E-NEWSLETTERS - DEFINING AND REFINING Part 10

3. Some content in e-mail, full content on web site (multiple pages). This is similar to approach (1), but here the e-mail newsletter is longer since it contains a short extract from each article. Typically a more >> option link will be available to take the user through to the web site. This makes it easier for the reader to decide whether the content is relevant to them. This is a common approach; Figure 5.14 is an example.

4. Some content in e-mail, full content on web site (single pages). This is similar to option (2), but again has the advantage that an idea of the relevance of the content is given in the e-mail, and also it is easier to find other content from the same newsletter on the web site.

5. All content in e-mail. This approach is being used by Freepint (www.freepint.com) at the time of writing. A lot of detailed content about web searching is provided in two detailed text e-mails, sent each month. Here, a clickthrough is not required to the site at all(although some longer articles may require this). It is typically used by professional or technical plain-text newsletters. This approach is arguably the best method of communicating information to the recipient. However, for the marketer, calls-to-action encouraging further participation are more difficult to achieve from the newsletter than from the web site.

This decision is difficult, since the preference on length varies according to the individual. For many, including this author, part of the power of e-mail newsletters is to be able to get a rapid briefing on developments about a particular topic. If you have to clickthrough to a web site and then understand the structure of the web site, as is the case with the What's New in Marketing web site (www.wnim.com), this slows down the experience.

A related question is, should we archive? For a B2B newsletter, the question is perhaps not should we archive, but how? Archiving a B2B newsletter, provided it has quality content, provides an excellent resource for your customers. They will return to the resource as they face particular issues. As mentioned above, this can also assist in generating new subscribers, since specialist articles indexed by search engines will gain new visitors who may look to tap into your expertise. For a B2C newsletter, the issue is not that clear cut. If the e-newsletter is providing news or interesting content, then similar arguments apply — it is a resource that will encourage repeat visits and can also, via search engines, act as an acquisitions tool. For B2C newsletters from an e-tail site it is inappropriate to archive the content, since product information and offers will quickly date.

When an archive is content-rich, which is typically the case with a media or news site, the utility for the user can be improved by developing 'related article' features. ClickZ (www.clickz.com) has a good related-articles feature. This lists items related to the current article according to which category they fall into, or according to similarity in key words in title or body.

Decision 18 — how do we gain subscribers?

There are two aspects to gaining subscribers: first, there are various sources where e-mail addresses can be collected; secondly, there is selling the benefits of the newsletter so that potential subscribers are happy to give up their e-mail address. You may want to refer back to Chapter 4, where approaches to gain customer e-mail addresses were covered in more detail. This explains maximizing our use of online and offline touchpoints with our audiences to explain the proposition, and offer the opportunity to opt-in without building too many barriers.

On the web site, we need to ask these three questions to maximize sign-up:

1. Is our opt-in given enough prominence? Is it on the home page? Is it 'above the fold'? Is there enough screen real-estate devoted to it? Is our archive and proposition indexed by search engines? Is it prominent throughout the site?

2. Is our proposition clear? Does the messaging say more than 'opt-in to our e-newsletter'? Does the sign-up page highlight the benefits? Are the benefits for different audiences clearly described? Is the quality of content demonstrated through an archive or example newsletter?

3. Can we overcome barriers to subscription? Reassure potential subscribers that you will not be overloading them with e-mail. Show how the newsletter will be relevant and targeted. Reassure them that details will not be passtd on to third parties by using those six magic words: 'we will not share your information'.

E-NEWSLETTERS - DEFINING AND REFINING Part 9

Decision 15 — marketing communications integration

There is a tendency to plan our e-mail newsletters with blinkers on. If this happens, we lose opportunities to leverage the strengths of different media for different purposes. Here are some ideas on how to avoid this:

• Use the e-newsletter to preview future offers and product developments before other media. Highlight unique web offers — this will be an incentive for audiences to open the e-newsletter.
• Use the e-newsletters to reinvigorate recent or current campaigns or promotions that were first highlighted in other media.
• Use the e-newsletter to give more detail than the offline newsletter or house magazine provides — refer visitors to the online version and reduce the size and cost of the offline communication. Alternatively, put the whole magazine online, as with http:// www.easyjetinflight.com.
• Rather than referring the media or other audiences to press releases or a media centre, refer them first to an e-newsletter item. This will give them a more complete picture of what the company stands for, and your current news.

Decision 16 — e-mail integration

Alongside the e-mail newsletter, there will be many other e-mail communications from an organization. This leads to decisions about what is the best way to break major news such as a product launch or upgrade.

