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Jeanne Jennings, an expert on email strategy, is a ClickZ columnist and D.C.-area consultant with 12+ years of experience in the online field beginning in the late 1980's when she worked for CompuServe. Jeanne specializes in helping businesses develop an effective and profitable online presence via Web sites and email newsletters. In this interview, Jeanne explains why she thinks every Web site should have an email newsletter component, and offers valuable tips on how to effectively implement a program.
MES: Jeanne, it's said that nowadays you really need an email newsletter to be successful with Internet marketing. Do you agree with that, and if so, why is it so important?
Jeanne: I do agree with that. I often say that every Web site should have an email newsletter component. Why? Because in a way, a Web site is like a trade show booth. In both cases, prospects drop by to learn more about your products and services. You'd never think of spending the time and money to attend a trade show without collecting business cards from everyone who stopped by your booth and then having your sales force follow up with them afterward. So why would you build a Web site, open it to all comers, and not try to get an email address from your Web site visitors so you can follow up with them?
In the book Permission Marketing, Seth Godin's premise is that effective email marketing is about building relationships. His subhead, "Turning strangers into friends, and friend into customers" really says it all. Any relationship, online or off, is built over time. And that's what email newsletters allow a company to do - develop relationships with prospects and customers over time. People buy from people, whether they're purchasing goods online or off.
MES: If someone is just starting out with a new newsletter, what are some of the best ways they can grow their subscriber list?
Jeanne: There are many ways - both offline and online - to grow an email list.
Online, your own Web site and communications should be your first focus. At the most basic level, you want to feature the email newsletter prominently on your Web site and have an easy and immediate way for interested visitors to sign up. In addition, you want to include a link to this sign-up page in all your online communications with prospects and customers - so it should appear in the signature line of all outgoing employee emails as well as in the copy of all customer service and other emails that are sent.
Next, you want to look at Web sites and email newsletters that aren't competitive with you but that target a similar audience. Ads in other email newsletters, co-registration agreements with other sites, and perhaps even some Web site advertising are all good ways to go. I also like to look at some non-traditional ways to grow the list, like writing articles for placement in these vehicles and including a note about the newsletter and a sign-up link in your article bio.
Offline can also be a great way to grow your list. Be sure to include a brief feature/benefit statement about the email newsletter and the URL for the sign-up page on everything you distribute offline.
MES: Is renting lists a good way to go to get new subscribers/customers? Why or why not?
Jeanne: That's what most people initially think of - I think that's because it's how offline direct marketing works. You rent a list and send out a promotion. Does this work online? It can, but you need to be careful. A lot depends on the list and your approach.
Be sure you work with a reputable list broker. Look for opt-in or, even better, double opt-in lists, which tend to deliver higher open and click-through rates than lists that are compiled, harvested, appended or otherwise developed without permission. A good opt-in list will be rented for one-time use; if you are offered unlimited use, it's probably not a very productive list.
The offer should be for them (recipients) to opt-in to receive your email newsletter. A mistake many people make is to get a list for unlimited use and then just add those people into their newsletter list without getting permission. This results in lower open and click-through rates as people delete your unexpected message without reading it, and often also results in spam complaints.
Remember - the goal is not to send as many emails out as possible - the goal is to get a response, to get the reader to take an action. Sending emails that aren't opened or read is a waste of your marketing dollars.
MES: How can a newsletter compete with so many other newsletters out there, and so much Internet clutter?
Jeanne: At the sign-up, focus on feature/benefit/advantage language that tells your reader what's in it for them. Many people are also starting to offer a premium - a report in PDF format or something else - to people who sign-up. Showing testimonials from happy readers is another way to boost your sign-ups. And the most important thing of all is to be sure you include value in every issue of your email newsletter - remember that there's always got to be something in it for the reader, and I don't mean a 10% discount if they buy your product. The value has to be inherent in the email itself. All of these things can help differentiate you.
MES: How often do you think a publisher should send out their newsletter, so as not to overwhelm, but also not to be forgotten?
Jeanne: Publishing frequency is a huge issue these days. If you publish too infrequently, you'll be forgotten. Too often and you risk bombarding your readers. For organizations just starting out, I recommend at least twice a month, although many people start with once a month and that seems to be acceptable. When you get less frequent than that, you're not going to have the continuity you need to build the relationship.
The other factor in your publishing frequency is your content. The more new content you have, the more often you can publish. Since that's what the newsletter is all about, you either need to have or find enough content to meet your publishing frequency.
Finally, I recommend organizations tell readers when they sign-up how often they're going to publish and stick to it. Setting and then meeting the expectation here is key. Readers notice discrepancies, especially if they signed up for a weekly and suddenly they're getting three emails each work week.
MES: You hear a lot about spam these days. How can merchants who use email newsletters avoid having their missives labeled as such? What about getting around overzealous filters?
Jeanne: The best way to protect yourself is to have readers opt-in for your email newsletter. You can also go with a reputable deployment vendor if you're outsourcing, someone who has relationships with the anti-spam factions and who is dedicated to sending email only to those who have opted-in to receive it.
Even so, you may still get caught in a situation where you're accused of sending unsolicited email. Be sure you can prove the reader opted-in and have someone either on your staff or with your vendor whose job it is to deal with complaints in a non-confrontational, clear-headed manner. Often in addition to responding to readers, that person will need to contact the blacklist compilers to argue your case.
Spam filters are becoming a fact of life. Many people are now trying to disguise trigger words (i.e. sp@m, fr^e, etc.). It's all kind of silly, and really the filters are just going to evolve to recognize these words as well. The best thing you can do is to have a recognizable "From" line, avoid use of all caps (which is like yelling anyway) and be sure your emails are expected by recipients.
MES: Can you recommend any especially good examples of emailed newsletters so our readers can see what is effective and what the "best practices" are?
Jeanne: There are lots of good ones out there. In the online marketing/publishing realm, ClickZ, MarketingSherpa and WordBiz all publish well-done newsletters. I also incorporated many standards and best practices in the newsletters I developed for Variety.com as well as into my own email newsletter, The Jennings Report.
MES: Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us, Jeanne! How can our readers find your own newsletter and your columns? Anything else you want to mention?
Jeanne: My newsletter is The Jennings Report http://www.jenningsreport.com, and I publish a monthly column on E-mail Marketing Optimization for ClickZ.com. Also, I have a full list of articles I've published and speaking engagements I've done at my main Web site, JeanneJennings.com.
http://www.jeannejennings.com
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