E-newsletters – How to Increase Your Open Rate

by Kim Tarasiewicz

Does your company send an e-newsletter? It’s a great way to touch a large audience and keep your brand in front of them in a positive, valuable way. The trick is how to get your audience to open your newsletter with so much “In-Box” clutter.

Your readers are more likely to respond, repost or take action on an event in the newsletter if they feel it is meant for them personally. Providing the recipient with a useful tip, guide or item of interest makes them more likely to share your newsletter with friends and expand your company brand. Industry tips can be useful and relevant, especially when they include a “Secrets of…,” “How to…,” or “Trends in…,”section. Trivia, interesting images and humor will keep your reader engaged while providing them a break from strictly business communications.

Keep a spreadsheet of topic ideas during the month and ask employees for input. Has one of your employees won an award or completed a community service project? –Share the link and alert that organization, which will boost their presence and show another side of your business. And be sure to keep the articles timely.

10 Best Practices When Creating E-Newsletters:

• Make the design consistent with your website and collateral materials. This maintains your branding and awareness.
• Add an opt-in subscription tool on the website and social media sites.
• Host all newsletter content on your website and only provide teaser copy with links in the e-newsletters.
• Be sure to review open rates, evaluate trends and readers’ habits over time, and adjust your newsletter content to meet the needs of the readers.
• Send at regular intervals.
• Send at optimal times.
• Use a “from” address that is identifiable with your company.
• Include engagement tools: surveys, polls, forums, ways to provide feedback, links to social media.
• Test everything before sending your newsletter. Once it’s gone, you cannot get it back. 
• Be sure to include an opt-out link. Familiarize yourself with the CAN-SPAM Act.

And remember, if you keep it interesting, your clients will look forward to opening your newsletter first when they check their emails.

Direct Mail Marketing vs. Email Marketing – Response Rates and Trends

Posted by Laura Powers

At Furia Rubel, we are frequently asked how email marketing campaigns measure up to classic direct mail marketing campaigns. Our answer is: they really don’t compare.

Law firm email marketing campaigns (like printed business-to-business traditional newsletter campaigns) have the primary objective of raising awareness for the firm and sharing firm news and accomplishments. This is why open rates, the number of people who click open an email, are so important.

When measuring classic direct mail marketing, we measure a response from the audience. There is no "open rate" data for direct mail. Since response rate is the measurement, the primary objective of a classic direct mail piece is to drive the customer to make contact with the company.

Q: Can you share any information on direct mail open rates vs. email open rates?

Classic direct mail open rates vary depending on the mailing list and the mailing piece. For this data, I always reference reports from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). A helpful example that answers the question is from DMA’s most recent data which shows that letter-sized envelopes mailed to in-house lists, generated from databases, Outlook or a CRM system, had a response rate of 3.42 percent in 2010. However, letter-sized envelopes mailed to purchased / prospects lists only had a response rate of 1.38 in 2010.

Q: Are email open rates getting lower while direct mail open rates are getting higher?

Classic direct mail response rates held steady from 2006 to 2010. While, we typically see a drop in open rates in client email marketing campaigns if the lists are not kept current, or the email content is not client-centric (i.e., there is only marketing messaging included or there is no valuable content included for the audience). Email marketing open rates are expected to continue to increase in the short-term. Currently, this is one of the most popular and favorable ways for businesses to connect with customers.

Q: Are the stats different for unsolicited junk mail vs. mail from your attorney or someone you do business with?

Yes, see above regarding in-house list vs. prospect list response rates.

For more information: http://www.the-dma.org/cgi/dispannouncements?article=1451

 

Tips for E-Newsletters

Written by Laura Powers and Katie Noonan

As we’re putting the finishing touches on the Furia Rubel E-newsletter this month, we want to share a few tips with our readers:

Keep it Short and Sweet. E-newsletters are a fairly quick read for most people. Because they’ll most likely skim long articles, you can make your newsletter stand out by keeping the content as short and concise as possible.

Make a Checklist. Make a checklist that shows your reader a step-by-step process. This will cut down on the length of sentences.

Ask for Feedback. Ask for feedback about your newsletter. Readers may ask you to add more to one area and delete from another. They may also offer tips on the content and its relevance. All of this feedback will help to improve your newsletter and prevent people from deleting it without reading or unsubscribing.

Do Your Homework. Subscribe to other e-newsletters for ideas. Set up another e-mail address and subscribe to various newsletters. This is a great way to objectively view newsletter content to see what works and what doesn’t.

Be creative. Add color, add your logo, add a few small photos, brand your newsletter. Do something creative to make your newsletter pleasing to the eye. People will be a lot more inclined to read it all the way through.

