Business Opportunities Weblog

July 21, 2008 by Rich Whittle | 3 Comments

Rhonda Abrams At USA Today:

Want to get my business tips regularly? Sign up for my monthly e-mail newsletter. Want ideas on safeguarding your pet? Get your vet’s e-mail newsletter. Don’t want to miss a cooking class from your favorite local gourmet store? They’ve probably got an e-mail newsletter, too.

It’s gotten easier — and cheaper — to send e-mail newsletters, thanks to a profusion of Web-based e-mail newsletter services. As a result, small businesses in every industry have launched their own regular newsletters. They’re an effective, inexpensive and relatively easy way for small companies to regularly stay in touch with customers and prospects.

If you’re thinking of launching an e-mail newsletter, here are a few handy tips to keep in mind:

• Give readers a reason to open it. Include meaningful, useful content, such as discounts or notices of sales.

• Keep it relatively short. People have limited time. The recipient needs to be able to get something valuable from your newsletter in less than a minute.

• Send it regularly. Once a month or every two weeks is ideal. More than that is probably overkill, and any less than quarterly, they’ll forget about you.

• Make sure your subject line promises value to the reader. The value can be a financial incentive ($25 cash back) or, more likely, it can be information that a reader might find useful (Seven weight-loss tips). Studies have shown that subject lines with fewer than 50 characters are best.

• Avoid subject lines that will get you blocked. Spam filters block subject lines with words like “free” or dollar signs ($$$) or all caps.

• Use intriguing or inviting headlines. It’s not particularly exciting to just see “This month’s news” or “This month’s specials.” Instead, use the headline to indicate what they’ll find right in the newsletter, for example, “This Month’s Special — 50 Percent Off All Outdoor Furniture.”

• Keep your branding. Make sure your company name is very visible. Use the same colors, fonts and taglines you use in the rest of your branding.

• Only send it to people who’ve signed up. This is called “Opt-In” and most e-mail newsletter services will only send to your e-mail list if people have signed up to receive it or have given their business card.

• Provide an “unsubscribe” option. Once again, this is required by most e-mail services — and it’s the law. Otherwise, people are just going to block you as a sender.

Photo by enimal.

In Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Tags: Advice, Customers, Email