Ultimate Guide to eMail Marketing Guidelines (Newsletters) - Part 1

eMail Marketing ( Newsletters ) Definition :

Email is an inexpensive yet effective way to reach an expansive audience relatively quickly.

The basic email marketing definition is the use of email to promote products and/or services. A better definition of email marketing is the use of email to develop relationships with potential customers and/or clients.

Business today is finding email marketing with newsletters attractive for several reasons:

1-The cost of sending a direct mail piece by postal service runs over a dollar, email marketing can cost pennies.

2- A one percent response rate from direct mail is considered terrific. An email marketing campaign can have a five to ten percent response rate.

3- According to DoubleClick's Email Consumer Study, over 78% of online shoppers have purchased because of permission-based emails and 59% of email recipients have bought in a retail store as a result of a merchant email.

4-The benefits of email marketing range from increased sales and lead generation to stronger brand awareness and improved customer relationships.

eMail Marketing ( Newsletters ) Tips And Tricks:

1- Catchy Subjects For Email Marketing:
Writing catchy subject lines is a first step towards email marketing success. Subject lines forms an overall impression of an email.
As you know, people decide to open an email or not just by reading a subject line. So to be successful with email marketing, you must learn how to write catchy subjects.

2-Include Current Date:
This is a very effective way to put a current date in a subject line. Most people look for an updated information.
By looking at a date in subject field, you show them that the information in this email is up-to-date. Also a research show that putting a current date instead of a subscribers' first name generates more hits.

3- Make it Short and Interesting:
Just as you go through the list, including your name, your subscribers name and a current date all together will make a subject line too long. It is entirely up to you how to balance all of them.
But make sure you write a short and an interesting subject material. Show them some interest depending upon your business category in your subjects to grab their attention.

Only a few words of the subject line will appear in your recipient's reading pane so keep it under a total of 50 characters. This usually means about 5 to 8 words. Remember to keep the most important words first!

The downfall of any email marketing campaign is SPAM. Avoid using items in your subject line that will increase the likelihood of being caught in spam filters. This means avoiding words such as "sale", "free", "advertisement". Also, avoid using excessive punctuation, ALL CAPS and symbols ($%*).

4-Write good headlines:
The first thing that you need to remember is to write good headlines. Newsletters are basically made up of several articles put together. Each of these articles needs a headline, with the main article being your primary headline.
A headline should be a short but descriptive phrase that tells the reader what the article is all about.

Besides being descriptive though, the header should also engage the interest of the reader. It should convey a kind of mystery or anticipation so that the readers can be tempted to read the whole article.

5-Be efficient with your word:
Remember that most email programs offer a preview window of about 4 inches. If that space is taken up with a graphic header or a block of text, people are likely to delete it. Headers can graphically enhance email messages, but they also can be distracting. If you choose to use one, design it on a smaller scale so that the header and one or two lines of text are seen in the preview window. This increases the likelihood that the recipient will scroll down and read your email.

Keywords in Newsletter Titles :
guide, accents, advisory, advocate, alert, almanac, briefs, briefing, bulletin
channel, connection, context, digest, dimensions, examiner, facts , file
focus, forecast, forum, highlights, horizons, hotline, insider, interchange
intercom, journal, keynote, letter, light, link, list, log, monthly, news
notes, perspective, post, profile, report, reporter, resources, review, scene
scope, spotlight, survey, tab, times, topics, trends, update, viewpoint
views, voice, weekly, wire, world

6- Appeal to your readers: 
Of course, good headlines will not really matter if you articles do not appeal to your readers. Always make sure that all the articles in your newsletter are related to the overall theme or purpose of the said newsletter.

For example, if you sell shoes, your newsletter can contain articles on jogging, fashion, back pain or even posture, and these are all topics that a reader may find interesting. By covering topics that indirectly or directly pertain to shoes, you are making a connection between your product and the articles. You can include a coupon in your newsletter, or simply insert a modest sized ad within the pages of your newsletter, and your prospects will be clever enough to make the connection between the article topics and your products.


7- Include Quality Content:
By focusing on the content of your newsletter, you will be supplying the prospects with information that they can use. Remember that this is not an overt sales mechanism. A newsletter should contain news, and it is another venue for you to get your brand in front of your customer.
So by including information on topics related to your product, you are indirectly marketing your product, and you are providing the subscriber with interesting and relevant content that really interests them. If you always give your subscribers something of value, then they will look forward to receiving your email.

Ideas for eMarketing Newsletters content:

A- Problem / solution.
B- How-to.
C- Top tips.
D- Opinion / analysis.
E- Look into the future.
F- Case study.
G- Seasonality.
H- Reviews.
I- Educational content.
J- "Best of".
K- Surveys / feedback request.
L- Event recommendations.
M- Resource links.
N- Amusing or inspirational stories and quotes.
O- Answering feedback.
P- Interviews.
Q- Quizzes.

