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E-newsletters

Using email newsletters to attract people to your website

Many nonprofit organisations have a website that is well known and patronised by client, member and stakeholder groups. The organisation posts new information on the site and the client, member and stakeholder groups check the site regularly as an important source of up-to-date information.

However, websites are passive repositories of information. If you can’t rely on people – whether they be members, clients, supporters or some other audience you want to reach – to regularly check your website you need an active rather than a passive way of communicating with them. Email newsletters (e-newsletters) are the best way to do this.

E-newsletters go straight to the email inboxes of your target audience and the newsletters appear in front of this audience with a short digest of news they might find interesting. With a hyperlink the e-newsletter can then take this audience back to your website for more detail.

If you want people to keep visiting your website, e-newsletters are a key tool to alert them to new content that will give them a reason to check out your site again.

Remember that more people use email regularly than search or browse the web.

Developing your e-newsletter

A good email newsletter needs to be short and sharp and able to be scanned in seconds. It should alert people to something they can then go to a website to read more about.

Newsletters build relationships. They have the special benefit that people can, if something catches their attention, forward them on to friends and colleagues. If you can provide news that’s really compelling, people on your list end up working on your behalf letting others know about what you are doing.

The flip side of this is that most people get a lot of email, including vast amounts of spam. They are intolerant of a newsletter that they see as wasting their time. They’ll either ignore or delete such newsletters – and keep ignoring them in the future.

Useability guru Jakob Nielsen believes that:

• a poorly presented newsletter will have a more damaging impact on the relationship than would a bad website; and 
• people ‘only like newsletters if they can simplify their lives; they don’t like text-heavy messages’.

See the summary of Nielsen’s research on email newsletter usability

Many people prefer email to mailed newsletters. They’re more convenient, easier to scan, more immediate and easier to delete.

But, because they are so easy to delete, email newsletters have to be especially relevant and interesting. If a news item doesn’t fall into those categories, don’t put it in.

Tips for e-newsletters

1. Write different news to different groups. Making a newsletter relevant to everyone can be a challenge. One tip is to write different items for different groups. Your first story might be aimed at people who refer others to you; the second at volunteer workers; the third at funders. When they scan the newsletter they’ll notice a story of special interest to them, and happily read it. That’s a success!
   
   If you have the time available you might consider targeted email newsletters. If you’re a soccer club, you might do a general newsletter for parents and supporters, then a special edition aimed at kids with tips for playing.
2. Get the subject line right. The subject line is what people look at to decide if they should read further. If it doesn’t get their attention, they’ll move on.
3. Get the style of your newsletter right for your first issue. Then use that style as your template for future issues. That will save time and effort later.
4. Prepare more than one issue at a time. Collect items that don’t date easily and have them ready to add as your next issue comes up. This will reduce last minute effort if there aren’t enough new items ready to go.
5. Avoid HTML newsletters unless you’ve got expert help. HTML newsletters are becoming more common. These are the ones loaded with graphics and designed to look like a web page. They’re often more effective than a text email newsletter – but they can be fiddly to produce, and they can be slow (and frustrating) to download for those people who don’t have broadband and still use a dial-up account.
   
   Another problem with HTML newsletters is the growing trend for email programs to strip the graphics from an email, thus meaning that a segment of your audience won’t see the newsletter as you have designed it unless they make a conscious decision to reinsert the graphics. Some programs such as Google's Gmail don’t give users even the choice (Google is paid by ad subscribers and doesn't want HTML emails to steer eyes away from their links). So concentrate on getting out simple text e-newsletters; consider HTML newsletters only when you have expert advice to hand and when you can be sure that it reads just as clearly without the graphics.
   
   Also bear in mind that graphics present accessibility problems for sight-impaired people dependent on screen reader software.
6. Be aware of privacy issues. Make sure you always offer people the means to unsubscribe from your list should they wish to do so. And make it easy for people to change their email address. See more on privacy
7. Bring your newsletter out regularly. Make sure that you have the resources to continue producing the newsletter. Telling the world that your newsletter will be issued monthly then only bringing it out once or twice or at erratic intervals creates false expectations and looks unprofessional.
8. Make sure that you can deliver. It is important that information in your e-newsletter about services or reports etc on your website is correct and up-to-date. Nothing is more annoying than being told that a report is available and then discovering that it hasn’t been uploaded yet.

Promoting your e-newsletter: three key points

In addition to its benefits in getting your news out, your e-newsletter is a key tool to get people to return to your website. You need to build your email list.

1. Be clear about who your stakeholders are – what types of people do you want to receive your news.
2. Figure out ways to let them know your newsletter exists and how useful it is for them. Mention it on all your printed matter from stationery to the email signature of all staff to information sheets e.g. 'Email: subscribe@yourname.org.au'. Ask other organisations that communicate with people you want to reach to let them know about your newsletter (you can do the same in return).
3. Make it easy for someone to subscribe e.g. a simple subscribe box on your website home page. Also collect email addresses whenever you are dealing with a potential subscriber – from information days to email boxes on all your forms.

Document ID: 1460, Last Updated: Wednesday, 23 January 2008 9:11am