Sam and I sometimes despair at some of the EMail Newsletters we see. Often they’re from fellow business owners we know well and who are trying very hard to join in and use the internet as a marketing tool.
Unfortunately, they’re making some very basic mistakes because they don’t know any better. Here are some of the most obvious to avoid:
Sending as attachments! Even if you’ve produced the most beautiful newsletter and converted it to a PDF file, it probably won’t even be seen by many of your list. People are ever more fearful of the potential for computer viruses activated by opening attachments, even if they know you.
Not using a proper service. Using your own mail service (Outlook etc.) screams ‘unprofessional’! There are so many excellent, low cost services available that there is no excuse for not using one. Another good reason to do so is the great tracking reports you get, like knowing how many of your list received and opened your message.
Confusing Newsletters with Promotions. There is a BIG difference! A newsletter contains useful tips and articles, showing off your expertise. A promotion is mainly trying to sell your stuff and we don’t recommend that approach.
Fuzzy call to action. Make it very clear if you want your reader to do something. Just hoping that they’ll be galvanized into picking up the phone doesn’t work. Tell them what to do, eg. “Read here for more details” linking to a previously prepared web page does work.
Mistaken Purpose. Why are you publishing a newsletter? No, it isn’t to sell your stuff – that comes much later! Your purpose is to keep in touch with clients and prospects and to build relationships. That’s all.
Not Testing before you publish. For some unknown very techie reason, what you see in Firefox isn’t the same as what others see in Internet Explorer, Safari or other popular Internet browsers. Likewise, what you see in your email inbox isn’t what people see if they have, say, a hotmail account. You’ll probably never eliminate all the readability issues, but at least get rid of as many as you can.
Failing to build a proper list. Sending your fledgling newsletter out to everyone including your family and friends is understandable. Sending it out regularly to everyone on your contact database or business card folder is spam. Build your list ethically. Use a reputable service that has ‘double opt-in’ and ‘one-click unsubscribe’ functions.
EMail Newsletters can be a great marketing tool for small businesses – but only if done properly. If you know anyone who’s making these mistakes, do them a favour and send them a link to this post!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post, I agree it’s amazing how many businesses seem to be unaware of the basics. I got an email yesterday from a local firm (a limited company) with no company details and no unsub instructions – in the UK at least those 2 things are a legal requirement for commercial email, especially if it’s unsolicited.
This is so basic, but so true. I recently made the mistake of trying out my outlook mailing software, simply to test and accidently sent a random email to my whole database. Very embarrassing and most unproffesional.
However, I have learnt my lesson and invested in some software. Just need to find the courage now to try again to the same batch of people!! Any suggestions how to go about it??!
Hi Melanie and thanks sharing your experience with us! Many people have done exactly the same – although of course you don’t say what was in your random message
I think you’ll find the people on your database have already forgotten about it, even though such an incident will stay in your memory a lot longer! If you make sure your next mailing contains excellent value content, they’ll be pleased to hear from you – so go for it – and good luck!
So glad you liked the post Robin! Your recent experience is all too common isn’t it? I held a workshop recently and found most of the students didn’t understand why they couldn’t just send emails to everyone in their address book! Thanks for the reminder of some legal requirements for commercial email. I fear there’s still a lot of educating to do!
Thanks for the post. One question that I’m pondering is whether it’s a good idea to post newsletters on twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn or whether it’s best to try to entice more readers to sign up to your email marketing system by just sending a teaser of the newsletter before the next one goes out. Of course, you could do both…
Glad you enjoyed the post Simonne and thanks for asking such a great question! I’d agree with your closing comment – you need to do both.
Yes you want to encourage more people to sign up to your list, which gives the opportunity to contact them more often. So you need to tempt them to part with their email address by offering an excellent value give-away.
For those people not on your list but who may be connected to you via the social networks, publishing the newsletter online will extend the reach of your message – which can only be good for business!