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February 18, 2004
Moving a Print Publication to
Email Delivery
by Jeanne S. Jennings
Recently an organization that I'm a member of decided to take their print newsletter online and deliver it via electronic mail. The decision met with some very vocal resistance, especially from some of the older members. This isn't unusual, but there are ways to smooth the transition and lessen the resistance.
The following is excerpted from a memo I drafted to the organization offering some ideas to help based on my experience (I've taken numerous print publications online for publishing organizations both large and small). While the first (Explain Why) is more geared toward publications that are member benefits (rather than subscription-based) many of the other suggestions have worked equally well with for-profit publications.
The organization's announcement to membership about moving from print to e-mail delivery did a great job of explaining the ‘how’ but didn’t touch on the ‘why.’
This organization is making the change for financial reasons. Moving to all-electronic delivery will save on printing and postage costs. This is a strong rationale for making the change, and one that the organizations officers should share with members. Everyone wants the organization to have a healthy balance sheet -- and any cost savings that can be recognized will help keep dues increases to a minimum. This gives the members a vested interest in supporting cost-savings measures -- like moving from print to electronic distribution.
The best decisions can be undermined by poor communication. In addition to telling people ‘why’ this decision is being made, it’s important to talk about the benefits that electronic delivery offers to subscribers and to offer incentives to people -- encouraging them to switch to electronic delivery. And the case for electronic delivery needs to be made over and over again -- people need to hear things three to five times before they really sink in – especially when you are asking them to change a habit (which is really what changing a delivery vehicle is).
There are benefits inherent in an e-mail publication that a print publication can’t match. The primary content in this publication is upcoming events which require RSVPs -- very timely stuff. Benefits for this type of publication could include:
Deeper Content – via hyperlinks that provide ‘One Click’ access to read details of an event, view the full calendar or access other information on the NPC (or another) website.
Timeliness -- more timely notice of event, since USPS delivery takes days while e-mail delivery takes minutes
Online Transaction -- via hyperlinks that would allow members to RSVP for a luncheon, order a transcript or conduct other business with 'one click.'
If these benefits could be fleshed out with examples specific to the publication, they would help make a compelling case for moving to e-mail delivery.
Incentives are very powerful motivators when you’re asking people to change a habit, like shifting from print to e-mail delivery. Some ideas, again based on this particular publication/audience:
Offer an ‘early adopter’ incentive – Anyone who opts-in for e-mail delivery of the Record in the first month gets a special gift.
In this case, it could be a coupon toward drinks or food at one of the club's restaurants, which would have the additional benefit of driving traffic to these venues (and many would spend more than the value of their free coupon).
Special Reports or other related content also make great incentives -- and it's a great re-use of content that's already appeared in your newsletter or other publication.
Also great incentives -- discounts on industry events or transcripts.
And don't stop at the conversion -- announce that the e-mail publication will include ongoing incentives for those who make the switch. They could include trivia questions where the members answering correctly get a prize -- or are entered in a drawing for an industry-related book, seminar or other benefit.
The key is to give them a reason to switch now -- and give them something to look forward to in the future.
In situations like this, a multi-contact campaign is typically used to convert users. This means an offer is made, via e-mail or in the print publication, appealing to members to change to e-mail delivery. It should:
Clearly spell out the 'why' of the decision
Talk about the benefits of e-mail delivery
Offer an incentive for making the change -- and include a deadline after which you do not get the incentive
This offer (or similar ones) would be repeated every two weeks or so for a two-to-three month period. If sent to member e-mail addresses the organization already has, you'll be hitting the most-likely early adopters – and be using what is probably the path of least resistance. The organization will also learn:
How up-to-date the in-house e-mail address list is
Whether or not electronic delivery is really a viable alternative
How committed to paper the readers are
One caveat – be sure, if using e-mail for this initiative, that you are in compliance with the new federal regulations on e-mail.
New Federal Laws on Email went into effect on January 1, 2004. While some provisions are already in place, there are some gray areas which are yet to be fleshed out. One of these is the distinction between ‘Commercial’ and ‘Transactional’ e-mail messages. Currently the law imposes harsher provisions on the former – especially if there is not ‘affirmative consent’ – also known as ‘Explicit Opt-in.’
While many organizations are hoping that any and all communications with members will be lumped into the latter category, the FTC has suggested that some messages, most likely those promoting events, books or other things that members must pay for, might be lumped into the commercial message category. As a result, I encourage you to get proven ‘affirmative consent’ for all e-mail addresses prior to sending the first issue of the publication via e-mail and be certain you are in compliance with the new federal regulations.
Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you have to say. Feel free to contact me with any thoughts or feedback about this publisher's note.
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The
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