The 6 Elements of a Content-Rich, Money-Making e-Newsletter

Conversion Rate Checklist Report:

Profitable e-Newsletters

The 6 Elements of a

content-rich, money-making e-newsletter.

B y N i c k U s b o r n e

ExcessVoice.com

Conversion Rate Checklist Report – ExcessVoice.com -- June 2008 2

Introduction Of all the channels available to online marketers, e-newsletters are perhaps the most underestimated. Online video and audio are hot. Blogs are hot. RSS feeds are hot. E-newsletters have fallen by the wayside. Perhaps because there is nothing new or remarkable about the technology behind them. In fact, the technology behind emailing an e-newsletter is as old as the Internet itself. So while others ignore the extraordinary power of e-newsletters, perhaps you will take this opportunity to take another look at their true potential. Here are just some of the ways in which e-newsletters stand head and shoulders above other marketing channels.

- Visitors to your site come...and then they go, never to return - Recipients of promotional emails grow tired of relentless sales

pitches - Subscribers to your blog or RRS feed move on to new

discoveries - But a GOOD newsletter will get in front of their eyes every

time you send it, and can hold people’s attention for years. By addressing the 6 elements in this Checklist Guide, you can transform your e-newsletter into an extraordinary asset for your company or organization, and also convert thousands of loyal readers into buyers. This is not a report about the technical aspects of e-newsletter publication. It’s about the content you deliver. And about how quality content converts to sales, issue after issue, year after year. That’s where the gold lies. Nick Usborne ExcessVoice.com

http://www.excessvoice.com/


#1: Establish a content structure for your e-newsletter and stick to it. There are many ways to structure the content of your e-newsletter. Here are just some of the elements that can be found in a good e-newsletter:

- Articles

- Product or service reviews

- Interviews with industry experts

- Industry or company announcements

- A list of related news links with thumbnail descriptions

- Reminders

- Tips & Tricks

- Surveys

- Contests

- Q&A

- Reader feedback Most e-newsletter publishers will create a template for their publications, and include three or four of the elements above. Most importantly, they will then stick to that format and sequence of elements in every issue...so their readers know what to expect and look for in each issue as it arrives. Consistency in the nature of your content and the sequence in which it is presented are important, in the same way that the format of a print magazine is important.


People want to be able to find their favorite element of content in every issue, in the same place. Examples: These are just three examples of how different newsletters use different elements of content. The elements you choose will depend on your audience and your own determination of how to deliver the greatest value to your readers. Whichever the elements of content you choose...stick with them. That way there will be continuity between each issue of your e-newsletter, and your readers will know what to expect and look for. That doesn’t mean that your content structure should be set in concrete and never change. It may be that at some point in the life of your publication it will make sense to add a new feature to each issue. If and when that happens, let your readers know. Tell them why you are adding the new element, describe its value, and then include in each issue from that point on.

The e-consultancy newsletter always starts with an interview...

The IAB SmartBrief newsletter always lists the day’s top interactive advertising news items...

The Mequoda Daily newsletter always starts with an article...


Continuity in design and content are major factors in establishing recognition and value in your e-newsletter. TASK #1: Establish a design and content template for your e-newsletter and stick with it.


#2: Always deliver useful, valuable and timely content. This may sound obvious. And it is. But the largest factor by far in determining the success of your e-newsletter over the long term will always be the quality of the information you publish. That doesn’t mean that the content should simply be well written, although that’s important. It means that your content should be relevant, helpful and timely. Remember, you are competing with dozens or even hundreds of other e-newsletters in your category. You are also competing with print, web pages, podcasts, videos, blogs and RSS feeds. There are many different places people can turn to in search of the information they want and need. As a result, you have to make sure that your e-newsletter is highly competitive in terms of the relevance and value of its content. How “value” is determined will depend on your topic and the needs of your audience. For instance, if you publish investment tips, timeliness may be the factor to which your readers attach the most value. If you publish an e-newsletter on gardening, sharing experience and useful tips may carry the greatest value. If you write about art or movies, it may be your voice and point of view that are seen as the most attractive aspects of what you write. And so on.


Once you have established where the greatest value lies for your particular list, you have to be single-minded in delivering the best possible content, issue after issue. You are not only competing with other publishers who write on the same topic as you, you are also competing on a broader level – for the attention of an audience that is being bombarded with an ever increasing number of messages every single day. You’re also competing with yourself in a way. To retain subscribers in the long term, next week’s e-newsletter issue needs to be at least as good as the one from last week, and at least as good as the one you put out this time last year. If there is even a perception that the value of your e-newsletter is not what it was, you will lose readership. TASK #2: Identify the content that offers your readers the highest value, and be pig-headed about delivering that value in every issue.


