Week 11 Email Newsletters

Email Newsletters are great for the following purposes according to "Get Up To Speed With Online Marketing", pg. 55
1) Building a relationship with current customers
2) Encouraging repeat business
3) Acquiring new customers
4) Persuading people to buy something (or to take an action)

The response rates for these direct mails is very high and the action to "opt in", "sign up", "read more" or take other action like "go to website" are very high compared to other forms of marketing. Other forms of marketing like social media are great, but not everyone is involved with the different ones like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. And even if they are, it may not be on a daily basis. But it seems that most people do keep on top of opening their emails daily. So the reach rate for emails is much greater.
But it must be very concise, and segmented as to what is published. And it must be aesthetically pleasing and easy to maneuver through. It can not be too cumbersome and too much information at first glance. There should be "read more" options on longer articles or if there is a lot of information segments on the email newsletter.
It also should be pertinent information to your business or related to your readers interests or industry.
There needs to be an "opt out" or "unsubscribe" button for people that choose to not get the emails any longer. I support many animal welfare organizations and for many of them they require an email sign up box. But then they overwhelm me with all of these emails sometimes daily or weekly that I don't want to get. So even though I support the organization, I opt out of the daily or weekly activities of the emails. It is recommended to have a third-party service provider for this and for other reasons, as opposed to using your own email address. They offer other link options and analytics that will help to track and identify what is working and what is not.
There are many ways to build an email list, but it should be done with permission so that it is not considered spam. Adding a sign up form to the website is the best way to get the action taken. Creating a sign up form, links to other social media accounts or incentive offers are good to do.
The campaign can include a quick announcement, a welcome letter, a survey a press release, a special offer or a discount. The newsletter form needs to contain pertinent information about your industry your specialty, expertise or key benefits you offer, latest news, subscriber benefits like discounts, new products. And I love to post upcoming events that people would be interested in attending, like dog meet ups or dog festival or street fair events.
The specifics as to write the email are From (a person's name that is recognized), the attention grabbing Subject (without spam words like "free"), To (that is to a person's name), Body (with the most important information at the top and not too long), Call to Action (with only one per newsletter which could be to "take a survey" or "buy now"), and the Footer (to include all of your contact information required and the "unsubscribe" or "opt out" buttons.
Managing the email newsletter includes having a consistent theme and staying focused on fresh ideas that are relatable to the reader.
And measuring your results using the analytics mentioned above can help you to know who, what, when, where and why people opened, read or proceeded with action to the newsletter.
It doesn't need to be a lot of work if you jot notes of ideas as they come and use them later or re-post things from other sites that relate. It can be a growing tool of your client base and of sales!

For my business Go Virtual Products (pet products) I would not use a newsletter more than once a month or once a quarter. I would include upcoming events that are going to happen for that time period and a subscriber discount on products purchased, or a give away within a certain date range to include pictures of the 2 products that I sell. I would also include an article or photos of pertinent dog activities that I may also post on my social media. My dog is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, so I am partial to them. So I might post the photo and information of the first RR that was a winner in the AKC back from years ago. Or other dog products that are coming out (even if I'm not selling them), like the paw print Christmas tree bulbs that a page that I like on Facebook "The Animal Rescue Site" is selling as a courtesy to keep the readers up to date and coming back for more tips. It also gets them interested in this new site and gets them connected. Mine would be a more relationship building newsletter platform and theme and would help to connect them to my other social media accounts!

Comments to: Tiffany, Savannah and Abduls