Launching a Newsletter

Along the topic of visitor retention is newsletters. For years I was too preoccupied to explore this marketing angle, until about 6 months ago. I decided it was high time I started taking advantage of my growing registered user base. First things first, I needed to decide between building my own custom newsletter program or going with an open source script or just flatout purchasing a service package from one of the many online vendors. Since I had no time (as usual) I opted to outsource my newsletter. I chose StreamSend.com. They seemed reputable and cheap ($49/month for up to 50k emails). One of my biggest fears was partnering with the wrong company and next thing I know my users are being bombed with spam. I had learned of StreamSend from a Chitika newsletter. Being a bit lazy, I did a little google reasearch and finally decided if StreamSend was good enough for Chitika, then they are good enough for me.

Signing up was easy, and uploading my list of registered users was even easier. It simply required a flat file of the address, which I created with a quick MySQL query. It even did some basic format validation and helped me clean up and remove some old invalid addresses.

Creating the newsletter was quite easy as well. They have a decent web editor that lets you customize your newsletter for both HTML-based and text-only email clients. Any links embedded in the newsletter can be tracked to monitor how many clicks each receives (very handy). Sending the newsletter can be done real-time or scheduled for a later date.

The reporting shows the standard success/failure delivery stats. How many recipients opened the mail, etc. One interesting feature allows you to see who reported your newsletter as spam. I found it interesting because my users all opted in when they registered at my site, but I was still getting a fair number (50 or so) per newsletter that reported it as spam. I concluded that some folks must simply use the spam button for convenience instead of unsubscribing. I have even done that myself in some cases. You can bet I won't do that anymore! Most (if not all) of my spam reporters were from AOL, so they must have a spam button feature easily available.

My biggest lesson learned is that if you send out a newsletter, there is no guarantee folks will read it. I found it very difficult to get my open rate above 25%. Before I started, I would have thought it would be easy to get a 50% or more open rate. But as with most things on the web, you have to sell your product very well. You need to know the best times to send it out for your user base. A late Saturday night newsletter may get lost in a full inbox come Monday morning if your target audience is mostly working adults. You need a catchy yet non-spammy title. Then, even if you get them to open it, you have to get them to read it. I try to follow similar standards as I would for a webpage. Keep the layout simple and informative. Too much text or clutter and they will skip it and move on. Make the links useful and relevent to the content. And most importantly, treat your readers as you would like to be treated.

Newsletters can be a great tool for keeping in touch with your user base, and growing your return visitors. But don't under-estimate the amount of work and effort that is required to run a successful program. Do you homework up front. Reaearch newsletters you already receive. What do you like and dislike about them. Subscrible to yourcompetitor's newsletters. This can be a great way to not only stay on top of the competition, but also pick up on any tips/tricks they might be using in their newsletter.