E-newsletter. Are they old hat?

[fkdist]

As an SME we are looking to build long term, successful relationships within our exisiting client base. We are looking at a quarterly e-newsletter to communicate with our clients which will have top tips, advice, guidance and spolights on our services. Are e-newsletters just old hat these days or do they still have some worth as a communication tool? All opinions are welcome!

 

[Lorro2]

I see them as little more than spam and just tend to delete them.

 

[fkdist]

We would contact our clients prior to distribution to ensure that they would want to receive it. If this were the case I was hoping to reduce the possibility of deletion. Do you still think they have some worth as a communication tool or would you not bother?

 

[guscat]

It really depends on the content of the newsletter. Not many people want to know that you have a new microwave in the staffroom or anything about internal politics etc but LOVE to hear about things that will help them such as new offers,promotions and EXCITING events that affect them.

The key therefore is to keep newsletters brief, punchy, interesting and informative. Maybe quarterly rather than monthly - this way they will look forward to the newsletter rather than see it as another drain on their time. The newsletters I subscribe to are really rather good!

 

[Call Tracker]

I think you would get more benefit from it if you sent it monthly and included some really good tips and ideas.

If you send it to your existing customers and those who have previously enquired you should get a good open rate.

I get about four or five emails from different companies a day that I will scan through, then save to read later. Granted, I may not get round to reading them that quickly but they have my attention. I think if I were in the market and they rang me with an offer they would have my ear. So in that instance of keeping up a presence it does work.

 

[GreenLaser]

Peoples time on the net is limited , im noticing a trend on family and friends away from computers / net .... its becoming a resource to be used effectively rather than wasting time !

And my point

a long drawn out QUARTLY newsletter would be better replaced with quick sharp informative relevent monthly newsletter

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Horses for courses!!

If you have something to say that your 'approved' audience wants to read, send it regularly (monthly, max).

If you send it 'blind' it will be treated (and probably reported) as spam.

 

[Call Tracker]

I think any email that is relevant to the recipient and offers genuine advice, insight or indeed good offers will be well received. I get annoyed with the anonymous spammers that send me offers on watches and other more offensive material. You cannot unsubscribe and they are clearly just mass mailing to an audience of millions.

The thing with email is that it is very over saturated as its seen as a cheap and efficient way to market. It isn't if you do it wrong.

 

[GeorgeM]

If you are providing a service, e.g IT Support, Accountancy etc. then a regular newsletter with useful information can be an integral part of your customer service. Customers won't necessarily read every one. But it reminds them of your business - and they may look at it when they have an issue related to what you do.

If its just general information about your business and latest products, then I'd say people will be more likely to ignore it or just delete without reading.

Always include an unsubscribe option at the end of the email - its uses provides feedback on customer's reaction to your newsletter.

 

[Pete Crane]

As an SME we are looking to build long term, successful relationships within our exisiting client base. We are looking at a quarterly e-newsletter to communicate with our clients which will have top tips, advice, guidance and spolights on our services. Are e-newsletters just old hat these days or do they still have some worth as a communication tool? All opinions are welcome!

If you want to communicate with your customers then you will either write or talk to them. I know there has been some nonsense idea floating round that email is dying (mainly put about by a sector of the online marketing brigade who were rubbish at email marketing and instead switched to social networks), but if you have something of value to say then email is a damned good vehicle to use.

The balance you have to achieve however is in having a frequency that ensures your customers don't forget you combined with the value in the message, and in this repsect you should place content first; if you are in an industry sector that is slow moving and doesn't generate lots of relevant information, then don't beat yourself up that you're not doing a monthly email. Always look at it from the perspective of the recipient. They are spending time reading what you send, so make sure it is time they regard as well spent.

 

[Pressman]

Still a useful tool, although content needs to be targeted and offer something of value to the recipients.

 

[Dot Design]

As an SME we are looking to build long term, successful relationships within our exisiting client base. We are looking at a quarterly e-newsletter to communicate with our clients which will have top tips, advice, guidance and spolights on our services. Are e-newsletters just old hat these days or do they still have some worth as a communication tool? All opinions are welcome!

They aren't old hat, it depends on how they are put together and whether they are of use to those receiving them. If they are just full of 'news' about the company then I tend to switch off, but if they are genuinely helpful to the receiver and contain up beat and helpful advice then I read them.

I think that the way they are designed matters hugely as well as content as people are receiving alot more emails and email marketing material then ever before and if they look terrible or bland and unappealing then they will hit the trash in seconds.

As someone has said i think that you need to make them little and often rather than a quarterly email with tons of contact that people just won't sit and read. To be honest a few paragraphs and support from imagery is more than enough in my view.

Main thing is to make it useful and helpful to the reader though.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Are e-newsletters just old hat these days or do they still have some worth as a communication tool?

If the emails are adding value to your list, they can be very effective.

Steve

 

[Cloughie]

Steve hit the nail on the head.

99% of newsletters are just junk and only there to spam/promote and these will tend to just be deleted and help to give email newsletters a bad name.

Of course promotion and awareness is definately part of the aim of sending an email newsletter but first and foremost you have to add value to your reader. And by the way, telling them about your servises/products and mixing in some crappy tips won't cut it.

