When I mention email newsletters to sales prospects and clients, the first question I usually get is; "What will I write about, and when will I find the time?" Most people recognize the value that email newsletters bring, by staying in touch with your customers they are more likely to buy from you again, or refer you to someone else who could end up being your customer. However the major hurdle to maintaining an email newsletter campaign for most business owners is time (or lack thereof) and content.
Similar to blogging, the advice we give is to aim low. That's right, instead of writing the next great American novel every month, write only 200-300 words and keep the newsletter focused, on-topic and brief. Chances are your subscribers don't want to spend 30 minutes reading your newsletter, they'll skim and pick out the items they're interested in and within a few minutes either sort or delete your carefully crafted message. More importantly however by sending the newsletter you've made contact.
| Which leads us into our favorite provider for email newsletter management; Constant Contact. It's no mistake where CC got their name, they are true believers in staying in regular touch with your customers and the service provides great tools for small business to gather, manage and track your enewsletter efforts. |
With Constant Contact you can automatically add new contacts to your account with a signup box on your website, you can manage and segment those lists based on interests, and best of all after you publish a newsletter you can track who, and what everyone clicked on.
The value of knowing what people clicked on is that it gives you insight into their interests. For example, if your newsletter contained some company news, a special, and a resource article, all 3 of those should include a link to either your website or another site. This way, you can see which subscriber is interested in what topic. You may find that 30% want to read your news, 50% want to get your special, and only 20% read your helpful article. This knowledge will allow you to tailor future issues to your audience, and if you're real slick you can segment your list and send each interest group a unique-targeted email next month.
Check out their free 60 day (up to 100 subscribers) trial.
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