Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

Myron,
All depends on the follow-up after the newsletter. 2 times I have signed up for the "leaving without registering" newsletter fromwww.hoovers.com. Both time the sales people who called were less than helpful...to be kind.

I also think the one fromwww.travelocity.comis good, but not a newsletter...just saying WAIT, DON'T GO!

Make it a short newsletter the first time...customized based on the clickthru data...and give them an opt-in for future or extensive data newsletters.

Hope this helps

Michael

Thanks for the response. The purpose of the newsletter that I was thinking of was more along the lines of providing them subject-related news storys on a weekly basis - versus making the newsletter signup another way to get the visitor to register for the service at that moment. My ultimate hope would be that if the visitor receives a weekly and helpful newsletter, they will eventually come back to the website to register.

With the high incidence of unsubsribe rates and email spamming, I was wondering if investing in an e-newsletter would be a good investment.

Errm... pardon my ignorance here, but how do you capture an e-mail address when they are leaving your site without registering?

I mean, if they just close the browser window, what then?

I think the real issue here is how to build your list registered e-Newsletter recipients so you can encourage them back to the website with targeted offers.

I'm thinking the way to do that is with directed advertising, especially online, such as Google Adwords etc.

The aim is to catch the prospect when they are looking to buy, not necessarily to bombard them with sales offers when they are no longer looking.

But I'm intrigued as to how you can capture an address when they are leaving... Is this what you meant? How would you achieve that?

ChrisB

Great comments from everyone. The purpose of my e-newsletter was to capture those visitors who weren't comfortable fully registering with my site (providing name, phone number, etc...), yet who might be interested in relevant weekly articles on the subject area. My thought was that a simple "Sign up for our weekly newsletter" (with a clear privacy policy), would give visitors a less 'invasive' option. My website works in an industry where lots and lots of research is done online.

mclo,

EzineUniversity offers free mini courses on zine publishing. Online experts share their expertise in an educational forum.

Take a look at their course index
https://www.ezineuniversity.com/courses/index.html

You'll no doubt find informative essays on that site that will help you.

All the best.

We provide a newsletter on a monthly basis. (see my profile/URL)

Our goals are to (1) provide relevant content to our target audience, (2) showcase our expertise, (3) maintain visibility, and (4) increase direct and referral business.

Overall, our newsletter is a showcase for our thinking and expertise. It gives us credibility and increases our acceptance as field experts.

We only require a simple email to subscribe. We have found this to be non-threatening and all that we need at this time.

We send our newsletter on a monthly basis -- 11 times/year. We're completing our third year. It takes us about 12-18 hours of content and programming each month to produce our newsletter. (All content is original.) We do NOT post all past newsletters -- just the latest, links to several articles, and a listing of all executive interviews.

If you go to our Web site, you'll notice that we have more than two dozen executive interviews done in the last three years, but only three are accessible without newsletter subscription. This has proven to be a good subscription builder.

How effective are newsletters? For us, we believe it is the key element in our marketing strategy and has met the goals above. It is a great door opener and a non-threatening way to keep contacts connected with us. We have built a reputation with our executives interviews that is opening doors previously closed. And we have gained long-distance inquiries and two clients because of the newsletter.

问题是,我们能做得更多吗?是的,莫st definitely. In the next year, we will be marketing it more aggressively, and querying our subscribers for more feedback, asking for their participation in closed surveys -- which will provide us with more input for future newsletters and white papers, and allow us to connect with them in a different way.


最后,重要的是要记住在探索to connect with visitors that you want to connect with those that are interested, not with everyone. (HINT: same for tradeshows... not every tire-kicker)

The key to capturing visitor interest is a two-way street: First, THEY need to have problem awareness, discover you, and think that you may be a resource for solving it. Second, YOU need to provide the right information that interests them immediately and makes them want to give you permission to engage with them further.

For us in our business category, it works. We we will continue to "up the ante" in this area.