Executing some delicate “dance” steps can help ensure that your e-mails are read. Use these 10 “tweaks” from Steve Anderson to make your e-mail newsletters an effective way to keep in touch with your current clients and prospects.
We all get too much e-mail. It consumes hours and hours every day. And how much of it is relevant to our needs? Truth be told, a significant amount of e-mail remains unopened or is immediately deleted. So can using e-mail be an effective marketing tool for your agency? The answer is yes — but only if you take steps to make sure it contains information that will be helpful to your clients. Although it's getting harder to use e-mail without annoying people, the good news is that there are some basic adjustments to help ensure that your e-mail newsletters get read:
1. Be sparing with fancy graphics. HTML newsletters look far better than just plain text. However, firewalls, virus stoppers, and/or slow dial-up lines (used by 80% of all users), make it difficult, if not impossible, for many of your recipients, especially personal consumers, to read, or even receive, them. You can remedy those problems by using plain, old, boring text e-mails with links back to the more graphically rich content on your Web site. Graphics embedded in an e-mail are downloaded when the e-mail is opened, so if your primary recipients are Commercial prospects they might not be connected to the Internet when they read their e-mails — and any graphics won't display.
2. Personalize the sender. The main reason that people decide to open an e-mail is if it comes from a person (Steve Anderson), rather than “ABC Agency,” or “Sales Dep't.” Capitalize on a people-to-people connection.
3. Provide a concise subject line. The second most important factor in getting your e-newsletter read is what you say in the subject line. Don't say “March Newsletter,” which is b-o-o-o-ring. Instead, say something like: “Sorry for the short notice,” or “I thought you'd find this helpful” that piques the recipient's interest.
4. Use links for extensive content. Reduce the volume of words in your newsletter. If you're going to provide an article, give a synopsis or include the first paragraph in the newsletter, and then provide a link to the balance of the article on your Web site. Bonus: By measuring the clicks on the link, you'll be able to determine what kinds of articles generate the most interest.
5. Build in interactivity. Make an offer that stimulates a response. The goal here is to “up the involvement” of your reader and cause them to value and appreciate your agency.
6. Adjust the delivery schedule. The day and time of e-mail transmission can impact its effectiveness. Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday are the best days to send your e-mail. Response is 20% to 30% lower on big news days. Avoid e-mailing on any day immediately before or after a three-day weekend. And don't e-mail on Monday because your recipients will be sifting through all the spam that they received over the weekend.
7. Give recipients a reason to pass the e-mail along. The agency with the biggest list wins! You want to build the total size of your list. Include a suggestion that the readers forward the newsletter to their coworkers, friends, neighbors, or family.
8. Provide an easy way for the recipient to unsubscribe. Think of your own e-mail use. There's nothing more frustrating than not being able to get off an e-mail list. It doesn't matter what the reason is: If someone wants off, take them off .
9. Create a private area on your Web site. Each time that your e-newsletter goes out, post some “insider” content on your Web site that's available only to recipients of the newsletter There's no need to password protect; we're not talking about national security. Just make sure that browsers can't get to this area from your home page.
10. You can use a number of software programs to send larger numbers of customized and personalized e-mails. After experimenting with several different packages, we're currently using a program called Gammadyne Mailer (www.gammadyne.com).