The Truth About Newsletters
Every online marketing guru says “The money is in the list”. What does it mean? You need to create a subscriber list and start mailing a newsletter to that list on a regular basis. Is it time for you to create your own mailing list? First, there are some points to take into consideration. If you believe you will set it up once and it will be making you cash automatically – you are absolutely wrong. An easy approach to newsletter marketing is to create lots of emails, add them to your email autoresponder and they will be mailed with the frequency you specified. But truly professional internet marketers do not do just that. They track delivery rates, open rates, and CTR rates . They segment their email lists by a lot of parameters and send different emails to different groups of readers. And they do tests, sending the same email with a different call to action, for instance, to the same group of people. Split testing is the key to success, you have to make improvements to your newsletters along the way. One more fact – lots of your subscribers won’t get the newsletter they subscribed to. It occurs because of junk mail filters and programs installed on the subscribers’ computers as well as spam protection systems used by email servers. As much as 20% of your emails can end up in users’ spam folders or get filtered out right on the mail servers. Fact three – a large percentage of people that do receive your newsletter will not open it and even fewer will click a link to visit your site (close to 2%).
In a nutshell, this simply does not sound very good. Now, let’s look at it from a different point of view. Most businesses in the world DO NOT advertise on television, radio or newspapers. So, think first.
I suggest you launch your own newsletter if:
1. You are ready to write fairly often. Bear in mind that a newsletter is not only about sending advertisements but also about offering top quality information for your readers.
2. You have something newsworthy to say at least once per month. Do you update your stock or release new solutions that often?
3. You will manage to get a significant number of readers in the first month or two. The actual number will vary from business to business. If everything previously mentioned is true for you it’s time to think about creating your newsletter.
Here’s my advice if you don’t want to publish “an average newsletter” (which means the one that does not add anything tangible to your bottom line):
1. Don’t ever use commonly used predictable phrasing. All of us are sick and tired of special deals, unique offers and other bla-bla-bla.
2. Make your newsletter valuable. This is generic, don’t you think so? Let me put it this way – offer significant discounts for your top selling items. Many entrepreneurs don’t get it. Have you ever received an e-mail ad for some ebook which will show you how to create a profitable internet business? “The e-book comes with 2 DVDs, one-year subscription for ., plus. at no additional cost. The total value of the bundle is $999, but we are offering it for only $149” That is NOT OF ANY VALUE and we’re all smart enough to realize this. Now, if you try to offer me a large screen TV and offer a 15% discount – this is value. Use your newsletter to offer your best-selling products CHEAPER then most companies sell similar products for.
3. Make your messages short. Here’s a perfect newsletter advert. “Dear John. From August 5 to 26, we will be shipping all orders FREE. We’ve just got a new shipment of fishing clothes and knives, so you will definitely find something of interest. If you are not planning to buy anything new during that period, visit our site anyway, because you can register to get a FREE delivery coupon which is valid for six months for any purchase at our internet store. To see what other promotions are currently running, click this link.
Jenny Sparrow is an web marketer who writes about e-mail marketing software and services.
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