How Does Spam Affect Legitimate Newsletters?
Here's the good news:
According to the Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g), a California based consulting firm, "Users in our most recent study are able to differentiate legitimate opt-in newsletters from unsolicited messages than they could in the past."
That's encouraging, considering 64 percent of e-mails are spam, compared to eight percent in 2003.
Now the bad news:
NN/g reports "the increased burden on email users has caused people to become even more stressed and impatient when processing their inbox."
Here's the scary part:
"Users have less tolerance for newsletters that waste their time." Respondents said they read 11 percent of newsletters thoroughly compared to 23 percent two years ago.
Is your newsletter a "time-waster"?
That means 89 percent of newsletters aren't getting read.
Is yours one of them?
10 tips to avoid the trash bin:
- Make it easy for your readers to opt-in.
- Be friendly, personal.
- Stay industry specific.
- Use engaging, eye-catching headlines and visuals.
- Make your copy easy to scan.
- Articles should be appetizers, not sit down meals.
- Stay current and meet your readers' personal needs and interests.
- Emphasize educational versus promotional information (the experts suggest 70/30%).
- Distribute it mid-day, Tuesday through Thursday.
- Use a predictable schedule so readers come to expect it.
A Final Test:
Read your newsletter. If it takes more than two to five minutes, it may be too long. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was only 269 words (about the same length as this article). Less is more with email newsletter articles.
Want to produce an effective enewsletter that gets results? Contact the experts at Proven Systems, 970-223-6565. |
