Friday Five: Making e-newsletters an effective communication vehicle

By: Brad Horner

Though new technologies may have emerged, external e-newsletters are still one of the strongest marketing channels that businesses have in their arsenal.  The intimacy of e-newsletters foster personal relationships better than other communication vehicles.

Your network is used to sharing things via e-mail and checking e-mail multiple times throughout the day.  A visitor’s inbox is their trusted zone, and when you appear there on a regular basis – providing good content – you increase your company’s awareness and position the company as an industry thought leader.  Epsilon’s February 2009 branding survey found that 57% of consumers feel they have a more positive impression of companies when they receive e-mail from them.  And the Direct Marketing Association found that e-mail’s ROI in 2009 was $43.52 for every dollar spent on it.

NRT Development Advisors regularly sends its newsletter, Developing News, to inform our network of clients, prospects, brokers and more about industry news, helpful tips and our clients’ successes.  And I’m proud to say that we have a much higher than average open rate for the real estate industry.  How?  We follow the below five rules:

1. Get input on useful content. Deciding to write an e-newsletter is easy.  Deciding what to write about is much more difficult.  Visit the websites and forums that your audience typically frequents to learn what topics seem to generate the most interest and coverage.  Blog search engines can also help you identify relevant themes and topics.  And don’t forget to take advantage of opportunities to personally ask your potential readership what they’re most interested in.  Your sales teams and others who deal with customers on a daily basis are great sources of such information.
2. Send only when you have something interesting to say. There is no set rule about how often you should send an e-newsletter, but it should be often enough that your readers don’t forget that they subscribed to your list, but not so often that they are annoyed when they hear from you.  And, your readers want substance, not self-promotional messages.  Establish your e-newsletter as a thought leader with relevant industry topics, as editorial copy is a better read than advertising.
3. Make it aesthetically pleasing. You only have once chance to make a first impression, and with e-newsletters that first impression comes in the form of good looking content.  Ensure that the e-newsletter’s template matches your corporate branding.  Put the most interesting, relevant information on topic (where it can be seen in an e-mail preview window).  And, use graphics strategically.  Photos can break up cluttered text; bullets and highlights make e-newsletters easy to skim.
4. Build trust and credibility. To build trust when asking people to sign up for your e-newsletter, you must be able to clearly answer if you will share their e-mail address and how difficult it will be to unsubscribe.  Consumers are, understandably, leery of companies asking for e-mail addresses because they don’t want to be spammed in the future.  Provide an obvious and painless way that people can unsubscribe.
5. Consider each e-newsletter a test. Carefully analyze the distribution results that e-newsletter programs offer to determine what makes your audience respond.  Do e-newsletters that are sent on Mondays receive a higher open rate than those sent on Tuesdays?  Are more people opening it in the mornings or afternoons?  And what subject lines prompt the quickest action (those with a question or a statement)?  Did particular article topics cause readers to click for more information?

If you’d like to be added to our e-newsletter list, you can sign-up here.