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Email Newsletters - 3 Reasons They're Still Worth Your Time
The Sprocket Report
Did you delete a bazillion emails this morning? Yeah, us, too. And yet we still believe that writing and sending an email newsletter is worth the effort. Here are three reasons why:
Reason #1: Keeps the lines of communication open
The people on your list gifted you with their precious email address because they felt you offered something of value. Maybe they have already made a purchase or are researching a purchase. These “warm leads” are golden and you’ll want to stay top-of-mind so they think of you first when they are ready to make a “buy” decision.
Whatever email management tool you use, they probably provide analytics for your campaigns that include open rates and click-through rates. Take a look at your statistics, but before you get too depressed, check out the average open rate for your industry. If you are close to the average, you are doing pretty well. If you are way off, then it’s time to do some tweaking.
Even if your click-through rate is not impressive, just flashing your company name leaves a good impression, reminding folks of what you do and how consistently you do it.
Reason #2: Provides Good ROI
With all the options available, you may be wondering if emailing a newsletter is still a good choice. Compare the return on your investment to answer that question. Direct mail does provide slightly better open rates than email, but the cost is much higher. Both may have their place in your marketing mix, but when your budget is slim, running an email campaign can be much more affordable.
Of course, one needs to have set goals and measure to know for sure what the ROI is for any campaign and branding goals are particularly tricky to measure. But with a little creativity, you can track the client journey with special codes or landing pages that will give you a clearer picture and numbers to crunch.
Reason #3: Supplements other communications outlets
Speaking engagements, social media, webinars, networking, even direct mail – all of these work perfectly with email. You can send an email newsletter to folks who connected with you through these other channels and you can use the other channels to ask folks to subscribe to your email newsletter. Because of email’s friendly ROI (see above!), it’s a no-brainer to use along with your other outlets.
As a final thought, however, let’s agree to ditch the term “newsletter.” While you may or may not change the actual content of what you email, public opinion has soured on the word. We are all overwhelmed by too much content, but we also need a way to stay informed. Brief, specific emails are one way to provide valuable info to your customers and prospective customers without overloading them.
Like you, we are always tweaking to find the right balance of marketing that will resonate with our audience and email has been on our radar recently. If you are also interested in email tweaking, give us a call to discuss how we can help. We’re happy to share what we’ve learned.
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Kate Gingold
I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.
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