Include a takeaway. E-Newletters should include company news- not be consumed by it. While you want to share exciting news about the company with your readers, it’s nice to include something for them as well. If your company specializes in finance or investments, include a helpful tip on managing 401Ks.

Legal Marketing, Networking, Social Media and other Not to be Missed Leadership Events

Furia Rubel issues a public relations e-newsletter monthly where we share exciting news, client sightings, not-to-be-missed events and more. One of the regular sections is "Where to be seen" where we provide a list of networking and professional development opportunities.

Here is a recap from our newsletter that you can subscribe to by going to our website at http://www.furiarubel.com/ (see top right corner of Web site for subscription field).

Where to be seen...

The Justinian Society of Philadelphia will honor Scott F. Cooper, Esq. (Blank Rome), 2010 Chancellor, Philadelphia Bar Association, on Tuesday, February 10, 2010 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at The Union League of Philadelphia. For more information, go to http://www.justinian.org/.

On February 11, 2010, the Philadelphia Bar Association, Bar-News Media Committee, chaired by Gina F. Rubel will host “How and When to Share Your Opinion with the Press – Submitting to Editorial Pages.” Members of the media have been invited to speak from several area newspapers. The program will take place from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. at 1101 Market Street, 11th Floor Philadelphia. For more information, go to http://cts.vresp.com/c/?FuriaRubelCommunicat/f232d8cc10/3fc4dc40c8/5a2d6ce1b3.

21st Century Women's Leadership Program will host “Presenting Yourself as a Leader” on February 11, 2010 at The Union League featuring Kim Huggins, Neen James, Megan Kristel, Laura Powers, Gina Rubel, Joan Walsh and Kim Woodward. To learn more about this fabulous, all-day program and the speakers, go to http://cts.vresp.com/c/?FuriaRubelCommunicat/f232d8cc10/3fc4dc40c8/a6b976cd72. To register for the program, go to http://cts.vresp.com/c/?FuriaRubelCommunicat/f232d8cc10/3fc4dc40c8/9b180ff2f1/pageid=3.

The 2010 Legal Marketing Association National Conference, “Recover … Refocus … ReunitePathways to Increasing Profitability,” will be held in Denver, Colo., March 10 – 12, 2010. New for 2010 is the “Just JDs: Business Development Strategies for Lawyers” program on Wednesday, March 10. This full-day, pre-conference session offers programming designed exclusively for marketing-oriented lawyers and administrators at firms of all sizes. Gina F. Rubel, President and CEO of Furia Rubel will be speaking that day with John Hellerman of Hellerman Baretz Communications, LLC on “The Ethics of Marketing and Public Relations.” Other presenters include: Ross Fishman, CEO of Fishman Marketing, Inc.; James A. Durham, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer of McGuireWoods LLP; Deborah Knupp, Partner of Akina Corporation; Richard P. Klau, Business Product Manager, Blogger, Google; and Alvidas A. Jasin, Director of Business Development of Thompson Hine LLP. For more information, go to http://cts.vresp.com/c/?FuriaRubelCommunicat/f232d8cc10/3fc4dc40c8/2ad482d9f6.

The Bucks County Women’s Fund will host their Annual Power of the Purse event on Thursday, March 11, 2010 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Spring Mill Manor, Ivyland, Pa. Lynn Doyle, anchor/executive producer at The Comcast Network and host of It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle, will emcee to help raise money for future grants and programs. The Bucks County Women's Fund tackles inequity and empowers women to improve their lives and communities. For more information, please contact Jeanne Scanlon at 215-345-5440 or jscanlon@bcwf.org or go to http://www.bcwf.org/.

An encore presentation of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s “Facebook, Twitter & Blogging…Oh MySpace!” six-credit CLE is being offered on March 24, 2010. The last program was a sell-out in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Gina Rubel will once again set the stage with an introduction to social media and will discuss social media marketing with Kim Jessum, Esq., and Kelly Phillips Erb, Esq. among others. To follow on Twitter, check our #pbism or to register, visit http://cts.vresp.com/c/?FuriaRubelCommunicat/f232d8cc10/3fc4dc40c8/8dfcbb6860.

Furia Rubel E-Newsletter to Launch

Furia Rubel is pleased to announce the launch of our new PR e-newsletter. We plan to share exciting agency, industry and client news, upcoming events that may be of interest to our readers and a whole lot more on the public relations scene.

If you would like to be added to the distribution list for the electronic newsletter, go to http://www.furiarubel.com/contact.php. Please include your name, e-mail address and in the inquiry line, write: subscribe to e-newsletter.


(Image by Pat Achilles and trademarked by Furia Rubel).