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| E-News: It's Elementary |
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It's no accident that more marketers are turning to e-mail newsletters as a tool in their marketing arsenal: they enable targeted mailings to customers at the click of a mouse.
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What's on the Web?
From a daily dose of the news to specialized economic analysis, there are any number of high-quality, worthwhile e-newsletters available on the Web today. While some go for a minimalist, pared-down look (some well-respected newsletters such as WebReference continue to be sent out in text-only format), others feature slicker, glossier formats, which more closely reflect their online Web presence and do a good job of representing their print publications online. Red Herring's Catch of the Day has developed a slick format which combines concise information with a wealth of additional reading on the day's topic. davenetics mines the Web for the day's top stories so you don't have to.
ClickZ's daily newsletters deliver information on a host of marketing issues in an easy to use format: it first lists all the article headlines, followed by a short "digest" on each article. This helps you to decide if you want to click through to the full story, which is housed on the website.
Fortune Small Business provides articles and information to a defined target audience. It provides a quick text digest of what's currently online, providing hyperlinks to the main Web page from which you can access all the stories. The drawback: it's not particularly attractive and assumes the reader is going to take the time to click.
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Red Herring. The Economist. Peppers & Rogers. From newshounds to PC experts, Web marketers to university professors, Web savvy individuals are leveraging the Net to deliver targeted, relevant and up-to-date information to customers, students and the boy next door.
Successful e-mail marketing leverages the best of the Web: the ability to deliver information to target customers quickly, efficiently and relatively inexpensively. Rapid response allows for fine tuning marketing campaigns: mailers containing special offers can be quickly adjusted in line with demand. No more expensive print runs. No more waiting for the mailman. Just quick, efficient communication with your customers.
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What Do You Want from Your E-mail Newsletter? |
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Before you do anything else, consider your goals and objectives in putting your print publication online. Do you want to — |
| |  | Save on printing and mailing costs?
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| | | Reach a wider audience?
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| | | Draw attention to products or services housed on your Web site?
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| | | Become a trusted resource for information?
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| | Content Is King |
Once you've decided on the "look and feel," decide the type of content for your e-mail newsletter. Our Trendletter has a basic formula: Trendlines-authored stories on marketing and financial issues; links to relevant stories in the news; a book review; recommended Web sites and news feeds on topical issues.
Having developed a formula we believe works, we keep it that way to allow for enhanced usability. while continuing to look for ways to add value and information our users can use. Any e-mail newsletter needs to start out by asking the basic question: How can this e-missive best serve our readers?
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| How Long Is Too Long? |
Apart from design considerations, the length of the publication is an important consideration. Red Herring is as about as short as you can get. Because it delivers mail on a daily basis and doesn't want to tire the reader, it doesn't overwhelm. Peppers and Rogers is sent out monthly, so it has a somewhat longer format.
The vital questions are:
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| | | How much can our online reader absorb?
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| | | What should we include and what should simply be left out?
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How much information is put in the body of the newsletter and how much should be housed on the Web site, to allow the interested reader to click, or ignore and move on?
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| | HTML or Pure Text?
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Many e-mail newsletters are sent out in text format because it serves the lowest common denominator. It saves lengthy download times and doesn't annoy the user whose e-mail program can't cope with HTML.
Today's happy medium appears to be to offer your subscriber choice: let them decide what format they want the publication delivered in. This usually involves creating two versions, to serve both audiences' needs. While more sophisticated e-mail management systems "sniff" what version will suit the reader and delivers the appropriate version, it is still better to give the user choice. Even if a reader can receive an HTML version, they may prefer a pure text version. As Cliff Allen, co-author of One-to-One Web Marketing, Second Edition, puts it: "conversion is a personal choice." You'll find Web Marketing & E-Commerce a gold mine of valuable information on Web marketing and the pros and cons of text versus HTML newsletters.
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| It's All in the Delivery |
There are any number of ways to deliver your e-mail newsletter to your subscriber base. We currently use the most simple method of all, sending it via our commercial e-mail program. Mailing list management programs enable you to control both the subscriptions and the mailings. There are both freeware and commercial programs available; each have their relative advantages and disadvantages. See Web Marketing & E-Commerce for more information.
E-mail newsletters are more versatile than their print counterparts. They allow readers to access information easily and obtain timely updates on products, services or the day's headlines. We've found that our Trendletter is an easy, inexpensive way to stay in touch with our clients, customers, suppliers and friends. And while it requires a certain investment, it pays dividends.
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The Trendletter team welcomes your comments.
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