#3: Find ways to involve your readers. One very powerful way to keep your subscribers engaged is to involve them in the creation of your e-newsletter’s content in some way. Here are a few ways in which e-newsletters seek to involve their readers:

- Use contests - Or surveys - Or questions - Or subscriber-generated content

As soon as you get people participating in your e-newsletter in some active way, you make a quantum leap in the level and quality of their attention. Here is an example of a question and answer feature from a consumer electronics newsletter:


In every issue of this weekly newsletter readers were invited to send in a question about some aspect of consumer electronics. It could be about a problem someone was having with their computer software. Or perhaps about their digital camera or home entertainment center. Hundreds of people sent in questions each week (a customer research gold mine), but just one question was answered in the next issue of the newsletter. This “Ask the Expert” feature quickly became one of the most popular elements within the newsletter. People were interested to see both the question and the answer. Here’s another example. This time using a Trivia Quiz. It was also a contest, with the first correct answer winning a 2lb bag of coffee. Again, this feature proved to be immensely popular with the subscribers. I have also seen the use of a short survey in each issue work very well.


Whichever way you choose to involve your readers, subscriber involvement has one very important benefit: it makes the reader feel more involved. It makes people feel that they have more ownership in the publication. All of a sudden, the newsletter is no longer just content being published “at” them, but something in which they feel a level of ownership. TASK #3: Find a way to involve your readers, through Q&A, contests, surveys, interviews or any other way that enables your subscriber to participate in the generation of the next issue.


#4: Decide on a publication schedule and stick to it. Consistently in delivery is more important than you might imagine. Some e-newsletter publishers imagine that it’s OK to vary the deliver times, sometimes publishing weekly, sometimes every two weeks. It’s not OK. Do you expect inconsistent delivery times when you subscribe to a print magazine? When you order the weekend editions of a newspaper? When you tune in to watch your favorite TV shows? It’s no different online. People will come to expect your newsletter. In fact, you hope and depend on people remembering your newsletter and anticipating its delivery. If it isn’t delivered when expected, your core readers will be disappointed. How often should you publish? That depends both on the nature of your content and on the resources you have available. If you have the resources to publish a great edition every two weeks, but not every week, then go for the bi-weekly publication schedule. Frequency will also depend on the nature of your content. With a newsletter focusing on investment advice you may want to publish daily, because much of your information will be highly time-sensitive. However, if you publish commentary on high-end hospital equipment, then maybe a monthly schedule would be enough to keep your readers up to date. How about quarterly or even less frequently?


Don’t do it. I think the maximum period between issues should be no longer than a month. Why? Because your ability to hold your readers’ attention will depend on them remembering the threads that run from one issue to the next. For instance, if you run a contest in one issue, you want people to remember that contest as they watch out for the next issue to arrive. Continuity is an essential part of publishing a successful e-newsletter. Your readers should be able to follow a thread between issues, or maybe discern an ongoing theme that runs seasonally or according to major events in your industry. You want them to remember you. You want them to anticipate the next issue and look forward to it. That won’t happen if you publish less frequently than once a month. Once a week or bi-weekly is better. Just so long as you always deliver great content. TASK #4: Establish and stick to a publication schedule that matches your resources and maintains the ongoing attention of your readers.


#5: Track your results and refine your content. Although this is not a technical guide to publishing e-newsletters, I will make one recommendation... Publish your e-newsletter in HTML and not in text-only. That said, I think a lot of e-newsletters are ruined by being over-designed. Indeed, some e-newsletters are designed to look like web pages, with complete site navigation at the top and to the left. When you do that, you lose one of the key strengths of delivering your message by email – the ability to talk one-on-one. When an e-newsletter is over-designed, it no longer feels like a personal communication between the writer or editor and the reader. And that is a huge loss. My recommendation is that you use what I call “HTML Lite”. In other words, use HTML to add a header and to create hypertext links where appropriate. But don’t burden each issue with irrelevant graphics and links. Keep it focused. Perhaps the most important reason to publish in HTML is that it allows you to track the behavior of your readers. You’ll be able to track open rates and clickthrough rates from your e-newsletter. And if you have a number of different links within the body of an issue, you will be able to track the percentage of readers who click on each link. This can be enormously helpful in teaching you about your readers’ interest and preferences.


