Email Newsletters Workshop Hertfordshire Funding Fair 2007 17 th October 2007

Maria Diaz – [email protected]

Email Newsletters Workshop

Hertfordshire Funding Fair 2007

17th October 2007


Workshop structure

• Session 1 E-newsletters Do’s and Don’tsThe fundamental principles of creating and delivering successful email newsletters.by Maria Diaz E-Communications Manager - CTT

• Session 2 Q&A and sharing experiences.


Session 1

E-Newsletters Do’s and Don’tsFundamental principles of creating and delivering successful email newsletters.


Why using email as a media?

Perceived informational value

Low cost to charity

Environmentally friendly

Not intrusive

Quick response to a call to action

Drives people to your website


Email lists

Have you got permission to email them?

Email and mobile information as well as sensitive data needs to be collected with opt-in.

If not, it is never too late to start….


Collecting permission

Use the ‘tone of voice’ of the charityPoint out that it is “a cost effective media”Fit the message to the audience (age/demographics etc.)Cover all future uses/channels to market (email, mobile, etc)Be clear about who is collecting the information (NB Trading arms/affiliated companies)Give them a reason to provide information


Collecting permission - TIPS

Don’t use pre-ticked boxes. Email permission is an opt-in.

Include a click through to your privacy policy on the data collection screen.

Data collected via “viral” promotions may only be used once to gain future permission.


Who is your audience?

General interest in your work

Donors/Stakeholders

Fundraisers

Campaigners

Trustees

Other


If you don’t know who they are…

… ask them:

– Do you want to receive emails from us?– What areas of our work are you interested on?– How often do you want to hear from us?– What format do you want to receive your email?

HTML – Fancy version with picturesPlain text – No formatting


Write the content

Relevant to the intended audience

Personalise the email

Be concise – Use click through links to your website for more information

Be clear – What do you want the subscriber to do – Call to action

Avoid - where possible - spam words/characters


Spam words/characters

Avoid exclamation or interrogation marks as much as possible, in the text and very importantly, on the subject line.

Avoid spam words like free, software, save, marketing, click here, etc.


Template Design

Template - What is it?

Determine your template’s visual identity- Consistent with your online identity?

- New for the particular online publication

- Similar to your offline publication/s

Design it to work for you- Sections on the e-news

HTML and plain text version


Some design tips - HTML


Template Size

The mean size for screen resolution is 1024 x 768pixels

The template width should not exceed 750 pixels, ideally 700.

Bear in mind the frequent use of email preview pane


Template Size

√ Right LengthAvoid vertical scrolling where possible


Call to Action

Place your call to action at the top of the e-newsletter

i.e. if you want a donation, place the donation button/link at the top.


Bear in mind graphic blockers

Avoid having the call to action inserted only on a graphic (banner or button)

If you use a graphic button, remember to add the same link within the text too.


Avoid using tables with thick borders

X Wrong – Border thickness is 4 pixels

√ Right – Border thickness is 1 pixel


Visual balance

√ Right – Consider image per text ratio.

In the example, there is a visual balance between the amount of text and the pictures included


Use ALT tags on images

√ Right – Always use ALT tags (mouse over text) on all images.


Warning - Use of colour

X Wrong – Some colour combinations are tiring to the eye and difficult to read


Avoid using style sheets

Different email clients interpret style sheets in different ways

To achieve best results, avoid using them


Use a popular font type

Use a popular font type (Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica, etc) despite the font on your brand guidelines being different.

Most users will not have that font available on their computers and substitution may occur.


Plain text design


Plain text version

Make it as attractive as possible…


Cheat!

Write a brief introduction to the e-news and ask them to click through to a link where the HTML version lives


Functionality

Both version should include:

– Personalisation – where possible– ‘Forward to a friend’ link– Subscribe to receive our e-news– Very top – ‘Web Online version’ link– Automatic change your details– Comments or suggestions email link– UN-SUBSCRIBE - Mandatory


Be original – Experiment!

• Don’t be frightened to try new things

• Fragment your data and send them different layouts - Note what works best

• Use your email call to action to engage your audience with other media (SMS, Video, Audio, etc)


Test before send

• Send a test to various colleagues and ask their opinion (share the guilt!)

• Test that all the links work• Test the same campaign on different

email clients – Outlook, Hotmail, AOL, Lotus…

• Test all the functionality links• When possible, leave it for a while and

come back to it


When to send

• Regular publications (monthly, weekly, etc)

• Core days of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)

• Core hours of the working day (Mid morning, mid afternoon)

• Consider just before lunch time when is raining or when it’s very cold!


Delivery

The mechanism used to send and deliver bulk emails

Three types of email tools

- Outlook/Eudora/Lotus/other PC/pop3 based email system

- In-House bulk email broadcast software

- ASP (Application Service Provider) bulk email broadcast software


Email toolsOUTLOOK In-House s/w ASP s/w

Fit for purpose X √ √

Address Books X √ √

Subscriptions X √ √

Manages Bounces

X √ √

HTML and plain text part send

X √ √

Templates X √ √

Reports X √ √

HTML X √ √

SPAM X X √

Bandwidth X X √


Email tool specification

Address Book Address Management/history/export/import

Subscriptions Subscribes and unsubscribes

Bounces Hard (email not there) and Soft (unavailable)

2 part send HTML and Text versions

Templates Design, look and feel management

Reports Open rate, Click throughs, bounces, unsubscribes

HTML HTML email with WYSIWYG editor

SPAM Being blocked

Bandwidth Internet Pipe size


Post send

Clean your data

– Safely remove un-subscribes – Delete hard-bounce emails – follow up

phone call?– Manage changes in existing data – Email

address changes, email format, etc.


Post sendOpen ratesClick through ratesWhich link was most successfulMake a note of what peak time/s% Un-subscribes% Hard-bounce emails% Soft-bounce emails – Correlation with holiday period, half term…Use click through information to further segment your data – Subscriber retentionForward to a friend – Who is promoting you?


CTTM@il

CTT provides an email marketing service to charities using an ASP system that ticks all the boxes.

For a FREE DEMO accountwww.ctt.org / hatfieldor email [email protected]


Session 2

Your questions


Thank you!

Maria DiazE-Communications ManagerCharity Technology Trust

Email Newsletters Workshop Hertfordshire Funding Fair 2007 17 th October 2007

Documents

Transcript of Email Newsletters Workshop Hertfordshire Funding Fair 2007 17 th October 2007