Business-to-business e-mail lists continue to rise in price while consumer lists dropped slightly, according to an index released yesterday by Worldata, Boca Raton, FL.
The Worldata Spring 2004 List Price Index covers April 2003 to April 2004. It is grouped into list categories and compares costs per thousand names for the 12-month period.
The index shows permission-based BTB e-mail lists as the costliest with an average base of $283/M in April 2004, up $5 from the $278/M average in April 2003. Previous averages were $279/M in April 2002, $268/M in April 2001 and $259/M in April 2000. Worldata said the change reflects the wide responsiveness of these files and predicted further growth in the BTB list market.
But permission-based business-to-consumer e-mail lists had an average price of $170/M in April 2004, down $2 from an average of $172/M in April 2003. Previous averages were $195/M in April 2002, $207/M in April 2001 and $204/M in April 2000. The dip in price for BTC lists is at least partly attributable to the CAN-SPAM Act, according to Worldata.
Permission-based BTB and consumer e-mail lists remain the two most costly list types on the market.
Postal files also saw changes in average prices during the past year.
The index shows that postal files in the business-magazine and controlled-circulation category saw an average base price increase of $5/M.
Meanwhile, the category of book and CD files had an average price decrease of $7/M. Worldata said this change reflects a shift back to what average prices for such lists were in April 2002.
Once again, the lowest-priced lists were nonprofit donor files, with an average price of $75/M in April 2004, down $1/M from last year's average.
