Does your neighbourhood have a hose-pipe ban? It has been a long hot summer and your sales pipeline is looking dry. What can you do to cool your boss? One solution is to write an e-newsletter.
Writing – like walking – costs nothing and is good for you, potentially providing you with incredible returns. It could drive more business to your company from existing to new clients. Everybody who has signed up to receive your newsletter has given you a dedicated two-way line to talk to them.
Even if they don’t open your emails, each communication is still working for you. Most people will remember the ‘from address’, i.e. your brand.
If your budget is tight, don’t throw in the towel. An e-newsletter is a cost-effective way to keep your company in front of your customers and if you have something compelling to tell them, they will pass it around to others; your company will only be a click away.
What’s more, you can see every penny you’ve spent and how it’s working for you. Depending on the sophistication of your email marketing solution, you will be able to see the results online or in a PDF report. All the available information should be augmented in a graphical manner and you should also be able to see the results immediately after the last email has been sent.
The statistics should typically include the number of emails sent, delivered, bounced-back, opened and clicked. You can further slice this information by region, industry, job titles and be able to compare the results side-by-side to see trends. No more guesswork to justify your budget. So how do you get it right?
Twenty top tips for e-newletters
What to say?
Understand and state your mission. Who are you targeting; what do they already know? How much time do they have and can you educate them?
A user will give you less than 60 seconds of their attention to read your newsletter; or even less if Jakob Nielsen’s research is to be believed (www.useit.com/alertbox/newsletters).
Don’t sell. Your message should not sound like your local market hawker. Think less, ‘apples, pound a pound’, and more, ‘apples are good for you, read all about it’.
Get your audience to participate. Conduct surveys and polls on current topics and share the information with your audience.
Consistency and timing is important. Make sure your newsletter consistently goes out on a given day and time. Get the frequency right. Always prepare your newsletter at least one edition in advance.
Include current information. For example, a main story with a ‘How-to’ section, ‘Q&A’ section and ‘Jobs’ section. Avoid rehashing news from other sites unless you have something new and compelling to say.
Word processors are wonderful, so spell check! It is best to get someone else to check your newsletter for tone, consistency, typos and bad jokes.
Your newsletter is an appetiser; get to the heart of the matter. Keep it clean, concise and relevant.
Don’t forget your call-to-action or call-to-actions and try to combine them with relevant incentives. For example, discounts, coupons, etc.
Use links to your site sparingly. Conveniently place your links making it easy for the reader to click-through to the landing-page or site.
Connect with your audience: use names and faces.
If you want your readers to take their precious time to read your emails, you must invest time getting the email looking good. Avoid ‘wizard-driven’ templates. It is best you use a newsletter template that has been tailor-made for your company.
The newsletter should reflect your corporate colours, fonts and style. You may also consider; date, issue, logo, mission statement, a contents page, personalisation, contact details and an introduction letter.
Who is listening?
You do not have to look far. A good source of opt-in data can be found within your company. Look in your accounts package, contact manager, CRM system and, of course, your inbox.
If you have not already set up a contact form on your website, now is the time.
You may consider partnering with other companies and combining your lists.
You will always get a few people who will unsubscribe. Remember you only want to talk to people who want to listen to you. Implement a strategy to replace these contacts.
Immediately remove all hard-bounced emails and unsubscribed emails from your list. Removing these keeps ISPs happy and reduces the likelihood of getting your IP address black-listed.
Check out the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) website for the nitty-gritty on the law, best practices and use of the Email Preference Service.
How to reach customers
It is best to use a good email marketing solution rather than your desktop email package. Don’t assume HTML is best. Provide your readers with the option of receiving HTML or plain text emails.
Finally, don’t worry if all that sounds like too much work. It really is not so difficult once you get stuck in, and it can be fun.
