Tube Talk

It is a high probability you already receive e-newsletters on a regular basis. If you have a credit card, a frequent flyers account, or rewards card, you would be receiving e-newsletters, such as this one I receive to the right. An e-newsletter can be used to keep your customers, suppliers and/or investors up to date with what is happening in your business. A great and simple method of keeping in regular contact.

The E-Newsletter is now more regularly used though as a key marketing tool. In fact, research shows this type of promotion is now more effective than TV or print media advertising, with approximately $45 returned for every $1 spent on E-Marketing. Great ROI!

As you can see in the Woolworths example, my eye is drawn to the big WIN! graphic, and what I need to do to win - buy from Woolworths.

Can your business send email campaigns as elegant as the Woolworths example? - Absolutely!

There are some things you need to know though.

• Does your designer understand the importance of the design. Emails which contain tremendous amounts of text will be deleted before they get through the first paragraph.  Ensure your promotion is in the top half of the email. We see many promotions stuck at the bottom of the email which often mean scrolling down to the bottom of the page. Ensure the promotion is the first object the reader sees.
• Ensure the person creating your template has an understanding of HTML code. Sending out an e-newsletter that is one large single graphic or even sliced into 2 or 3 smaller images will not be effective. Why? Firstly, you slow down your customer inbox, frustrating them and possibly losing a subscriber. Secondly, many spam mail filters do not like email with large multiple images, and your customer may never see your campaign.
• Ensure you are using a provider, who is whitelisted with all major Internet Service Providers. When Australia Post deliver us our mail, we trust the person on the bike to deliver our mail safely and to put items in our letterbox that aren't going to bring us any harm, physically at least!  You're E-Newsletter provider should be able to provide that same security.  That comes with being whitelisted.
• Ensure your provider allows you to test your email campaigns before delivery. Our testing tools allow you to check how your campaign will look in the major email clients (what your customer views their email with), as each client has their own variance in how they make the email look. Our tools also allow you to check how your campaign will be received by spam filters.
• Even the subject line in your campaign needs to be carefully worded and should also be personalised if possible. Even certain words such as buy, win, order can cause spam filters to block your email.
• Be specific about when you send your campaigns. There are times when readers are more likely to read emails than others. I now receive email from many retailers late on Thursday afternoons prior to Thursday night shopping. Ensure your provider allows you to schedule your campaign at any time.

What are the benefits to running these campaigns?

If done right, your email campaigns can boost your sales dramatically (we have often seen sales spike by up to 500% in the 7 days following a campaign), improve your relationship with your customers and keep your brand fresh in their minds. Our reporting tools output a tremendous amount of important data, allowing you to target your campaigns to your customers sex, age, likes and dislikes if you so desire.

For information about TubeMailer, our e-newsletter application, click here. If you have any further questions about E-Newsletters. please don't hesitate to contact us (details at the bottom of the page). But for now I'm off to do some shopping at Woolworths.