Only 300 were existing customers.

The e-mail effort — which is costing the company $5,500 annually — contrasts dramatically with the other direct response channels nFrame tried. A January direct mail postcard drop and follow-up to 6,000 prospects, at a cost of $8,500, resulted in a zero response rate. A $15,000 series of space ads, as well as radio and billboard advertising, likewise delivered nil.

In this time of caution over privacy and e-mail, why did nFrame's e-newsletter do so well? Three reasons. Targeting, reputation and content.

Although the e-mail broadcast primarily to prospects, those individuals were good bets for nFrame. Recipients were CEOs or information technology professionals who understand why it's important to have database, network Internet and Web site functions in backup mode in case of an emergency. More importantly, they have the authority to buy nFrame's backup Internet infrastructure.

Also, many recipients were members of a leading Midwestern information technology association, TechPoint. Most worked in Indiana or adjoining states. Some were folks nFrame staffers had met at trade shows or who had shown interest in nFrame's services in the past. And, because nFrame and its parent One Call Internet Inc. had been active in the industry, there was some recognition of the firm when people saw the ‘From’ line appear in their inboxes.

“We get a little more than a nod of the head,” Alcorn says.

The e-newsletter content included a handful of short articles that described nFrame's services and presented a link to the Web site to learn more. These longer articles delved into best practices on data security, such as the equipment a company is going to need for disaster recovery and how to help employees get back to work.

“When people open an e-mail that they find of interest to their career, that's magical,” says Neil Berman, CEO of Neighborhood E-mail Inc., the Indianapolis e-mail marketing company that mails, tracks and analyzes nFrame's e-newsletters.

Finally, the newsletter was well-written and professional. Alcorn and his colleagues wrote it, but hired an outside editor to polish it.

The tone is educational, even if some elements of the e-newsletter are strictly professional, Alcorn says.

“If nothing else, it creates discussion in the community that we're talking about saving them money,” he says.