Email Newsletters for Printers
A well-executed email newsletter can be an easy and inexpensive way to help market your print services. However, eNewsletters present more potential pitfalls than their print counterpart. With email newsletters, getting it right every time is critical because once someone opts out (or tags you as spam) they are gone forever!
- 79% of people scan content on the web rather than read it. So with email content, consider bulleted or numbered points and short sentences that are well spaced.
- The reader must be able to grasp the value of your content immediately. Your subject lines, title and subtitle are critical. And if you can supply some great engaging content, it's ok to slip in your 20% of promotional content as well.
- Readers love graphics and they make information easier to scan, however, they can also have a negative effect on deliverability rates. In general, the more graphics you have, the greater chances you will end up in a spam folder. Spam filters have a ratio of text to images that they like to see.
- Click through articles. The more they have to scroll or click, the less likely it is to be seen. Rather than asking the reader to click through to an article, you're better off putting the complete article right in the email.
- Keep your articles short. This number keeps shrinking and with bulleted and well-spaced sentences, you have less space to work with. Under 375 words and perhaps less. Try to put your most important take aways up top above the fold (scroll line).
- Test for browser compatibility. What looks nice in your version of Outlook may look terrible in my version of Apple mail. We use Litmus.com to test our clients (and our own) emails. There are other services as well. It's easy and critical.
- Use a reputable email service provider that provides bulk emailing as a service. They have agreements with the ISPs to help increase the chance of your eNewsletter reaching the intended recipient.
Hope this helped. Happy to answer questions regarding this or any other marketing challenges you may be facing!
