Email Marketing Campaigns
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E-mail newsletters are gaining in popularity with both senders and readers. Indeed, you may have seen this article trailered in the electronic version of Destination MK.Read all about it
For readers, electronic newsletters arrive straight to your desktop without waiting for the post - or waiting for a printed copy that gets stuck in a colleague's in-tray or 'borrowed' from reception. A single click on the subject line and the newsletter is there to be read. Although it can be printed (and HTML newsletters preserve visual interest when printed), it can be read without this intermediate stage.
But the advantages go further. An article of interest to a colleague needs no photocopier or scissors - forwarding the e-mail will get a copy to them, and leave your own copy unmarked. And the electronic format makes it easy to follow up detailed information elsewhere - an HTML newsletter not only looks attractive, but embedded links can take you directly to any relevance resource on the Web in a single click.
And the electronic format allows the reader to get timely reminders or prompts: special editions can be easily created and despatched to promote events, special offers and one-off deals or opportunities. The reader needs only click a mouse to respond - there's no need to note down phone numbers, send letters or faxes. HTML newsletters make it quick and easy to be kept in touch.
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'Tis better to give …
For senders, the HTML newsletter format gives a whole new strand in the communication mix. Electronic copy can be quickly reformatted from a printed newsletter to create an online 'taster' (with links to the full article taking the reader back to the website, or a downloadable PDF version of the newsletter). Alternatively, a complete switch to digital formats can be made, delivering savings in preparation and despatch time, and in print and posting costs.
Including HTML links can also pull readers back to the parent web site, meaning both a faster, more cost-effective way to communicate and an increase in web site traffic.
The sophistications of electronic transmission provide greater advantages, however. As well keeping a readership informed, the HTML approach allows the sender to build complex profiles of the individual readers. By tracking delivery and receipt of individual copies of the newsletter, the organisation can monitor how often a newsletter is read, which of its contents attracted most interest (by following the number of links each link was accessed), whether users responded to images or text, and - over a series of issues - identify which subject areas attracted the interest of which individual readers. It is already technically possible to prepare and deliver totally personalised newsletters that both identify and respond to the demographic behaviour of the readership, and it will interesting to see how far this concept is explored in the coming years and months.
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