e-Newsletter Best Practices

By Landry Butler

Best Practices: Overview

• Respect your audience's time• Keep it simple• Monitor your results

Best Practices: Audience

• Average reader spends 51 sec. reading the average newsletter

• May spend an additional 33 sec. following links• 19% of potential subscribers lost due to usability

difficulties• Users often stay subscribed due to difficult

unsubscribe processes• Some users reported it was easier to use a spam

blocker than to unsubscribe

Best Practices: Deliverability

• Include a prominently placed white list request

• Send newsletter at regular intervals• Send newsletter at an appropriate time

Best Practices: “From” Line

• Easily recognizable• Sender clearly identified• Consistent from issue to issue• Contains both a display and an actual

“from” address– Eg: MyCompany <newsletter@myco.com>

Best Practices: Subject Line

• Engaging and benefit-oriented• Features something unique to current issue• Most important information goes first• Avoid “spammy” words

Best Practices: First Screen

• Recognizable logo or company name in prominent place

• Table of contents for each issue• Link to read newsletter online

Best Practices: Content

• Engaging and benefit-oriented• Include engagement tools: surveys, polls,

ways to provide feedback, discussion forums

• 60/40 rule for ads: 60% minimum editorial, 40% maximum ads

• No more than 2-3 printed pages total

Best Practices: Look and Feel

• Engaging and attractive design• Design is consistent with Web site and

landing pages• Images used to enhance content• Should engage reader even if images are

blocked• Easy to skim: short paragraphs, bullet

points and white space

Best Practices: Footer

• One-click unsubscribe link• Link to subscription management page• Postal address for sender• Sender’s copyright notice

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Deliverable rate• Open rate• Click through rate• Conversion rate

How many valid email addresses received the complete newsletter?

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Deliverable rate• Open rate• Click through rate• Conversion rate

How many times was the newsletter viewed?

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Deliverable rate• Open rate• Click through rate• Conversion rate

How many times were links in the newsletter clicked on?

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Deliverable rate• Open rate• Click through rate• Conversion rate

How many registrations, memberships or other actions were generated by this newsletter?

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Use dedicated software to track response rates and simplify your life

Best Practices: Summary

• Respect your audience's time• Keep it simple• Monitor your results

Best Practices: References

• E-Newsletter Best Practices

– By Landry Butler

– www.slideshare.net/landrybutler

• E-mail Newsletter Usability

– By Jakob Neilsen

– www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/

• Ten Email Design Best Practices

– By Don Nicholas and Jeanne Jennings

– Mequoda Daily

– www.mequodafree.com

• Larry Chase’s 12 Best Practices e-newsletters

– http://www.wdfm.com/email-best-practices.php

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1

e-Newsletter Best Practices

By Landry Butler

2

Best Practices: Overview

• Respect your audience's time• Keep it simple

• Monitor your results

3

Best Practices: Audience

• Average reader spends 51 sec. reading the average newsletter

• May spend an additional 33 sec. following links• 19% of potential subscribers lost due to usability

difficulties• Users often stay subscribed due to difficult

unsubscribe processes• Some users reported it was easier to use a spam

blocker than to unsubscribe

Jakob Neilsen

•Users don’t spend much time reading newsletters. They spend most of their time doing other things.

•Users want their newsletter to “just work”

•Unsubscribing should be easier than setting up a spam filter which may also block legitimate messages

4

Best Practices: Deliverability

• Include a prominently placed white list request

• Send newsletter at regular intervals• Send newsletter at an appropriate time

Delivery

•Give an example of “white listing”

•Users should opt in and “white list” “from” address

•Business newsletters should be delivered during business hours

5

Best Practices: “From” Line

• Easily recognizable• Sender clearly identified

• Consistent from issue to issue• Contains both a display and an actual

“from” address– Eg: MyCompany <newsletter@myco.com>

6

Best Practices: Subject Line

• Engaging and benefit-oriented• Features something unique to current issue

• Most important information goes first• Avoid “spammy” words

•what are “spammy” words?

• Russian font to English speaker

• FREE, ORDER NOW

• Anything to do with sex, drugs or money

7

Best Practices: First Screen

• Recognizable logo or company name in prominent place

• Table of contents for each issue• Link to read newsletter online

8

Best Practices: Content

• Engaging and benefit-oriented• Include engagement tools: surveys, polls,

ways to provide feedback, discussion forums

• 60/40 rule for ads: 60% minimum editorial, 40% maximum ads

• No more than 2-3 printed pages total

9

Best Practices: Look and Feel

• Engaging and attractive design• Design is consistent with Web site and

landing pages• Images used to enhance content• Should engage reader even if images are

blocked

• Easy to skim: short paragraphs, bullet points and white space

10

Best Practices: Footer

• One-click unsubscribe link• Link to subscription management page

• Postal address for sender• Sender’s copyright notice

11

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Deliverable rate• Open rate

• Click through rate• Conversion rate

How many valid email addresses received the complete newsletter?

Develop benchmarks to measure newsletter’s effectiveness in order to know what adjustments to make.

Jupiter Research sample metrics

88% deliverable rate

20% open rate – Tells you how many times the newsletter was viewed (C: iContact’s best clients = 40 %)

9.5% click through rate

1.1% conversion rate

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Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Deliverable rate• Open rate

• Click through rate• Conversion rate

How many times was the newsletter viewed?

Develop benchmarks in order to know what adjustments to make.

13

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Deliverable rate• Open rate

• Click through rate• Conversion rate

How many times were links in the newsletter clicked on?

14

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Deliverable rate• Open rate

• Click through rate• Conversion rate

How many registrations, memberships or other actions were generated by this newsletter?

15

Best Practices: Benchmarks

• Use dedicated software to track response rates and simplify your life

Don't try to do this with Outlook or Gmail. Use the right tool for the job.

There are many commercial and free programs that can help you send and track your newsletter. I've used PHPList and Emma. They both do about the same thing in a lot of ways, but Emma is much easier to use.

MailChimp was suggested in a recent presentation. It is an Emma competitor with a lot more free options.

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Best Practices: Summary

• Respect your audience's time• Keep it simple

• Monitor your results

The End

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Best Practices: References

• E-Newsletter Best Practices

– By Landry Butler

– www.slideshare.net/landrybutler

• E-mail Newsletter Usability– By Jakob Neilsen

– www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/

• Ten Email Design Best Practices– By Don Nicholas and Jeanne Jennings

– Mequoda Daily

– www.mequodafree.com

• Larry Chase’s 12 Best Practices e-newsletters– http://www.wdfm.com/email-best-practices.php

Other

•What else? AUDIENCE DISCUSS