I have seen newsletters where a major initiative such as a product launch or an event invitation becomes lost in all the other news items. Many newsletter templates could be improved by avoiding the newsletter being a list of items with similar weightings. This danger can be reduced through themed subject lines, or an e-mail newsletter design that gives precedence to certain items and is not too long. However, the danger of diluting the message still occurs. In the case of the product launch, it is best to use a separate e-mail to give this message. The opt-in form should give this option, so that the e-mail received is in keeping with the subscriber's expectations.

Decision 17 — web-site integration

One of the benefits of e-newsletters, compared with their paper-based equivalents, is the ability to deliver a large amount of valuable information at a low cost. Of course, this is a double-edged sword. Too much information will make the e-newsletter unwieldy, and your message will not get across or the recipients will not be able to locate the information relevant to them. So when you want to convey a lot of information, as is the case with many newsletters, you have to decide on the split of content between the e-mail newsletter and the web site, where more detailed content may be hosted.

To simplify an example, let's say this newsletter contains just three different content areas, or three different articles. The options are:

1. Minimal content in e-mail, full content on web site in multiple pages. Here, the e-newsletter contains the links and a very short summary of the article, linking through to the full article on the web site. This has the benefit that the newsletter can be scanned very rapidly by the recipient for articles of interest. However, there is no indication of the quality or relevance of the content, which is possible with approaches (3) to (5). It also less easy for the other articles to be read than in the next option, (2).

2. Minimal content in e-mail, full content on web site in a single page. As in the previous case, the e-mail has limited information, but on clicking through to the web site a single page newsletter is presented that contains all the articles. This has the benefit that the interested reader can rapidly find the information in all articles.

E-NEWSLETTERS - DEFINING AND REFINING Part 1

Many web sites now have a prominently placed `Sign-up to our newsletter' box. But is this enough?

How many e-mail newsletters do you subscribe to? If you're anything like me, the number is well into double figures — and most weeks I will opt in to yet another. The trouble is, the more I subscribe to, the less likely I am to have time to look at them, so some are never opened. I think we all have a mental list of 'must read', 'maybe read' and 'only if I have time' e-newsletters. Typically, I don't unsubscribe, since I may have a chance one week to look at them.

Thus, for organizations to make their e-newsletters successful, they have to work really hard to get them into the 'must read' category of their subscribers. This is a big challenge because, in any sector, many companies have already seized the opportunity provided by e-mail newsletters to build relationships with potential customers and develop relationships with their existing customers. However, it is certainly possible — in the UK, consumer newsletters from online brands such as lastminute.com, dabs.com and Tesco.com get great open rates and deliver a substantial amount of business. Many business-to-business e-newsletters have also found the secret of success within their niche.

When devising an e-newsletter, there are many decisions that must to be made for it to be effective. This section is about the decisions you take as you plan the launch of an e-newsletter, and also decisions regarding how to gain subscribers and keep them. Use these lists of decisions to plan an e-newsletter or to improve on your current e-newsletter.

Decision 1 — organization objectives

The starting point for planning an e-newsletter has to be to examine (or re-examine) why you are publishing it. You will probably have a primary objective, such as boosting sales on a site through clickthrough, or building a brand by providing value to customers, but what about other objectives? The 5 Ss of Smith and Chaffey (2005), originally applied to a corporate web site, provide a good way to think about e-newsletter objectives:

Sell — grow sales (the e-newsletter often acts as both a customer acquisition tool and a retention tool)

Serve — add value (give customers extra benefits online, such as online exclusive offers or more in-depth information about your products or industry sector)

3. Speak — get closer to customers by creating a dialogue, asking questions through online research surveys, and learning about customers' preferences through tracking (that is, what type of content are people most interested in)

Save — save costs (of print and post); if you have a traditional offline e-newsletter, can you reduce print runs or extend its reach by using e-mail?

5. Sizzle — extend the brand online; a newsletter keeps the brand at 'front-of-mind' and helps reinforce brand values, and added value can also be delivered by the e-newsletter in informing and entertaining customers.

All the newsletter design decisions we discuss below should, of course, also be controlled by the main objectives of the e-newsletter.

Decision 2 — measuring success

When thinking about the objectives, consider how you will judge the success of your newsletter.

The following metrics are commonly used to assess the effectiveness of e-newsletters through time:

• open rates (for HTML e-newsletters)
• clickthroughs to more detailed content or promotions
• number of unsubscribes
• number of new subscribers.

While it is easy to automate collection of these metrics, think about whether they really relate to the goals in Decision 1. Think also about whether the automated measures give you the full story. Some companies also conduct surveys to determine softer measures related to how the customer perceives the newsletter and how it impacts on the brand. This is also covered in Decision 19 — tracking and assessing satisfaction.