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| E-Newsletters - Easy, Efficient, Effective |
| - By David Ehrlich, President Track Marketing Group |
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When thinking about the latest and greatest technology for retaining and growing members, you probably don't think about email newsletters. However, as the original "killer application" that propelled the internet forward in the early days, email newsletters can outperform other more costly marketing options.
A consistent member focused email marketing campaign will more than pay for itself by building solid relationships with members and future members. Members always ask "what have you done for me lately?" and a consistent useful presence in their email box will keep your association front and center in their mind.
Do you receive any favorite email newsletters? What content holds your interest over the long term? Design your newsletter from the perspective of the member not your organization. What information do your members need to know?
While you may desire to promote a new education course (the organization's perspective), consider taking some of the content from the course and packaging it into a bite size factoid that could help a member immediately. If the factoid grabs them, they'll naturally seek out more details and consider your educational offerings. Same with your annual conference - rather than tell them where/when/cost/speakers, give them a nugget of information that they'll get by attending and peak their interest to attend to get more. |
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| Successful email newsletter campaigns offer: |
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| Relevant content
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| segment your members by areas of interest (these can be identified as members sign-up for your newsletter) or any demographic selections available to you and send targeted communications. Give members the information that will most likely interest them. Ask yourself - if you were a member would you honestly look forward to receiving the content you're about to send? |
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| Easy to read
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| keep the content bulleted in the email and offer links for more details on any individual item. It is easier to scan the email and people will click a link for more information. A simple table of contents is also useful at the top of the message. Graphic based email is a nice option to offer people (let them choose a text only version if they desire). |
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| Encourage forwarding |
| Write content that speaks to the industry and actively encourage members to forward to anyone that might find it interesting. Put a simple join now blurb in the body and ask people to please forward the email in its entirety. This is known as viral marketing and can be very powerful since anyone that receives a forwarded copy is hearing about your organization from a trusted friend at no additional cost to you. |
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| Use as a free taste of membership |
| conduct an offline marketing campaign to prospective members and offer a free trial subscription (can be a slightly different version of the newsletter with a few soft plugs for membership). Every issue they receive (at little cost to you) is another impression of your association's name and reinforces the highlights of membership in the organization. |
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| Timely |
| many newsletters are offered either daily, weekly, or monthly. No matter which you choose, keep the content relevant to what is happening now in the lives of your members. I would not recommend daily unless you have access to solid content. Sending low value content more frequently will hurt. |
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| Quality of email list |
| You may want to maintain two opt-in lists (one for newsletter and one for general association communication) so that you reserve the right to send important communication outside of the newsletter. A double opt-in requires an email confirmation and is the gold standard relative to avoiding the perception of spam. If you decide to buy an email list, ask detailed questions about the source of the email addresses and personally verify the opt-in procedure. |
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| Tracking |
| Many email broadcast services offer you the ability to track how many people open the email, how many forward (using a link in the email) and how many click on each specific hyperlink. |
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Offer easy opt-out instructions and inquire why members didn't find value and what they would have liked to see to increase the chance future people will not opt out.
In addition to building and maintaining strong member relationships, there is a great opportunity to sell sponsorship or advertisements. Companies that want to reach your members will appreciate the opportunity to provide a tease and link within the newsletter and will pay good money for this strategic communication option. Keep the advertisements short (give them a small word limit) and readers will click for more details on the offer if they're interested.
If done successfully, people will look forward to your next newsletter and your association will become a greater part of their working life. This can only help retain members and grab new member's attention. Email - it's still timely, cheap, and personal. |
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