FEATURE STORY | Website Solutions
While pundits have declared that email is dead, they're just dead
wrong. A well-executed email newsletter (e-newsletter) remains an
excellent avenue for connecting with your customers if (and this can
be one giant "if ") you can capture your reader's attention.
I just checked the dreaded red bubble on my iPhone email inbox: I
have 278 unread messages across my personal and professional email
accounts. How can you possibly hope to gain attention in the average
American's over-crowded inbox?
It's time for an e-newsletter overhaul! Pull up your most recent
e-newsletter and read on for nine tips that will help your email mar-
keting deliver.
#1 PLANNING YOUR E-NEWSLETTER CONTENT
Your e-newsletter content should consist of about 90-percent educa-
tional and informational content and 10-percent promotional con-
tent. Showcasing how to use this season's hottest new lawn and gar-
den tools is a much more effective way to build interest than simply
saying that you've got them in stock.
Not sure what to include? The best way to plan your e-newsletter
content is to listen to your customers. It's July, and I get it that you're
probably swamped, but now is the ideal time to start capturing all of
the questions you find you're answering on a regular basis to create
a running list of informational topics to cover in your upcoming
e-newsletters.
Then, when things slow down a bit, take the time to craft these
ideas into an executable schedule of monthly e-newsletters for the
next six to 12 months. Use the off-season to build your content, so
that next busy season, when your content is the most relevant to
users, you've got the building blocks in place to quickly and easily
draft e-newsletters.
#2 USE A THIRD-PARTY EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER
While the vast majority of dealers have migrated their mass email ef-
forts to an email service provider, it's worth noting that attaching a
PDF to an email from your inbox and copying all of your customers'
email addresses into the BCC field is not acceptable. Not only does
this dated practice break SPAM regulations, it presents your dealer-
ship in a poor light. Just don't do it.
In addition to SPAM compliance, which we'll dive into a little
deeper later in this article, an email service provider can offer you
22 JULY 2015 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com
9 tips to make over your dealership's e-newsletter
■ BY COLLEEN MALLOY
IMAGE
©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/
TUMPIKUJA
IMAGE
©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/ADVENTTR
Does your
e-newsletter DELIVER?