8-Create a Clear Call to Action in Email Marketing Campaigns:
One of the crucial elements of an email marketing campaign is a clear call to action.
A- Lay out exactly what you want the recipients of your message to do, and
B- Design the message to make that path clear for the recipient, and easy to follow.

Also you must develop curiosity among your subscribers:
The general thumb of rule in writing a catchy subject lines is to bring curiosity in readers.
Using words like Secrets, 7 steps to, Are You Satisfied etc. Are some of the example words you can include in your subject material to develop curiosity in your subscribers.
Invoke their mind by putting such call to action words and phrases.

For Example, User Questions Mean Great Content for Newsletters

If you wonder about the "useful content" part, pondering what could be most interesting for your readers, Turn to your email archive and look for recent questions that your users had.

Chances are you can answer them easily, and chances are the answers make highly useful pieces of information for not only the person who submitted the query but for all your newsletter subscribers.

9- Use images:
Images are a good way to enhance the look of the message, but you should only use one or two per message. If there are multiple images or photos, include a link for the user to access them. Also, If you decide to include images, compress files to make them smaller (in storage size) so they don't take up a lot of space in the recipient's mailbox.

Because email software varies, be sure to have an HTML version and a plain-text version to send. Most email marketing software is able to determine which version is better suited for the recipient's inbox.

10- How to Monitor Email Effectiveness:

A- Experiment with Link Placement in Newsletters:

The place a newsletter or email marketing campaign a link appears at can be crucial for click-through.
Consequently, which link goes where can be crucial for the success (if measured in click-through rates) of any email marketing effort, That's why you should " Experiment with link placement in your newsletter" .

Use consecutive issues to vary the placement of standard links. Monitor click-through rates closely to determine which link works best in a certain position, and in which position a link works best.

B- Send the email to colleagues or friends:

Make them review the subject line and gain their opinions and insight., Use them as your test audience. Don't forget to send it to yourself - would you open it?  Encourage everyone to be honest and objective.

C- For additional tracking data:

Send the same email out to random samples of your group with different subject lines. Track and evaluate which email generates more interest and use similar subject lines in future email marketing campaigns.

D-Watch your numbers:

Every time you send out a newsletter, you should get a nice report on how many people opened the email or clicked on a link etc. Use those reports to learn about reader interests. If a particular subject line caused open rates to rocket, you know where to focus more content in the future.

Examine your website reports, too. Which parts of the website are most popular? What words and phrases do people use to find you in the search engines? What words and phrases do they use in your on-site search facility?

All of this information gives clues as to the kind of content topics likely to interest people most.

If your system is clever enough, you might even track which search terms brought those people to your site who then signed up for your newsletter.

E-Go where your readers go:

Look at the pages they visit and learn what interests them. Check out relevant newsgroups, online forums, discussion lists, social networking sites, chatrooms, media sites, blogs etc. and pick out the topics that seem to generate a lot of interest and coverage among your readership.



11- At last Provide Clear Opt Out Instructions:
A- Make it Easy for Subscribers to Change Their Email Address
provide subscribers with an easy to way to change their address., The most simple approach is probably also the best:
- on the page that allows readers to unsubscribe, offer another field where they can subscribe a new address (carrying over all their data) and change the link to that page in the newsletter from "unsubscribe" to "unsubscribe/change address".

B- Any email marketing campaign is about building trust with your subscribers, so you always want to give them what they want. If your subscriber wants to opt out of your newsletter, do not make it hard for them to do so. All you will do is alienate them and very likely lose a customer prospect. If you let people opt out easily, then you will build a reputation that is respected in your niche. When people know that they are not trapped into receiving your newsletter, they may also decide to opt back in, Make Sure Unusbscriptions are Effective Immediately.



the following 2 parts will discuss Newsletters Design Templates & eMail Marketing Best Practices.

Sources :

 -http://www.online.tusc.k12.al.us/
-About.com
-Ezinearticles.com
-ehow.com
-http://www.newarticle.com
http://www.email-marketing-reports.com

    *  Beach, M. (1995). Editing your newsletter. 4th edition. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books.
    * Bivins, T. H. (1992). Fundamentals of successful newsletters: Everything you need to write, design, and publish more effective newsletters. Chicago, IL: NTC Business Books.
    * Floyd, E. (1997). Marketing with newsletters. St. Louis, MO: Newsletter Resources.
    * Harrower, T. (1998). The newspaper designer's handbook. 4th edition. Blacklick, OH: McGraw-Hill.