Forum Moderators: not2easy
I publish a monthly newsletter for my website where I generally introduce new products and product lines, promote specials, contests and discuss ways to use my products. Gradually my subscription base has risen over the past year (I won't say the number because you would all laugh!) I also publish special discount codes. The newsletter goes first to my subscribers and a few weeks later I publish it to my website archives where it can be spidered.
One thing I noticed is that my discount codes are under utilized. I generally put them toward the bottom of the newsletter so the subscriber would either need to read through to the end or be familiar enough with my publication to skip to the end to get the code. This month I offered free shipping on all products. One product I sell is very heavy - my customers would get a deal if they would only would read the newsletter!
Do any of you have any advice about how to improve on a newsletter?
Thanks!
Mac
Not having seen it, I'll make a few generic suggestions. First, I'd include links directly to the products you are promoting, preferably with the discount already applied. If the coupon number approach is essential for your promotion, put it (or a link to it) near the top of your content.
Including a provocative or interesting subject line is important. I get daily newsletters, and I dump most of them without reading; it takes a subject that gets my attention to get me to open the email and read more.
Having several interesting topics (described in the first few lines of the e-mail) is probably a good idea - if one story doesn't hook the reader, perhaps another one will. The ultimate objective is to deliver enough value to the subscriber that he won't flag it as spam and will take the time to read part of it.
Many newsletters include partial article content with links to the web site for the full text. This keeps the size of the e-mail down, and also gets the reader to your site where you have additional promotion opportunities.
The customers like the chatty newsletter (they chat back) but they don't buy b/c of it. The ad email gets nearly the same open rate but they buy like crazy.
If someone signed up for a newsletter at a retail site, they expect a sales flyer. And many look forward to it b/c they have figured out that they can get better deals from it.
We have developed a way to tag the offer code onto the URL, so they don't have to remember it. That's a big plus.
But for your case, are you drawing enough attention to the code? If you want people to use it, really draw attention to it. Make it BIG, bold and easy to find. Point out several times that they must have the code in order to receive the special. Don't try to force them to run down the entire page to find it. When they see an item they like, they are going to click on it right then (which is what you want) so don't lose them b/c you want them to read everything first.
I guess the point is, if you want a newsletter people read, stop selling things in it. If you want a newsletter people buy from, make it to sell and don't worry if they read the whole thing.
I found your comments interesting and will evaluate the purpose of the newsletter. Since I'm still behind in developing articles that would appeal to my audience (i.e., how to use my widgets, time savers, etc.), I'll probably fine tune the sales flyer approach. Is it bad to take a soft sell approach though? As I mentioned earlier, I'm trying to work my key words and phrases in to provide "spider food."
You actually are better off making the email sound like it's going to a smaller audience. The smaller the better. As a matter of fact, if you can make it sound like you wrote it just for that one person, that's great.
For our chatty one, lots of our customers think that our "spokesperson" just sent off a letter to just them. That why they chat back. It is a great way for us to get suggestions and resolve problems for our customers. They are more likly to send a problem to a person rather than a place.
People want to feel special, so there is no harm in making people feel like they are part of a small exclusive group when they get your email. Especially if you are trying for sales. Special email only deals or advance notice on sales and specials will really help this exclusive club feeling.
You know what's even better about the exclusive club feel? They'll want their friends to be part of the club too. So make sure you put something in that says "Forward to a Friend" and another part that says "did you receive this from a friend? Then click here to sign up". This may sound silly, but email ettiquette says you should have permission from the sender before forwarding and there are quite a few people who follow that even when it comes to newsletters. So give them premission and reap the benifits.
Anyway, I'll get off my email high horse now. Hope this helps a little.
Happy New Year!
