Case History: Millionaire.com & Opulence Magazine
Begun by the founder of the Rudd Report, Millionaire magazine (and later, Opulence magazine) had already made some small attempts to expand their publishing into the online marketplace. When Web3Direct was contacted in 2001, the company had a simple, flat "brochure" type website that attracted little interest among the company's upscale subscribers. Emerson Brantley developed an original, genuine online ezine concept called Luxury Life Digest, and began contacting individual advertisers, writing direct sales articles for each.
Using opt-in email to increase subscriptions, he built the site traffic to over 4,000 users on a daily basis. Along with creating a new online "Luxury Mall" for Millionaire.com advertisers, he built their opt-in email database from fewer than 800 subscribers to over 42,000 subscribers by early 2002. These received regular emails which summarized the newest LuxuryLifeDigest.com articles, and directed them to specific advertisers.
Visit LuxuryLifeDigest
(note, this is an archived site and many links may be broken)Business 2.0 magazine independently monitored the results using third party Touchscape Corporation: 14% clicked thrus and 8400 new visitors in the first week, with a staggering 41.5% conversion to registrations. 80% of the respondents provided detailed market data on themselves and their interests, and requested more information and offers from Millionaire.com. Brantley's autoresponses generated an additional 3.8% click-thru over the next 20 days. Click Here For Specific Millionaire & Other Campaign Results Numbers
So successful was the program in creating high response rates and new business that all 35 original national advertisers continued their monthly contracts at an average revenue of $3,000 per month, with a waiting list of new advertisers waiting for an opening in the popular online magazine.
Emerson Brantley was also asked to write a center-spread article for each month's hardcopy issues. These focused on lifestyle, individual advertisers in the LuxuryLifeDigest Ezine, and general online marketing tips.
At $75 per quarter, the primary magazine only achieved a few thousand subscribers before being sold to a new publisher in 2002. As a result of the efforts of WEB3Direct, however, the online subscriber base of over 42,000 subscribers was strong and active. Their national sales manager rebranded LuxuryLifeDigest and the Luxury Mall, and continued to build this market as a standalone independent company. The new publisher of Millionaire also incorporated the LuxuryLifeDigest Ezine and Luxury Mall concepts into their own existing online marketing efforts.
Click Here For Specific Millionaire & Other Campaign Results Numbers