You have to genuinely give them exclusive, high quality, useful content and then find a subtle way to relevantly plug your services/products.

You also need to be careful not to send it too frequently and not make it too long.

I am in the process of trying to build such a newsletter and you can find our last issue here - http://www.wannabebig.com/newsletter/011210.html

The format is an update of the latest articles on the site (these are clicked heavily) and then a couple of informative articles (one is normally supplement related and tying into one of our products) and then a round up of the best discussions on the forums)

We have 30,000 emails and an average read/click rate is 1500 reads/500 clicks which is not too shabby at all.

Think long and hard about what you want to achieve with the newsletter and how you can add value to the readers of it. Ask people what they would want to see.. And give some of your service away for free in the newsletter (in the form of advice perhaps) as this will go down well.

 

[MDUK]

They can be very effective. If you would like to consider www.emailshot.co.uk please give me a call and I can explain how our existing clients use it.

 

[debbidoo]

One of my newsletter clients sent her opt-in subscribers a newsletter yesterday, and told me today that she'd had two serious enquiries from it already.

If it's well-targeted, relevant, opt-in and well-crafted, your e-newsletter can be highly effective in bringing you business from existing customers as well as attracting new ones (a 'forward to a friend' link can be very effective here).

Maybe it's because I'm 'in the business', but I actually sign up for a lot of newsletters and tend to put aside time to read most of them. Occasionally I find that some of them are over-enthusiastic and mail me too often - several times a week - and if that's the case, I simply unsubscribe. I have rules set up in my email client which filter newsletters into a separate folder, so they don't clog up my inbox, and I very rarely see them as an intrusion.

So no, they're not 'old hat'. I'd rather have a targeted, relevant, well-written e-newsletter than a sales call any day of the week

 

[fkdist]

Thank you to everyone for thier responses. There is definately some food for thought. I'll let you know how I get on! Thank you all again.

 

[Snippa]

Some great tips here! I'd say go for it, but follow the advice of others... monthly, not quarterly. Use it to keep your name in front of your clients, not just sell them something (that's why quarterly doesn't work - they forget before they receive a new message). Provide an option for them to unsubscribe. Include tips and useful info, not only sales or company info. There are a number of large corporations who send out newsletters I read every month. Crayola is one. Kraft is another. Personally, I don't believe they're old hat, but they MUST be done correctly. And if you're unsure of how to do it right - hire a professional who knows.

 

[An Oasis]

The vast majority are badly done, promoting already know ideas/products/services, feeding old hat info…

Feed someone the fast track to info not yet released to the mainstream and you are in with a chance, otherwise it's either the delete or spam button.

 

[musivarius]

I've used opt in newsletters for a while now and find them very useful. They go out about every 2 weeks and about 50% are opened. They contain an article of interest and at the end I put any offers.
One newsletter I got about £1,000 worth of business where people have replied of the back of the newsletter to me and booked on a workshop or bought material.
That doesn't happen every time (I wish!) but with only about 90 subscribers I still think it's worthwhile.

 

[Mailing Manager]

For all of you out there that are questioning the success of newsletters and email marketing, I can reassure you that it is a very effective method of marketing. HOWEVER and I do stress however, the success of your newsletters and email marketing is reliant on a few key factors ie

1. The quality of your mailing \ subscriber list
2. The frequency of your campaigns \ newsletters
3. The content of your campaigns \ newsletters (it is vitally important that this always remains interesting, topical and relevant.
4. The day of the week and the time of day it is sent out (this may sound really trivial but it has a huge impact on open rates.

Keeping in regular contact with your existing customers is even more important considering the current financial climate and it is almost criminal to neglect them. Remember customers will only remain loyal if you provide them with the level of service or quality of product they are used to and you keep in touch with them.

If you would like any advice on e-marketing, please feel free to contact me.

Tim Wilson
Mailing Manager

 

[tonygreg123]

Sending E newsletter is an old technique but still can be effective if you try really good material to receiver of your newsletter. otherwise they will simply delete it.

 

[AdForte]

Maybe you want to try sms marketing www adforte com UK 0.047 EUR/SMS

 

[SarahCollins]

Like many others here, I think they definitely have a place in your marketing.

I wouldn't necessarily agree that they should be sent out quarterly or once a month though. It depends on what you're selling and how valuable your content is perceived by the reader.

I've seen some short, pithy bloggy/enews emails that are sent out daily or perhaps once every few days and get great results. I personally receive two of these type and I take the time to read maybe 4 out of every 5 because the content is so interesting to me. And I archive most of them too.

(And no they're not horoscopes!)

Certainly have a go at e-newsletters, but make sure you test and measure as you go to figure out the optimum frequency for your audience.

 

[maxine]

Personally I like the brief and punchy ones. The ones that ramble on about "Have I told you about my friend recently who... blah blah... sign up for such and such" have me hitting delete straight away.

We have had some fairly good successes from our newsletters but tend to keep them on a "when we have something to say" basis rather than fixed monthly.

I also just like the replies that we get from people with general comments as just another way of keeping in touch with everyone

 

[Dot Design]

Maybe you want to try sms marketing www adforte com UK 0.047 EUR/SMS

Does SMS marketing really work?

It has always felt abit spammy to me whether you have opted in or not.