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How to send email newsletters without losing customers

Guest post by: Camilla

Article Overview: What to consider when you're writing content for an email newsletter

How to send email newsletters without losing customers



Are you a nuisance email marketer? You probably don't think of yourself that way, but when it comes to email, nuisance is in the eye of the receiver. So what are the important questions to ask yourself when planning your email marketing activities?

1. Is it really relevant?

It's all about relevance. Is your email content of interest to your target audience? Does it answer the kinds of questions they're asking? A while ago I looked at the impact ofcopywritingon email newsletters I'd personally received. There's no doubt that relevant content is the essence of an email that people want to read and respond to.

2. Is it something they want?

This is about whether your audience has signed up and agreed to receiving your emails or enewsletters - and about you giving people a clear way to opt out if they choose. And please, when you someone asks to opt out, let them opt out! I have had personal experience of opting out of emails sent by one particularly persistent company (trying to sell me a legitimate, but very irrelevant product) and still hearing from them, over and over again.

3. Is it too frequent?

The enthusiastic ones. We all know them. Their copy is entertaining, their content is relevant, but they just keep on emailing you, again and again and again! It gets too much. So they either end up in your junk mail folder or you opt out. Send your emails often enough to maintain a relationship with customers, but not so much that you damage it.

4. Is it unique?

At certain times of the year I've noticed a flurry of emails from businesses in a particular sector which suggests they've all bought their email content from a specialist company. Aside from the issue of quality, the thing that strikes me is that these enewsletters do not contain any unique or personalised copy. This surely goes against the point of the enewsletter in the first place - to create a strong, unique and engaging relationship between the business and the reader. So, identify what's special about what you have to offer, what's going on in your sector and of course, what's relevant and useful to your audience.

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Article Tags: copywriting, email marketing, email newsletters, enewsletters



Related Forum Posts
Can a biz website help? - Tara, A website is just another vechicle to deliver your message and keep in touch with your customers. How? well for one your email address will have your web address in it - people judge your professionalism at that level too. Some uses my clients have found beneficial when they thought it wouldn't: 1. Disseminating repetitive information to clients e.g. portfolios, FAQs. 2. Send out newsletters that link back to your webpage (costs practically nothing via email) 3. Writing articles for your industry. These articles will do two things: 1) establish your expert status. 2) Search Engine Optimize your site. 4. Run cheaper ads in print publications by directing them to your Sales message on to a page on your site. 5. Write a special report on "Logo branding" for business owners to download. You capture their email info as you have to email it to them or their mailing address and send them the report. After they have read it they will still be inclined to use your service even if you divulge every step it takes to create a logo brand. The psychology is that they fear they may still mess up and you won't. I did this with my old Web design business as a test (gave them step by step what they needed to do to setup a website) and I still got their business. I installed Trust in them that I could do it best. Those are the major ones.
Business Owners: Attention Please - Hi Guys I’m about to release what I call our Email Marketing System. This application will be progressively advanced in the coming months as we continually test the system. The application right now will allow companies to send mass (but personalized) emails to all their customers. You'll be able to send emails that say "Hi John…," "Hi Susan…,” etc. Once the email is sent, you will be able to track it (i.e. how many people open it, go to your website, forward it to a friend, subscribe to your send out, unsubscribe, etc). I am looking for a few business owners who are willing to test the system out, using it for their email marketing, and provide feedback from it. I want to test it first before opening it to the public. If you have never had an email campaign I can help you set it up. There will not be any charges while we are testing the system and I might keep it like that depending on usage vs. resources. If anyone is interested can you please PM me with your details. If you have any questions feel free to message me as well. And for those worried about privacy issues, I won’t have access nor be able to see the emails you have stored. Thanks guys!
Re: Email autoresponder messages: what delivery intervals? - Depending on the campaign, but I do either daily or I make sure every 7 days people receive emails from me. Reason for this is if you opt-in on Monday, you might be more likely to open email again on Mondays. Also, if there are sales taking place, it's good to send out on the 1st and the 15th. Friday is a payday for many so that works out well. I haven't tested what time to send, but two friends who send more emails than I know send 11AM CST and 4AM CST.
Executives summary - need your opinon - I have an idea of a new web based business that could become a new mass media in the future. Briefly it's about distribution of some content in printed format among the subscribers. I need your opinion... Could you please review it and criticize? I appreciate any comments - negative and positive. Send me an email or a private message with your email and I'll send you a word document. Or I can try to publish it somewhere and send you a link. Thank you very much Michael.ckg@gmail.com
Re: The Best Method for Online Marketing - [quote="mark_white4281":4toxn76d]I found success with email marketing and combining it with social networking and social media tools. Alternatively, when I collected business reviews from my customers and posted them to my website, I again saw a surge of traffic. Getting active for at least half an hour everyday for blogging and forum posting, pays well too.[/quote:4toxn76d] I would imagine that email marketing works best if one already has a list of subscribers to send the emails to. MichelleJ


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