How do you welcome your email newsletter subscribers?
By Karen Skidmore | July 7, 2008
Most email newsletter systems should give you the facility to send out a welcome email to your email newsletter subscribers. But using their standard template one is usually worse than not sending one out at all.
That first welcome email is so important to taking the first step to building a relationship with your subscriber. It is comparable to how you shake someone’s hand and look them in the eye when you first meet them. You wouldn’t greet someone at a networking event with your arms folded and a quick nod of your head, would you?
Take the time to write out a warm and inviting welcome email. Introduce yourself or your team. Outline your core service or product. Give your subscriber a compelling reason to take action and take the next step by contacting you by phone or email.
However you want to make your first contact to your subscriber is up to you and your business focus, but just make sure you maximise this very important first step of your relationship with them.
Topics: Getting started with email newsletters | No Comments »
Sell the benefits of your email newsletter and customers will beat down your door to subscribe
By Karen Skidmore | July 2, 2008
How do you get your customers to subscribe and opt-in to your email newsletter?
“Hi Karen, I’ve been running my business for a couple of years now and have only just decided to send out my first email newsletter.
I would really like to include my existing customers in the first one, however after reading through the opt-in rules, I am a bit concerned. I didn’t really want to approach each one to ask them to opt in by going to my website and would like to know if you have any advice on how to tackle this.
My original thought was to send them the newsletter with a welcoming bit in the introduction and explaining that they could unsubscribe if they wished too. But I’m wondering now if this would fall foul of the legislation. I wonder if you can advice if this is the case or if you have an alternative way to go about this?
Thanks, Ghislaine”
Ghislaine originally posted this as a comment and as it such a great question to ask, I thought it deserved it’s own posting.
There are lots of ways of approaching your current customer database about your newsletter, and forwarding on your latest newsletter with an intro is a great way of doing this. The important point to consider here is that you are giving your customers an option to subscribe, rather than subscribing them and giving them option to un-subscribe.
You are right to be aware of the opt-in rules, but don’t let them scare you off offering a fabulous service that will help your customers in the long term. If all you were going to do was to send them sales pitch after sales pitch, then they would quite rightly get a little peeved off and report you for spam.
But a newsletter which delivers value is something to be proud of and if your existing customers benefit from using your services, then most of them would love some free articles, top tips, advice or what ever it is you are offering.
Sell the benefits of your email newsletter, offer great value and you shouldn’t be concerned about asking your customers to opt-in. They will be beating down your door wanting to sign up!
Topics: Getting started with email newsletters, Growing your subscriber list, Promoting an email newsletter | No Comments »
Website or Email Newsletter - what needs to be done first?
By Karen Skidmore | June 23, 2008
When you are thinking about creating your own email newsletter to help promote and grow your business, you may be at such an early stage that you haven’t created a website yet.
So, what needs to be done first? Good question, but I’m afraid the answer is similar to the chicken and egg question!
Yes, a website is an integral part to promoting your email newsletter, but a lack of a website shouldn’t stop you from digging the foundations and getting started on your email newsletter.
Here are some points to consider to help you decide:
- What interests you most? Does creating a website sound more fun than and email newsletter, or are you more interested in getting a database together? If you start with the one that you are interested more in, you are more likely to have the momentum to carry through with both projects.
- Chunk it down. Both projects are pretty elephant-sized projects to complete. And what is the easiest way to eat an elephant – bite by bite!
- Dovetail your projects. If you are delegating your website work to a website designer, dovetailing your email newsletter in whilst your website is being built can help speed things up. So there is no reason why you can’t do both projects together
The most important consideration, though is whichever project you decide to start with, is to make sure you start with your customer first! Take the time out to do some market research, profile your customers and target your audience. It will save you months of wasted marketing!
Topics: Getting started with email newsletters | No Comments »
How to get your email newsletter read - make it personal
By Karen Skidmore | June 20, 2008
When inboxes are not only cluttered, but almost bursting at the seams, getting your email newsletter read by your subscribers can get tougher and tougher.
One of the toughest kind of subscribers you can have on your mailing list is the subscriber who loves you, knows you are great and recommends you to all their friends but never finds the time to open and read your emails. They never act on your special offers or actually get round to making a purchase.
A raving fan? Absolutely. But a customer? Mmm, no.
One way of making your email stand out and be read is to make it personal
First, you need to make sure you are requesting subscribers leave their first name (as a bare minimum) when they sign up on your website and then, secondly, use the code for their first name at key points of your email newsletter. If you have ever done a good old fashioned mail merge, it is exactly the same principles.
Where can you use their first name?
- In the greeting: Just think how more personal “Dear Jo”is to “Dear Valued Subscriber”
- In the subject heading: Don’t over use this one but can be very effective for key emails
- In the copy: Again be careful not to over use this one, but using someone’s first name at the start of a sentance that makes the compelling offer, for example, can be a useful eye grabbing trigger.
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Topics: Getting your emails opened | No Comments »
The 7 Deadly Sins of Email Newsletters - Oversell with no value
By Karen Skidmore | June 18, 2008
Email newsletters are incredibly powerful marketing tools – but they can also be the quickest way to turn your customers off.
When someone has given their permission to receive further information from you, the last thing they want is to be bombarded by sales messages. An email newsletter by its very wording, is a “news” letter NOT a “sales” letter.
Over sell without giving any value, and you will quickly have more unsubscribers and people hit the spam button than you care to ask for.
However, I am not for one minute advising you to stay away from the sales patter. After all, your email newsletter is there to grow and build your sales.
But if you are unsure on where the balance must lay, then I always recommend that you give more value than your readers perceive they will receive. Exceed your promises, give extra value and your readers will reward you with more sales than you could possibly expect.
Topics: The 7 Deadly Sins of Email Newsletters | 2 Comments »