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| January 23, 2003 Dear Reader, Baby, it's cold outside here in DC! But you won't be left out in the cold about e-mail marketing if you check out this issue. We've got great practical information on growing your house list, adding personality to your e-mail newsletter and increasing your click-through rates. I also talk about how two organizations are using e-mail to aid their retention efforts in my publisher's note. So bundle up and don't slip on the ice as you venture into this issue... Table of Contents 1. Publisher's Note: It's All About Retention Jeanne S. Jennings 2. Featured Resource: Turning Clicks into Customers Wordbiz.com 3. Putting Personality Into Your E-Newsletter MarketingProfs.com 4. Blast from the Past: Increase Your Click-through Rate by 50%? ClickZ.com 5. 50 Ways to Grow Your Email Marketing Database TargetX 6. Email Promo Teams Beer, Bunnies and The Super Bowl DM News 7. Below the Beltway: Spam Filters Washington Post Sponsor  Content 1. Publisher's Note: It's All About Retention Jeanne S. Jennings In a down economy, smart organizations focus on retention (keeping existing members, customers or subscribers) rather than acquisition (finding new members, customers or subscribers). Email is the perfect tool to help. But you need to think beyond just sending renewal notices and promotions. Click-through to read two quick case studies on e-mail retention 'from the trenches' and get some ideas and tips for your organization's retention efforts. 2. Featured Resource: Turning Clicks into Customers Debbie Weil, Wordbiz.com ($) One of the least expensive ways to improve your online results, whether you're using e-mail, a website, search engines or some other format to market, is by improving your copy. And in this economy, who isn't looking for ways to get more return for their online marketing dollar? Debbie's report does just that. You may know Debbie from her ClickZ columns, or from her own e-mail newsletter, Wordbiz Report. She's a former journalist who understands the power of words and how they can make or break an online initiative. In addition to two great case studies, you'll get practical advice on writing for e-mail newsletters and crafting google text ads to attract buyers, not browsers, as well as checklists and lots of resource links. She also dedicates a section to evaluating and hiring online copywriters. It's a 69-page report in PDF format which you can print out or read online. It's well laid out and can be either a quick read or just a reference when you need some help. And it's affordable; for less than $50 you will learn how to make your online copy work harder. Debbie also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Click on the link to learn more -- this is a great report for anyone who works in the online realm. 3. Putting Personality Into Your E-Newsletter Mark Brownlow, MarketingProfs.com, January 21 2003 I couldn't agree more with Mark's piece on giving your e-mail newsletter a personality. And in addition to talking about the benefits, he gives some practical advice on how to do it and addresses the most common reasons why organizations resist. 4. Blast from the Past: Increase Your Click-through Rate by 50%? Jeanne S. Jennings, ClickZ.com, March 28 2002 Reading Mark's article reminded me of this old ClickZ article of mine. The client in this case was a large B2B publisher and they were very hesitant to add any sort of personality or character to their newsletters. Once we convinced them to give it a try, their click- through rate jumped by 50% right away, showing that readers were more engaged and interested. Try it yourself and tell me how it works...  5. 50 Ways to Grow Your Email Marketing Database David A. Alecock, TargetX Note: you'll need to provide some information to get this article, but it's well worth it Just like that old song '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,' there are tons of ways to grow your list. You want to take every opportunity you get to ask for e-mail addresses. This is a good piece to print and stick up on your bulletin board. I wish they talked about permission at the beginning instead of the end, but it's still pretty good. Some of the suggestions are a bit controversial -- appending can be a negative for your organization, since some companies assume permission from an append rather than asking for it. But as long as you stay away from the gray areas and ask permission at the point of collection, there are many great ways here to grow your list. 6. Email Promo Teams Beer, Bunnies and The Super Bowl Glenn J. Kalineski, DM News, January 22 2003 Talk about a case study. A 142% click-through rate and over 1,300 forwards of the message to friends. Not much in the way of practial advice here, but a good story of what you can do if you really, really know your market, the way Miller and Playboy apparently do... 7. Below the Beltway:Spam Filters Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, January 12 2003 This one is just a fun read. It's a light-hearted take on the issues we're all experiencing with spam filters as told via the true story of a Washington Post columnist who is struggling to figure out why some legitimate e-mails are caught while other objectionable ones still get through. Closing We'll publish again on February 13th. Until then, stay warm and enjoy the Super Bowl. Jeanne publisher@jenningsreport.com |
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The
Jennings Report
