To wrap things up we will now discuss actually distributing the newsletter to all of those eager subscribers and tracking the results of all your planning and execution.  First, let’s point out a few things.

3 Keys to Distributing an Email Marketing Campaign

• Email Marketing Platform
• Campaign Delivery Setup
• Reporting & Analytics

Choosing an Email Marketing Platform

How are you going to distribute your information-packed newsletter?  Perhaps the simplest method of distribution is through your default email program: Outlook, Gmail, AOL email, etc.  However, be mindful of some important distribution considerations.

Anti-SPAM compliance

Don't get caught in the SPAM folder. Better yet, make sure you're not spamming! Image by kveselyte

Over the past few years, SPAM and privacy have become a major issues, to the point that there are now federal Anti-SPAM laws in effect.  It is extremely important to make sure that you follow CAN-SPAM guidelines for business email marketing before you choose to send out your newsletter.  If you are planning to use your current personal email account, please be mindful that if your Emails are deemed as SPAM, the server that you are sending from will be blocked and if you are using a shared-hosting environment, everyone else on the server will be blocked as well.  This can lead to some very nasty repercussions, not the least of which is your entire online business grinding to a sudden halt.

Trust me – I have seen it done in the past, which is why we always suggest using a certified service such as Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, iContact, or one of the two platforms offered at Linkshape.

On-site Email Marketing Software

Up until a few years ago, using more powerful email marketing software was quite popular (and expensive).  You needed to purchase the software and you needed your own web server to install the software on and set it to run overnight.  Again though, the burden of preventing a total system lock-down is placed directly on your organization.

Then, more recently, along came a line of web-based email marketing services – a few of which I mentioned above.

Web-based Email Marketing Services

There’s still a cost associated with web-based email marketing services, but those costs are much more manageable than on-site software.  With Constant Contact, for example, you will pay a monthly fee that’s based on the number of contacts in your email list.  Linkshape’s email marketing platform isn’t a monthly subscription.  You pay per campaign.  Others will vary.

Using personal email can be more convenient and requires a smaller investment, what you will receive in return with email marketing-specific services is well worth every cent:

1. You will know that your campaign will be CAN-SPAM compliant.
2. Each of these services offers free newsletter templates for you to use in setting up your campaign – No need to be a designer to have a great-looking newsletter!
3. These services take care of all of the dirty work, such as handling hard and soft bounced Emails, and maintaining your subscriber list.

But the greatest benefit that you will receive is the reporting after the campaign is sent, which we will discuss at the end.

Campaign Delivery Setup

"Send immediately" may mean "send to trash" if you don't consider the importance of delivery date and time for your email marketing newsletter. Photo by Rendy

Once you have chosen how your newsletter is going to be distributed, it is time to schedule your newsletter to go out to all of your eagerly awaiting customers.  Of course, you could just click “SEND IMMEDIATELY”, but research has shown that there are actually better times during the day, during the week, and even during the month in which you will get the best results from your campaign.

Delivery Date & Time

For instance, research has shown that Mondays just aren’t a good email marketing days.  Most of us are returning from the weekend and the last thing any of use is looking forward to is sorting through a whole bunch of emails.  There is a greater chance that your info-packed newsletter is going to get caught up in the weekend pile-up, ignored, or in the trash bin.  There are exceptions, depending on your specific business.  For example, a restaurant owner and want to send out the week’s specials or coupons to spur immediate business.

The time of day is critical as well.  Newsletters sent before 9AM or after 4pm tend to get caught up in the off-business-hours clutter, similar to the weekend build-up, and ignored.

Email Marketing Reporting & Analytics

The great thing about doing an ongoing campaign is that once you have sent the first couple to your customers, you’ll be able to review and analyze the reports that are offered by most of the email marketing services we identified.  You will see trends developing that you can use to adjust future campaigns.

