Learn/Tips-for-Sending-Email-Newsletters

Learn

Newsletters are good business

By Kristina Weis
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Email marketing and newsletters can be a powerful way to touch your customers on a regular basis, and hopefully bring them back for more. Sending emails is pretty cheap, often about 1 cent per email you send.

While social media is becoming more prominent in this space, emails are still important. They can reach a wider audience because more people use email, and it is often easier for people to check email than social sites while they're at work. Compared to posting something on Facebook or Twitter, email is more of a guarantee because it is going to sit in their inbox indefinitely, while a person could easily miss your post on a social site if they have lots of friends or if they didn't login the day you said it.

Picking an email marketing ally

A good email platform can make your email marketing efforts more simple and effective than they would be otherwise. You can choose a provider that does much of the work for you or one that gives you a good do-it-yourself platform.

Below is a list of some providers. There are many more out there to choose from, but these are ones that come with a recommendation.

Many of the sites listed below offer a free trial so you can see first-hand how easy-to-use they are, and what features they have.

MailChimp.com (visit) - This is the tool that I use here at AboutUs.org to send our newsletters. I like its friendly interface and options to customize my own email template. It also has simple A/B testing so you can see which subject line works best, etc. and make your campaigns more effective. MailChimp is a good option if you're comfortable enough to poke around and build your own email (they do have lots of help pages), or if a simple pre-made template is fine. This isn't a provider that will do the work for you, or hold your hand over the phone. If MailChimp sounds good you can sign up here. This person and this person also like MailChimp.
{{{2}}} (visit) - GetSatisfaction.com uses these guys to send their newsletters, so they probably like it.
{{{2}}} (visit) - This is a popular provider that seems be used by larger businesses looking for a comprehensive service that is less do-it-yourself. AboutUs.org's UX Designer has heard good things from ConstantContact clients.
{{{2}}} (visit) - This is a popular provider for designers who are doing email marketing for their clients. It is rebrandable so that designers can sell the service as their own. CampaignMonitor has at least two big fans.
{{{2}}} (visit) - Used by Groupon.com

Know of another good email marketing provider? Say something about it on Twitter and include @KristinaWeis in your tweet so I see it. Or email me.

Tips

Make sure your email looks okay in various email clients. An email can look great in your email inbox, but it may not look great in Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail.
Make sure your email looks okay without the images displayed. Many email clients don't display images in emails by default.
Using one of the above/below services is probably your best bet.
Make the content of your email text, and not text hidden in an image.
Pick an appropriate time to send your emails. Sending emails during the business day on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday is generally recommended.
Make sure you send your emails from an email address that you actually check. It's common for some people to reply to emails and ask to be removed from your mailing list or to ask a customer service question.
An email can be a good place to invite your subscribers to connect with you on Facebook or Twitter. Many businesses post things to these social media sites more often than they send out email marketing or a newsletter -- because it's easier and cheaper -- so it can be helpful to direct people there so you can touch them more often.

Spam

It's very important that your emails don't get marked as spam more than a few times.

If you get marked as spam too much you can get added to spam blacklists and less of your emails will make it to peoples' inboxes. Being marked as spam is also likely to result in your email marketing service dropping you as a client.

Below is a list of tips to help keep you out of peoples' spam folders:

Only email people that have opted in to receiving emails from you. (e.g. DO NOT buy email lists.)
Include a clear and obvious "unsubscribe" link in your emails, or at least a description of how people can opt out of future emails. *
Don't email people that have unsubscribed from your mailing list. *
Include your mailing address in the footer of your emails. *
Don't use false or misleading subject lines or email headers (to, from) *
Send often, but not too often. If someone signs up for your email list in January and doesn't get a single email from you until July they may not remember that they signed up, and they may mark you as spam as a result.
If you're going to send emails yourself manually, avoid sending emails to your whole list by emailing yourself in the "To" field and everyone else via "BCC". This looks spam-y to people and email clients.
Use a reputable email marketing provider that follows strict spam guidelines. Otherwise, your emails could be punished for the bad practices of other clients that use the same company (because your emails are being sent from the same mail server).

* Indicates a CAN-SPAM Act requirement