Despite the prognostications of those in the know, e-newsletters, from now on email newsletters, are not in decline and, if anything, are more popular than ever. Before taking the plunge, here are some considerations.

1. What is the point?
   For some companies, email newsletters are vanity projects, there to support the name and provide some gravitas. If that’s for you, then go for it. For most of us, an email newsletter must have a measurable function, one where we can prove a return on investment.
   

2. Costs
   A well received email newsletter takes a degree of planning and creation. Further, content can be expensive in a number of ways. And finally, failure might not stand well with your customers. Does the likely benefit justify the expense? 
   

3. Function
   Whatever you want an email newsletter to do for you, it should be measurable. If you want to encourage subscribers to your email marketing list then ensure that those that subscribe via it are identifiable. Be careful of appointing more esoteric roles where success or failure can be more difficult to calculate.
   

4. Copy
   An email newsletter should provide something that is not available elsewhere without effort. An extremely useful one I use merely collates information freely available on the net. It deletes the chaff but should I want to read further, it provides links. There is no doubt that I could obtain all the information myself, but it would take time. The idea behind the email newsletter is simple: the information in it is obtainable without cost but needs sufficient effort to put most of us off. Subscribers, like me, await delivery with some anticipation.
   

    

   What makes a good email newsletter is quality content. What you need to consider is whether you have a source sufficient for regular publication of quality information.

5. Weary subscribers
   You will need subscribers to your newsletter. Once established the major source might well be word of mouth, but until then you need to work at gaining them. One thing to be careful of is asking potential customers to subscribe to both your email marketing list and the newsletter. It is all too easy to opt for just the latter.
   

6. More than one
   As with most marketing emails, it is probable that you will need to create multiple designs of newsletter to suit the needs of individuals. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that, as you are giving away something of value for free, there will be a queue of subscribers, none of whom will be fussy. All the extra work has to funded.
   

7. What if you fail?
   It is very irritating when a newsletter one looked forward to receiving suddenly doesn’t arrive. Just stopping might well cause a degree of fall-out. You might feel the need to offer an alternative, perhaps a blog or similar, to compensate.
   

8. Is there an alternative?
   Would the investment be better spent at trade shows where you meet face to face? Unlikely, the ROI for email marketing is amongst the highest achievable so be sure to gain more subscribers at every opportunity including exhibitions.
   

If you still think that a newsletter is just the thing for your company, then we will cover the design and content in a future blog post – follow us using the links below to be alerted when it is published.