Let’s say you have 500 contacts in your subscriber list.  What good is it if you can’t track what your customers are really doing with your newsletter, or even if they are actually opening it?  Your email marketing platform should tell you:

• How many opens (unique and repeat) you have
• How many clicks your campaign is receiving
• What specific links are readers clicking
• How many soft or hard bounces you had and why
• When (date/time) your campaign was opened
• How many times was your campaign forwarded to someone else
• Who un-subscribed from your mailing list

All of this information is vital to the future success of your email marketing campaigns and to the success of your ongoing Internet marketing efforts.  Given what you learn from each campaign, how can you improve the next newsletter to increase traffic to your site?  Now that you know what information subscribers want to read more about, how can you improve your website to increase the likelihood of a conversion?

You won’t even be able to get specific questions for your unique business if you can’t analyze the results.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

In closing, remember:

• Select the right Email Marketing Platform for your needs
• Optimize the Campaign Delivery options
• Analyze the Reports and improve results

Until next time, feel free to leave your questions or comments below.

You should think of your email marketing newsletters as you would the parts of a book.

Think of your email newsletter as a book, but all on one page.  You will need:

• Cover – the newsletter’s header
• Table of contents – quick access bullet-points
• Preface – your intro
• Chapters – the content of the newsletter

Each of these parts serves a specific role, just as they would for a book.  Let’s look at each part:

Newsletter Header – the Cover of email marketing

The header, as with the cover of a book, is what is going to be seen right away and tell your customers the “who” and “what” about your email marketing newsletter.  This should include (but is not limited to):

• Company logo
• Company name, for those that only receive text only Emails)
• Website address
• Phone number

Other items of importance in the newsletter header would be a brief description as to why your customer is receiving the newsletter from your business, a way for your customers to forward the newsletter to a friend, and the option to “opt-out” of receiving future newsletters, so that your email marketing campaigns remain SPAM compliant.

Newsletter Bullet-points – the Table of Contents of email marketing

Bullet-points are a great way for your customers to quickly find the content in the email newsletter that is of most interest to them.  These days, most people receive an average of 40+ emails per day.  It is also estimated that the average person spends less than 10 seconds per email before deciding what to do with it: read it, trash it, or file it.  So, if your customer has to search through the entire content, chances are all of your hard work for that newsletter will end up in the can.  Respect their time and make navigating your newsletter easy.

Newsletter Intro – the Preface of email marketing

Your intro is a chance to be personable with your customer.  Most email marketing software applications: Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, Business Catalyst, etc. provide you a way to integrate your customer’s name into the content, without having to enter each one by hand.  This makes your customers feel that you took the time to send this information specifically to them.  This section also gives you a chance to speak “right to the customer” as if you were calling them directly or stopping by to see them.

Newsletter Content – the Chapters of email marketing

When it comes to the content of your email marketing newsletter, just as with chapters of a book, remember to segment each section with a title.  This helps your newsletter be more readable and less of an “eye chart”.  Combined with the bullet-points I just mentioned, this will be easy to do.  Also be sure to create inbound links from your newsletter content back to your website.  Not only is this one of our primary goals of the newsletter, this will also help you track what articles your customers are finding important enough to want to read more.

Newsletter Design

Although this email newsletter design is in a foreign language, you can generally understand what you're looking at because of good design and layout.

Now let’s discuss the overall look of your email marketing newsletter.  It is critical to remember that with today’s technology, most people are also now receiving their emails on something other than their desktop or laptop computers.  These mobile devices are advancing rapidly, but it is still very difficult to read emails that are heavily laden with images and graphics.  In fact, many mobile devices always display a plain text email.  It is a good idea to keep your newsletter simple, clean, short, and to the point.  This will also reduce the time it takes to receive your newsletter.

So, until our next and final installation of this email marketing series, remember to:

• Let them know who is sending them the newsletter
• What great articles they can expect to find in your newsletter
• Create the personal touch in your intro
• Divide your content into sections
• Keep your newsletter simple and clean

Happy Linkshaping!