We like to think we have a pretty good feel for who our readers are and what they are looking for. But very often our intuition is not as reliable as we imagine. Nothing points you in the right direction more accurately than actual clickthrough statistics. You’ll learn which topics are of most interest to your readers. And this can guide you in creating your editorial calendar for future issues. TASK #5: Publish in HTML and make sure your email delivery provider gives you full access to your e-newsletter statistics, issue by issue.


#6: Monetize your e-newsletter carefully. Build your asset...don’t spent it. Finally, we get to the part about making money. Why is this #6 and not #1? Because making money from your e-newsletter is the easy part. Building a growing, attentive and responsive readership is the hard part. But once you have such a list, and you are holding their attention, the process of converting readers to buyers becomes relatively simple. You probably already know the revenue model for your e-newsletter.

Perhaps your aim is to get people to click through to offer pages on your site. Perhaps you are a consultant and use your e-newsletter to link people through to your consulting or speaking pages. Perhaps you are an affiliate and use your e-newsletter to presell products and services sold by other companies.

Whatever your model, it’s not hard to generate revenues once you have a large list of engaged, attentive and loyal readers. However... Once you have cracked the skill of delivering great content, with every issue, you then have to tread very careful when you seek to monetize people’s trust and attention. If you have a history of delivering content that is largely editorial, many of your readers won’t take kindly to a sudden switch in tone and content aimed at making a sale or two. In fact, when starting out with your first few issues you should establish a balance between editorial and promotional content in your newsletter, and keep that balance consistent.


What should the balance be? That depends on your topic and your audience. But it would be fair to say that the most enduring e-newsletters certainly contain more editorial content than promotional content. Also, it helps a great deal if you make your promotional content highly relevant to the topics you already write about. For instance, if you write about gardening, then a link to a page selling plant seeds in the early spring would be highly relevant and unlikely to disturb your readers’ sense that they are still reading valuable content. After all, they WANT to buy seeds in the spring. However, if you placed an ad for a Ford Expedition truck in your gardening newsletter, it might strike a jarring note. Also, don’t overwhelm your e-newsletter with money-making links. Be sparing. Remember, the asset you are building and protecting is the attention of your readers. You need to deliver quality content issue after issue in order to hold their attention and maintain their trust. When you want to make a sale, keep it relevant and useful. And always be aware that in every issue you are either building your asset or spending it. You might be able to get away with spending your asset very occasionally. For instance, at key selling times for your company. But watch the balance carefully and make sure you build more than you spend. TASK #6: Make your money links relevant to the topic of your newsletter, and ensure that the balance of content in each issue is always weighted towards the editorial.


Conclusion Print out this page and make sure you give a copy to everyone within your company or organization who is responsible for your e-newsletter. Following this simple checklist will ensure that your list, reputation and the loyalty of your readers will continue to grow.

#1: Establish a content structure for your e-newsletter and stick to it. #2: Always deliver useful, valuable and timely content. #3: Find ways to involve your readers. #4: Decide on a publication schedule and stick to it. #5: Track your results and refine your content. #6: Monetize your e-newsletter carefully. Build your asset...don’t spent it.


About the author, Nick Usborne.

Over the course of a copywriting career spanning thirty years, offline and then online, I have worked with dozens of major companies, including...

Citibank, Apple, Chrysler, Franklin Mint, TV Guide, Diners Club International, Looksmart, MSN, Ricoh, Yahoo!, The Getty Trust, The New York Times, Reuters, Encyclopedia Britannica and America Online.

In 1997 I abruptly stopped writing direct mail and have been working exclusively on writing online ever since. (I find it a lot more enjoyable.)

Online I have written literally hundreds of articles for Clickz.com, MarketingProfs.com, iMediaConnection.com, Business 2.0 and other online publications.

In addition to my online copywriting work, I continue to write programs and guides for online writers and also do a fair amount of coaching work, which I enjoy a great deal.

My courses and programs:

Nick Usborne's Million Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting

How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites

Writing Kick-Ass Website Sales Copy

http://www.awaionline.com/writing-for-the-web/learn/online-copywriting/

http://www.awaionline.com/mmw/excessvoice/

http://www.wordtracker.com/offers/kickass-web-copy/

The 6 Elements of a Content-Rich, Money-Making e-Newsletter

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