Opting-In

Permission-based marketing, using opt-in practices, is the law in the U.S. Even so, these practices are the best for your bottom-line and here are some of the reasons:

Why you will want to build you own email lists

It is more cost-effective. At first, it may seem daunting to begin your list from scratch. Later on, however, if you have readers not interested in your offerings, they will take away from your budget and place a drag on much needed resources for customers who are interested in your message, product, or services.

Make sure they want it

We already have too many spammers. They are causing issues with an otherwise much needed email service. Make sure you don't annoy people and insure you make a potential reader a long-term customer. Find people who choose to receive your email.

Better results

So your bottom line is tied to your performance, or it should be. Make sure your list is totally from people who want your email, and then your tracking and reporting results will out-perform any other method of gathering email lists.

You will know your customers

If you've gathered your own email list, you will know who your readers are and will be able to better tailor your email to your audience. Furthermore, you will know how to segment your subscribers and further target your message.

So what type of newsletter do you want to send anyway? Or maybe more than one type in a sequence.

Here's a quick breakdown of the basic types of newsletters you could send and how you might use them to maintain and build a relationship with your subscribers.

Most common: "email newsletters" (or what I also refer to as informational or news-style email newsletters). I call them news-style emails for it seems that all types of newsletters, whether a postcard email or informational email, are called "email newsletters").

So, yes, quality content is key with this type newsletter — content, content....
what to say, how to say it, and when do you have time to develop quality content.  But there isn't much else better for maintaining a good business relationship with your clients. You may or may not be at a point where you have compiled good content, but most organizations understand the value informational newsletters.

A lot is going on within your inbox, usually more so than a website. Several window panes may be visible other than the obvious email listing, like editor and tools bars, menu items along top and side, calendar and scheduling information, and then maybe the email viewing pane, often a small portion of the display space down at the bottom corner. Your email will be competing with other input, even the reader's real work.

This aspect should affect the way you intend to become noticed, and first and foremost keep in mind your email is invading someone's personal space. So develop a newsletter that first tells who you are, why you're sending the email and what it's about, even before the reader loads images. You'll have more success with your recipients opening your email in the first place or coming back to it when they can.

First, I can imagine that some believe sending an HTML newsletter is an immediate turn-off due to so many bad html email newsletters. Understandable. But compare the two emails illustrated here, both of which are mostly text, and decide what would be more alluring and pleasant to read. One is more likely to be read in the first place.

Why would I ever want to encourage great looking plain text emails when one of my goals is to offer splendid looking HTML newsletters? Well yes, HTML newsletters rule. When done well, they are simply the best visual and contextual form of communication. Yet simplicity offers a breath of fresh air; so I say, take advantage of it.

Have you ever received plain text emails? Maybe one of the companies you've worked for is set up only for plain text emails or you know someone who prefers to receive plain text emails.

Take a look at these possibilities, and when setting up your HTML newsletter through Bluebird Courier, take advantage of the plain text user-interface to actually "design" your text.

Whether you are a one-person shop, or small to medium size shop, planning your newsletter is key; it will mean the success, ongoing and immediate, of your newsletter deliveries.

So first ask yourself, "What is my message, or messages?" and then prioritize them. At Bluebird Courier we love designing beautiful newsletters, but simply placing pretty images and designs within the newsletter can still lead to an ineffectual campaign.

Content is key, then think of how to visually render this message to capture the attention and imagination of your audience from your newsletter.

What is an open rate?

The open rate is a measure of how many people on an email list open (or view) a particular email newsletter or campaign. The open rate is normally expressed as a percentage, calculated as:

So a 40% open rate would mean that of every 10 emails delivered to the inbox, 4 were actually opened.

How do you measure an open?

Recording an ‘open’ can only happen if the reader's email client is capable of displaying html. So if you are sending text-only emails, there is no way to record open rates (the exception is if they actually click a link). Similarly, people reading your html email without images showing will not be recorded as opens.

Another issue is that your readers may have a preview pane in their email client. That preview pane might be displaying your email automatically (and therefore downloading the images) without the reader ever having to click on it or read it.