Case Studies: Texas Beef Council

The Texas Beef Council represents producers in the nation's largest beef producing state. The council's purpose is to facilitate the sale of beef through consumer education and promotion as well as to assist beef producers in improving product quality.

In February 2000, the council decided to change its web site to a more consumer-oriented focus. Michele Blank, Website Administrator for the Texas Beef Council, said, "We are now a consumer-based resource, providing useful information to consumers such as recipes and helpful hints on the best preparation methods for beef."

A new feature of the council's web site is a monthly email newsletter called "Beef Bytes." The newsletter sends subscribers timely tips and recipes for beef preparation. Blank said, "In today's business climate, email newsletters are by far the most cost-effective method of sending information to a large audience."

The council realized that the implementation of an effective email list management solution would be imperative to accommodate increasing list subscriptions. "Our internal capabilities could only handle 2,000 subscriptions, which we quickly outgrew," Blank said. "It was clear that we required a scalable solution that could handle our current load as well as future needs."

In addition, the council required a solution that would provide security and privacy for the subscribers. "We estimated that our list would continue to grow rapidly, so it was very important that all our subscribers' information be kept completely confidential," Blank said.

The Texas Beef Council selected L-Soft's EASE^SM email list hosting service. "EASE really was the best service to fit our needs," Blank said. "We knew that it would be totally reliable and would undoubtedly handle the administration of our list, while keeping our information secure."

Within six months, the council's list doubled to approximately 4,000 subscribers. As of September 2002 the newsletter has 18,000-20,000 subscribers. It continues to grow at a rate of 200-250 subscriptions per month. "EASE has made our lives so much simpler by effortlessly taking care of our list as it expands," Blank said. "We have no doubt that it will continue to do so in the future."

The Texas Beef Council has now begun using EASE to enhance relationships with newsletter subscribers. "Our free drawings, which we now do 2-3 times a year, continually attract 500-800 participants, which we are very pleased with. We've offered prizes such as BBQ utensils and microwave ovens," Blank said. "This has proven to be highly successful, a lot of fun, and we have received a fantastic response from it. Subscribers also email us asking questions about cooking and recipes, so we are seeing a lot of positive feedback,"

"Thanks to EASE, we have really been able to get to know our subscribers, which helps us to better understand their needs. This gives us valuable insights into which directions we should proceed in the future," Blank said.

Case study written in May 2001 with the assistance of Michele Blank, Website Administrator, Texas Beef Council.

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